Many students have difficulty visualizing the process by which an abstract management question can be translated into a research plan consisting of specific steps and a concrete objective for each aspect of the investigation. While they intuitively understand the manager's view from the 50,000-foot level, they often cannot grasp what the research and investigative questions should look like at the 50-foot level. Using a small group exercise with material that is foreign or new to the student, reduces their risk of embarrassment before their peers while allowing them to share ideas that receive instructor feedback and reinforce their understanding.

A small group exercise: Moving from the abstract management question to the research plan.

Faculty Input (as a handout, overhead transparency, or oral scenario with the management question on the board):

Most colleges and universities face the problem of scarce resources. Alumni and outreach organizations seek to address this need. The president of your alma mater is concerned about the lack of financial support from alumni. The management question as she sees it is "How can I secure more financial support from alumni?"

Teaching Comment : The first step for students is the recognition that the management problem must be translated (phrased) for fact-finding. The "how" question is not immediately answered by research but can be addressed once we move from the manager's policy or strategy orientation to the researcher's fact-based perspective.

Faculty Input : The researcher should be concerned with whether the president's perception is correct. What would be the first step in restating the management question?

Desired student Response : "Is there a lack of financial support from alumni?"

Faculty Input: Assume the researcher can verify that universities with similar characteristics have greater alumni contributions, what should the researcher then ask?

Desired student Response : "Why is there a lower level of financial support from alumni at our institution?"

Faculty Input : Brainstorm answers to the "Why is there a lower level of financial support from alumni at our institution?" question among your group. Once you have a list, group the questions into categories.

Teach Comment : Generally, students are unaware that they are generating investigative questions. By comparing their progress to the text's graphic model of the Management Research Question Hierarchy, you reinforce the point that they are down three levels of abstraction from the original management dilemma.

Although there are numerous investigative questions appropriate for this problem, we have found the following categories to encompass most of the ideas advanced:

1. Ability of alumni to give , including information about income and life cycle.
2. Motivation to give , including perceptions and attitudes toward the school and their experiences with it.
3. Giving practices , including what, when, how much, and to whom it is given.
4. Alumni exposure to the university's efforts and programs (including identification with athletic programs) and their reactions to these efforts.

Each of these categories consists of several student ideas that the instructor can translate into a measurement question (or you might have the class return to this when the measurement chapter is covered). Now students see how concrete, narrowly phrased questions result in answers from the alumni that feed into the "motivation to give" investigation, for example, and subsequently into the "Why is there a lower level of financial support from alumni at our institution?" research problem. From the collected facts the president's staff can draft a strategy to improve alumni participation and giving--thus answering the "How can I secure more financial support from alumni?" policy question.

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