Education Section > Project Management

LIS3201 - Research & Data Analysis

Fall 2007

Instructor: Christopher Landbeck

In this course, the assignments focused on a variety of research methods. We learned about interviews, surveys, Gantt charts, Pareto charts, fishbone diagrams, observations, secondary data sources and more. This course taught me a lot about these research methods, which going into the course, I knew very little about. I learned how to write survey questions and how to conduct interviews. These skills will help me in the future as there may be times where I might need to interview end users. I will also need to create surveys and Gantt charts in the future that will help me keep organized in group projects.

For this course, we had to complete a major group assignment that required us to create a mock research need. We had to create a scenario where someone needed certain information. In this mock research scenario we had to create a mission and vision statement, a SWOT analysis, objectives and goals, and what research tools were needed to gather data. For this particular project, I was again the group leader. I would say this was my toughest challenge as a leader. The group was hesitant to work on the project. It seemed that no one wanted to meet when we needed to get some work done. It was a real struggle to get the assignment completed. However, when we needed to get things completed, I was able to rally the team and we were able to work together and complete the necessary items for the assignment.

It was the first time that I really had to push my teammates. For the most part, in most groups, I usually had really motivated members and I did not have to say much, they just did their part. I feel that this taught me a lot. There will be times in a real position where not everyone is going to be motivated. I learned how to get people to do their work and get motivated without upsetting them. So for this course, I felt I learned more about project management and leading than I did about research methods.

Skills Acquired

• Interviewing Techniques
• Gantt Charts
• Fishbone Diagrams

Samples

• Research Scenario - This is the research scenario that my group developed. I put the document together, taking everyone’s piece and putting it into a professional format. I also wrote the Mission portion of this document. Finally, I also reviewed and edited the document.

  Download the Research Scenario (PDF) - (48.7 KB)