Introduction
Welcome to the Researching Entrepreneurship and Innovation course (25E53000)!
The primary aim of this course is to introduce Master's students in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management to the basic steps of conducting research in their field of specialisation.
In essence, research in entrepreneurship and innovation consists of asking important questions and using scientific methods to design and implement ways of answering these questions. There is generally no one right way to approach these issues (although there are definitely wrong ways!). Instead, research in entrepreneurship and innovation consists of numerous choices that involve trade-offs. We will start the course by introducing relevant topic areas in entrepreneurship and innovation to have an idea about what is 'hot' in this field at the moment. We then address the research process (including identifying research questions, philosophy of science) and trade-offs among research designs such as the choice to use qualitative versus quantitative methods. We will also cover main qualitative and quantitative methods applied in entrepreneurship and innovation research.
It is important to know that it is up to your own interest and needs to choose the order in which you proceed in this course. The topics are already organized in a suitable order. Each topic comes with a set of readings and in most cases short introductory videos. Please note that neither the topics nor the readings covered should be considered to be exhaustive. We simply cannot cover everything in the time allotted. The purpose is to provide a solid foundation in the important issues related to each topic and the field as a whole. The overall goal of the course is to help prepare students to develop interesting research questions and pursue answers to them by using appropriate scientific methods. These are essential prerequisites for a successful Master's thesis.
Before engaging with the sessions of this course please take a look at the more detailed description of the course structure below, and see the Syllabus (top-right corner on this page) and familiarise yourself with the main requirements to complete the course successfully.
For any enquiry regarding this course please contact steffen.farny@aalto.fi
Happy learning!
Course Structure and Materials
The course consists of 10 topics that cover fundamentals of social science research as well as the basics of qualitative and quantitative research:
Fundamentals of Social Science Research
- Topic 1: The Usefulness of Theory in Research
- Topic 2: Research Paradigms in a Nutshell
Basics of Qualitative Research in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management
- Topic 3: Different qualitative approaches to inquiry
- Topic 4: Observation and Note-Taking
- Topic 5: Interviewing and non-mainstream approaches to collect data
- Topic 6: Qualitative Data Analysis
Basics of Quantitative Research in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management
- Topic 7: Quantitative Data
- Topic 8: From Theory to Empirics
- Topic 9: Quantitative Analysis
- Topic 10: Interpreting and Publishing Research Findings
Each topic will include reading materials and videos that will introduce you to the core themes. In addition, you may be asked to independently look for more information.
Online sessions
Introductory session on Fri 1.11.
We will organize an online introductory session on the course on Friday 1 Nov at 14.15-16.00. Participation is voluntary.
Feedback sessions on 22.11. and 13.12.
The course includes two obligatory assignments (20 points each) that allows you to develop your skills as a researcher, and to work on a topic that is of interest to you. We offer an online feedback session after each of the obligatory assignments:
- The first feedback session is on Friday 22 Nov at 14.15-16.00.
- The second feedback session is on Friday 13 Dec at 14.15-16.00.
Participation in the feedback sessions is voluntary.
The Introductory and Feedback sessions will be organized in an Adobe Connect Meeting.
To join the meeting: https://connect.funet.fi/aalto_eship/
Note: In order to participate, you must download Adobe Contact Meeting.
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If you have never attended an Adobe Connect meeting before:
Test your connection: https://connect.funet.fi/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm
Get a quick overview: http://www.adobe.com/products/adobeconnect.html
Assignments
Obligatory Assignments – due 20.11. and 11.12.
The course includes two obligatory assignments (20 points each) that allows you to develop your skills as a researcher, and to work on a topic that is of interest to you. The first assignment focuses on Qualitative Research and it is due Wednesday 20 Nov. The second on Quantitative Research and it is due Wednesday 11 Dec.
You must complete and pass these assignments in order to pass the course. However, note that they only amount to a maximum of 40 points of the total 100 points of this course. In order to pass the course, you need to collect a minimum of 50 points in the exercises and assignments.
We offer an online feedback session after each of the obligatory assignments (see information above); the first on Friday 22 Nov, and the second on Friday 13 Dec. The participation is voluntary.
Topic Exercises – due 20.11. and 11.12.
In association to each topic there are two small exercises (3 points each), which test the comprehension of the topic and help you to develop skills to critically read and evaluate scientific research. These exercises are voluntary. However, if you do not complete them, you will automatically loose the points they are worth, and cannot get the highest grade from the course. Altogether the voluntary exercises amount to a maximum of 60 points of the total 100 points of this course (10 session, 2 exercises in each session, 3 points for each exercise).
The first set of exercises (Topics 1-6) are due Wednesday 20 Nov, and the second set of exercises (Topics 7-10) are due is due Wednesday 11 Dec.
Elaboration of the Evaluation Criteria and Methods
In order to pass the course, you need to collect a minimum of 50 points in the exercises and assignments. Note, it is mandatory to submit both assignments, but you may choose the number of exercises. If you decide to skip some exercises you will no longer have the possibility to score maximum points, as in each exercise you can score a maximum of 3 points of the final grade.
For more information on the points to grade conversion, see Table below:
Course Evaluation Overview | |
Course Requirements | Weighting (Points) |
| 12 |
| 24 |
| 20 |
| 24 |
| 20 |
Total | 100 |
|
Suggested schedule
This is a self-paced online course, and as such the students can decide how to allocate the topics according to their own needs and interests. In general, we suggest the following structure to ensure that assignment deadlines (see above) are met:
Some suggestions to create learning synergies with other Aalto courses:
This course works complementary to other Aalto research method courses, such as ‘26E02900 Doing Quantitative Analysis’ or ‘21E00011 Doing Qualitative Research’.
If you are interested in learning more about entrepreneurship and innovation management research, or you are writing a thesis on the topic, we recommend to combine this course with the online course ‘25E55000 Entrepreneurship and Society’ to strengthen your theoretical understanding of entrepreneurship research.