Research design course

I recently completed an entire course on research design. The topic I selected for the course was also design-related (improvement of websites - website design). The topic had lots of "issues" or things to consider. It made the course very interesting. Design could get very complicated!

Link to course blog: Research Design

Research Design

I learned a lot about research design during the Research Methods course...I learned about designs and methods for qualitative research and quantitative research and lots more. I had lots of practice throughout the course. In my final proposal (signature assignment), I designed a mixed methods study on the performance and job satisfaction impacts of employee monitoring for hand hygiene compliance.

My final paper / signature assignment:
http://www.slideshare.net/FahmeenaOdettaMoore/moorefbtm730312final

(also see my blog on completing the course: http://fmooresignatureassignment3.blogspot.com/)

Some resources on research design:

What is Research Design
(https://www.nyu.edu/classes/bkg/methods/005847ch1.pdf)

Research Designs
(https://explorable.com/research-designs)

Design and Data Quality

While working on a paper for the Research Methods course, I stumbled upon a journal article on the inaccuracies and errors that can occur because of survey design - similar issues I discussed in my article on UI design and data quality.

The article I found:

The Impact of Visual Design and Response Formats on Data Quality in a Web Survey of MOOC students
(https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301556631_The_impact_of_visual_design_and_response_formats_on_data_quality_in_a_web_survey_of_MOOC_students)

My article:

Improving Data Quality: User Interface Design and Functional Requirements
http://modernanalyst.com/DesktopModules/DnnForge%20-%20NewsArticles/Print.aspx?tabid=115&tabmoduleid=3372&articleId=2981&moduleId=572&PortalID=0

(also available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140612213949-6733373-improving-data-quality-user-interface-design-and-functional-requirements?trk=mp-reader-card)


The paper I submitted for the Research Methods course:

Responses to Specific Questions on Survey Design

LinkedIn - http://www.slideshare.net/FahmeenaOdettaMoore/moorefbtm730311final2
ResearchGate - 
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307005913_Responses_to_Specific_Questions_on_Survey_Design_By_Fahmeena_Odetta_Moore

I liked the paper on responsive design for the same course:

Responsive Web Design
http://www.slideshare.net/FahmeenaOdettaMoore/moorefmis70007afinal-62770123

This paper made me think of customization and ERP projects and another paper I completed at UMBC on ERP projects and project failure. I ended up focusing on project success/failure and project management in the paper for the same week (so I guess they did link in some way!).

I used WMATA's websites as an example of responsive design. I noticed their responsive design a while back - maybe around the same time I wrote this paper on bus updates via text message:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/bus-updates-via-text-messagesms-fahmeenaodetta-moore?trk=mp-reader-card

(from https://www.instagram.com/p/BGICkNqiyAm/?taken-by=moorefo1picblog)

My papers for week 5 of the Information Technology Management course focused on website design (see more on week 5 below). I liked both papers. I remember the UPS website (from the first paper) had navigation problems - problems the second paper discussed and highlighted as important. For example, to get to information on/for healthcare companies on the UPS website, the user needed to click 'More' to see additional links.

The papers:

Evaluating Two Companies for Supply Chain Management

http://www.slideshare.net/FahmeenaOdettaMoore/moorefmis70005afinal

How Website Design Affects Customer Complaints

http://www.slideshare.net/FahmeenaOdettaMoore/moorefmis70005bfinal

(from https://www.instagram.com/p/BFsYf-zmtch/?taken-by=moorefo1)

(from https://www.instagram.com/p/BFjddO7CyMN/?taken-by=moorefo1picblog
I was dealing with issues at the time, specifically an apartment flood)

__________________________________

I think week 5 was e-commerce week. I was required to submit two separate papers - one paper should review the websites of two companies that provide logistics services for supply chain management, the other should review at least 5 papers (the literature) on an e-commerce topic. Reading and including the paper  “Rethinking E-commerce Service Quality: Does Website Quality Still Suffice?” was required.

Instructions:

(1) In addition to carrying goods from one place to another, some trucking companies provide supply chain management services and help their customers manage their information. In this project, do the following:

    Use the Web to research and evaluate two of these business services.

    Investigate the websites of two companies, UPS Logistics (http://thenewlogistics.ups.com) and Schneider Logistics (http://www.schneider.com/logistics), to see how these companies’ services can be used for supply chain management.

    Respond to the following questions:

    What supply chain processes can each of these companies support for their clients?

    How can customers use the websites of each company to help them with supply chain management?

    How do the supply chain management services provided by these companies can be compared? Which company would you select to help your firm manage its supply chain? Why?

Length: 2-3 pages not including title page and references

Your analysis should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course and provide new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards.

Upload your assignment using the Upload Assignment button below.

(2) For this assignment, do the following:

    Read the article listed in the resources section, “Rethinking E-commerce Service Quality: Does Website Quality Still Suffice?”

    Search the NCU library site for at least four additional recent (less than four years old) academic journal articles on the topic of e-Commerce.

    Briefly summarize all the articles you considered.

    Provide your personal assessment of the current status of research in the field (i.e., are there many such articles, indicating possibly a mature research field, only a few articles, indicating perhaps a new research area emerging, etc.).

    Try to focus on a relatively narrow subtopic of e-Commerce, such as B2C, B2B, C2C, m-commerce, etc.

Length: 5-7 pages not including title page and references

Your analysis should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course and provide new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards.

__________________________________

New blog

The purpose of this blog is to collect my design-related research and ideas. It should help answer the question: Should I focus on design-related research for my dissertation?

I work as a designer - designing websites, calendars etc. - but so far in my PhD program, I have not reviewed or explored much design-related research/topics. I did review a lot of design-related literature for a course in the MS program at UMBC.