31 Jan In the SLPs, you will take a deep div

DOC670 Applied Statistics for Research

Module 1 SLP

ASSESSMENT OF DATA SOURCES FOR THE RESEARCH PROBLEM

In this SLP you will begin the process of collecting and analyzing background information on the firm for your dissertation. You received this firm’s commitment via the Letter of Intent in DOC650. In the SLPs, you will analyze secondary data on your chosen firm. (In the Cases, you will design how you will conduct your primary research at the firm.) Secondary data are records that are publicly available while primary data for most of you will involve interviews and observations at the firm.

In the SLPs, you will take a deep dive into the context of the firm for your dissertation. For some of you this may be a for-profit corporation that has stockholders and publishes an Annual Report with articles about the firm in Forbes, Fortune, CNNMoney, and other sources. For others, this may be a non-profit or volunteer organization. Some may have selected a small business that is privately owned, or you may have selected a government agency for your dissertation. You could be researching an educational institution at any level. Bear in mind that before you can start collecting primary data from the firm, you will need to submit a proposal on your research to Trident’s Institutional Review Board, one of whose rules is that research subjects must be at least 18 years of age.

In this SLP, you will describe the organization where you will conduct your dissertation research, describing the organization in detail and why it is relevant for your research question. Here in SLP 1, you will build a quantitative case to supplement your qualitative rationale for selecting this firm.

Below is a list of data sources that may be helpful in finding background information for your firm. You may have other sources, and you can certainly use them as long as you provide the source for the information you use in justifying the context for your dissertation research.

Data Sources

Pew http://www.pewresearch.org/download-datasets/

http://money.cnn.com/quote/financials/financials.html?symb=UA

https://www.usa.gov/statistics

https://www.census.gov/econ/isp/

https://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_table_201.htm

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NV.IND.TOTL.ZS

https://data.oecd.org/industry/industrial-production.htm

https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/content/NACJD/index.html

https://www.kaggle.com/datasets

https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/susb.html

https://www.census.gov/econ/survey.html

http://www.annualreports.com/

https://www.ibisworld.com/industry-trends/ (available via the Trident Online Library)

https://www.financewalk.com/industry-analysis/

Nonprofits

http://foundationcenter.org/find-funding/990-finder

In the remaining SLPs, you will use Excel. In Figure 1 below you see how you can get the latest version of Excel via the Trident website using Microsoft 365. EXCEL is free to you as a TUI Student. Log on to mytlc.trident.edu and then go to your email.

Click the Office 365 button at the top.

Click Install Office Apps.

Follow the directions to get Office 365 on your computer.

Figure 1