Research Methods
Module Aims
This module is designed to introduce postgraduate students of international business (IB) to principal research methods applied to IB. The module provides a basis for the choice of the dissertation topic and also leads to a better understanding of IB foundations as a field of research. The module aims to develop students’ research skills so as to endow them with competencies to design a feasible and coherent research proposal. This will be achieved by developing students’ skills to choose a compatible and achievable research methodology. In addition, this module introduces the fundamentals of quantitative and qualitative research techniques. The emphasis will be on encouraging and enabling students to develop their analytical and technical research skills, so that they are better able to undertake dissertation projects.
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, students should be able to:
- Evaluate the appropriateness, strengths and limitations of different research strategies
- Understand the criteria for an appropriate literature review
- Develop research skills on data collection methods, including designing a survey questionnaire and an interview guide
- Make an informed choice of data collection methods for a given research area or research question in international business
- Carry out basic quantitative and qualitative data analysis
- Develop writing skills for proposal development and writing up a dissertation
Assessment
- The module will be assessed with a 3 hour written examination.