Here is a summary of the key points made in 3 paragraphs about factors contributing to rising college costs:
The article identifies three major factors contributing to rising college costs: over-indulgent construction projects, unnecessary administrative bloat, and overemphasis on faculty research rather than teaching. It provides data showing a significant increase in the number of administrators compared to faculty at universities. For example, at the University of Miami there was a 50% increase in the number of administrators per 100 students but only a 5.5% increase in faculty, despite relatively stable enrollment. This administrative bloat is blamed on a tendency to continually appoint new vice presidents and assistants to address issues, which then require larger staffs and generate more paperwork. The data suggests administrative costs
3. The more you know about your
topic, the more effectively you can
tackle your own research problem.
It all starts with the
literature review
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4. A literature review discusses
published information in a particular
subject area. Which area?
There are differences in disciplines.
Economists and Historians
sometimes analyse information in a
particular subject area within a
certain time period.
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5. Sample LR
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Okun and Weir (1990) and Astin (1977) argue that students should experience a certain
degree of satisfaction with university if they are to be successful in their educational
outcomes and goals. Satisfaction is closely related to student performance (Bean and
Bradley, 1986; Howard and Maxwell, 1982; Pike, 1991). However, there is some debate
about whether satisfaction has a greater influence on performance than performance on
satisfaction (Lee, Jolly, Kench and Gelonesi, 2013). It is critically important to clearly
understand the drivers of satisfaction so that institutions can facilitate positive student
experiences throughout the college years (Schreiner and Nelson, 2013). Several
studies have found that satisfaction is a contributor to persistence (Schreiner and
Nelson, 2013; Aitken, 1982; Tinto 1993) indicating that satisfaction is important for
student retention in universities, a problem many institutions are grappling with. At the
institutional level there is a need to understand the factors that impact on student
satisfaction (McInnis and James, 1995).
6. Literature Review
• Literature Review refers to any collection of
materials on a topic
• “Literature” could be anything from a set of
government pamphlets on German colonial
methods in Africa to scholarly articles on the
treatment of a torn back muscle.
• A review does not necessarily mean that your
reader wants you to give your personal
opinion on whether or not you liked these
sources.
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7. Annotated Bibliography
• Looks at literature one at a time
• Summarises each paper in turn
• No link between them is identified
• Literature has not been reviewed
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8. SALI@Poly 2014 8
Bichard, Dury, Schonfeldt, Moroka, Motau, and Bricas (2005) in their
exploratory study on consumption practices among urban consumers in Polokwane
through their focus groups and individual interviews identified that people in
Polokwane obtain food through farming and gardening and through exchanges with
people living in rural areas.
Barrion (2008) refer to urban agriculture as the informal transferring of food
from rural areas to migrants living in urban areas. According to Barrion (2008) these
urban migrants receive significant amounts of Namibia’s mahangu produce from
relatives in Namibia’s rural areas. Bichard et al., (2005) also revealed negative
attitudes toward millet products which could have been formed from early childhood
experience and word-of-mouth.
9. LR should
• Identify themes or issues
• Connects your sources together.
1. Do they present one or different solutions?
2. Is there an aspect of the field that is missing?
3. How well do they present the material and do they portray it
according to an appropriate theory?
4. Do they reveal a trend in the field? A raging debate?
5. Pick one or more of these themes to focus the organization of your
review.
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11. Academic LR
• The main focus of an academic research
paper is to develop a new argument
• In a research paper or thesis, you use the
literature as a foundation and as support
for a new insight that you contribute.
• You do not add new contributions.
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12. LR is ideas of others
The focus of a literature review is to
summarize and synthesize
the
Arguments
and
ideas of others
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14. A narrow – quick study
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Job satisfaction is a complex area of study. It is a combination of cognitive and affective
perceptual gaps between what employees want to receive and what they actually
receive (Cranny at el, 1992). Studies prior to about the 1990s tended to show that
people valued interesting work but studies in the last two decades tend to show that
people place higher values on extrinsic factors such as good salaries, lifestyle issues,
job security, flexible hours, interesting work culture, prestige, titles and amenities
(Jennings, 2000; Schroder, 2008, Toker, 2011).
Studies of job satisfaction in universities show that employees value interpersonal
relationships with peers and students as important sources of job satisfaction (Schroder,
2008; Diener, 1985; Gaziel, 1985). Therefore it appears that such relationships are an
important motivator in the educational field and may also be an indicator of good
interpersonal work climate.
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Authors Findings
Schroder, 2008 Employees least satisfied with pay, organisational policies, administration.
Watson, 2000 Least satisfied with management, lack of communication and internal
policies.
Schroder, 2008
Niehoff, 1995
University administrators more satisfied with job security, relations, status,
working conditions. More freedom and less restrictions from superiors.
Schroder, 2008
Latham, 1998
Faculty found their work more meaningful, varied and valued.
Toker, 2011
Khillah, 1986
Dennis 1998
Schroder, 2008
Older employees were significantly more satisfied than younger. This may
be related to position, status and economic stability.
Schroder, 2008 Employees with doctorate were significantly more satisfied
Schroder, 2008 Greater the length of service does not impact on the level of satisfaction
Amzat & Idris, 2011 Salary, management, supervision, security, status, relationship with peers
predict overall satisfaction at university
Toker, 2011 Length of service and level of qualification is significantly related to
satisfaction
Oshagbemi, 1999 Females academics tend to be more satisfied
Chen et al, 2006
Munhurrun et al,
2009
Employee satisfaction improves productivity, reduces turnover and
increases commitment
Halkos &
Bousinakis, 2010
Increased staff workload can reduce productivity, quality of work is related
to satisfaction. Energetic and positive staff affect productivity positively
16. Stepping stone
• For scholars, the depth and breadth of the
literature review emphasizes the credibility
of the writer in his or her field.
• Literature reviews also provide a solid
background for a research (paper or thesis)
• Comprehensive knowledge of the literature
of the field is essential to most research
papers.
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17. Look For?
• Look for themes you might want to use in
your own research
• Look for ways to organize your final review.
• You can simply put the word “review” in your
search engine along with your other topic
terms to find articles of this type on the
Internet or in an electronic database.
• The bibliography or reference section of
sources you’ve already read are also
excellent entry points into your own research.
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19. Looking for Key Constructs
If your topic is:
‘Impact of Sales Force Motivation on
Profitability of a Company’
The key constructs would be:
1. Sales Force Motivation
2. Company Profitability
20. Looking for Key Constructs
If your question is:
“What is the role of culture on the launch of a
product in a foreign market’
The key constructs would be:
1. Culture
2. International Product Launch
21. EG: Look for…..
When you read any paper, what should you
look for:
• What? (What causes sales force motivation)
• How? (How does it affect a company and how
does it interplay with other variables, such as
sales, job satisfaction etc and profitability)
• So what? (And so what, i.e. why is it significant
for a company)
22. Get a focus from synthesizing
• With a comprehensive LR you will be able to narrow down to
a thesis statement.
The current trend in the treatment of congestive heart failure
combines surgery and medicine.
More and more cultural studies scholars are accepting popular
media as a subject worthy of academic consideration
• Now what is the most effective way of presenting the
information?
• What are the most important topics, subtopics, etc., that your
review needs to include?
• And in what order should you present them?
• Develop an organization for your review at both a global and
local level
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23. Sources
• Articles and books. Reports etc
• The narrower your topic, the easier it will be
to limit the number of sources you need to
read in order to get a good survey of the
material.
• Your supervisor will probably not expect you to read
everything that’s out there on the topic, but you’ll
make your job easier if you first limit your scope.
• Don’t forget to tap into the knowledge of others in
the field
• Identify seminal pieces in the field.
• Identify models commonly used in the field
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24. Currency
• Business and Science disciplines require that you
use information that is as current as possible.
• In the sciences the treatments for medical
problems are constantly changing according to the
latest studies. Information even two years old
could be obsolete.
• In Humanities, History, or some Social Sciences, a
survey of the history of the literature may be what
is needed, because what is important is how
perspectives have changed through the years or
within a certain time period.
• Be clear on what the expectations are in your area
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25. Currency in Business
• They don’t seem to like old stuff
• Start with:
– Seminal work, authors they all seem to cite
– Look for papers with high citations
– Also look at their Reference List for clues
• There are some really old (pre 1985) stuff
• Best to start with more recent – 2008+
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26. Books
• Don’t ignore these
• They tend to summarise key works as the
standard in the field
• Look for editored books, book of reading.
These will tend to have the best works in
one place (HR, Econ, Mangt)
• Very good for models and theories
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27. Ideas vs Sources
• In LR you are reading for ideas
• Read widely but selectively in your topic
area, consider instead what themes or
issues connect your sources together.
• Do they present one or different solutions? Is there an
aspect of the field that is missing?
• How well do they present the material and do they
portray it according to an appropriate theory?
• Do they reveal a trend in the field? A raging debate?
• Pick one of these themes to focus the organization of
your review.
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29. Evidence
• Your interpretation of the available sources
must be backed up with evidence to show
that what you are saying is valid.
• Never take other people’s conclusions
at face value; determine for yourself
whether their conclusions are justified
based on the data presented.
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30. Direct quotes
• Use direct quotes sparingly
• Remember LR is merely a survey of the
literature
• Some short quotes here and there are okay,
though, if you want to emphasize a point, or if
what the author said just cannot be rewritten
in your own words.
• It’s a bad habit to form
• Remember while the literature review
presents others’ ideas, your voice (the
writer’s) should remain front and center.
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32. Summarise the argument
• Notice how the text is laid out and
organised.
• What are the main sections?
• What is emphasised?
• Why? Asking why will help you move
beyond listing contents and toward
accounting for argument.
• Look also for paragraphs that summarise
the argument.
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33. Article Relevance
Some reasons why I like some articles:
• The way the source frames its research question
• The way it goes about answering that question (its method)?
• Make new connections or
• Open up new ways of seeing a problem?
• How effective is the method of investigation?
• The way it uses a theoretical framework or a key concept?
• Important body of evidence that you want to use?
• How good is the evidence? Star system
• Conclusions bear on your own investigation?
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35. Synthesize
What you’ve learned from your review:
• Compare and contrast varying theoretical
positions on the topic.
• Changed approach over time.
• Describe general trends in the research
findings.
• Identify and explain discrepant or
contradictory findings.
• Identify general themes that run
throughout the literature.
•
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36. EXAMPLE
• The next few slides highlights in red some
key issues in a paper: Brock, Hart, Hall
2013
• How to convert this into a review
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37. There are a number of factors driving these costs higher. Universities, like other organizations,
are subject to the higher cost of health care. Wiring campuses with computers and Internet
technology is clearly expensive. And in 2012 the University received $10 million dollars less in
funding from the state than it did back in 2000.
Still, the decreasing levels of state support only account for a relatively small part of the $320
million increase in Miami’s annual budget over the same period.
We think three other factors contribute greatly to the rising cost of a college education, but don’t
get the attention they deserve, include over indulging on construction projects, unnecessary
administrative bloat, and an overemphasis on faculty research rather than undergraduate
teaching.
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38. The second of these cost drivers is the exploding bureaucratic bloat that is smothering
universities. Data collected from universities by the U.S. Department of Education and recently
analyzed by the Goldwater Institute are stunning. For the entire group of 198 universities
examined, the number of administrators per 100 students increased 39 percent between 1993 and
2007, while the number of faculty per 100 students increased far less (18 percent). And student
enrollment increased even less (14.5 percent).
In the case of Miami, the difference is even starker: A 50 percent increase in the number of
administrators per 100 students, compared with a 5.5 percent increase in faculty per 100
students. Again, this with student enrollment essentially unchanged over the period. Taken down
to a more local level, spending by administrative deans’ offices at Miami between 2002 and 2012
increased 131 percent in the case of our business school, 186 percent in the case of our school of
education, and 225 percent in the case of our college of arts and science.
The “solution” to every issue and problem, it seems, is for universities to appoint a new vice
president, or a new assistant vice president, or a new senior associate vice president to respond to
it. But these new administrators need staffs which then have to be appointed and which, in turn,
have to generate more paperwork, require more reports and “benchmark” studies, etc., in order to
justify their existence.
The rest of the university then has to “staff up” to meet these new demands, and so the
bureaucracy expands. In addition, many administrative positions pay more (or offer faster salary
increases) than many faculty positions, thereby incentivizing people to leave the faculty and join
the administrative ranks — again, contributing to bureaucratic bloat.
The third, and for us the most disturbing cost driver is the excessive over-emphasis by university
administrators on faculty research publications relative to undergraduate teaching — an over-
emphasis whereby research is rewarded in salaries and promotions far more than teaching.
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39. Higher Education Operating Cost
Context
While many industries have moved towards low-cost, no frills alternatives, higher
education has tended to move towards the “full-service” model, which is becoming more
and more expansive. This is putting pressure on government subsidies and cost to
students which is increasing at a faster rate than general price inflation (Anderson &
McGreal, 2012)
WHAT CONTRIBUTES TO HIGHER OPERATING COSTS
Brock, Hart, Hall
2013
Identify two categories of costs of costs: The first category
includes those over which the university has little or no control
and include the rising costs of operational infrastructure such as
wiring campuses with computer and internet technology and
higher wages cost, including the built in costs of labour laws and
HR related regulations.
The second category comprises those costs over which the
university has direct and complete control. These include:
(1) Unnecessary administrative bloat, (2) allocating higher
priority to academic research rather than undergraduate teaching
and (3) undertaking physical infrastructure projects the return on
which will be amortised over a long period.
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40. Unnecessary administrative bloat and increasing bureaucracy
Brock, Hart, Hall
2013
In the US context, the number of administrators per 100 students
increased from by 39% between 1993 and 2007. In comparison,
the number of faculty per 100 students increased by only 18%
while student enrolments increased by only 14.5%
Zemsky, Wenger &
Messy 2006
Refer to this as “administrative lattice”. This the growth over time
in a range of administrative support, such as new and expanded
student services. New units are set up to advise students, an
activity which in the past were exclusively performed by teaching
staff.
Research given high priority – Research costs
Brock, Hart, Hall
2013
This has a significant impact on overall operating costs and if not
adequately funded by governments, puts pressure on students
via increasing fees and charges, thereby impacting on
affordability. Some clear indicators of this trend is that research
is rewarded in salaries and promotion far more than teaching.
Zemsky, Wenger &
Messy 2006
The reduction in teaching loads won by staff over time is referred
to as “academic ratchet”. This includes more time spent on
research and coordinating activities. This has a significant
impact on the cost of education.
Johans &
Schwarzenberger
2011
Found that in German HEIs the cost of producing research was
high
Hattie & Marsh 1996 There is little evidence to support the argument that good
teaching is correlated with good researching. “The likelihood that
research productivity actually benefits teaching is extremely
small” (p.529) and productivity in research does not guarantee
that one will be an effective teacher.
Anderson & McGreal
2012
Research has not always been the defining feature of university
life, at least not until the latter part of the twentieth century.
Today, the cost of supporting research is a major focus of
modern HEIs
Nielsen 2012 HEI’s must seek cost effectiveness in research through networks
and collaborations rather than going it alone
Anderson & McGreal
2012
Research in HEIs needs to be rationalized, strategic and focused
to deliver on societal needs
Deloitte Access
Economics 2011
A focus on research activities tends to raise costs because
research activities are resource-intensive and are undertaken by
highly-qualified academic staff. Therefore, research tends to be
more expensive than teaching. Where these resources are
shared with the cost of teaching, for example in the cost of
academic staff, this may result in higher teaching and learning
costs.
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41. Review the literature, don’t
reproduce it.
Summarize what you’ve said.
Remember that your first draft will not
be your last draft.
Go to Lit Rev File
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42. Identifying Reputable Articles
• Look for the
‘Cited by’ number
• The higher the
number, the more
reputable the
article
• Select the most
relevant and
reputable articles
43. Identifying Recent Articles
• Filter the results
to get the articles
from the last 5
years, e.g. click
‘Since 2008’
• Select the most
relevant articles
44. Reading Efficiently
What are the most relevant parts of an
article:
• Reputable Articles: Look at the
– Abstract and keywords
– And their Discussion and Conclusions
– Method if study looks useful to your study
– Literature review of these articles
• Recent Articles: Look at the
– Literature review of these articles more carefully
plus all the above
45. Your Aim should be to:
Produce a literature review that:
• Contains a wide range of relevant
journal articles
• Contains most reputable (seminal)
papers in your subject area
• Refers to a large range of academic
literature