About this Program

The advanced applied research methods for organizational improvement certificate is a 12-credit certificate program intended to introduce students to advanced applied research designs and methods. There are two major families of research: (a) basic, and (b) applied. Basic research is often done by those enrolled in Ph.D. programs who seek to identify a gap in the current research literature and design and conduct a rigorous research study to help address that gap. Applied research, on the other hand, is rooted in designing and conducting rigorous research studies in real-world organizational contexts to identify and address a particular challenge, problem, or issue facing that organization. People conducting applied research often contend with different issues than those conducting basic research, such as working full-time in a job while doing the applied research, navigating organizational and system-level politics related to improvement work, and enlisting the help of others to design and/or conduct the research. This program’s purpose is intended to be a support system for helping students develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to use advanced applied research methods in their organizational contexts to design and conduct applied research.