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Research Skills for Management
Decisions
Tutorial 3
Last week: The process of secondary 3
research
Think about your Problem: don’t be too vague or too
specific (try mind mapping or keyword searching).
recommendations
Findings & Make
Read
Find Critical Evaluate
broadly
Currency
around your informatio review (Relevancy,
subject n using the Reports, Authority,
(don’t just subject websites, Accuracy,
use google & databases. Journal Purpose)
Wikipedia).
After today’s lecture… 4
You will be able to:
1. Understand the range of resources, services and facilities that an
academic library offers.
2. Apply different techniques for generating secondary data.
3. Discuss the techniques for reading academic articles or
industry/business reports critically.
Data Gathering 5
Evaluating Sources 6
Do you know how to tell if a source is a good one to use?
It’s really important to evaluate the information you are going to use
for a research project.
To determine if the database, book, article, website, or other
resource is a valid, credible one, you should consider several points.
Evaluation points – Ask… 7
Who? Who is the author? Are his/her
credentials listed?
What? What information is available from this
resource? Is it a citation, an abstract, a
complete article? Is it research based on
facts? Is it someone’s opinion?
Where? Where did the author(s) get the
information? Does he/she provide a list of
his/her sources? Are citations provided?
Evaluation points – Ask… 8
When? When was the resource produced?
For books, check the copyright date.
For articles, check the publication date.
For websites, look for a "created on" or "last
updated on" date. (Website copyright dates
don’t tell when the information was added or
updated.)
Why? Why does this resource exist? Is the purpose to
entertain, persuade, inform, etc.? Is the
resource biased?
Techniques for generating Secondary data 9
The Search for Information 10
Where do I start?
So, where should you start? 11
The best place is your Online Learning
Library!
Why start here? 12
The Online Learning Library resources give you:
o Librarians curate only authoritative and credible sources.
These sources include books, journals, and databases.
o Another benefit of using library resources is that they are
organised, making it easy for you to find the resources you
need.
o Access to third-party databases
Let’s take a look at the…. 13
Search Engine 14
Tools
Each search engine has its own unique
algorithms (set of rules to arrange web
pages in search results). Trying a new
search engine may just be the trick you
need.
Examples of other search engines to try
include:
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
Tips to use online search engines 15
Use the truncation symbol (*) and the wildcard symbol (?) to
broaden your search.
o For example, agricultur* will provide search results that
include the following words: agriculture, agricultural, and
agriculturalist.
Use inverted commas to search for a specific phrase together.
o For example, “employee benefits” on google returns with
“employee” and “benefits” together or at least in the same
sentence.
Example 16
More search help 17
Use Boolean operators Each result contains all search terms.
EXAMPLE: The search employee and benefits
finds items that contain both employee and
AND benefits.
AND narrows the
Each result contains at least one search term.
search EXAMPLE: The search employee or benefits finds
items that contain either employee or items that
OR contain benefits or both.
OR broadens the
search
Results do not contain the specified terms.
EXAMPLE: The search employee not benefits
finds items that contain employee but do not
NOT narrows the NOT contain benefits.
search
Techniques for Website 18
evaluation
Many websites aim to make money, but only some offer genuine
value to users.
Check the About Us page: Identify the owner or organization behind
the website and their goals (e.g. [Link], [Link], and [Link]).
Examine article dates: Avoid undated content and articles relying on
outdated facts for recent conclusions.
Clues that will help 19
The Internet address (URL or domain name)
extension at the end correlates to the server which is
the "home base" for that Internet address. Based on
this extension, you can make an educated guess as to
the credibility of the information.
EXAMPLES: [Link] [Link]
.gov - government sites (credible and reliable)
.edu or ac – education sites (credible and reliable)
.org - organization sites (check their “About Us” link)
.com - commercial sites (some are ok – check for bias)
.net - network infrastructures (some are ok)
.uk - abbreviation of a country
Academic journals 20
For authors to publish They allow you to
academic journals Highly Research explore both
online, they are credible options. quantitative and
required to verify their qualitative research,
information sources
through links and
citations.
Scholarly articles attempt to Offer Great
Academic journals promote
discuss and outline the merits clarity reading
active reading and provoke
of other explanations and deep thinking.
Offer
viewpoints which are in
evidence
contrast to their views.
Authors of online academic
journals are required to
provide proof that supports
their claims by referencing the
sources of their information..
Example 21
22
Tutorial Activities
Task 1 23
Recall that there are three types of Google (Google, Google
Scholar and Google Books) which can be useful in finding
secondary as well primary data.
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each type of
Google.
Background 24
Google ([Link]) – this is a search engine which
searches over a billion websites.
Google Scholar ([Link] – this is the
academic arm of Google.
Google Books ([Link] – this allows you to
search across a number of books that have been made
available electronically.
Activity: 1 25
For the keywords Hybrid Working Trends in Uk, search the three
types of Google and complete the following table.
Number of
Type of Google Benefits Drawbacks
Information's
Google
([Link])
Google Scholar
[Link]
uk
Google Books
[Link]
k
Task 2: Electronic resources 26
Use Boolean operators Each result contains all search terms.
EXAMPLE: The search employee and benefits
finds items that contain both employee and
AND benefits.
AND narrows the
Each result contains at least one search term.
search EXAMPLE: The search employee or benefits finds
items that contain either employee or items that
OR contain benefits or both.
OR broadens the
search
Results do not contain the specified terms.
EXAMPLE: The search employee not benefits
finds items that contain employee but do not
NOT narrows the NOT contain benefits.
search
Activity: 1 27
Step Activity Instructions Example
AND: "Employee AND turnover"
Three main Boolean operators: AND, retrieves results containing both
1 Introduce Boolean Logic Basics OR, NOT. For example, Employee terms.
turnover in UK. OR: "Employee OR turnover"
retrieves broader results.
Topic: Leadership in crisis
List keywords related to a management.
2 Keyword Brainstorming management topic you want to Keywords: Leadership, crisis,
explore. decision-making, management,
resilience.
Create search strings using "AND"
Search String: "Leadership AND
3 Combine Keywords with AND to narrow results to include all
Crisis Management"
keywords.
Use "OR" to include synonyms or Search String: "Leadership OR
4 Expand Searches with OR
related terms to broaden results. Management OR Decision-Making"
Exclude Irrelevant Terms with Use "NOT" to filter out irrelevant or Search String: "Leadership AND
5
NOT unwanted terms from the results. Crisis Management NOT Political"
Task 3: Website evaluation 28
Understand the difference between primary and secondary
resources.
Recall some of the key questions that need to be asked in
order to evaluate a website for academic use.
Critically evaluate websites
Activity:1 29
Imagine that you have been working on problem of employees work
life. You find the following four websites on the topic:
Employer News [Link]
Office for National Statistics [Link]
Statista [Link]
Wikipedia [Link]
Spend five minutes looking at each website in turn and, using the questions on
the Website Evaluation Checklist (on the next page) to help, decide on some
plus and negative points for each website.
1. Website Evaluation 30
Checklist
Notes
Is it related to your
problem?
Who produced the
website and the
material within it?
Is the material on the
website primary or
secondary?
Is the material up-to-
date enough for your
problem?
Is the material biased?
Activity:2 31
Plus Points Negative Points
Employer News
[Link]
k/news
Office for National
Statistics
[Link]
Statista [Link]
Wikipedia
[Link]
32
Any questions?
[Link]