Postgraduate Course: Methods of Business Research (CMSE11305)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 15 |
ECTS Credits | 7.5 |
| Summary | This course seeks to develop students personal knowledge and skills for the in-company project work, writing and presenting reports (own and for project 'client'), and ultimately conducting and writing research for dissertation. Whilst this course provides opportunities for students to learn about the wide range of research approaches and methods in the broad field of management, it will particularly focus on the issues and challenges of conducting research in the entrepreneurship and innovation context, for instance studying complex technological projects. It also enables students to critically examine various research approaches adopted in other research proposals and describe their strengths and limitations. |
| Course description |
Aims, Nature, Context
This course aims to help the students understand the research process in the broad field of management and the specific requirements of entrepreneurship and innovation research. The course provides opportunities for students to plan, carry out and communicate research projects both for in-company project work and for their Masters dissertation. It also aim to assist students in understanding how to evaluate research.
This course is divided into two parts: 'research design' and 'qualitative and quantitative methods'. These are designed to provide students with an overview of the conventions on research in social sciences in general, and management studies in particular, and the role of qualitative and quantitative research in such research. The course will develop students' personal knowledge and skills in conducting and evaluating literature and research. It also give student the opportunity to work in groups during class session and analyse various research options.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2017/18, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
150
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 4,
Summative Assessment Hours 73,
Other Study Hours 50,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 3,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
0 )
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| Additional Information (Learning and Teaching) |
Independent prepartory readings for lectures
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Coursework 100%
-Individual Presentation 20%
-Individual Report 20%
Individual Research Proposal 60% |
| Feedback |
Provision of formative feedback
All students will be given at least one formative feedback or feedforward event for every course they undertake, provided during the semester in which the course is taken and in time to be useful in the completion of summative work on the course. Such feedback may be at course or programme level, but must include input of relevance to each course in the latter case.
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| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Explain the principles of research in social sciences and management studies
- Identify and critically evaluate literature in a given management field and plan how they define research questions in relation to their chosen topic area
- Choose an appropriate research design for a management research question, evaluate, select, justify and apply appropriate qualitative or quantitative data collection, presentation and analysis methods to their chosen area of research, in order to ensure that the evidence generated, its analysis and the conclusions drawn from it are valid and reliableh knowledge to construct an original piece of research of their own, and develop further independent research skills as well as the skills for presenting the findings of their research in a professional manner to both practitioner and academic audiences.
- Use such knowledge to construct an original piece of research of their own, and develop further independent research skills as well as the skills for presenting the findings of their research in a professional manner
- Write and present research proposals and outcomes for academic and practitioner audiences
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Reading List
Bryman & E Bell (2015) Business Research Methods, Oxford University Press.
or
M Saunders, P Lewis & A Thornhill (2000) Research methods for business students, Pearson Education.
Other Suggested Readings:
D Thomas & I Hodges (2010) Designing and Managing Your Research Project, Sage Publication.
M Miles & M Huberman (1994) Qualitative data analysis, Sage Publication.
Further readings will be provided on Learn to the students for each session as appropriate
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
After completing this course, students should be able to:
Develop research questions and objectives in a chosen research area;
Critically evaluate both relevant literature and different research design and data collection/analysis methods;
Write and present reports as well as research proposal;
Recognise qualitative and quantitative techniques appropriate to the analysis of some particular circumstances, understand their strengths and limitations, and choose between them;
Design and implement a research project to form the basis of their Masters dissertation.
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| Keywords | EI-MBR |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Hajar Mozaffar
Tel: (0131 6)51 5007
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Yvonne Sanderson
Tel: (0131 6)51 5333
Email: |
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