Assignment
Goal:
The goals of this assignment are to:
1) familiarize you with the content and structure of research articles, and
2) provide you some initial understanding about the topic of purchasing practices (sometimes referred to as responsible purchasing and different than responsible sourcing/ethical sourcing).
3) reflect on the benefits and shortcomings of academic research for solving industry problems.
The assignment contributes toward learning objective #1 for the course, which is to critique the limited role that research and discovery of new knowledge has played in fashion and apparel business.
Approach:
Select and read one of the research articles in the Module for Week 1. Your task is to accurately summarize the content of the article in a 1 page, single
-spaced abstract (11 pt. Arial font). No creative writing here, focus on what the author(s) reported in their much longer article.
In addition to the one-page abstract, a 1-page reflection will also be appended.
Abstracts usually include content related to the following topics, though your article may differ somewhat.:
? Purpose: The objective of the study and why it was important to pursue.
? Background: What of relevance is already known about the topic. What if any hypotheses or research questions were developed?
? Methods: How was the study conducted? What/who was the source of data? How were data analyzed?
? Results: What were the most important findings (i.e. what did tests of the hypotheses find? What were the answers to the research questions?
? Conclusions: What big "so what" points were made on the basis of the research?
? Implications: How can others use the findings (either other researchers or business)?
? Limitations/Future Research: What limitations did the author(s) report for the research? What suggestions for future research were discussed?
Reflection should address the following questions:
1. What did you like about reading this research?
2. What did you dislike about reading this research?
3. How is this research valuable for solving an industry problem?
4. What would make this research more interesting/easier to use by junior staff of an apparel brand/retailer to use to inform their work?
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also Include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.