Research Methods II

This course will help you designing, developing and writing your master thesis at best. It will cover the fundamentals of conducting and writing up rigorous research in management. Throughout the course you will apply the concepts learnt to your own Master thesis, by discussing and presenting in class your ideas and research in progress. Thus, it is important that you start the course with some preliminary ideas about your research topic and context. Topics for this course include the criteria for choosing between quantitative and qualitative methods, understanding whether and why you should study (or not) a given topic, learning about different types of qualitative methods, learning how to collect and analyze textual data, how to think of recommendations, as well as how to structure your arguments.

While this course is focused on qualitative research methods (to complement Research Method I), much content is also relevant for quantitative and mixed-methods theses.  

•    Understand the main differences between qualitative and quantitative methods.
•    Understand what a research question is. 
•    Appreciate the difference between doing research and reinventing the wheel.
•    Practice the collection of interview data.
•    Distinguish between different qualitative methods (case studies, comparative case studies, ethnography, etc.).
•    Learn how to code textual data. 
•    Learn how to develop theoretical models that capture your empirical observations.
•    Learning the best structure for writing-up your research.

In presence

Lecture face-to-face; individual and team-based work; class discussions and presentations. 

100% coursework.

The coursework consists in presenting the research each student has been conducting for their master thesis, and addressing questions from the instructor and the audience. The presentation (in PowerPoint or equivalent) should last 60 minutes circa (unless otherwise stated by the instructor closer to the date) and be presented to a professional standard. The presentation must reflect the relevant concepts and methods learnt in this course. It should present preliminary findings and insights, too. Presentations will take place on Session 4. Example of structure for the presentation (and some guiding questions), will be provided.