Преподавател(и):

гл. ас. Александър Пожарлиев  д-р

Описание на курса:

Компетенции:

After completing successfully this course the students will:

1) know:

• What a management research project involves

• Practical tools to carry out a management research project

• Qualitative applied research methods

• Quantitative survey research methods

• To esign and implement a small quantitative survey.

• To select data analysis techniques suitable for investigative projects

• To decide on appropriate data analysis to inform and influence your research project

• How to present and interpret their findings.

2) are capable of:

• Document their research systematically

• Develop and implement a strategy for obtaining quantitative data via a survey and/or qualitative data by at least one of the methods provided in the course

• Apply some basic data-analysis techniques

• Analyse the data from their own project in order to shed light on the key questions of their investigation

• Explain and interpret the findings from their analysis in its human resources management context

• Understand and explain the strengths and weaknesses of the methods of data collection they have used.

Предварителни изисквания:
• English reading/ writing skills

• Computer skills (text-processing, worksheets, Internet and e-mail).

• Management or leadership experience is desirable.

Форми на провеждане:
Редовен

Учебни форми:
Лекция

Език, на който се води курса:
Английски

Теми, които се разглеждат в курса:

1. The Nature of Business and Management Research. What is research? Management and research. Why do we need to understand research? Why might we have to do research? Who is it for? What are the benefits of management research within the organisation? What is the management report? What does it need to include? What is a good management research project? How should it be written?
2. Elements of successful research. Motivation. Direction, supervision and support. Style and creative approach. Personal characteristics and core attributes of competent researchers. Getting started. (From where to start?)
3. Identifying, Formulating and Clarifying the Research Problem. Attributes of a good research problem. Generating and refining research ideas. Turning research ideas into research project. Developing the research project.
4. Accessing and reviewing literature as part of research. Working with literature. Types of sources. Using the library and the Internet to clarify how our research might contribute to the business. Writing a literature review.
5. Choosing a methodological approach. Identifying a research strategy. Types of research. Contemporary philosophies/ methodologies in business and management research (positivism, phenomenology, relativism, social constructivism). How do different approaches understand description, explanation, prediction and control in the research process? The need of clear research strategy. Combining approaches. Reliability and validity of different approaches.
6. Research ethics and policy. Gaining access. Political considerations and influences on the research problem. Stakeholders in the organisation. Research ethics. Utilization of research.
7. Students’ research presentations and discussion.
8. Sampling. Do we need a representative sample? Probability and non-probability sampling. Random sampling. Do we need a sampling frame? Who should be in our sample? How many people should be in our sample? How should we go about choosing our sample?
9. Visual and observational research methods. Observation – roles of the observer. Structured observation – gathering and analysing data.
10. Collecting Data Using Interviews. Types of interview, degree of structure (semi-structured and in-depth interviews). Situations favouring interviews. Interviewing techniques (critical incident technique, BEI, repertory grid technique, projective techniques, protocol analysis, cognitive mapping). Data quality issues and how to overcome them? How to avoid typical mistakes? Interviewing skills and competence. Group interviews and focus groups.
11. Collecting Data Using Questionnaires. Questionnaire and survey techniques. Designing questionnaires and surveys. Question types. Reliability and validity issues. Administering questionnaires and surveys
12. Analysing Qualitative Data. Understanding qualitative data. Strategies for qualitative analysis. Content analysis. Analytical procedures to generate theory or to confirm hypothesis. How to quantify qualitative data?
13. Analysing Quantitative Data. Preparing data for analysis. Exploring and presenting data. Types of quantitative data. Statistical methods for data analysis (descriptive statistics, measures of similarity and difference, levels of significance etc.) Examining relationships and trends using statistics. Using software for statistical analysis, statistical packages. Mixing methods – triangulation.
14. Developing your Management Research Report. Getting started? How to structure your management research report? Organising the content. Developing an appropriate writing style. Meeting the assessment criteria.

Литература по темите:

Main sources:

Anderson, V. (2013) Research Methods in Human Resource Management. CIPD Publishing.

Cooper, D. & Schindler, P. (2013) Business Research Methods (12th edition). Irwin McGraw-Hill.

Easterby-Smith, M., Lowe, R. & Thorpe, A. (2012) Management Research: An Introduction (4th edition). London, Sage Publications Ltd.

Gill, J. & Johnson, P. (1997) Research Methods for Managers. London, Sage.

Sanders, K., Cogin, J. and Bainbridge, H. ed. (2014) Research Methods for Human Recource Management, NY & London, Routledge.

Saunders, M., Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A. (2012) Research Methods for Business Students (6th edition), Prentice Hall.

Other:

Bell, J. (1997) Doing Your Research Project: A Guide for First-Time Researchers in Education and Social Science. Buckingham, OU Press.

Bryman, A. & Bell, E (2003) Business Research Methods. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Gash, S. (2000) Effective Literature Searching for Research (second edition). Hampshire, Gower.

Ghauri, P., Gronhaug, K. & Kristianslud, I. (1995) Research Methods in Business Studies. Hemel Hempstead, Prentice Hall.

Glaser, B. & Strauss, A. (1967) The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. New York, Aldine Publishing

Hart, C. (1998) Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Research Imagination. London, Sage.

Pink, S. (2000) Doing Visual Ethnography. London, Sage.

Punch, K. (1998) Introduction to Social Research: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches. London, Sage.

Remenyi, D., Williams, B., Money, A. & Swartz, E. (1998) Doing Research in Business and Managements: An introduction to Process and Method. London, Sage.

Rose, G. (2001) Visual Methodologies, London Sage.

Strauss, A. & Corbin, J. (1990) Basic Qualitative Research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Newbury Park, Sage.

Williams, M. & May, T. (1996) Introduction to the Philosophy of Social Research. London, UCL Press.

Средства за оценяване:

Two written assignments: discussion of research article and development of own research project.