Course code Ekon5152
Credit points 7.50
Total Hours in Course200
Number of hours for lectures32
Number of hours for seminars and practical classes64
Independent study hours104
Date of course confirmation22.12.2016
Responsible UnitInstitute of Economics and Finance
The course provides students with in-depth understanding and knowledge on research designs and main quantitative and qualitative research methods. Through practical exercises and work with literature, students will acquire knowledge, experience and skills for formulating their research problem, selecting the suitable research design, collecting, analysing, and interpreting data, and presenting and communicating their research. Students will get hands on experience on preparing a research project. The course will prepare students for conducting the research for the Master thesis as well as for independent research work in academia, public or business sector.
Knowledge:
• Demonstrate knowledge of principles of good research design - Individual tasks, Group work, Presentation.
• Identify different quantitative and qualitative research methods - Individual tasks, Group work, Presentation.
Skills:
• Identify gap in existing knowledge, products and services and need for research - Individual tasks, Group work
• Design a research plan to solve practical problems in their field of operation - Individual tasks, Group work
• Apply acquired knowledge and techniques in writing scientifically sound and practically relevant thesis - Individual tasks, Group work,
• Effectively communicate research results - Presentation.
1. Defining the characteristics of scientific and applied research (3)
2. Planning of research process (3)
3. Formulating research problem (3)
4. Search and review of scientific literature (3)
5. Choosing research design (3)
6. Different types of data and data collection (3)
7. Quantitative methods and data analysis: descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, econometrics, clustering methods etc. (3)
8. Qualitative methods and data analysis: literature review, interviewing, focus groups, content analysis, grounded theory etc. (3)
9. Presentation of research (3)
10. Review of research of others (3)
11. Research ethics (2)
7 individual tasks
1 Groups task
Individual task on literature review and analysis
Individual task on forming a research strategy
Individual task on quantitative methods 1
Individual task on quantitative methods 2
Group task of qualitative methods
Individual task on research design
Individual task of review of other student’s project
Presentation and defence of the final master thesis project
Individual task on literature review and analysis - 0.1 Individual task on forming a research strategy - 0.1 Individual task on quantitative methods 1 - 0.1 Individual task on quantitative methods 2 - 0.1 Group task of qualitative methods - 0.1 Individual task on research design - 0.1 Individual task of review of other student’s project - 0.1 Presentation and defence of the final master thesis project - 0.3
1. Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches, 4th ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications
2. Miller, D.B., Salkind, N.J. (2002). Handbook of Research Design. Social Measurement. 6th. ed. Thousand Oaks, London: SAGE.
3. Alreck, P. L., Settle, R.B. (2003). The Survey Research Handbook. 3rd ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
4. Hardy, M., and Bryman, A. (eds.) (2004). Handbook of Data Analysis. Thousand Oaks: Sage
5. Wooldridge, J.M. (2012) Introductory Econometrics: A Modern Approach.
6. Robson, C. (2011). Real World Research. 3rd ed. London: John Wiley.
1. Singleton, R: A.; Straits. B.C (2009). Approaches to Social Research.5th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. Evans, D., Gruba, P., Zobel, J. (2013). How to Write a Better Thesis. 3rd ed. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press
3. Silverman, D. (2005). Doing qualitative research: A practical handbook, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
1. International Journal of Social Research MethodologySage research methods database http://methods.sagepub.com/