A99110 Research Methods [English version]

Students will be able to fulfill the following Learning Objectives (LO):

1. Define research, explain and apply research terms.
2. Identify and define the boundary for a business research project.
3. Develop a conceptual framework for research methodology.
4. Use technology to locate information from different sources.
5. Reflect on and revise their own writing, thinking and creative processes.
6. Write and present research reports, such as their dissertation or thesis.

Students can demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

1. The research process and the principle activities, skills and ethics associated with the research process.
2. Problem areas in organisational settings and plan, organise, design, and conduct research to help solve the identified problems.
3. The thesis steps, in order to conduct primary research using a rigorous qualitative methodology.
4. Analysis and synthesis of knowledge located in academic sources.

Research is a process that people undertake in a systematic way in order to find out things, thereby increasing their knowledge. It includes reporting, descriptive, explanatory and predictive studies. Particularly in business, research is a systematic inquiry that provides information to guide decisions: it is a process of determining, acquiring, analysing and synthesising, and disseminating relevant data, information, and insights to decision makers in ways that mobilise the organisation to take appropriate actions that, in turn, maximise performance.

This course provides an introduction to research methods and prepares students for conducting their own independent research activity in the context of a dissertation or thesis project. It covers the whole research process from the identification of research questions through to writing up the project. Furthermore, it is designed to immerse students into the principles of qualitative research. Through lectures, in-class exercises and an interactive learning environment, this course addresses research problem formulation, literature review conduct, qualitative methodology and presents the collection, description, analysis and summary of data.

The course will cover the following topics:

1. Introduction to Business and Management research
2. Formulating and clarifying the research topic
3. Critically reviewing the literature
4. Conducting qualitative research
5. Writing and presenting a research project report

Lectures cover the core principles and concepts of the subject syllabus. Seminars are structured to enhance students’ understanding of relevant concepts through various kinds of activities, including offline/online exercises and case discussions.

1. Final individual project (50%): This project refers to identifying a research problem in the literature, conducting basic literature review online and proposing a qualitative methodology that is suitable for this problem. The submission deadline is 30 days after the end of the course. The assignment will be sent to urkund for checking plagiarism. (LO.3 and LO.6)
2. Individual assignments (30%): The individual assignments take place in the course sessions and relate to in-class individual exercises on the cases. (LO.1 and LO.2)
3. In-class participation (20%): Class participation refers to the discussion and knowledge sharing in the class. Students are required to prepare in advance the course material related to each session. (LO.4 and LO.5)