Admission requirements
No formal prerequisites are set for this course, however some basic knowledge of mathematics and probability theory is assumed.
Description
The course Research Methodology is a practical course that teaches you the basics of performing empirical research. As this is an empirical research course, you will learn how to study phenomena in the real world. After this course you will for example be able to study the effectiveness of a new software technology or to determine the cause of problems in an organisation.
As there is only a limited amount of time available you will only study empirical research methods. In this course you will therefore not study the research methods used in mathematics (i.e. formal research), humanities (i.e. interpretive research) or engineering (i.e. design research).
The inclusion of research methodology is what differentiates your master of science degree from a more practice-oriented master of business administration. But please do not be misled that this course only has academic relevance. Also as a consultant or manager you will need to be able to make sound decisions based on the evidence at hand, which is exactly what you will learn during this course
During this course you will learn how to plan your study and set your goals (i.e. set your research questions), collect data to gather evidence and finally analyse this data to turn the evidence into answers to your research question.
This course has been divided into three modules, each module comprised of three sessions: 1st module is on fundamentals of critiquing a research, familiarization of structure of articles, buildings blocks of good thesis/article, and research process; 2nd module will be on qualitative research; and 3rd module will be on quantitative research.
Course objectives
After successful participation in this course you should be able to:
Basic foundations of good research, and structure of a research article.
name and describe the ontological concepts underpinning the enterprise of science and empirical investigations.
describe, explain and perform the empirical research process:
describe, explain and perform the data collection process
explain and perform the data analysis process
use a statistical package (in syntax-mode) to apply the statistical procedures named above.
Timetable
The schedule can be found on the LIACS website
Detailed table of contents can be found in blackboard.
Mode of instruction
The course consists of 10 assemblies of 3 hours. Assemblies consist of 1½ hour interactive lecture and a tutorial to apply concepts in practice.
Assessment method
The final grade will be a combination of:
Practical Assignment grade (2/5 of final result)
Written Exam grade (2/5 of final result)
Other related activity(1/5 final result)
Details on the practical assignment will be given at the end of lecture 4 and will subsequently be published on blackboard.
Blackboard
Reading list
During the course you will need this book:
- Saunders, M. N., Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (20112). Research methods for business students, 6/e. Pearson Education UK
In addition, you will need the following two digital resources:
W. N. Venables, D. M. Smith et al. (2008), An Introduction to R – Notes on R: A Programming Environment for Data Analysis and Graphics. R Development Core Team. Download
Reader of selected articles and chapters (provided by lecturer on blackboard).
Optional reference book:
P. Ghauri and K. Grønhuag (2010), Research Methods in Business Studies: A Practical Guide, 4th edition. Financial Times/Prentice Hall.
I. Diamond and J. Jefferies (2001), Beginning Statistics: An Introduction for Social Scientists. Sage Publications.
The lecture slides are a part of the required reading for the exams and are placed on the Blackboard site of the course within a week after each lecture.
Signing up for classes and exams
You have to sign up for classes and examinations (including resits) in uSis. Check this link for more information and activity codes.
There is a limited capacity for students from outside the master ICT in Business. Please contact the Programme Co-ordinator.
Contact information
Programme Co-ordinator ms. Judith Havelaar LL.M