Module BUSI41S15: RESEARCH METHODS IN BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

Department: Business School (Business)

BUSI41S15: RESEARCH METHODS IN BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT

Tied To

• N1K307: Entrepreneurship (full time) (see Postgraduate Handbook 2011-2012 for details)
• N1K507: Human Resource Management (full time) (see Postgraduate Handbook 2011-2012 for details)
• N1K607: Management (full time) (see Postgraduate Handbook 2011-2012 for details)
• N1K807: Marketing (full time) (see Postgraduate Handbook 2011-2012 for details)
• N1KL07: Financial Management (see Postgraduate Handbook 2011-2012 for details)

Pre-requisites

Corequisites

Excluded Combinations

Aims

• To equip students with an in-depth understanding of key principles of research design and methodology in business and management, and to develop their skills in conducting and disseminating research at an advanced level.

Content

• Introduction: approach to social research.
• Formulating a research question.
• Developing a research design that fits your question.
• The nature of qualitative research.
• The nature of quantitative research.
• An overview of data gathering methods, including interviews; questionnaires; experiments.
• The analysis of quantitative and qualitative data.
• Ethics of research.

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of the module, students should have developed:
• A critical appreciation of the range of philosophical approaches to research from across the social sciences;
• An advanced knowledge of the nature, scope and relationships between quantitative and qualitative research methods in Business and Management; their appropriate use and rationale for selection;
• An advanced understanding of the possible relations between data collection, sampling and theory-generation;
• A critical understanding of a range of data-gathering methods for conducting qualitative and quantitative research including, for example, questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups;
• A critical understanding of a range of methods of data analysis including the use of qualitative and quantitative data sets, methods of qualitative analysis along with descriptive statistics and the use and interpretation of multivariate statistics.

• By the end of the module, students should have developed:
• The ability to formulate meaningful research questions; to develop theory deductively, or where appropriate, devise and test hypotheses and identify and correct for bias and error; as well as interpret and evaluate research results;
• High-level skills in devising, structuring and managing a research project and presenting research findings.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• A combination of lectures, seminars and guided reading addressing key topics in research will equip students with the relevant knowledge and understanding.
• The assessment of the module, by an individual research proposal, is designed to test students’ knowledge and critical understanding of different research methodologies, the process of designing a research project at an advanced level, the formulation of appropriate research questions, and the key skills.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment

Group presentation.