Syllabus

LEARNING OUTCOMES

This course is designed to introduce students in various areas of business to the principles and practice of quantitative research. The course covers the fundamentals of the research process, the statistical analysis and modeling of data, and quantitative approaches to research, all with a focus on issues specific to management studies and an emphasis on hands-on experience. In addition, this course provides a ‘toolbox’ of statistical procedures and analyses which the student can practice and apply. Upon successful completion of this course, you should:

• Be better able to interpret and critically assess methodological execution of empirical management studies
• Understand the uses and limitations of common tools for analyzing quantitative data
• Develop competence in collecting, modeling, and interpreting quantitative data
• Be prepared to utilize obtained methodological skills in master’s thesis and/or doctoral dissertation

Credits: 3

Schedule: 24.10.2023 - 30.11.2023

Teacher in charge (valid for whole curriculum period):

Teacher in charge (applies in this implementation): Anastasia Koulouri

Contact information for the course (applies in this implementation):

Responsible Teacher: Dr Anastasia Koulouri, Senior University Lecturer

Email: anastasia.koulouri@aalto.fi

Office: Business School, Department of Management Studies

Office hours: By appointment, please email

 

Teaching Assistant: Hanh Thi Duc Doan, Doctoral Researcher

Email: hanhthiduc.doan@aalto.fi

CEFR level (valid for whole curriculum period):

Language of instruction and studies (applies in this implementation):

Teaching language: English. Languages of study attainment: English

CONTENT, ASSESSMENT AND WORKLOAD

Content

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Topics covered in the course include the fundamentals of quantitative research design, such as hypotheses formulation and data collection; preparation of survey data, such as importation into SPSS, variable transformations, and reliability assessment of multi-item measurement scales; descriptive statistics, such as means, standard deviations, and correlations; and hypotheses tests, such as t-tests, ANOVA, linear regression, and indirect effects (moderation, mediation) analysis. Practical examples and exercises are embedded in the course structure.

Assessment Methods and Criteria

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Assignments

• applies in this implementation

  The course assessment will be based on the following components:

   Assignment 1: Data analysis exercise (35%)

  Assignment 2: Article based analysis (15%)

  Assignment 3: Performing and reporting on quantitative research (50%)

  
  

  All assignments are to be conducted individually.

  All assignments must be submitted and achieve a passing grade to pass the course. This means that for assignment 1 you need to achieve at least 17.5%; for assignment 2, 7.5%; and for assignment 3, 25%.

  No late submissions are accepted unless there is a valid reason supported by evidence (e.g. doctor’s certificate which should be sent to confidential@aalto.fi). In such a case, please contact the Responsible Teacher to inform of the situation and discuss alternative arrangements.

  
  

Workload

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  • Lectures on the fundamental theory and skills for quantitative methods
  • A rich online compendium of additional theory and practical guides to common procedures and analyses in SPSS
  • A research incubator session to discuss preliminary research ideas
  • One-on-one session with the instructor to discuss more complex quantitative challenge

  Mandatory attendance. First lecture is organised together with the course MNGT-E1011 Qualitative Methods.
  

• applies in this implementation

  Class contact, mandatory lectorials	21h
  Self-study, directed/undirected	14h
  Assignments	45h
  Total	80h (3 ECTS)

  
  

DETAILS

Study Material

• applies in this implementation

  The course materials will be placed on MyCourses on Thursdays before/after the lectorial including:

  ·         Lectorial slides;

  ·         Notes detailing how to carry out different procedures;

  ·         Tasks for the week.

   Notes on the week’s tasks will be provided on Mondays (of the following week), as necessary.

   To download, the articles listed below, log in to Aalto’s electronic management research database (http://web.lib.aalto.fi/en/edata/?cmd=list), choose a database such as Google Scholar or EBSCO e-books, and search. The books are available through Aalto University Library.

   

  Pre-readings 

   Liu, W., Tangirala, S., Lam, W., Chen, Z., Jia, R. T., & Huang, X. (2015). How and when peers’ positive mood influences employees’ voice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(3), 976-989.

  Sliter, M., Kale, A., & Yuan, Z. (2014). Is humor the best medicine? The buffering effect of coping humor on traumatic stressors in firefighters. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 35(2), 257–272.

  Umphress, E. E., Bingham, J. B., & Mitchell, M. S. (2010). Unethical behavior in the name of the company: The moderating effect of organizational identification and positive reciprocity beliefs on unethical pro-organizational behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(4), 769-780.

   

  Core materials for the course

   Bono, J. E., & McNamara, G. (2011). Publishing in AMJ – Part 2: Research design. Academy of Management Journal, 54(4), 657-660.

  Field, A. (2009). Discovering Statistics Using SPSS. Sage Publications Ltd.

  Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2014). Multivariate data analysis: A global perspective. Pearson Education Limited.

   

  Additional background/in-depth reading materials

   Writing a quantitative paper

  Zhang, Y., & Shaw, J. D. (2012). Publishing in AMJ – Part 5: Crafting the methods and results. Academy of Management Journal, 55(1), 8-12.

   Quantitative designs

  Rynes, S., & Gephart, R. P., Jr. (2004). Qualitative Research and the “Academy of Management Journal” [Editorial]. Academy of Management Journal, 47(4), 454–462.

  Guba, E. G., & Lincoln, Y. S. (1994). Competing paradigms in qualitative research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 105–117). Sage Publications, Inc.

  Hult, G. T., Ketchen, D. J., Griffith, D. A., Finnegan, C. A., Gonzalez-Padron, T., Harmancioglu, N., Huang, Y., Talay, M. B., & Cavusgil, S. T. (2008). Data equivalence in cross-cultural international business research: assessment and guidelines. Journal of International Business Studies, 39, 1027-1044.

  Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J.-Y., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879-903.

   Hypotheses

  Sparrowe, R. T., & Mayer, K. J. (2011). Publishing in AMJ – Part 4: Grounding hypotheses. Academy of Management Journal, 54(6), 1098-1102.

   Survey construction

  Davis, J., & Schiffman, H. R. (1985). The influence of the wording of interrogatives on the accuracy of eyewitness recollections. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 23(4), 394-396.

  Kays, K., Gathercoal, K., & Buhrow, W. (2012). Does survey format influence self-disclosure on sensitive question items? Computers in Human Behavior, 28(1), 251–256.

  Martin, E. (2005). Survey questionnaire construction. Encyclopedia of Social Measurement, 723-732.

  Robinson, M. A. (2018). Using multi-item psychometric scales for research and practice in human resource management. Human Resource Management, 57, 739–750.

  Schaeffer, N. C., & Presser, S. (2003). The Science of Asking Questions. Annual Review of Sociology, 29(1), 65-88.

   Moderation and mediation

  Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173-82.

  Morgan-Lopez, A. A., & MacKinnon, D. P. (2006). Demonstration and evaluation of a method for assessing mediated moderation. Behavior Research Methods, 38(1), 77-87. 

  Muller, D., Judd, C. M., & Yzerbyt, V. Y. (2005). When moderation is mediated and mediation is moderated. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89(6), 852–863.

  Preacher, K. J., Rucker, D. D., & Hayes A. F. (2007). Addressing moderated mediation hypotheses: Theory, methods, and prescriptions. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 42(1), 185-227.

   Example quantitative articles

  Benzing, C., Chu, H. M., & Kara, O. (2009). Entrepreneurs in Turkey: A factor analysis of motivations, success factors, and problems. Journal of Small Business Management, 47(1), 58-91.

  Busenitz, L., Gomez, C., & Spencer, J. W. (2000). Country institutional profiles: Unlocking entrepreneurial phenomena. Academy of Management Journal, 43(5), 994-1003.

  Morschett, D. (2006). Firm-specific influences on the internationalization of after-sales service activities in foreign markets. Journal of Services Marketing, 20(5), 309-323.

  Tang, J., Kacmar, K. M. M., & Busenitz, L. (2012). Entrepreneurial alertness in the pursuit of new opportunities. Journal of Business Venturing, 27(1), 77-94.

  
  

Substitutes for Courses

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Substitutes for Courses

Prerequisites

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Prerequisites

FURTHER INFORMATION

Further Information

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Teaching Language : English

  Teaching Period : 2022-2023 Autumn II
  2022-2023 Spring IV
  2023-2024 Autumn II
  2023-2024 Spring IV

  Enrollment :

  Students are admitted to the course in the following priority order: 1) People Management and Organizational Development / Creative Sustainability / Global Management / Management and International Business students, 2) other students.

• applies in this implementation

  The course will be conducted only on campus and in person.

  The course delivery comprises of a weekly 3-hour mandatory lectorial during which you will be introduced to theoretical concepts and techniques and have the opportunity to apply them in practice using SPSS. In week 1, there will be an additional introductory lecture covering the practicalities of the course, and introducing scientific method, incorporating both qualitative and quantitative research designs.

  Attendance to 70% of the lectorials is mandatory to pass. In practice this means that you should attend a minimum of 5 out of the 7 lectorials.

  The lectorials will take place in IT rooms that are equipped with computers with SPSS.

   

  For the course assignments (see sections 5 and 6 for further details), you will need your own laptop and SPSS.

  Please ensure that you download and install SPSS before the start of the course.

  To download and install SPSS:

  1. Click on https://download.aalto.fi
  2. Choose "Software for students' home computers”.
  3. Download and install "IBM SPSS Statistics Desktop”. Please ensure that you choose "authorized user license" when installing SPSS.
  4. Any issues, contact servicedesk@aalto.fi as soon as possible.

   

  This is an intensive course that requires a substantial commitment from you.

  To make the most of this course, you need to take responsibility for your learning and fully engage in the learning process by:

  • Attending all lectorials and actively participating in the learning process;
  • Keeping up with the work by completing all reading and using the notes and tasks provided to practice and develop your competence in the practical application of theoretical concepts and techniques taught;
  • Working independently on the course’s assignments (see sections 5 and 6 for details);
  • Ensuring that your schedule allows you to attend all lectures and keep up with the readings and practice material;
  • Proactively seeking assistance and clarifications. It is your responsibility to ask for help or clarification if you have difficulty with something or something is not clear.

  If in doubt, please contact the Responsible Teacher, Anastasia Koulouri (anastasia.koulouri@aalto.fi).

  
  

Details on the schedule

• applies in this implementation

  Session	Input: Date, Time	Topic(s) covered	Deliverable
  1a	Lectorial: Tuesday 24.10.23 14:15-17:00	Introduction to the course   The scientific method, introduction to qualitative and quantitative research
  1b	Lectorial: Thursday 26.10.23 14:15-17:00	Fundamentals of survey research   Introduction to Descriptive Statistics and SPSS	Assessment 1: Issued on 26.10.23 Due 16.11.23, 23:00
  2	Lectorial: Thursday 02.11.23 14:15-17:00	Populations, samples and hypothesis testing   Performing Independent Samples t-Test and Paired Samples t-Test
  3	Lectorial: Thursday 09.11.23 14:15-17:00	Analysis of Variance ANOVA Test Research incubator session	Assessment 2: Issued on 09.11.23 Due 30.11.23, 23:00
  4	Lectorial: Thursday 16.11.23 14:15-17:00	Correlation, linear regression, multiple regression
  5	Lectorial: Thursday 23.11.23 14:15-17:00	Non-parametric tests
  6	Lectorial: Thursday 30.11.23 14:15-17:00	Logistic regression, mediation and moderation analyses
  			Assessment 3: Issued on 16.11.23 Due 08.12.23, 23:00

  
  

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