In this assignment you will write survey questions and a short introduction explaining the why,
who, how, and when of the surveys (specific to the surveys that you will carry out). “How” refers
to how you will get the surveys to your participants and how you will receive their responses.
The survey questions are the “what.” The total word count should be 200 words minimum.
In this section of the final project you will identify an occupation and do a literature review on
skill and knowledge trends within that occupation. Many occupations exist across industries (eg.
human resources, project management, product specialists, sales, and many others), so you may
want to focus on an occupation within a specific industry or sector of the economy (or a group of
related occupations).
The word count minimum for this section is 200 words.
Step 1: Choose an occupation(s) to study for this project
As occupation is a “job or profession.” According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, an
occupation is:
“Occupation: a craft, trade, profession, or other means of earning a living. Also, a set of activities
or tasks that employees are paid to perform and that, together, go by a certain name. Employees
who are in the same occupation perform essentially the same tasks, whether or not they work in
the same industry”
It will help to choose an occupation that has an official occupational title, which you can find
here:
https://www.bls.gov/soc/2018/soc_2018_manual.pdf
Step 2: literature review on skill and knowledge trends
In this step you will do a literature review on skill and knowledge trends within that occupation.
For analyzing skill trends = use the three definitions of skill from the course content
For analyzing knowledge trends = use the concept of “specific knowledge” from the course
content
Research resources
BLS research:
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
Use Google, google scholar, and RU library databases. You will need to try a variety of
keyword searches to be more successful at finding information.
In this assignment you will write (1) a short introduction explaining the why, who, how, and
when of the interviews
(specific to the interviews that you will carry out) and then (2) a set of
interview questions that YOU will ask your interviewees for this project (the interview questions
are the “what”). The total word count should be 200 words minimum.
Remember that the purpose of your interviews is to identify skill and knowledge trends within an
occupation. Therefore, you should ask questions that relate to the three different definitions of
skill and the concept of specific knowledge, which are our course content. Do not assume that
your interviewees can define skill and knowledge, provide them with definitions so that you are
discussing the same concepts and so that you are gathering the most concise information possible.
In this section you will conduct either the interviews or the surveys and then paste the raw data
here. There is no word count minimum, just paste your interview or survey results.
If interviews are best for your project, then conduct
at least three to five in-depth interviews.
If surveys are best for your project, then conduct
at least
ten surveys.
Word count minimum is 250 words.
In this section you will take your raw data from the previous section and synthesize it in an
organized summary of your data.
For interview data, see slide 27 of the file – “How to design and analyze interviews & surveys
for the final project.”
For survey data, you use univariate data presentations and the category building method of data
analysis – see the separate documents on how to do those. See the file – “How to design and
analyze interviews & surveys for the final project.” See this link for a high-level example of
univariate data visualizations for this project:https://brainstation.io/research/digital-skills-
survey-2020-results/data
You should have at least three univariate data visualizations for the quantitative questions. For
open-ended questions, you should use category construction and have at least two categories to
use to explain skill and knowledge trends in the occupation that you are studying.
In this section you will relate your findings to the theories of skill and knowledge from Module
One of the courses. Word count minimum is 250 words.
Step 1: For skill – how do your findings relate to the three theories of skill?
Step 2: For knowledge – how do your finding relate to any of the definitions of knowledge
discussed in the course (especially “specific knowledge”)? Does it relate to any other theories or
definitions of knowledge?
Step 3: How would you responses to steps 1 and 2 shape how you write a resume for any of these
occupations?
Note: you may be thinking, “But I was taught in my research methods class that theory comes
before methods, why is it reversed in this project?” Well, your research methods class teaches
you how academic researchers do research, and you probably will not become an academic –
unless you are a masochist. This project prioritizes methods before theory to emphasize that
applying social sciences is a reflexive practice in which theories are modified based on evidence.
This teaches students to become producers of their OWN skill and knowledge.
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