Syllabus

Overview

This course provides a general introduction to how to do research. It is a Ph.D.-level course for students in the social sciences, particularly management and marketing.

The course is about the research process: what it means to do research, what the key issues are, the kinds of techniques used, and so on. As such, we cover threats to validity, types of research designs, data collection, exploratory data analysis, theorizing, hypothesis testing and more. What the course is not is a statistics course. We do discuss regression, but not at the level of detail that you would get in a statistics course.

The course is very hands-on, both in terms of data collection and data management. So everyone should bring a computer to class.

Schedule of Topics and Readings

The schedule of topics and readings is on the web at the address below. I do not recommend printing it, as the schedule changes from time to time. It is your responsibility to check it every week.

• https://sites.google.com/site/ba762researchmethods/schedule-1

The schedule page also says where and when the class meets.

In general, I have tried to provide electronic copies of all readings (though sometimes these are links through services like JSTOR, so you will need university credentials to reach them). A number of handouts, works in press, slide shows etc are also provided. These should be treated just like the published readings.

In addition, I have assigned two required books:

• Corbin, Juliet and Anselm Strauss. 2007. Basics of Qualitative Research. Sage.

• Weller, Susan & Kim Romney. Systematic Data Collection. Sage.

You should order these via Amazon -- the school bookstore doesn't have them.

Other recommended books include:

• Dillman, D.A. Mail and Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method - 2007 Update, (2nd edition), NY:John Wiley and Sons, 2007. ISBN: 0-4700-3856x.

• Bernard, H.R. Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Sage.

• Trochim and Donnelly. 2006. The Research Methods Knowledge Base. Atomic Books. [link] ISBN-13: 9781592602919. [you may prefer to buy this one directly from Atomic Books because they have an option for also downloading additional material from the web]

• Kruskal and Wish. Multidimensional Scaling. Sage. 0-8039-0940-3

• Bernard, H.R. (ed). 2014 (2nd edition). Handbook of Methods in Cultural Anthropology. Rowman & Littlefield.

• Bernard, H.R., 2011. Research Methods in Anthropology, 5th Edition. AltaMira Publications.

• Glaser & Strauss. Discovery of Grounded Theory. Walter De Gruyter. 0 2023 0260 1

• Miles & Huberman. Qualitative Data Analysis. Sage. 0-8039-5540-5

• Miles, M.B., & A.M. Huberman. 1994. Qualitative Data Analysis: an Expanded Sourcebook, 2nd Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

• Neuendorf, K.A. 2002. The Content Analysis Guidebook . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

• Ragin, Charles. The Comparative Method. 1989. University of California Press.

• Weller and Romney. Metric Scaling. Sage.

Assignments & Grading

The course has just one major assignment -- the final paper -- which is worth 60% of your grade. The paper should report the results of an empirical study. Empirical means that you actually obtain and analyze data (although it could be from a secondary data source). Make sure that the paper answers a clear research question -- it cannot be an aimless application of techniques learned in class. Ideally, the project would have both an inductive step (generating theory from data) and a deductive step (testing hypotheses derived from theory). However, one or the other is ok. Empirical *consulting* projects, in which you use research methods to diagnose an organizational problem and prescribe a solution based on the diagnosis, are also welcome. IMPORTANT: Avoid toy projects that are too trivial to ever be published.

The paper may be done collaboratively if the project is more ambitious than a single person could handle. Also, you should consult the University of Kentucky Office of Research Integrity to see if your project needs IRB approval, and do whatever is necessary on this front. Please share what you learn about this process with others in the class so that everyone learns this key competence.

The paper should be handed in one week after the last class meeting, in electronic form only (Word or Google Docs preferred for ease of making comments).

The remaining 40% of your grade will be based on class participation. This is evaluated on the basis of the frequency of relevant, constructive contributions that demonstrate thoughtful reflection on concepts and/or active engagement with data. It also includes participation in data collection and data analysis exercises that I will assign from time to time. Some of these homework assignments need to be started a couple weeks before they are due, so you should look ahead in the schedule to see what is due when. For example, here are two exercises that need to be done early: Participant Observation Exercise, and Online Survey Exercise. Another one is the Elicitation Exercise.

IMPORTANT: Please note that all assignments should be handed in electronically and will NOT be confidential: I will make them available to the entire class so that everyone can benefit from your work.

Software

Please see the page on software:

https://sites.google.com/site/ba762researchmethods/software