Assignment:
Application 1: Identifying a Doctoral Study for Evaluation
Throughout the 8 weeks of this course (in separate but interrelated assignments), you will describe and evaluate the data collection methods to ensure quality used in a selected qualitative doctoral study. To facilitate this evaluation, this week you will search for an appropriate doctoral study from the Walden online library or ProQuest. Follow the guidelines below to choose a study:
Use the ProQuest online database to search for a study.
Please be sure to choose a doctoral study that is focused on a business-related topic. The search terms "qualitative" and "business" find many options to explore, or search for sample study that is directly related to your emerging doctoral study research topic.
Do not choose a master's thesis or an undergraduate study.
Choose a qualitative doctoral study, or a mixed-methods doctoral study with a substantial qualitative component that has data collections and data analysis sections. This study should be done within five years. If you are uncertain if your selected doctoral study meets these requirements, please discuss this with your Instructor. If you choose a mixed-method doctoral study, focus only on the qualitative components in the paper for this course.
Also, keep in mind that this doctoral study will be used as a basis for subsequent assignments in the next few weeks which you will describe and evaluate different sections of the sample study you choose.
The Crochetiere doctoral study listed in this week's Learning Resources is an example of a qualitative research document similar to that required for you to find this week. If you are performing research specifically related to sustainability, you may petition the Instructor to potentially allow you to use this doctoral study for analysis purposes in this course.
Important note: During application assignments in Weeks 2, 3, 5, and 6, you will be reviewing and analyzing the doctoral study you identify this week.
For this Application:
Identify a study or ProQuest in the Walden library, and submit a full citation using correct APA style (6th ed.) for your chosen doctoral study, along with the study abstract in one word document. No plagiarism.
Please save your chosen doctoral study as a pdf file and keep it for your own use.
Application 2: Selecting Your Small-Scale Project Subject
Throughout the 8 weeks of this course (in separate but interrelated assignments), you will complete a small-scale research project by conducting a qualitative interview study. This project will give you first-hand experience with conducting qualitative research and, if performed appropriately, could also contribute to your own doctoral study.
For this Assignment:
Select two or more interviewees and a topic for your small-scale qualitative project. You are free to choose the topic for your interview. Consider choosing a topic related to your proposed doctoral study, because the course exercises may assist you to move forward with your own doctoral study. Bear in mind that this interview project will also be the basis for subsequent assignments in this course.
In two paragraphs, summarize the process by which you selected your topic and your interviewees, and provide a brief rationale for why you have chosen this topic and detailed information identifying why interviewees are appropriate (2 participants or more).