for grade saver only

Read the journal article "The Ethics of Internet Research" (Williams, 2012) and this week's lecture. In your own words, provide a summary of the article and add your own thoughts on how the Internet can affect the research process, including, but not limited to, ethics concerns.

Respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts.

Ashford 3: - Week 2 - Weekly Lecture

Week Two Lecture

Business Research Methods and Tools

Week 2: Research ethics and research design

Hypothesis testing

This week, you’ll learn more about the building blocks of business research. Last week’s readings and guidance introduced you to the concept of hypotheses and research questions. Let’s go into hypothesis testing a bit further.
Let’s reconsider last week’s sample research question: “Why are some of Ashford University’s students not successful in school?” Assume that Ashford’s management noticed that not all students are as successful as they would like them to be: some students fail courses, others drop out, and so on. This is considered the problem they would like to solve with the research. After some background evaluation, the administration develops a hypothesis about the problem and the question: “Ashford students don’t succeed when they have old computers.” The hypothesis states the problem (lack of student success) and an “educated guess” about why the problem is happening (students have old computers).

In the research, Ashford’s administrators need to operationalize the study and test the hypothesis; this means they need to do the research to find out whether their hypothesis is correct. They could study it by sending a survey to students in order to find out how old their computer is. They could give a new computer to some of the students with an old computer, and they could not give a new computer to students with an old computer. Then, the researchers could observe whether there is a difference between the old-computer students and the new-computer students.

In this study, the “null hypothesis” would be: “There is no statistically significant difference between the success of students with old computers and students with new computers.” If the study found there is, in fact, no difference in the success of the two groups, the researchers would fail to reject the null hypothesis. If there is a difference between the two groups, the researchers would reject the null hypothesis.

The process of collecting data to observe differences might be new to you. Remember that if you are not collecting data to answer a research question, you are not doing original research. You might have thought previously that if you write a paper in which you summarize what other researchers have done, then you are “doing research.” That’s not true in this class. In business research, you go beyond summarizing others’ work; you’re making observations from data that are your own.

Research ethics

It’s important to make sure that whatever research you do that involves people, or data from or about them, is conducted ethically. If research is ethical, it means (among other things) that the researchers are protecting the privacy of the participants and any research data collected about them.
 
In business settings, companies conduct research all the time to learn how to serve customers better, how to increase profits, and so on. If you surveyed your customers about their experience in your store using an online survey, it wouldn’t be ethical to force them to provide their names and addresses. They might choose to provide their names and contact information if they wanted you to follow up with them about a negative experience in the store, but to protect their privacy, you should not demand that information.

In university settings, ethics boards (also called Institutional Review Boards or IRBs) review the plans for all the studies that involve human participants, such as people who complete surveys or participate in interviews. The IRB’s main objective is to ensure the safety, privacy, and confidentiality of participants. You can read about Ashford’s IRB at http://www.ashford.edu/about/institutional-review-board.htm.

For viewing:

Ty, R. (2009, June 16). Types of research & research designs [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49_u-pXwx7g

Marianne102. (2009, December 8). Unethical research methods [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmEDdVEwkHc

Ashford 3: - Week 2 - Discussion 2

Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Reference the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated.

Google’s business model includes state-of-the art research. Pick a research study that Google’s researchers have done from their list of Research Areas & Publication (2014). What do you think about this research? Find details about related research to support your argument. Cite the studies in your post, and document it in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.


Respond to at least two of your classmates’ posts.

Ashford 3: - Week 2 - Assignment

Research Project - Week Two

You will receive feedback on the previous week's assignment by Sunday 11:59pm. Before you complete your Week Two assignment, please read your instructor’s comments about your Week One assignment, as well as this week's lecture. Be sure to include any suggested changes in your project going forward. 

In a three- to four-page paper (not including the title and references pages), 

1. Include a revised version of your introduction, research question, background research, and hypothesis. These revisions must be based on your instructor’s feedback.
2. Discuss any ethical concerns you might encounter while doing your research.
3. Include preliminary thoughts about your research design (this will change over the next few weeks, but it is useful to think about this early).
4. Include ideas about how you might approach sampling data for your research. 

Your paper must be formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center and must include a references list (on a separate references page).

Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.