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Main Topic: Starting Your Research, an Example Using CIT

Hosts: James Stanworth, Clyde Warden

Research FindingThis show begins a trilogy of research talks. These shows are of special interest to anyone working on service research, especially using CIT methodology, and those trying to choose a research topic. The CIT method is used throughout all three examples of three research projects, all ending in published papers.

For beginning researchers, the biggest problem is choosing a research topic is, well, choosing a research topic. The first show emphasizes how to narrow your research topic until you can get a doable project, extending existing work. The following shows extend that initial work and show how that small, specific replication can lead to a thread of research over a number of years.

This show is the first in a three part series centering on three research projects examining restaurant service in the Chinese cultural context. In Show 55 Clyde and James cover the three projects with an emphasis on how researchers and students can move from research ideas to publication.

Good research question are easy to ask and answer. In this study we ask if existing restaurant service failures occur in Chinese service settings. Because the error categories are already known, the area of the study is narrowed and we are just comparing differences, rather than starting from scratch. Where differences occur across cultures,they are fairly easy to explain. Not cooked to order is an example of an error common in the West but rare in the Chinese context. Frequency of occurrence is clearly different, and then we immediately know that few Chinese dishes have any cook to order component (med. rare, well, etc.).

On the other hand, an error like spillage is frequent in our data but never came up as an error in the Western research results. Again, easy to explain--Chinese meals normally have a large liquid component, such as soup. If we had many different and new categories, we end up having to explain so much that the results are difficult to link to reality and the link to existing research weakens, threatening overall validity--in other words, we would have to suspect our research was not done correctly. One or two differences, however, is a perfect extension.

Starting off your marketing research can be very difficult for new researchers and students. This show is a bit long, but if you are facing a new research project, the advice here is great. Video resolution is a bit low to shorten download times. To see the slides clearly, use the link below to download the PPT file. Download: Presentation Slides from this presentation. Download: Published Paper from this research project.

The bad news is research takes quite a long time (over a year easily) . . . but replication can make your start much smoother.

Listen To The Show (Audio Only):

Length: 1 hour 19 minutes. Download MP3 37.13MB (Right click->Save As).

Consumer Cam

Watch The Show (Video & Audio):

From NCKU in Tainan, Taiwan, Clyde and James.
Length: 1 hour 19 minutes.
iPod Download MP4 351.62MB (Right click->Save As).
QuickTime Download MOV 287.84MB (Right click->Save As).
Windows Media Download WMV 174.88MB (Right click->Save As).
{embed_uri}show_057_cit_1{/embed_uri}

Show Links:

Bottom Line:

  • From start to published result can take many years, and always takes at least two years.
  • Replication is perfect to start off with, and for master degree work.
  • A rich topic is easy to find existing work and helps make data easy to collect, in this case--restaurant service.
  • Creative research designs can maximize existing sample frames--in this case, using Chinese consumers across two cultural settings.
  • Results, including statistical results, need to be tie back to reality and be presented in an easy to understand way--in this case our 3D model.
  • Choosing a clear methodology from the start of a project makes completing the project more certain.

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