Annotated Bibliography - Research Paper Example

An ANOVA Analysis Of The Relationships Between Business Learning Styles And Effectiveness Of Web Based Instruction The introduction of Web Based Instruction (WBI) has provoked debate about the usefulness of online learning in relation to student learning styles. Online teaching allows, to some extent, lessons to be tailored to the learning styles of specific students. This study looked at whether the learning styles of students could predict success in two separate online learning environments.

David Kolb describes learning styles as a normal way of thinking, problem solving, and remembering information. For learning to be able to happen, two processes are necessary: prehending, how a learner takes in information, and transforming, how a learner processes an experience into knowledge. For prehending, students learn through a concrete experience. In transforming, students are geared more towards active experimentation. These two processes can be placed onto a quadrant in which each quarter contains a certain learning style.

The learning styles used by Kolb are “Assimilators,” “Divergers,” Convergers,” and “Accommodators.” For this study, participants were chosen from the Taxes and Personal Finance course at the Lubar School of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. A total of 159 participants were given two versions of WBI that had the same content and were only different with the accessibility on the platform. The results found that for each WBI module, each learning style was balanced.

For student reaction, the participants were given an eight question Likert-type scale ranging from Did Not Like (1) to Liked Very Much (4). The results of this survey found that there was little difference between participants of both WBI modules. Overall, the study found that with WBI, there is not any difference between the learning styles of students and type of online instruction.Perception of various performance criteria by stakeholders in the construction sector in Hong KongWhen it comes to construction projects in Hong Kong, there are certain criteria that are used to determine the success of the project.

However, the definition of the success of a project depends on the view of a number of stakeholders, such as clients, consultants or designers, and contractors. This study aims to compare the responses of all of these stakeholders based on a set of criteria used to measure a project’s success. After reviewing literature, nine specific performance criteria were chosen for this study: profit, time, no claims or contractual disputes, job satisfaction, quality, safety, environment, generation of innovative ideas, and effectiveness.

The definition of performance criteria is given as a benchmark to evaluate the outcome of a project. The hypotheses of this study, of which there are five, are based on two variables: the importance of performance criteria and the outcomes of those performance criteria. All of the hypotheses revolved around one central theme: ­there are significant differences between the importance of performance criteria, roles in a construction project, types of construction projects, and among staff involved with the project.

For the sampling method, purposive sampling was used and questionnaires were distributed to the relevant stakeholders in the Hong Kong construction industry. Repeated measures ANOVA were used to rank the ratings of the performance criteria. It was found that the top three performance criteria were time, profit, and environment. This third criterion was surprisingly ranked higher than many other factors; clients in the construction industry usually care very little about the environment and are focused on short-term results.

For the breakdown of individual stakeholders, clients were found to value timely completion of the project the most, consultant valued profit, while contractors were more concerned about the improvement of quality and safety. These results were not too surprising, as each stakeholder’s views were derived from their own self-interest.ReferencesKozub, Robert M. (2010). An ANOVA Analysis Of The Relationships Between Business Students’ Learning Styles And Effectiveness Of Web Based Instruction.

American Journal of Business Education, 3(3), 89-98.Lai, Ivan K. W. & Lam, Frankie K. S. (2009). Perception of various performance criteria by stakeholders in the construction sector in Hong Kong. Construction Management and Economics, 28(4), 377-391. doi: 10.1080/01446190903521515