Research questions

Author(s):  
Aaron Williamon ◽  
Jane Ginsborg ◽  
Rosie Perkins ◽  
George Waddell

Chapter 1 of Performing Music Research considers how to develop effective research questions, outlining ways of formulating them so that they are clear and answerable. Different assumptions about the world underlie different research questions, which in turn seek different kinds of knowledge. Therefore, when designing research, it is essential to understand the nature of the knowledge that is to be generated. The chapter explores some of the ways in which this understanding can be framed in a study and shows how it feeds into and shapes the whole process of research design.

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-35
Author(s):  
Jeffrey W. Taliaferro

Chapter 1 undertakes four tasks. First, it questions whether nuclear nonproliferation, along with the containment of great power adversaries, has been a key pillar of US grand strategy since the 1940s. By doing so, it establishes the context for the book’s research questions. Second, the chapter summarizes the core argument: the interaction of international threats and domestic politics shaped the types of nonproliferation strategies (accommodative or coercive) that US presidential administrations pursued toward strategically vulnerable allies in volatile regions. Third, it situates the book within broader literature on nuclear nonproliferation and alliance management. Fourth, the chapter defines the key terms and concepts employed in the analysis and discusses the research design and case selection.


2019 ◽  
pp. 81-88
Author(s):  
Ozoem Martha ◽  
Chibuike Victoria C. ◽  
Ugwunwoti Emeka P.

This study was carried out to determine the modern office technology competencies expected of office technology and management (OTM) graduate workers by supervisors in Delta State. The study was guided by two research questions and two hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance. The respondents consisted of 142 supervisors, made up of 74 heads of department and directors of government establishments, and 68 managers and directors of private establishments in the study area. Descriptive survey research design was used to conduct the study and 28 – items questionnaire were used to collect data from respondents. The instrument was validated by three experts and had a Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of 0.77. Means with standard deviations were used to answer the research questions, while t-test was used to test the null hypotheses. The extent of supervisor‟s expectations of information processing competencies did not differ significantly based on the mean ratings of male and female supervisors of OTM graduates in government and private establishments. The findings also revealed that supervisors expect much information processing and communication competencies from the OTM graduate workers. Based on the findings and the implications, it was recommended among others that, curriculum planners, business and OTM education lecturers should ensure that the competencies required for modern office technologies are entrenched and taught in the institutions to prepare the OTM graduates for the world of work.


Author(s):  
Heidi Hardt

Chapter 1 introduces the subject of institutional memory of strategic errors, discusses why it matters for international organizations (IOs) that engage in crisis management and reviews the book’s argument, competing explanations and methodological approach. One strategic error in the mandate or planning of an operation can increase the likelihood of casualties on the battlefield. Knowledge of past errors can help prevent future ones. The chapter explores an empirical puzzle; there remain key differences between how one expects IOs to learn and observed behavior. Moreover, scholars have largely treated institutional memory as a given without explaining how it develops. From relevant scholarship, the chapter identifies limitations of three potential explanations. The chapter then introduces a new argument for how IOs develop institutional memory. Subsequent sections describe research design and explain why NATO is selected as the domain of study. Last, the chapter identifies major contributions to literature and describes the book’s structure.


Author(s):  
Paul J. Bolt ◽  
Sharyl N. Cross

Chapter 1 explores perspectives on world order, including power relationships and the rules that shape state behavior and perceptions of legitimacy. After outlining a brief history of the relationship between Russia and China that ranged from cooperation to military clashes, the chapter details Chinese and Russian perspectives on the contemporary international order as shaped by their histories and current political situation. Chinese and Russian views largely coincide on security issues, the desirability of a more multipolar order, and institutions that would enhance their standing in the world. While the Chinese–Russian partnership has accelerated considerably, particularly since the crisis in Ukraine in 2014, there are still some areas of competition that limit the extent of the relationship.


2002 ◽  
Vol 10 (01) ◽  
pp. 67-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
LISA K. GUNDRY ◽  
BEN-YOSEPH MIRIAM ◽  
MARGARET POSIG

The study of women's entrepreneurship has grown steadily during the last two decades, as the number of women-owned businesses worldwide has increased dramatically. This article presents an examination of major research questions and highlights the most recent scholarship on women's entrepreneurship within several key domains. The findings integrate broad areas of inquiry, including the emergence of women-owned firms in the global economy, entrepreneurial and firm characteristics, financing patterns, the greatest challenges to enterprise growth, and the influence of culture and family on the entrepreneurial organization. Recommendations are provided to contribute to an increased understanding of the dynamics of women-headed entrepreneurial enterprises around the world.


SETTING ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 105-118
Author(s):  
Miguel Angel Gonzales Torres

The spanish government has issued a new law offering spanish nationality to sephardic jews around the world fulfilling some characteristics. This legal movement tries to undo the decree of expulsion of spanish jews in 1492. It has been received with a surprising lack of any significant debate (for or against the law) in Spain. The presentation explores this topic, addressing the emotional reactions towards this in spanish population using materials form a focus group qualitative study and also touches upon the identity problems exposed by the new law and the mechanisms of denial, guilt, reparation, displacement, reactive formation, etc. accompanying the whole process. Events in the distant past, often of a traumatic quality may contribute intensely to the construction of national identity. The healing of old wounds, if possible, might shake our large group structure and lead us to confront a complex reality and to a creative process of new identity formation. A deeper exploration of this situation might also help us to understand better the complex identity problems in many large groups around the world today, linked sometimes to group violence and war and to a general movement towards nationalist and isolationist political choices.


2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luciane Lena Pessanha Monteiro ◽  
Mark Douglas de Azevedo Jacyntho

The study addresses the use of the Semantic Web and Linked Data principles proposed by the World Wide Web Consortium for the development of Web application for semantic management of scanned documents. The main goal is to record scanned documents describing them in a way the machine is able to understand and process them, filtering content and assisting us in searching for such documents when a decision-making process is in course. To this end, machine-understandable metadata, created through the use of reference Linked Data ontologies, are associated to documents, creating a knowledge base. To further enrich the process, (semi)automatic mashup of these metadata with data from the new Web of Linked Data is carried out, considerably increasing the scope of the knowledge base and enabling to extract new data related to the content of stored documents from the Web and combine them, without the user making any effort or perceiving the complexity of the whole process.


2012 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sadaf Aslam ◽  
Kedar Mehta ◽  
Helen Georgiev ◽  
Ambuj Kumar

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