Module BUSS40915: Research Methods in Business and Management

Department: Business School (Business) [Queen's Campus, Stockton]

BUSS40915: Research Methods in Business and Management

Prerequisites

• None.

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

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.

• Effective written communication;
• planning, organising and time management;
• problem solving and analysis;
• the ability to use initiative;
• advanced computer literacy.
• Groupworking skills

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

• The module will be taught in 3-hour blocks to allow a greater level of engagement with students and to enable a flexibility of approach as appropriate. The teaching blocks will comprise a balanced mix of lecture-type teaching, group work, case studies, discussion and seminar style working such as will enable the learning outcomes to be met.
• The module is summatively assessed by a combination of individual written assignment and group poster presentation to maintain a balance of assessment methods and to promote, and test, the development of groupworking and other key skills. The assignments will also test students’ knowledge and critical understanding of different research methodologies, the process of designing a research project at an advanced level and the formulation of appropriate research questions.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

In-class research question formulation exercise. In-class qualitative and quantitative data analysis exercise

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University