Preparing to Conduct Business Research - Part 3

Preparing to Conduct Business Research: Part 3

RES/351

June 9, 2014

Christopher Whitehead

Preparing to Conduct Business Research: Part 3

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in October 1775 Continental Congress voted to fit out two sailing vessels armed and manned to go out on a cruise for “three months to intercept transports carrying munitions and stores to the British army in America” (U.S. Navy, n.d.). This legislation is how the Continental Navy was established, qualifying it as the birth of the navy.  As time has gone by more sailors, equipment, and more vessels have been added and utilized in many different ways, all with the same purpose, protection to the seas.  As the Navy has grown, so have its needs and the ways those needs are fulfilled.   In this research it will be necessary to consider previous years in order to see the scope of the utilization of the Navy sailors and other assets that are being used in all levels of operations.

The function of the United States Navy (USN) is important to the safety and survival of the U.S.  It is important to maintain a fully functioning defense organization at all times for the safety of the people and the country.  Researching the Navy’s use of its resources is beneficial to society for many reasons.  Over the course of this research it can be determined if there are changes that need to be made when utilizing resources, and where the Navy and the United States (U.S.) might consider investing more; whether it be time, training, or finances.  

The purpose of this research is to assist in the determination of whether the USN is using its resources to their fullest potential in regards to outsourcing jobs sailors could be performing, or trained to perform.  Small or limited amounts of resources readily available to the USN have many effects on the safety of the U.S.  Idle assets such as personnel have the potential to put many at risk when not being used to their fullest potential.  Learning about the utilization of personnel can provide the answers that are needed to make better use of military assets.  

The research that must be explored questions how the USN underutilizes its assets.    Enlisting in the military does not end with signing a name on the dotted line; as with all forms of employment, training is involved in a properly functioning organization.  The most efficient and effective way to get a job or task done is through extensive training and properly organizing the daily operations of the business.  The research question to be answered is: How might the Navy efficiently and effectively invest their monies to avoid outsourcing jobs?

The hypotheses for this research are (a) the USN underutilizes its sailors by outsourcing jobs and tasks that are a daily part of operations. (b) The USN underutilizes its sailors by outsourcing jobs due to the cost of third party contracts being seemingly low. (c) The USN outsources its jobs and tasks because of the lack of training and experience in sailors.  

Many variables must be considered while performing this research.  There are two types of variables in research, independent variables (IV) and dependent variables (DV).  The IV is the variable influenced by the researcher which causes a change on the dependent variable, where the DV is the variable measured by the researcher; expected to be affected by the manipulation of the IV; a.k.a criterion variable (Cooper & Schindler, 2011).  At different stages of the research we may encounter different variables.  Some of the variables affecting this research will be the following: 1) budgets for the USN, 2) budgets for individual naval bases based on their location, 3) amount of sailors on the Navy base, 4) and population involved in the research.  These are all dependent variable because the researcher cannot manipulate these specific factors.  Before testing can begin ethical considerations need to be taken.