MANA 420 Assignment 1 F2023-3

Assignment 1: Developing a Theoretical Framework Management Research for Decision Making MANA 420 – Fall 2023 – Section AA Instructor: Seth Spain The purpose of this assignment is for student to build their skills in (a) reading and interpreting research articles, (b) developing ideas about how and why variables are related to one another, and (c) writing hypotheses to describe relations among variables. All of these skills will be required to complete the final research report. For this assignment, students will work together in teams to come up with a theoretical framework and hypotheses using one of the key variables from the student survey completed by MANA 420 students at the beginning of the term (i.e., Survey X). This assignment is worth 10% of your final grade in the course. DUE DATE: 5:45pm, October 17, via Moodle NOTE : Please follow APA reporting standards and submit assignment as a Word document. For this assignment, you need to: 1. Conduct interviews and summarize what you learn (approximately 750 – 1000 words in total). Use the Interview Guide (below) to collect qualitative information from people about their experiences with fear of failure in an academic setting. Each team must interview as many people as they have on their team (e.g., a 3-person team needs to interview 3 people) and it is permitted to interview each other.  Marked-up interview transcripts : Take notes of interviewees’ answers and comments, using their actual words as much as possible. Try to get one-half to one page of data from each interviewee (around 250 words). Transcribe (type) your interview notes. You must underline or highlight interesting answers and comments within your transcripts and include these marked-up interview transcripts in an appendix to your assignment ( note . make sure to include in your transcripts what you say to participants as well ). Make sure you note which team member conducted the interview on each transcript, and that you note on the transcript that the interviewee was asked to provide their consent and consented.  Summary of interviews : In addition to the marked-up transcripts in the appendix, elaborate on the interesting answers and comments you noticed by identifying and explaining themes that emerged across your interviews. 1

2. Conduct a literature search and summarize what you find (approximately 500- 800 words) : Find and read peer-reviewed empirical articles on the topic of fear of failure in an academic setting . Each team must include at least 1 article per team member (e.g., a 4-person team needs to find and read 4 articles). Briefly summarize the key findings related to fear of failure in an academic setting from each article (not more than 200 words per article). Follow the American Psychological Association (APA) style guidelines when citing the articles and make each summary about one paragraph, similar to an abstract, but in your own words .  Make sure you find empirical articles published in peer-reviewed academic journals. If you need practice using library databases to find peer-reviewed articles, use the “How to” guides available on the library website. Note that an empirical article is one in which the authors report the results of a study that they conducted, for which they gathered and analyzed data using statistics.  Make sure you provide complete references for all articles in a reference list at the end of your report, and format the references according to the APA style guidelines. Also include a copy of the first page of each article with your assignment in the appendices. 3. Draw a boxes-and-arrows theoretical framework and explain it (about 300 words). Use your interview data, the articles you read, and your own logic to select 4- 6 key variables (including the focus variable, fear of failure in an academic setting) for your framework. Make sure you have at least one dependent variable, one independent variable, one mediator and one moderator in your framework. Write a paragraph ( not more than 300 words ) that provides theoretical explanations (i.e., reasons based on past theories or your own reasoning) for all relations among your key variables. 4. Write two bivariate hypotheses that are illustrated in your framework, and that could be tested to provide evidence about whether your reasoning is correct.  These hypotheses will not capture your whole framework, only pieces of it. Keep in mind the meaning of a bivariate hypothesis when writing yours. 5. Include a CRediT authorship statement to describe each group member’s contribution to this assignment. For more information about CRediT authorship statements, please click the link below. Some of the terms may not be applicable to this assignment (e.g., funding acquisition), but other terms are. For example:  investigation could reflect conducting an interview  conceptualization or formal analysis could reflect developing the theoretical framework  writing - original draft could reflect writing the initial description of the framework  project administration could reflect organizing meetings  Other terms that may be relevant to this assignment include terms such as finding articles, writing hypotheses, getting work done on time 2

4 FEAR of FAILURE—INTERVIEW GUIDE Verbal introduction/information letter My name is <say your name here.> I would like to ask you a few questions about a topic I am studying in a research methods course at the John Molson School of Business. The topic is fear of failure in academic settings, and I hope you will agree to share your experiences and ideas with me. Your participation is voluntary, and I will protect the confidentiality of the information you provide to me. Specifically, I will share what you say only with my team members and my instructor, and the information will only be used to help me and my team members complete an assignment in our research methods course. Your privacy will be protected because I will not record any personal information that could be used to identify you. It will only take a few minutes to answer the questions, and your help with my school project will be greatly appreciated. If at any time you have questions about your rights as a research participant, you may contact my teacher, Dr. Seth Spain, at seth.spain @concordia.ca. 1. Do you agree to participate in this interview? (Make sure to note the response)  If they say no, thank them for listening to your request and find someone else who is willing to participate. 2. Can you think of a time when you were afraid that you might fail a course, test or assignment? 3. What was the course, test or assignment that concerned you? Approximately how long ago did this happen? 4. Why were you afraid that you might fail this course, test or assignment? 5. How did the fear of failing this course, test or assignment affect you? 6. Did you do anything to cope with the fear of failing this course, test or assignment? And if yes, what did you do and what were the results? 7. If you have never been afraid of failing a course, test or assignment why do you think you have such confidence? 8. Are there any other comments about the topic of fear of failure that you would like to share with me? Thank the participant for his or her help.