DB-AI: Accelerated Doctoral Research Program

Learning Objective:Familiarise learners with Copilot's core functionalities, understand its practical relevance in a DBA research context and establish a framework for ethical AI use.

Agenda:

• Welcome & Programme Overview:
• • Introduction to the overarching goals of the programme.
  • Overview of Copilot's capabilities and how it is revolutionising academic research.
• The Evolving Landscape of Academic Research:
• • Role of AI in modern research: balancing productivity with ethical concerns.
  • Key considerations for integrating AI assistance with critical thinking and originality.
• Generative AI Foundations:
• • Fundamental concepts of Large Language Models (LLMs).
  • How Copilot integrates with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneDrive to support doctoral-level research.
• Ethical Considerations in AI-Assisted Research:
• • Understanding plagiarism, authorship, and the need for originality.
  • Data privacy, confidentiality, and security in Microsoft 365.
  • Ensuring transparency and proper attribution for AI-generated content.
• Copilot Pro Setup & Configuration:
• • A step-by-step guide to activating Copilot Pro.
  • Best-practice settings specific to DBA research tasks:
  • • Word: Drafting research proposals, literature reviews, and dissertation chapters.
    • Excel: Data analysis and management for research.
    • PowerPoint: Structuring research presentations.
  • Quick orientation to Copilot Chat for brainstorming and instant AI assistance.
• Q&A and Expectations:
• • Address participant questions and clarify programme objectives.
  • Drafting personal ethical guidelines: learners create an "AI Usage Charter."

Learning Objective:Equip learners with the skills and AI tools to identify, explore, and refine potential research topics for their DBA thesis.

Agenda:

• The Importance of a Strong Research Topic:
• • Discuss the characteristics of a good DBA research topic (relevance, feasibility, originality, impact).
  • Emphasise the long-term implications of topic selection for the entire doctoral journey.
• Identifying Potential Research Areas with Copilot Chat:
• • Brainstorming Broad Interests: Use Copilot Chat to explore potential research areas based on your background, interests, and industry trends.
  • Exploring Industry Trends: Leverage Copilot Chat to identify emerging trends, challenges, and opportunities in specific business sectors.
  • Analysing Current Events: Use Copilot Chat to find recent news articles, reports, and case studies that could spark research ideas.
• Refining Your Research Topic with Copilot:
• • Narrowing the Scope: Use Copilot Chat to progressively narrow down broad research areas into manageable and focused topics.
  • Assessing Feasibility: Use Copilot to evaluate the feasibility of potential research topics regarding data availability, time commitment, and resources.
  • Identifying Knowledge Gaps: Use Copilot in Word to analyse existing literature and identify potential gaps that your research could address.
• Developing Preliminary Research Questions:
• • Use Copilot Chat to formulate initial research questions related to your chosen topic.
  • Discuss the criteria for well-formulated research questions (clear, focused, researchable).
• Hands-on Activity:
• • Learners will use Copilot Chat and Word to brainstorm potential research topics, refine their focus, and develop 2–3 preliminary research questions.

Learning Objective:Equip learners to conduct comprehensive literature reviews efficiently and ethically using Copilot in OneDrive, Word, and Copilot Chat.

Agenda:

• Recap of Ethical AI Use:
• • Reinforce personal ethical guidelines from Session 1, focusing on proper citation and avoiding plagiarism.
• Copilot Chat for Advanced Literature Search:
• • Mastering Search Operators: Go beyond basic searches with advanced operators and filters.
  • Identifying Key Journals and Authors: Use Copilot Chat to identify influential sources in your field quickly.
  • Uncovering Hidden Gems: Explore databases and grey literature with Copilot's assistance.
  • Citation Chasing: Use Copilot to trace citations and find related works efficiently.
• Leveraging OneDrive for Research Organisation:
• • Best Practices for Folder Structure: Create a logical system for storing articles, notes, and other research materials.
  • Summarising Documents: Use Copilot in OneDrive to quickly grasp the main points of lengthy PDFs and articles.
  • Comparing and Contrasting Sources: Use Copilot to identify conflicting viewpoints and synthesise information.
• Utilising Copilot in Word for Literature Review:
• • Generating Literature Review Outlines: Structure your review logically, dividing it into themes or chronological order.
  • Developing Annotated Bibliographies: Use Copilot to expand or summarise annotations, focusing on key findings and relevance to your research.
  • Identifying Knowledge Gaps: Use Copilot to pinpoint areas for further research.
• Best Practices for Maintaining Academic Integrity:
• • Verifying Citations: Cross-reference Copilot-generated citations with sources.
  • Paraphrasing and Summarising Ethically: Use Copilot to rephrase ideas in your own words while maintaining proper attribution.

Learning Objective:Guide learners through formulating a clear, arguable thesis statement, developing a robust research plan, and building a preliminary thesis outline using Copilot.

Agenda:

• Crafting a Compelling Thesis Statement:
• • Articulating Your Central Argument: Use Copilot to refine your thesis statement, ensuring it is clear, concise, and debatable.
  • Balancing Originality and Scope: Ensure your thesis contributes new knowledge while remaining within the scope of a DBA project.
• Developing a Research Plan:
• • Defining Methodology: Use Copilot Chat to explore appropriate research methodologies for your topic and research questions.
  • Identifying Data Sources: Use Copilot to help identify potential data sources for your research.
  • Creating a Timeline: Develop a realistic timeline for completing each research stage.
• Building a Preliminary Thesis Outline:
• • Structuring Chapters: Develop a logical structure for your thesis (Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Findings, Discussion, Conclusion).
  • Generating Subheadings: Use Copilot in Word to create informative subheadings for each chapter.
  • Developing Bullet Points: Outline the key points and arguments you will make in each section.
• Hands-on Activity:
• • Learners will use Copilot Chat and Word to refine their thesis statement, develop a research plan, and create a detailed thesis outline.

Learning Objective:Empower learners to use Copilot in Excel for cleaning, preparing, and analysing research data, with a focus on descriptive statistics and basic visualisations.

Agenda:

• Ethical Data Handling:
• • Reinforce the importance of data privacy and confidentiality.
  • Review relevant IRB (Institutional Review Board) guidelines (if applicable).
• Introduction to Copilot in Excel:
• • Understand how Copilot interacts with spreadsheet data.
  • Learn basic commands and prompts for data manipulation.
• Data Cleaning and Preparation:
• • Identifying and Correcting Errors: Use Copilot to spot inconsistencies, duplicates, and outliers.
  • Handling Missing Data: Explore strategies for missing values (e.g., imputation, deletion).
  • Transforming Data: Reshape data for analysis (e.g., transposing, merging datasets).
• Descriptive Statistics and Data Exploration:
• • Calculating Key Measures: Use Copilot to generate formulas for mean, median, mode, standard deviation, range, etc.
  • Understanding Distributions: Create histograms and box plots to visualise data distributions.
  • Identifying Patterns and Trends: Use Copilot to help spot relationships between variables.
• Basic Data Visualisation:
• • Create bar charts, scatter plots, and other basic visualisations to explore data.
  • Use Copilot's suggestions to choose appropriate chart types.

Learning Objective:Introduce learners to more advanced data exploration techniques in Excel, refine their thesis framework based on initial findings, and prepare for early-stage research presentations using Copilot.

Agenda:

• Advanced-Data Exploration in Excel:
• • Pivot Tables for Deeper Insights: Create and manipulate pivot tables to uncover hidden patterns and relationships in data.
  • Introduction to Correlation: Explore the concept of correlation and use Copilot to calculate correlation coefficients.
  • Regression Analysis (Brief Overview): Introduce the concept of regression analysis and demonstrate how Copilot can assist with basic regressions (emphasising that this is an introductory look).
• Connecting Data Analysis to Your Thesis:
• • Discuss how to interpret data findings in the context of your research questions.
  • Use Copilot in Word to draft sections of your methodology and findings chapters, incorporating data analysis results.
  • Refine your thesis statement and chapter outlines based on your data analysis.
• Preparing for Initial Research Presentations:
• • Structuring a Research Proposal Presentation: Outline the key elements of a compelling proposal presentation (research problem, literature review, methodology, preliminary findings).
  • Creating Engaging Slides with Copilot in PowerPoint: Use Copilot to generate slide layouts, talking points, and design suggestions.
  • Incorporating Data Visualisations: Embed Excel charts and graphs into your presentation effectively.