BUS101 - Business Analytics Task 2 – Report (30%)
GENUINE EXPERTS
Howtostarttheassignment_SM1.pptx
Task 2 overview
Task 2 - overview
The purpose of this report is to solve a business problem using a theoretical framework informed by empirical academic studies.
Using academic literature, you will provide information regarding the business problems and offer potential explanations for the business issues.
Using what you have learned in the lectures, tutorials, the text-book and other sources you will analyse the transcripts provided to identify the source of the business problems.
You will then make recommendations based on your findings and the literature to the CEO of the company.
What is the theory?
The theory is -
Job demand Resources theory (JD-R) – simply JD-R suggests that work stress is due to an imbalance between demands and the resources an individual has to deal with those demands
Reference on Blackboard-
Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2017). Job demands–resources theory: Taking stock and looking forward. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 22(3), 273.
How to analyse the transcripts?
Coding is an iterative process which requires going over, and over, and over transcripts to look for themes (reviewing).
A theme is a concept/statement that re-occurs in the data
Codes are then developed into a code/theme structure
How to analyse the transcripts?
But how do I start?
Codes can be created through inductive or deductive analysis:
Inductive (also called themantic analysis) is coding every theme that occurs
Deductive is guided by theory
It’s a good idea to first start with inductive. Once your done have a read of the theory, then see if it fits the codes.
Report structure – The introduction
Introduction:
In your own words describe the business problems based on the symptoms
Review lecture 3 AND tutorial 3 this content outlines problem definition and decision statements
This also relates to Chapter 6 of the textbook
Report structure – The literature review
How do I start??
Use the library website to search for the topic
See the new document on Blackboard for an example of how to do this
Locate and read peer reviewed journal articles regarding both the topic and the theory
Remember to cite as you write and do not copy and paste directly from articles into your document
Report structure – The literature review
Wait…?
What am I looking for when I search?
Am I overviewing previous empirical work regarding the business issues? or am I finding articles relating to the themes?
Report structure – The literature review
Think about the research process:
Business problems are turned into research questions and hypotheses
These issues are researched in terms of the literature
- You would conduct a literature review and then find a theory which explains the business problems and the consequences of the issues
The interview questions and protocol are then designed based on the literature and theory
The interviews are conducted and the transcripts are transcribed and then coded
The method and results are written up
The discussion is written up in light of both what the literature/theory from the introduction predicted/said and the findings of the study. Business solutions are then proposed
Report structure – The literature review
Think about a literature review as being like a story. Introduce the business problems, what empirical research has shown, and then how theory informs the business issues.
Bullet point the main ideas and then bulk out the paragraphs using the writing guide on Blackboard (tutorial 7)
Report structure – The literature review
Each paragraph needs:
Topic sentence – introduction and main point of the paragraph
Evidence sentences – which confirm and support the topic sentences these must be cited and referenced
Concluding sentences - that sum up the paragraph. The concluding sentence can provide linking words or phrases to the next paragraph
Note. A paragraph should only present one topic/idea at a time.
Report structure – The literature review
Academic writing involves incorporating the ideas and information from the experts in the field (from wide and critical reading).
When including this information in your writing, try to use a combination of the following:
Direct quotations (only have one quote per 1,000 words though! Remember quotes don’t really show your understanding)
Paraphrases – very important to put into your own words
Report structure – The literature review
Academic writing involves incorporating the ideas and information from the experts in the field (from wide and critical reading).
But how do you show this in the writing?
Most students when first learning to write will overview one study at a time:
Smith (2009) used a sample of 120 nurses and found that work breaks can increase workers efficiency. John and Scott (2017) used an interview method with 32 nurses and found that having proper work breaks increases efficiency.
It is more effective to combine multiple authors who are saying the same thing:
Recent research suggests that having work breaks increase efficiency (John & Scott, 2017; Smith, 2009)
Then you could overview one or two studies or continue to write with the authors combined
Report structure – The literature review
So what you are doing is combining the authors together who have agreement or the same findings on a topic
The authors names and year of publication are in closed brackets with a ; symbol to separate
(author name, year; author & author, year; author et al., year)
Have a look at some literature reviews in journal articles and you will see many good examples
How to reverse engineer a journal article
If you have each sentence start with Author (year) says, Author (year) says it can read a little disjointed.
Find a good journal article and reverse engineer it – as in look at how they structure a paragraph and each sentence within it.
Let’s look at an example..
How to reverse engineer a journal article Let’s look at an example..
Bakker, A. B., Lieke, L., Prins, J. T., & van der Heijden, F. M. (2011). Applying the job demands–resources model to the work–home interface: A study among medical residents and their partners. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 79(1), 170-180.
Example paragraph from the introduction:
“Work–family studies have convincingly identified work overload as a key antecedent of Work to Home Interference [WHI] (Byron, 2005; Eby et al., 2005). Long work hours, working overtime, and pressure at the job are strong predictors of WHI (Bakker & Geurts, 2004; Demerouti, Bakker, & Bulters, 2004; Grzywacz & Marks, 2000; Voydanoff, 2004). In response to this, possible solutions for WHI have been widely explored. Social support, flexibility in work schedules, and family-friendly policies are the most commonly mentioned factors reducing WHI (for overviews, see Brough & O'Driscoll, 2010; Gajendran & Harrison, 2007; Glass & Finley, 2002). Surprisingly enough, studies examining which particular job designs lead to more or less WHI are lacking. ‘Job design’ refers to theparticular combination of job demands (e.g., work overload and cognitive demands) and job resources (e.g., job autonomy and opportunities for development). It seems that solutions for WHI are already sought even though the exact problem has not yet been depicted in detail. Therefore, this study examines which particular job designs increase or decrease WHI.” (Bakker et al., 2011. Page, 170)
How to reverse engineer a journal article Let’s look at an example..
Work–family studies have convincingly identified work overload as a key antecedent of Work to Home Interference [WHI] (Byron, 2005; Eby et al., 2005). - Topic sentence introduces the idea and issue uses two studies to support the claim
Long work hours, working overtime, and pressure at the job are strong predictors of WHI (Bakker & Geurts, 2004; Demerouti, Bakker, & Bulters, 2004; Grzywacz & Marks, 2000; Voydanoff, 2004). Secondary sentence supports the first and uses four studies
In response to this, possible solutions for WHI have been widely explored. Authors own words – followed by examples in the next sentence
Social support, flexibility in work schedules, and family-friendly policies are the most commonly mentioned factors reducing WHI (for overviews, see Brough & O'Driscoll, 2010; Gajendran & Harrison, 2007; Glass & Finley, 2002). Shows even more support by pointing the reader to overviews
How to reverse engineer a journal article Let’s look at an example..
Surprisingly enough, studies examining which particular job designs lead to more or less WHI are lacking. – here they are arguing for why the study is important
‘Job design’ refers to the particular combination of job demands (e.g., work overload and cognitive demands) and job resources (e.g., job autonomy and opportunities for development). It seems that solutions for WHI are already sought even though the exact problem has not yet been depicted in detail. Therefore, this study examines which particular job designs increase or decrease WHI. Demonstrating a gap in the literature that the study will fill
So you might not necessarily construct a paragraph with arguments for the study – you would write a concluding sentence.
This example deconstruction was to show you how sentences can flow together…
How to reverse engineer a journal article Let’s look at an example..
But what would it look like if it was disjointed?
Original (24 words):
Work–family studies have convincingly identified work overload as a key antecedent of Work to Home Interference [WHI] (Byron, 2005; Eby et al., 2005).
Author found, then author found (56 words):
Byron (2005) conducted a meta-analytic review of 60 studies on work-family conflict and found that too much work stress and being overloaded can cause conflict at home. Eby et al. (2005) conducted a content analysis of 190 work-family studies and they found that work domain predictors, such as stress and flexibility in hours, increased work-family conflict.
How to reverse engineer a journal article Let’s look at an example..
Original (24 words):
Long work hours, working overtime, and pressure at the job are strong predictors of WHI (Bakker & Geurts, 2004; Demerouti, Bakker, & Bulters, 2004; Grzywacz & Marks, 2000; Voydanoff, 2004).
Author found, then author found (73 words):
Bakker and Geurts (2004) propose a model which shows that working long hours can cause work-to-home interference. Grzywacz and Marks (2000) did a study on 1,986 individuals and discovered that long hours increase work-to-home interference. Demerouti, Bakker and Bulters (2004) found that work stress increased work to home interference over three years later and vice versa. The author Voydanoff (2004) used data from 1,938 employed adults and found that time-based demands increase work-to-home conflict.
How to reverse engineer a journal article Let’s look at an example..
Whoa wait! There’s a lot of references that have been combined in these sentences.. Can I use them too?
Yes, this is called chain linking from a reference list.
So the better quality journal articles will also reference good quality articles.
You can then use the reference lists to chain link to easily find more articles for your own review. BUT remember to paraphrase and put the information in your own words not how the original article described it (otherwise it will flag on Safe Assign).
Methods and Results
Introduce what qualitative analysis is (describe in one paragraph). Remember the audience may not have any knowledge of what a qualitative analysis is.
Look up textbook definitions to see how to describe qualitative research and reference them
Try to explain it simply for the reader
Note. you might not need an entire paragraph to describe it. In terms of the assessment it shows us how much understanding you have.
Methods and Results
Report what the method was and how the interview data was collected. Write in enough detail that someone else can understand exactly what was done and how.
Present the findings of the analysis in a table and graph, ensure you reflect on the findings and summarise (do not just show a table/graph with no explanation). Refer to the course materials to help.
Methods and Results
Report what the method was and how the interview data was collected. Write in enough detail that someone else can understand exactly what was done and how.
You will use a combination of the lecture and tutorial notes from Week 7. The Chapter reading 7. The report outline information.
The report outline says what was done, how many participated, how long the interview/focus group lasted, what style it was and so on.
Remember you can add detail to the report (e.g. interview protocol in the appendix)
Methods and Results
Present the findings of the analysis in a table and graph, ensure you reflect on the findings and summarise (do not just show a table/graph with no explanation). Refer to the course materials to help.
Again use the lecture/tutorial notes from week 7 to help guide you.
Show both a table and a graph
Ensure you summarise the results – see example in lecture 7:
Findings can be summarised as either percentages or fractions
E.g. 50% of individual expressed having work stress or 3/8 stated they did not enjoy their work
Methods and Results
Present the findings of the analysis in a table and graph, ensure you reflect on the findings and summarise (do not just show a table/graph with no explanation). Refer to the course materials to help.
Again use the lecture/tutorial notes from week 7 to help guide you.
Show both a table and a graph
Ensure you summarise the results – see example in lecture 7:
Findings can be summarised as either percentages or fractions
E.g. 50% of individual expressed having work stress or 3/8 stated they did not enjoy their work
Report structure – Recommendations and conclusions
Based on the findings give the CEO some recommendations about how to improve the business problems. This should link to the academic literature and theory from the introduction. The Recommendations and Conclusion section is one of the most important sections
Try to summarise the findings in light of the literature/theory
Look at journal articles to see how they write conclusions
Remember the audience is the CEO/manager of the company they need some realistic recommendations for improving their business
These can be based on the literature from the introduction
Report structure – Proofing and editing
Pay attention to the details
Punctuation
Spelling
Grammar
Cite As You Write!
There is nothing more frustrating and time consuming that leaving the referencing to the end.
Sometimes you might forget where an idea came from and have to search through the articles you have
So do yourself a favour and cite as you write
It could be as simple as just including the author name and year, then you complete the reference list at the end of writing the assignment
Remember to use either APA or Harvard (try to only use ONE consistently – guides available on BB)
Report structure – Appendices
Appendices – this could include the interview schedule (you will need to make it up based on the questions shown in the transcript, you can add more information if needed) and notes on how the coding was completed
See lecture 7 – for what an interview schedule is
Add notes on coding – you can just say how you did it and/or show an example
Report structure – format
Font size 12, Times New roman, double spacing, and word count 2,000 (+/- 10% 1,800-2,200). Note. The word count does not include the executive summary, headings, tables, graphs/figures, the reference list or appendices.
Any questions?
Please email the teaching staff
