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Principles of Research
DPLS 720 – Fall 2012
Table of Contents
Course Information................................................................................................................................................. 2
Description & Format ............................................................................................................................................ 2
Objectives.................................................................................................................................................................. 3
Reading Materials ................................................................................................................................................... 4
Assignments and Grading .................................................................................................................................... 4
Schedule of Class Topics and Reading Assignments ................................................................................... 6
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Course Information
Course Name: Principles of Research
Course Number: DPLS 720
Credits: 3
Day of the Week/Time: Saturdays, 8:00am-12:00pm
Dates: Sept 8, 22; Oct 6, 20; Nov 3, 17; Dec 1, 8
Location: Tilford 405
Instructor: Chris Francovich, Ed.D.
Email: francovich@gonzaga.edu
Phone: 509-313-3592
Office Hours: Please call for an appointment
Description & Format
This course is about questions. It is about asking them and learning techniques and strategies for
answering them. However, at its heart the course is an extended encounter with the phenomena
of the question process itself. A small beginning list of those questions is: Why do we ask
questions? What is our ‘search’ in research about? What is the “truth” of a thing or a process?
What is reality? Who defines it? How do we operationalize our definitions? Who is research for?
What is its relationship to power? To Leadership? To the Self? To the Group?
This course is designed around two linked strategies. The first strategy is about continuing the
conversation you have likely had about research methods and design in your Masters work from
a more or less traditional perspective. The Babbie text is an excellent expositor of this tradition.
The second key strategy is looking at research methods and practices from a more frankly
philosophical perspective and discussing methodologies that have emerged from late modern and
postmodern scientific/theoretical breakthroughs around the problems of human knowledge and
human knowing. Crotty’s book will get us deep into this perspective. We will use the Somekh &
Lewin text to bridge these two approaches. Both of these strategies will be at play throughout the
semester.
Strategy #1:
I believe it is important to recognize that pure and applied research is done for purposes that
involve the pragmatic concerns of human beings. This includes health, commerce, trade, gain,
status, and even survival. We have become a species that does research for very instrumental
reasons. Companies hire brilliant scientists to discover new ways to make things grow, kill
things, change things, make things taste better, make people believe certain things, or a host of
other reasons. Large research universities are the context for large government and corporate
funded efforts on virtually all fronts of human knowledge. The systematic and logical processes
that underlie these activities are, of course, part of what this course is about. In general this
perspective on reality could be called objectivist/realist/materialist, empirical, and logically
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rigorous. Much of the ‘design’ logic of research is based on this tradition. Variables, samples and
sampling, tests, validity, reliability, and inference are central to research undertaken from these
assumptions.
Strategy #2:
Research is also about another thing. That ‘thing’ is (in my view) the most problematic aspect of
research and continues to bedevil theorists on all sides of political debates, religious divides,
ideological divides, and cultural divides. That ‘thing’ is called by various names. Some of the
names are: perspective, point of view, paradigm, belief system, or outlook. It is in this part of our
inquiry that the work we do in leadership studies becomes acutely relevant. These perspectives
and the questions they suggest cannot be sidestepped, minimized, or rationalized. This element
of research requires deep thinking and deep participation in whichever community one is in. A
central component of this second strategy is the relatively recent turn in research to qualitative
methodologies and increasing utilization of deeply philosophical and theoretical models (e.g.,
hermeneutics, phenomenology, critical theory).
So this course is about these ‘two’ things being understood as necessary aspects of human
experience and part of the general conversation around social justice, human rights, posthumanist values (including ecological sustainability), and the purposes of human activity. In this
course we will be doing a lot of talking about perception, belief, meaning, and reality. These are
‘heady’ concepts but ones I trust will make increasing sense as we navigate the literature and
work on the problems we encounter. This course is also prerequisite to DPLS 722 Quantitative
Research Methods which is also an intensive problem-set based course requiring ample time for
focused concentration.
This class also includes a discussion of basic premises regarding how we learn (are transformed)
and how this learning process influences and is influenced by research. The framework of
Ignatian pedagogy will be used to clarify this thesis. Different ways of knowing become apparent
through analyzing multiple social science research paradigms. These research paradigms provide
a framework for reviewing various research methods and related theory development. However
it is also the case that doctoral level work in research requires that all participants in the course
master the basics of research design theory and logic. A critically important component of this
course are your reflections about concepts presented in class discussions, assignments, and
readings, and the "meanings" you assign to these concepts. This course is designed to honor the
pursuit of truth in the context of culture.
Objectives
Intentions & aims for the course:

To better understand how we learn (gain new meanings) from research;

Develop and extend a coherent research design using the vocabulary and logic of
contemporary post-positivist research methodology
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
Explore and understand social science research paradigms, their underlying
assumptions, and how they impact what we learn from research;

Understand and practice sampling and the sampling procedures used for positivist,
interpretivist, critical, etc., research designs;

Discuss and demonstrate general principles of making positivist, interpretivist,
critical, etc. observations in research;

Think and write about the purpose and procedures of various research methods:
survey, quantitative, experimental, qualitative, and unobtrusive;

Survey and talk about the general methods of analyzing data for positivist,
interpretivist, critical, etc., research designs; and

Explore and discuss ethical issues associated with positivist, interpretivist, critical,
etc., research designs.
Reading Materials
Required Texts
Foundations of Social Research
Author: Crotty
ISBN: 0-761-96106-2
Publisher: SAGE
Theory & Methods in Social Research 2nd edition
Authors: Somekh & Lewin
ISBN: 9781849200158 (paperback)
Publisher: SAGE
The Practice of Social Research
Author: Babbie
ISBN: 0-495-59841-0
Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing; Edition: 12th
Other Readings will be provided via hardcopy and on Blackboard
Assignments and Grading
The central expectation for this course is that everyone do all the reading, problem sets and
reflections. I also think it is critical that everyone show up for class and be fully present in
your group work and conversations about research. If you miss more than two classes
for any reason you will have to take the course over. It is also important that you
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complete assignments in a timely manner and interact with your workgroup in a mutually
beneficial way.
Assessment & grading in this course will be based on participation, completed assignments,
group presentation, reflections, and your final project.
Pre-Course assignment (Details for this assignment will be posted on Blackboard well prior
to the commencement of the course) (~ 10% of Grade)
Group Work – See Blackboard > Assignments for structure & criteria of group assignments. (~
20 % of Grade)
Reflections (4) – Choice of topics will be discussed at the first meeting (also see Blackboard).
Write a one-page critical reflection on your chosen topic. Do you agree or disagree? Why or why
not? Why is this issue of importance to leadership studies researchers or social scientists
engaging in research or those reading research manuscripts and reports? What are the questions
and/or concerns that this topic raises for you? Journals will be posted on blackboard and will not
exceed 500 words. Four entries due as indicated on course schedule. (~ 30% of Grade)
Final Project – At the end of the course you will have considered and reflected on numerous
models serving as project templates. You are expected to integrate relevant elements if these
models from the texts, and/or from outside resources to complete a research proposal. Please
Blackboard for specific criteria. (~ 40% of Grade)
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Schedule of Class Topics and Reading Assignments
Session Topic
#
0
1
9/8
Research and the foundations of science
(Positivism)
Class Covenant
Dialogue & the DPLS
Groups Meet and Discuss Research essays.
Overview of Readings
Group Work
Reflection Topics Presented
2
9/22
Interpretations
Check in
Group Work
Discussion
Assignment
Pre-Class Reading:
Crotty: Chapter 1-2
Somekh & Lewin (S&L): Chapters 1-2;
23-24
Readings for Meeting #2
Crotty: Chapter 3-5
Somekh & Lewin: Chapter 13-15; 20-21
Babbie: Chapters 1 -3
Reflection #1 Due
3
10/6
Research for Change & Critical Perspectives
Check in
Group Work
Discussion
Readings for 3rd Meeting
Crotty Chapters 6-7
Somekh & Lewin: 9-10
Babbie: Chapters 4-6
Reflection Topics Presented
4
10/20
Identities & Power
Check in
Group Work
Discussion
Readings for 4th Meeting
Somekh & Lewin: 8, 18, 33-36
Babbie: Chapters 7-9
Crotty: 8-9
Reflection #2 Due
5
11/3
Research Design & Part Two
Check in
Group Work
Discussion
Readings for 5th Meeting
Somekh & Lewin: Chapters 4-7, 11, 28,
32
Babbie: Chapters 10-12
Reflection Topics Presented
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Session Topic
#
6
11/17
Design, Operationalization & Analysis
Check in
Group Work
Discussion
Assignment
Readings for 6th Meeting
S&L: Chapters 25-27
Babbie: Chapters 13-17
Reflection #3 Due
7
12/1
8
12/8
More on Design
Check in
Group Work
Discussion
Readings for 7th Meeting TBA
Design & Analysis
Check in
Group Work
Discussion
Readings for 8th Meeting TBA
12/14
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Reflection Topics Presented
Reflection #4 Due
Course Paper/Project Due: 12/14
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