A632.3.4.RB - Reflections on Decision-making

Shoemaker and Russo discuss the hazards associated with "frame blindness" and how to guard against it. Discuss three ways you can avoid "framing traps" and provide a detailed example of each from your life experience. Could you have framed each situation differently? What did the exercise teach you about complex decision-making? What additional tools or "frames" would've helped you through the process? How much "risk" do you feel was in your recommendation? What did you learn about yourself through this exercise?

Framing theory suggests that how something is presented influences the choices people make. Frames are abstract notions that serve to organize or structure social meanings. This way of thinking is the reciprocal of rational choice theory, the process of determining what options are available and then choosing the most preferred one according to a consistent criteria,

There are three types of frames:

• problem frames generates solutions; 
• decision frames decided amongst clear alternatives; and,
• thinking frames utilize deeper mental structures by relying on years of experience. 

Frames sound convenient, but can also lead to making false assumptions. They can form mental "traps" that cause decision makers to make uninformed and/or ineffective decisions.” (Shoemaker & Russo, 2001) Frame blindness is when people set out to solve the wrong problem because they have created a mental framework for their decision with little thought. That causes them to overlook the options or lose sight of important objectives.

At work, it may be necessary for me to alert students who are under a certain amount of credit hours that they cannot stay in residential housing on campus. This is a policy which all students are aware of, but we do always have students who believe they will slip through the cracks. When there is a student who has struggled for a few semesters and is now either under credit hours or is taking none, I need to confirm this with them and give them the opportunity to prove their level of credit hours or they must find off-campus housing or return home. 

As a student affairs professional, it is my preference to see that all students are taking the necessary amount of courses to stay at the University. However,  none of the correspondence I must make is the first. Not only have these students been notified by their advisors and colleges that they were suffering academically and needed to seek resources, they have ignored emails stating they were expelled or suspended. 

As a college student, I had many classmates simply disappear after weeks of apathy and absence in courses. I always wondered what their plan was. Were they going to submit all of their homework by email? Make A+ grades on every test and final? Beg for mercy for a D+? Or did they know more than we all did? Did they realize that a lackadaisical attitude was the easiest way to "get out of the rat race" and pursue goals that had nothing to do with higher education? 

I can only imagine that many of these students have been on academic probation for a good deal of time and hid this information from their parents. How difficult it must be to confront the truth of their actions, when so much emotion and money has been invested. 

Though I am not a parent, I can only imagine the loss I would feel if my child called me after several moments of starting their higher educational pursuits, that they were dropping out of college. I realize many parents sacrifice a great deal to send their children to school, taking on extra hours at work or going without desires to guarantee that the tuition was paid in full. Many have even taken out second loans on their homes or made daring financial decisions that will affect them for years to come. 

However, as a professional, it is also my desire to make sure they are not acquiring debt when they are not dedicated to acquiring a degree in the process. It would be most unjust for us to charge them for a college education without them being able to benefit from one. In the long run I know it is better to have been the representative to say that the student cannot hide any longer behind hoping that no one will notice their failure, and allowing them to find a more definite route to success than to lay stagnant in place of educational development and progress.

We can avoid frames by: 

• Making sure we do not immediately accept the initial frame in our minds;
• Seeing problems in a neutral manner by replaying the possible decisions and balancing games and losses from different standpoints (Hoch & Kunreuther, 2005); and,
• Getting recommendations from others and examining the way they frame problems, and challenging them to see their possible decision from multiple standpoints

References

Hoch, S. J., & Kunreuther, H. C. (2005). Wharton on making decisions. (1st edition.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

 

Russo, J. Edward, and Paul J. Schoemaker. Winning Decisions : Getting It Right the First Time. New York: Currency, 2001. Print.

A632.2.3.RB - Sheena Iyengar: How to Make Choosing Easier

We all want customized experiences and products -- but when faced with 700 options, consumers freeze up. With fascinating new research, Sheena Iyengar demonstrates how businesses (and others) can improve the experience of choosing. Identify four of the methodologies Sheena Iyengar suggests as methods of helping us improve our experience in choosing. Discuss the implications of two of these methods in terms of your own decision-making as an individual and a member of an organization. How else can you improve your ability to decide?


     In "Wharton on making decisions," Hoch and Kunreuther (2005) discuss how decision-making can be accompanied by systems which aid in choice. In review of the brick-and-mortar providers of choice, it is important to balance the joy of variety with the stress which develops from information overload.

Cut Out Options
     Less is more. By cutting out extra options, the choosing experience improves. Iyengar notes that while people may marvel over a plethora of choices, they are less likely to choose if there are too many to choose from. When people do choose from too many options, they choose in ways that simplify their option, which may disregard the benefit of diversification. As an individual, I am a big thinker, and I often find myself wanting to "do it all" instead of weighing options and cutting choices.      If I have the choice between making steak or salmon for dinner, and both are un-thawed, I plan to make surf-and-turf. My rationale is, "why wait?" At work, I am much the same way. I would rather try to make all event ideas happen instead of just one. I can admit that these kind of decisions often stretch me farther than I anticipate, particularly when I do not have the manpower. Learning to live by Matthew 6:27 is a goal: "Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" Realizing that there are still only 24 hours in a day is far more challenging than it should be. Noting pros and cons to each decision would help to make the road to choose easier.

Concretization, or Concrete Decision-Making
     Iyengar's third step discusses how people need to make options more concrete. This is done by seeing and feeling the effects of certain decisions, not just thinking about them abstractly. Abstract thoughts are open to generalizations, overestimating the profits of benefits or underestimating the risk, challenges and negative outcomes. As Iyengar discusses, "Why do people spend an average of 15 to 30 percent more when they use an ATM card or a credit card as opposed to cash? Because it doesn't feel like real money." 

     As an individual, I am much the same when it comes to money. In studying the financial wisdom of Dave Ramsey and Suzie Orman, I am learning to make my financial decisions more concrete. I collect and organize receipts from all of my expenditures so I can see how many transactions are made in a day and week. I have text messaging set so I can easily access the amount of money in my account. Though I am not to the point where I use envelopes to split my check into food money, insurance money, cell phone money, and otherwise (as Ramsey emphasizes), I have made it far more difficult to escape the ignorance of not knowing how much money I have or how much is spent (2009).

Utilize Categories
       Reflecting on Iyengar's example in cutting options in terms of financial decisions, "the more choices available, the more likely people were to completely avoid stocks or equity funds. The more choices available, the more likely they were to put all their money in pure money market accounts." Stocks is a category in which people generalize as risky; within this one choice, it is the goal of investors to find stocks which are profitable, as they have already resolved that anything deemed a stock is risky.

Condition for Complexity
       Conditioning for complexity involves making a decision from a grand list of choices - but doing so with pacing. Consumers want decisions, but are more likely to make them if the choices start small and increase over time, than starting large and minimizing options.


References

Hoch, S. J., & Kunreuther, H. C. (2005). Wharton on making decisions. (1st edition.). Hoboken, NJ:      John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Ramsey, Dave. (2009). Dave Ramsey's Envelope System. daveramsey.com. Accessed at
   http://www.daveramsey.com/article/dave-ramseys-envelope-system/lifeandmoney_budgeting/

A632.1.4.RB - Multistage Decision-Making

In thinking about my decision making process and reflecting on the processes I use, I do believe I utilize similar practices in evaluating my own thinking. The questions managers ask themselves are:

• Am I being myopic?
• How appropriate is the starting analogy I'm using to solve a problem?
• What are the penalties for making an error?
• What am I learning from the feedback I am receiving?

As a supervisor for 27 direct and indirect supervisees, I recall asking myself the fourth question rather often. What am I learning from the feedback I'm receiving? First of all, I make sure then I asked for feedback often, but usually from my to direct supervise these. Is important that they see me as someone who is open minded and cognizant of my flaws. I keep an open door in eating them with their work and asking for input on my own work especially when it affects them directly. I realize that as a direct supervisor I have the most impact on  employees' experiences in my department and my organization. 

I take the responsibility making the office a peaceful place for them to work. I have to take initiative to make things better by avoiding an unfair and hostile work environment. I realize that spite is bound to ruin affected communication. I recognize their contributions and check on their progress in projects not by asking them where they are, but by asking what I can do to help them and congratulating them when they're on the right track to success. The decisions that one makes today can hope to make better decisions in the future (p. 60). 

I anticipate to learn from those I supervise. I am intrigued by multi-stage decision making because it respects the present and the future as equal. If today, and every day before today, I treated my supervisees as cherished portions of my professional and private life, it would hardly impact them if tomorrow I made a mistake that negatively affected them in only a slight way. It is because I have build up this credit of showing my desire to help them succeed that I can be forgiven for minor indiscretion in the future. However, if I treated them unfairly and disrespected them everyday up until now, one small then sit or gift would not change their opinion of me as a whole.

Hoch, S. J., & Kunreuther, H. C. (2005). Wharton on making decisions. (1st edition.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

The Last Hurrah: Reflections on MSLD 500

Reflect on your perceived value of this course. Include both positive and negative aspects of your experience. What might you have done to improve your learning experience in this course? How might the University or your instructor provide additional support for your learning? Were there topics covered in this course that seem particularly relevant or irrelevant to your experiences and to what you expect to come in future courses?

Graduating from my undergraduate two years ago, I never thought it would take me so long to go back to school. My closest friends all started their Master’s (and some have already completed them) and I felt so far behind. I also felt confused. After straddling two career directions during undergrad and post-graduation, I really was not sure if I could continue to ride both trains or if I needed to put my whole butt in one seat… or if I wanted to try something new. So, in attempting to focus myself, I applied to a ton of grad schools a year ago. I applied to MBA programs, MBA/JD programs, MPA/MBA programs, and one or two creative writing programs; I knew I wanted to get the most degrees in the least amount of time, and I worried of becoming bored through doing only one focused program. Besides, I’d find something to do with one of them, right? I did not want to waste money, accrue new debt or have a degree (or two) worth nada. I also did not want to shift to a focus far out of alignment with my undergraduate degrees, and had worked up arguments for the Master’s transition into all of these programs from my past studies. Though I received some impressive acceptance letters, the money was not there for most of them. I was going to have to work part-time as a TA or GA and go to school full-time; I was unsure if I wanted to eat cup-o-noodles every night for two years.

Before I headed to Arizona to work for ERAU, I was enrolled in a Master’s of Higher Education Leadership program at a large university in the south. I had settled one having a decent amount of debt for a degree I thought I’d probably use. It did not feel right – the place, the time, the balancing act of driving two hours three days a week for classes, working a part-time job on campus to fill the gap my employer refused to, and working full-time to have a place to stay. The opportunity to go to school and work where I lived was my blessing. Though I would have finished a degree by now if I had gone right into grad school, I cannot guarantee the degree I would have would be more than a one-liner on my resume. The opportunity to work on my Master’s through ERAU’s Worldwide Campus has been a grand combination of my needs.

One of the benefits of this course was that I seemed to always be able to incorporate the week’s theme to my everyday work. I loved the fallacies and could have stayed on them longer (it could be a course on its own). Being able to read with them in mind gave me red lights to seek when reviewing departmental paperwork and proposals, talking to my supervisees about their staff’s personal and group concerns and when making appeals of my own (particularly when I do educational advisements [judicial]). One of our papers focusing on personal and professional standards (A500.2.3.RB - Tell Your Story) applied directly to my professional work and how the way my thinking has changed over time. I believe this reflection directly impacts the way I lead and what I stand for. In totality, I believe the course helped me understand myself better as a supervisor.

One of my lowlights for this course was a disconnect between the annotated bibliographies and the Action Research Project. I became lost in whether the project was supposed to be about the Critical Thinking Test or the topic of our Annotated Bibliography research. Alas, this is a setback of the online format, as I times wished that I had face-to-face contact with my classmates. It is much more difficult to pick someone’s brain through email (read: it’s easier to ignore people). Another personal critique is that I did not engage with classmates casually as much as would have liked to. I was surprised at how underutilized the Student Lounge was under Discussions. I planned to engage is lively conversations and debates on current events, as cohorts tend to; though I posted once, I believe I could have put more initiative into striking up conversation. I realize everyone has a life outside of class to attend to but I wanted to know more about how our different environments and backgrounds played into how we interacted on a less formal level.

I appreciated the option of Skyping my professor and the quick responses to emails from the professor. I believe the comments accompanying grading were mostly helpful and my professor’s participation on the class discussion board made me feel like there was an actual conversation taking place.

Great Expectations (for Presentations)

What makes a great presentation great?

As I have witnessed the worse displays of information anyone has ever had to endure (fallacy?), I consider myself an expert on this topic. I have seen over a thousand presentations in my lifetime.

Half have conspired with poor, innocent PowerPoint to commit audio-visual attempted murder. Perhaps a quarter have been without the use of technology. Within the last quarter, half were were so painful, I have wiped them from my memory. I only remember the presenter standing in front of the room, then slow-clapping; everything else is a blur. Of the ones I do remember, however, many had these characteristics:

• Too much information is on the slide
• The presenter reads from the presentation
• The presenter is playing with something (i.e. a pen, a paper, their pocket lint, etc.)
• The dependence on fillers (i.e. "umm", "you know what I mean", things like that", "like", "basically", "so", etc.)
• The presenter is seemingly trapped behind a podium, desk or table
• No new oral information is added to the information on the presentation
• The presenter never makes eye contact with the audience
• Little to no audience participation is integrated
• Too little (boring/hard to read) or too much (seizure-inducing/hard to read) contrasting of slide colors

The other half of this quarter, a staggering eighth of all presentations, have been spectacular. Most of them have been TED Talks.

TED Talks have been the saving grace for the demonstration of public speaking. They are short, usually experienced-based talks on technology, health, cultural diversity, and global issues. I could go into how incredible the mission of TED is, which is to spread ideas worldwide for free and inspire conversations about the world around us. This is not the goal of every presentation, but what if we, as individuals, set this as a goal to reach for? The aspects of TED Talks which make them entertaining (and thus, memorable) are:

• The presenter is always looking at the audience
• The presenters move: they pace, they use their hands, they smile
• The presenters make the audience laugh
• Usually there are no podiums to hide behind
• Presenters are holding nothing more in their hands than a presentation remote (never a paper or 3x5 cards)
• The shots change every 15 seconds
• The slides presenters use are always one-liners, pictures or videos; usually combinations of these are utilized

I believe three of these characteristics are what make most presentations successful: looking at the audience instead of the material, deliberately moving about the presentation space, and using visual aids. Making a PowerPoint is easy; presenting it is difficult. Presenting involves knowing your stuff. It means practicing the approach you will use to connect with your audience.

I have found that my most successful presentations have involved not only moving around myself, but integrating activities to get viewers moving. I connect with them through using short videos which explain an idea better than I can, usually through demonstrating what cannot be demonstrated within the confines of a classroom. As I stated, one of the aspects of TED Talks which keeps them visually interesting is shot transitions. You cannot make the "scene changes" in the classroom easily, which is why I incorporate the audience into the presentation. If they are moving, their viewpoint changes. I also set my PowerPoints to transition automatically; this way, I do not have anything in my hands to play with. I also know when to move on to a new idea. It paces out my presentation and it looks intuitive. 

I do not allow my audience to get bored; I believe they can teach me something as I teach them. I ask them questions. I want them to ask questions, and to comment, throughout the presentation. I also add games (depending on the audience) to my presentations. For example, I will add one small, strange icon throughout the slides which I introduce to the viewers at the beginning. I tell them that whenever they see it, to do whatever the icon is doing. Whoever the first person is gets a piece of candy.

Never underestimate the power of candy. Incentive is a fine reason for doing just about anything; to beg for altruism, even passively, is unrealistic. It sounds strange, but it is a great way for people to stay focused on the presentation instead of falling asleep or playing with their cell phones.

Quantitative Research

Quantitative research is the empirical information gathering process. This mode of research involves the researcher being distant and objective. The researcher knows in advance what they are looking for, and asks specific questions to test a hypothesis they have develop which will gather answers. The main characteristic of quantitative data is the information gathered will be numerical data. The information will be analyzed through mathematical calculations. Basic research designs are experimental, correlational, and survey. In correlational research variables are measured. The purpose is to identify the relationship between the variables. In experimental research, variables are manipulated, and the effects of this manipulation is measured upon the dependent variable. In surveys, researchers ask participants questions about the variable within the study.
When using quantitative research, one must know clearly what needs to be examined. Sometimes quantitative researchers work with large data sets; in contrast, qualitative researchers work with small groups, and sometimes, only one subject. The presence of an independent variable and dependent variable are key qualifications of quantitative research, as qualitative research is about discovery, not testing. An independent variable is the portion of the study the researcher makes a hypothesis on. This variable is the portion manipulated by the researcher. The dependent variables are the factors not manipulated, but should change with the changes in the independent variable.

The considerations of quantitative data are objectivity, type of design chosen, accuracy, feasibility, and validity. We want to be able to control the focus of our study. The review of the literature should be written in the way that the reader can judge and acknowledge the objectivity of the researcher. The eye must be narrow for this type of researcher. The research design purpose gives a plan of what will be studied and how. You increase the control of the research study through being objective, which occurs by being a stoic standby instead of involving oneself with external factors. Accuracy is gained through the theoretical framework and the research review.
Feasibility deals with time, money and people. Is there enough time to complete the study? Is there enough subjects available to researcher? Is the study thoroughly financially sponsored? Is the study based on the researcher's skills and interests? Are steps being taken to secure the safety of the test subjects? A researcher wants to make sure the study participants are given equal study materials (the same information, the same survey, etc.). This is different from qualitative research, for qualitative research can change paths due to information given by a subject.

A researcher needs to reduce the outside variables that would disrupt study results. These extraneous variables are usually unexpected and can come into place through using consistent data collection procedures or a similar data set can reduce this effect. However, when you streamline the data set, you can limit the generality of the study and you limit the ability to use the study for other applications.

Randomization is where each subject in the study has an equal chance of being a part of the control group or the experimental group. Internal validity evaluates whether the independent variable really made a change in the dependent variable, which occurs by eliminating the likelihood of other factors as contrary explanations. History (an event inside or outside of the experiment), maturation (things that operate on or in a person over time outside of the experiment), death of a study subject, and selection bias (from the researcher) are all examples of threats to internal validity. External validity is the point in which study results can apply to other people and can be useful to other studies. The final conclusion of quantitative research involves a comparisons of means, and explaining the statistical significance of one's findings.

References

Brock, Stephen E. Descriptive & Correlational Research. Sacramento : California State University. Accessed at  http://www.csus.edu/indiv/b/brocks/Courses/EDS%20250/EDS%20250/PowerPoint/PDFs/Presentation%207.pdf 
Cohen, L., Manion, L. & Morison, K. (2000). Research Methods in Education, 5th edition. Routledge Falmer.
Johnson, B., & Christensen, L. (2008). Educational research: Quantitative, qualitative, and

 mixed approaches (p. 34). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is a type of scientific research which consists of an investigation that seeks answers to a question and uses a predefined set of procedures to answer the question. Qualitative research uses textual descriptions more than numeric data. Participant observation, in-depth interviews, and focus groups are the most common types of qualitative research.
The difference in Qualitative Versus Quantitative Research Paradigms Are in the framework, goals, question and answer format, and the rigor in research design. Qualitative research explores a specific topic, while Quantitative Research begins with a hypothesis on a specific question. Quantitative Research uses numerically-based formats of collecting data, like surveys and rigid observation. Probability sampling, when a small, randomly selected group of people are sampled to evaluate the attitude or opinion of the general population, is regularly used in quantitative research. Purposeful sampling is used in qualitative research to identify information-rich cases related to the occurrence studied. Qualitative research offers more flexible structures (which make it harder to compare data, like quantitative studies rely upon).  Instead of identifying a numerical variance, qualitative data must note differences in data through explaining detail. Qualitative research allows for more open-ended questions which can change based on participant response, while quantitative research established comparability through asking the same questions to all participants and assigning responses flat values. In general, qualitative research is more exploratory, though it involves extra work through stitching together valuable data throughout an experience which could take the researcher away from the original topic; it is more time-intensive and asks more from participants than an inflexible, impersonal, numbers-based survey would.
The benefit to executing qualitative research is that participants are free to use their own words to describe their experience, instead of maneuvering the set choices of others. This method makes it easier for a participant to understand, particularly since most are unfamiliar with scholarly writing and thus, scholarly research and (possibly) wording. Personality and communication style are lost within quantitative research, which come in handy when communicating through qualitative study. However, qualitative research also requires sensitivity that quantitative research may not. In searching for participants, it can be easier to have a mass of people fill out a survey where they understand the information will be generally anonymous, in comparison to a qualitative study which may involve becoming close with a person’s life, and will generally involve the observation of their family, community and culture. This process, known as naturalistic research, involves letting down walls that most would be uncomfortable allowing a stranger into. Lincoln and Guba (1985) state that generalizability, the appealing circumstance in which researchers apply macro conclusions to a micro research platform, can weaken validity. For example, in executing qualitative research in my last undergraduate year about the reasons why Mexican emigration to America is so alluring, I decided to study the people of the Yucatan peninsula. From this lens, I realized not all Mexicans wished to part with their homeland passport; my upper-middle class host family had no interest in leaving for the USA for any more than a trip to New York City or Disney World. This essentially shifted my research altogether; instead, I decided to focus my research on the dynamics between the host families within our program, mostly upper class households, in comparison to the domestic worker families within these wealthy households, focusing on access to higher education between these two groups. The ability to switch my study focus allowed for me to have more meaningful interactions with individuals within both dynamics. Each conversation became a part of my research, instead of sitting down with participants and having them fill out impersonal surveys. Smith and Heshusius (1986, January) claim that naturalistic research can offer only an "interpretation of the interpretations of others,” and that to assume an independent reality is "unacceptable" for the qualitative researcher. Though I agree that the closest a researcher can get to objective research is taking the perception of their perception of their interviewee, having an unplanned conversation and learning about lifestyle though everyday conversation allows for thoughts to be unstructured and free-flowing. Defenses are down; neither researcher nor interviewee are really identifying the research viability to the chats. It is up to the researcher to review the “data” to note what can be used for the study. Within the Mexican household, it was far easier for me to place a recorder down and catching the emotion within a talk, noting the activity of family members and capturing the culture through photos, than to construct study data based on numbers alone.
However, my experience could be challenged due to a perceived lack of objectivity. Numerical data, which comes from numerically-based studies and surveys, allows for researchers to track hard data and show their credibility with realistic figures (even though, in theory, statistics can be manufactured to support contradicting hypotheses). The challenge with qualitative research can be, though conversations and observations can be read by others, the way this information is perceived by the researcher or future readers may not agree. It is severely important that a researcher using the qualitative method is particularly detailed in objectively noting the environment they are conducting research in, the personalities and backgrounds of their participants, and in the connections they use to explain their conclusions.

References
Hoepfl, Marie C. Choosing Qualitative Research: A Primer for Technology Education Researchers (1997). Journal of Technology Education, Volume 9,  Number 1.
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.Smith, J. K., & Heshusius, L. (1986, January). Closing down the conversation: The end of the quantitative-qualitative debate among educational inquirers. Educational Researcher, 15(1), 4-12.