Study Guide

Objectives

The course aims to provide student’s understanding in customer-oriented research project in business. It also provides the students basic knowledge of the quantitative and qualitative research approaches. Additionally, the course emphasizes learning skills in managing a multicultural research project in business case context. Course is preparing students for final thesis working and writing by offering a practical insight into academic research.

After completing the course, the student will be able to:
• plan and execute a customer-oriented research and development project in academically reliable way.
• collect and analyze customer information in a reliable and useful way.

Content

The contents include the followings:
• What are the principles of designing academically valid and reliable research for business?
• Which data collecting methods and tools can be applied in quantitative and qualitative research approaches?
• How to analyze research data in business research project?
• How to communicate the results in an academic way?
• How to manage a research and development project successfully?

Prerequisites

None.

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1-2)

The student has satisfactory knowledge of principles in academic business research. He/she is able to apply the quantitative and qualitative research approaches, including data collecting methods such as survey, interview and observation, in data collecting only partly. Research data analyzing is superficial or theoretical framework is mainly missing. The student has elementary skills in planning and implementing a research project in business case context.

Assessment criteria, good (3-4)

The student has advanced knowledge of principles in academic business research. He/she is able to justify and apply the quantitative and qualitative research approaches, including data collection methods such as survey, interview and observation, in data collecting. The student knows the difference between primary and secondary data. Research data analyzing is mainly based on theoretical framework. He/she is able to utilize the research results to improve business processes. The student is skilled in planning and implementing a research project in business case context.

Assessment criteria, excellent (5)

The student has excellent knowledge of principles in academic business research. He/she is able to justify and apply the quantitative and qualitative research approaches, including data collection methods such as survey, interview and observation, in data collecting in excellent manner. The student knows the difference between primary and secondary data. Research data analyzing is based on theoretical framework. He/she is able to utilize the research results to improve business processes by presenting justified recommendations. The student has profound skills in planning and implementing a research project in business case context. The student thoroughly understands how data, analytics, and insights work together in a balanced entity.

Further information

In students’ research and development project, student teams find themselves primarily a commissioner company/organization with a development need or a real-case business problem by themselves, execute data collection and analysis and generate development and improvement proposals based on their analysis. The outcomes will be presented in a report and/or in a seminar organized by student teams.