BUAD 317 · Smith GLS · Step 2 of 3
Honors Human Centered Leadership Seminar: Advanced Preparation for Honors Projects
Back in Knoxville, design instincts become research skills. You learn action research, build a literature review, write and test interview questions, interview stakeholders ethically, and turn raw data into insights you can defend.
Who this is for
Smith Global Leadership Scholars from every Haslam major: finance, accounting, supply chain, management, HR, business analytics, economics, marketing and international business. Back in Knoxville. The topics are written as open resources, so anyone learning human-centered design is welcome to use them.
How each topic page works
Each topic explains the idea in plain language, then gives you an interactive tool to try it on a realistic example. Put it to work connects the topic to the real deliverable in this course, and Go deeper points to the sources. Every topic ends with a team activity we run in class.
Topics
Topic 01
Understanding Action Research
Learn the plan, act, observe, reflect cycle and plan your first research loop for your team's challenge.
Lab: Action Research Cycle Planner · Team activity
Topic 02
Choosing a Focus Area and Reviewing the Literature
Gather and check sources, map them by theme, and pick a focus area where the need is proven and the gap is real.
Lab: Literature Review Matrix · Team activity
Topic 03
Choosing Data Collection Methods
Match interviews, observation, surveys and diaries to your research question, and see the tradeoff each one asks you to accept.
Lab: Method Picker · Team activity
Topic 04
AI + Human Interview Questions
Draft first, expand with AI, then humanize: a checker flags leading, double-barreled, yes/no and jargon questions and suggests rewrites.
Lab: Interview Question Checker · Team activity
Topic 05
Stakeholder Interviews, Consent and Ethics
Consent, confidentiality, freedom from harm, and reliable, valid data: set your team up before the first interview.
Lab: Interview Readiness and Ethics Check · Team activity
Topic 06
From Interview to Insight: Analysis and Synthesis
Climb from quotes to themes, insights and How Might We questions, with a builder that flags weak links.
Lab: Insight Builder · Team activity
Topic 07
Is Our Research Good? The Big Tent Criteria
Eight plain-language tests for trustworthy qualitative research, with a self-check that ranks your next fixes.
Lab: Big Tent Self-Check · Team activity
Dates, deadlines and grades are in Canvas.