Faculty of Business: Management
Credit points: 6 cp

Subject level: Undergraduate

Result Type: Grade and marks

Handbook description

This subject provides research students with the knowledge and skills to make critical methods and design choices in business research. It reviews the common problems in making choices and reviews the costs and benefits of various options available to business researchers.

Subject objectives/outcomes

On successful completion of this subject students should be able to:

1. Understand the basic concepts and terminology related to the so-called 'scientific method', such as theories, models, frameworks, constructs, propositions and hypotheses, the hypothetico-deductive method, and to be able to use the appropriate terminology in the correct manner to describe their own research.
2. Understand the ethical considerations relevant to the carrying out of organisational research, and to know how to design studies that take into account such considerations.
3. Understand the common statistical procedures used to analyse data from survey and experimental studies, and to use the statistical computer program, SPSS, to carry out these procedures.
4. Report the results of such statistical analyses in a manner appropriate for academic journals or theses.

Contribution to graduate profile

This subject is aimed at giving research students the knowledge and research methods skills to design, execute and report the results of empirical studies that form the basis of their theses.

Teaching and learning strategies

The subject is delivered through a series of workshops in which the various research methods and skills and taught and their application demonstrated and practiced through experiential class activities and set assignments.

Content

• Concepts and terminology related to the scientific method, and the correct use of these for the description of the design of research studies.
• Writing research proposals, journal papers and research theses.
• Research ethics and the design of studies to avoid ethical problems.
• Statistical concepts and procedures for the analysis of data, including hypothesis testing, analysis of variance, regression analysis, factor analysis, cluster analysis, and causal modelling.
• The use of the statistical package SPSS to perform some of these statistical analyses.

Assessment

Weekly Assignments (Individual)	50%
These are a series of short regular homework exercises aimed at reinforcing concepts presented in class and giving students practice in the carrying out of statistical analyses of data using the SPSS computer program. This assessment addresses objectives 1, 3 and 4.
Research Proposal Development Activities (Individual)	30%
This assessment involves students' writing of draft research proposals based on their own research thesis topic, giving oral presentations on these to the class, and writing critical evaluations on the proposals of other students. This assessment addresses objectives 1, 2 and 3.
Methodological Essay (Individual)	20%
This will be an essay based on a methodological issue related to topics covered by this subject, and of relevance to students' own thesis research project. This assessment addresses objectives 1, 2 and 3.

Topics for the various above assessments are developed in class, or are related to the students' own honours thesis research, and thus vary from semester to semester. The data used for the homework exercises on statistical analyses will also vary from semester to semester.

Recommended text(s)

No set text.

Indicative references

Coakes, S.J. and Steed, L.G. (2003). SPSS Analysis without Anguish: Version 11.0 for Windows. Milton, Queensland: John Wiley and Sons, Australia.

Hair, J.F., Tatham, R.L., Anderson, R.E. and William Black, W. (1998) Multivariate Data Analysis (5th Edition). Essex, England: Pearson Education.

Zickmund, W. (2003) Business Research Methods. (7th ed.) Mason, Ohio: Thomson, South Western.