Assignment 2: A Quantitative Research Exercise

(obligatory, max 20 points)

Think back to the research plan and research questions that you developed in Assignment 1: A Qualitative Research Exercise (Step 1 and Step 2), and assess how your phenomenon of interest could be studied with quantitative methods. Alternatively, you can select another research question.

Step 1: Find quantitative data for your study

Take a look at the GEM database and/or European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS):

https://www.gemconsortium.org/data

https://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/innovation/facts-figures/scoreboards_en

How could you use the data available in the database(s) for your own research? Would you have any concerns in regard to using this data? How would you select the data for your purposes?

Describe briefly the data and data collection method of your study (approx. 1-2 pages). In your overview, include (a) what kind of data will be used in your study, (b) why you chose this data, and consider it appropriate for answering your research question, and (c) how you collected it.

Step 2: Build the bridge between concepts and empirics

Think about the problem/question that is of interest to you, as well the data that you have selected from the database.

A) Present the key elements of your research, by indicating (a) what are the theoretical concepts that you are studying, and (b) which variables you have chosen to represent each of these concepts.

B) Explain the relationships between the concepts: (a) draw a simple model that shows how the concepts/variables are related (DV, IV, other variables), (b) formulate a hypothesis that you could test through the empirical analysis.

Step 3: Analyse your data with graphic and descriptive statistics

Start working with your data to gain a first impression on it. You can use one of the statistical tools (e.g. R, Stata, SPSS), or Excel.

A) Draw 1-2 graphs that help you to gain an overview of the data, e.g. a histogram, a box plot, or similar.

B) Calculate key descriptive statistics on the variables of your data and present them in a table. Include mean, median, and mode as well as range and standard deviation of each variable.

C) Write a brief assessment of the data (max 1 page): What is typical in your data? How is it distributed? What do you find interesting or surprising?

D) Explain shortly how you could analyse the data further with statistic techniques.

Step 4: Communicate your results

Provide an overview of how you would report the findings of your research (approximately 1 page). Although you have not fully analysed your data and gained results, think about the objectives and question to be tackled with your research, and assess (a) who do you think would benefit from your study, (b) what kind of implications your study could offer, and (c) how would you disseminate your research results.