Portland based motivation project paper and presentation

Applied Motivation Project Happy Hour

Shalene Allen PSY 345 – Winter 2020

Instructor: Liu-Qin Yang, Ph.D.

Agenda

What is this Project?

Group Formation + Sign-Up

Questions

Extra Credit

Resources

Purpose: Science into Practice

• Create University–Community partnerships • Learn + Apply course materials • Build professional skills • Build professional networks • Potential for internships & jobs!

Group Project

1. Interview an organization with the goal of increasing motivation (e.g., employees of Powell’s Books)

2. Examine motivational levels of client

3. Identify + Diagnose motivational barriers

4. Propose solutions to client based on theoretical and empirical evidence

General Project Guidelines (4)

• Form group of 2-3 people (I think 3 is good) • Group must be signed up by 11:59 on Tuesday 1/16 via Qualtrics or on D2L • Each group member’s first and last name

• Interview at least 2-3 individuals (in-person interviews are preferred) • Interviewees must have different positions within organization • Interview as many individuals as the number of group members

• Max. 6-page, double space (APA style) proposal of potential solutions for client • Use at least (1) piece of theoretical evidence and at least (1) piece of

empirical research to support the motivation theory and proposed solution. • Theory and empirical evidence should be related to each other

Client Categories

1. University-Community partnership program at PSU • PSU Student Ambassadors

• Student Ambassadors and Motivation • List of PSU-community capstone partnerships

2. Team/club/organization/group at PSU • PSU Women’s Track + Field

• Extrinsic Motivation in Teams: Assessing the influence of peer motivation factors on individual performance towards a team-oriented goal

Client Categories

3. Non-profit organization or association in the Portland metro area • Oregon Human Society

• Motivating Dog Owners to Attend “Manners” Training Classes

4. Department/team of a local business or local branch of a global business • Regal Cinemas Fox Tower 10

• Management Techniques Matter: Using Social Cognitive Theory to Increase Motivation of a Movie Theater’s Staff

Paper Format

• Title page • Abstract (150-200 words) • Main body – maximum 6 pages • References • Tables/Charts (if applicable) • Appendix – Interview Notes

• Interview transcripts

• APA formatting: Purdue Owl Website

Paper Format – Main Body

• Introduction • Diagnoses of problem

• Interview/Observations

• Application of theory • Supporting evidence

• Literature/Empirical evidence (published, peer-reviewed scholarly work) • Solutions

• Description • Implementation/Justification

• Conclusion

Interview Requirements

• Interview 2-3 participants (dependent on group size) • Different jobs/roles within organization

• All group members must be involved in interview process • Each group member must interview at least 1 person • Attendance in interviews

• Transcriptions of Interviews

Goals

• Organization’s motivational state • Are people motivated?

• Motivational currency • Motivational barriers? • How has the organization addressed barriers in the past?

• What is the organization currently doing?

• Overall goals dependent on your project topic! • Will likely be different for each group.

Effective Interviewing Strategies

Trull, S.G. (1964) Strategies of Effective Interviewing. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/1964/01/strategies-of-effective-interviewing#

Planning + Preparation

• Prepare • Avoidance motivation approach

• Know the purpose of the interview • Let the interviewee know:

• Talking points, in writing, ahead of time • Established expectations

• Be careful…you can over-plan • Too many details to interviewee • Keep it simple

Interview Preparation

• Questions • Interviewer’s tools to produce the conversation • Effective questions v. non-effective questions

• Funnel-approach • Fear of Silence – don’t be afraid!! • Avoid jetting questions at interviewee

• Art of Listening – thinking & writing over listening

Guiding the Conversation

• Direction of conversation depends on you • Voice/tone à Friendly conversation

• Not strict Question + Answer • Reflection à restating a reply might help you clarify a point

• Interviewer behavior • Verbal

• Voice inflections • Non-verbal cues

• Nodding

Effective Interviewing

• Open-ended questions

• Avoid leading questions

• Probe issues in depth

• Let the informant lead

• What is an open-ended question?

• Are you interested in motivation? • What interests you about motivation?

What? Where? Who? When? How? Why?**

Effective Interviewing

• Open-ended questions

• Avoid leading questions

• Probe issues in depth

• Let the informant lead

• Phrased to suggest a certain answer or implies a certain, correct answer • Allow respondent space to answer

in their own terms with their own views

What are problems that you have with your organization?

Tell me about your relationship with your organization.

Effective Interviewing

• Open-ended questions

• Avoid leading questions

• Probe issues in depth

• Let the informant lead

• Gain clarification for data

• Getting more information

• Be careful • Maintain friendly/cordial

conversation

Effective Interviewing

• Open-ended questions

• Avoid leading questions

• Probe issues in depth

• Let the informant lead

• What questions • “what exactly do you mean by…?

• Echo Probe • Restatement of what respondent said • Don’t overuse

• Uh-huh Probe • Encouraging interviewee to continue

by using affirmative noises • Be genuine

• Examples • “Can you give me an example of…?

Effective Interviewing

• Open-ended questions

• Avoid leading questions

• Probe issues in depth

• Let the informant lead

• Introduce interviewee to a topic and get out of the way.

• Let the interviewee provide the data

Concluding the Meeting

• The final 10% • Maintain active listening • Avoid misinterpretation • Miss important information

• Summarize • Courtesy • Thanking interviewer for their time

The Follow-Up

• Gratitude • Learned information • Establish connection • Results of research

Interview Questions

• Questions should help you collect information regarding: • Your research question • Organization’s goals • Interviewee’s role and goals within their job role • Interviewee drives and motivational level in relation to achieving their goals

• Are they motivated by their work?

How do you ask someone about their motivation levels?

Interview Questions

• The barriers/challenges that may hinder their goal achievement or intrinsic motivation • Are they directly related to motivation or NOT? • Are they internal or external? • Level of difficulty (e.g. controllable or uncontrollable)?

• The consequences of those barriers and challenges • How far away are they from achieving their goals? • How unhappy are they (e.g. intragroup conflict)?

• What measures have your client(s) taken to improve/enhance their current situation? • Their past solutions to problems? • Their current solutions to problems?

Performing scholarly research

Accessing databases

• Step 1: Go to PSU Library page – http://library.pdx.edu • Step 2: “Sign in to request items” log in with your Odin ID • Step 3: “Research tools & collections” and select the source you want

to use • If using Google Scholar you’ll login, then search.

• Step 3: Review “By Subject”. Click Psychology. • Step 4: Choose database – recommend psycINFO • Step 5: Research away!

Tips for searching

• Don’t randomly select • Read titles • Find articles that have been cited by others • Frequently cited articles tend to be important

• Use “advanced search” filters on Google Scholar, • by author, year, or journal

• Review references list of article for other relevant research • Utilize your textbook • Has several important literature relating to your topics • Helpful for theory-building and further explanation

Research carefully

• Regular google search

• Wikipedia

• Popular science articles (most magazines)

• Opinion based articles (New York Times, Huffington Post)

• Use peer-reviewed articles

Scholarly Articles

• Peer-reviewed professional journals • Theoretical papers • Empirical studies

• Book (theory-based) • Chapter from edited book • Textbook • Handbook • Scholarly book

• Each group is required to cite: • at least 1 published, peer-

reviewed empirical study &

• at least 1 theoretical piece of scholarly work

• Empirical = derived from experimentation/observation (i.e.

first-hand data collection)

APA Formatting

• APA formatting tutorial (Most up-to-date version of APA 2019) • https://www.apastyle.org/index

Other helpful resources: • Paper Structure • https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

• References • https://www.library.cornell.edu/research/citation • https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/02/

Extra Credit = Extra Feedback

• Provide groups with feedback leading up to final paper • 3 assignments (submitted online) + 1 class presentation

• Interview Questions (1 pt) • Outline of Lit. Review (2 pts) • Outline of Final Paper (2 pts) • Presentation (5 pts)

• 10 possible extra points for working on your project throughout the semester • Points conditional on having enough for us to provide feedback

Literature Review

• Read scholarly articles • 1 theoretical piece and 1 empirical study (only peer-reviewed) • You must read articles that you cite

• Any scholarly work that defines and supports your theory • “Reeve (2015)” is not sufficient!

• Empirical article: Describe the study (e.g. sample, methods, important findings) and connecting it to your project topic • The connection is important

Literature Review

• What should be included? • Citation, abstract, important findings • Why is this article/study relevant to your group project and organization?

• Submit to D2L dropbox • Literature Review • Articles in literature review

• This will serve as a guide of the articles that you will use in your final paper

Paper Outline

• For us to provide helpful feedback, include details • This is the infrastructure of your paper • A few bullet points/sentences per section • Provide enough information for us to follow your logic • Why did you choose this theory for your topic? • Brief statement of proposed intervention

• How will you implement change? How will it increase motivation? • Why will your solution work? • What empirical evidence did you find that supports your proposed solution?

Presentation

• 10 minutes maximum presentation • 5 extra points • 5 points will be deducted from your final project grade if you sign up to

present and fail to present • Notify me by 2/27 if you are unable to present, and you will lose no points

• Presentation dates: 3/5, 3/10, & 3/12 • Presentation slots are first come, first serve

Successful Group Work

• 2-person v. 3-person groups • You must interview as many individuals as you have group members

• Stages of Group Development (Tuckman & Jensen, 1977) • Forming

• In this stage, people are excited and ready for the work ahead; generally positive expectations, but also some anxiety about how the group will mesh together.

• Storming • Not as exciting anymore; realize that team may not live up to expectations; excitement might shift to anger + frustration;

members might have concerns that the group might not be able to reach goals

• Norming • Resolving discrepancies; increased comfort with self within the group; start being productive; making small wins…got

your interviews done

• Performing • Members are satisfied with team’s progress; members are aware of strengths/weaknesses; members are confident in

team abilities to complete the tasks and achieve goals

Successful Group Work

• Start as early as possible • Create clear structure, goals, and tasks to build trust • Redefine large goals and tasks into smaller, manageable tasks • Group evaluations • Let us know of problems ASAP • Group evaluations

Time Block What to work on Due Date Points 1/8 – 1/17 Required: All groups formed and signed up (see link in D2L). Exchange contact

information, communication is key for this project. 1/16

1/17 – 1/24

Required: Submit a signed group contract (see document on D2L) 1/23 Strongly Recommended: Finalize project focus, initial information gathering (e.g., target of consulting and its accessibility), develop interview questions.

1/24 – 1/31 Extra Credit: Tailored interview questions 1/30 1 Strongly Recommended: Lock the interviewees; set the appointment(s) with them; conduct interviews:

1/31 – 2/14 Extra Credit: Presentation sign-up (see link in D2L). 2/6

Extra Credit: Literature review (theories applied to similar situations, available empirical evidence, solutions previously proposed, success stories etc.)

2/13 2

2/7 – 2/26 Extra Credit: Outline the paper structure. 2/25 2

2/26 – 3/12

Email a copy of the presentation slides to [email protected] by 11:59pm the day before your presentation to D2L.

3/4, 3/9, 3/11

Extra Credit: Presentation of paper project; Presented on 3/5, 3/10, or 3/12

3/5, 3/10, 3/12 5

2/2 – 3/14 Required: Write up the paper! Paper due by 5PM on 3/13 (5-pt penalty each day for late papers)

3/13 100