Study Guide

Objective

The student
- understands the usefulness of the research approach in the expert practice
- is able to clearly define the general conditions of a research activity
- is able to formulate research problems
- is able to practice basic qualitative and quantitative research and development process, and scientific communication (including report structuring, planning and dissemination)
- acknowledges and is able to take into consideration the special conditions of research in the business environment
- is able to make use of the existing research results critically and produce new knowledge

Content

- research process
- scientific method and scientific approaches
- conducting a literature review
- research methodologies
- quantitative and qualitative data collection methods
- analyzing qualitative and quantitative data
- article writing and publishing

Materials

Saunders M. et al. 2019. Research Methods for Business Students. 8th Edition. Prentice Hall (avalaible as an ebook on FINNA via the Vlebooks portal)
Thesis from former and current IB students

Teaching methods

Workshops/All group meetings, self-studies, individual meeting, thesis seminars, and reflection on thesis

Exam schedules

There is no exam for this course.

International connections

Learning by doing, flip learning and case study approach.

Completion alternatives

Submitting a valid thesis proposal (to be agreed with the responsible teacher)

Student workload

Attending All Group Meetings and thesis seminar: 5 hours
Thesis Proposal: 60 hours
Individual Assignments and self-studies: 60 hours
Commentaries and assessment of thesis: 10 hours

Assessment criteria, approved/failed

The main component to pass is the Thesis proposal. The other components (individual assignments...) are there to help you to write of a better thesis proposal and have a clear understanding of what the thesis writing process and requirements are at Turku UAS.

Content scheduling

Research process and thesis writing process
Defining thesis objective, research questions and research scope
Identifying and using reliable and relevant past research
Research methodologies
Quantitative and qualitative data collection methods
Analyzing qualitative and quantitative data
Individual meeting with the responsible teacher to discuss and receive feedback on your research proposal
Writing your Thesis proposal

Further information

After your thesis proposal is accepted, you will be assigned a thesis supervisor. One important objective of this course is to get you started with your thesis.

Evaluation scale

Hyväksytty/Hylätty

Assessment methods and criteria

- 2 individual Assignments: pass/failed
- Research Proposal: pass/failed
- Attending a thesis seminar