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Course

Quantitative Research Methods Seminar (May/June)

Faculty

Chee-Wee Tan, Michel Avital, and additional faculty members from Business Management as needed

Course Coordinator

Chee-Wee Tan, cta.itm@cbs.dk; Michel Avital, avital@cbs.dk

Prerequisites

Statistical Software Tools

Prior to the first class, please obtain, install and get familiar (using the online tutorials) with the basic operation of the two required statistical software application: SPSS and SmartPLS.

Required

IBM SPSS [Downloadable from: http://my.cbs.dk]
SmartPLS [SmartPLS 3 purchasable from: http://www.smartpls.de, but for the purpose of this course, you can obtain a free copy of SmartPLS 2.0.M3 by entering your contact information in the fields located at the bottom of this URL: https://www.smartpls.com/smartpls2]

Optional

LISREL [Purchasable from: http://www.ssicentral.com/lisrel/index.html, but for the purpose of this course, a free student copy can be downloaded via: http://www.ssicentral.com/lisrel/student.html]
fs/QCA [Downloadable from: http://www.u.arizona.edu/~cragin/fsQCA/software.shtml]

Aim

The Quantitative Research Methods course is designed for doctoral students who are interested in pursuing quantitative research projects in social sciences. A primary objective of the course is to help participants acquire the necessary skills that will enable them to design, execute, report and critically review quantitative research in social sciences with an emphasis on management as well as BM related fields. Participants will gain foundational knowledge of quantitative research methods and the considerations that go into the design of empirical studies employing such methods.

Course content

The course is designed as a sequence of four-hour meetings, each covering a key topic on quantitative research methods in social sciences. The meetings are in the form of participatory seminars that comprise class presentations, directed discussions and practical workshops. In addition to an appreciative and/or critical review of extant literature on quantitative research methods, the seminars seek to encourage constructive dialogue aimed at helping students to tackle research questions in a quantitative fashion, which builds on and extends contemporary knowledge. Meetings are held on a weekly basis to allow sufficient time for in-depth reading and reflection.
Given the aforementioned learning objectives, the course is designed with a heavy reading load. Reading the materials beforehand and participating actively in class assignments and dialogues are essential for getting a firm grasp of the course content. For each seminar, students should read the assigned articles and be prepared to answer questions and discuss any other issues pertaining to the assigned reading material. Furthermore, for select seminars, students will be expected to prepare a take-home assignment that will be discussed in the next class.

Evaluation

Individual take-home 15 pages written exam together with a research proposal presentation will form the basis for evaluating students’ performance. The written exam and the presentation will have equal weightage in the course grade. Grading is based on the standard 7-step scale. Passing grade on three individual 5 pages written homework assignments is a prerequisite for taking the exam.

Homework Assignments

Three mandatory individual 5 pages written homework assignments are designed to reinforce key analytical technics and provide an opportunity for deeper learning and reflection. The assignments cover hypotheses development, exploratory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling.

Research Proposal Presentation [Week 23 – Thursday, 7^th June 2018]

For the last session of the course, each student will be expected to prepare a presentation that outlines the design of a quantitative empirical study for investigating their domain of interest or any other contemporary or emerging topic in social sciences. The purpose of the presentation is to familiarize students with the practical steps involved in conducting quantitative empirical studies. The presentation should incorporate the following elements:

Selected topic to be investigated via quantitative research models
Significance of the selected topic
Prior research on the selected topic
Research question(s) to be answered based on the selected topic
Theoretical model and hypotheses for answering the research question(s)
Quantitative research strategy being adopted to validate the theoretical model and hypotheses

Instruments for data collection
Possible data source(s)
Proposed data analytical technique(s) to be utilized

Potential contributions to theory and practice

Teaching style

N/A

Lecture plan

#	Week	Time*	Description	Notes
1	Week 19	7^th May 2018 Monday, 13:00 – 17:00	*Building Blocks in Context*: Theory and Theorizing, Relationships and Hypotheses, Constructs and Variables
2	Week 19	9^th May 2018 Wednesday, 13:00 – 17:00	*Measurement*: Measurement Properties, Construct Validity, Scale Development and Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)	Ex 1 Modeling is due
3	Week 20	14^th May 2018 Monday, 13:00 – 17:00	Survey Research and Sampling	Ex 2 EFA is due
4	Week 20	17^th May 2018 Thursday, 13:00 – 17:00	Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Research
5	Week 21	22^st May 2018 Tuesday, 13:00 – 17:00	*Structural Equation Modeling* (SEM): Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), LISREL, Regression and Partial Least Squares (PLS)
6	Week 21	24^th May 2018 Thursday, 13:00 – 17:00	*Structural Equation Modeling* (SEM): Model Specification, Second-Order Constructs and Common Method Bias (CMB)
7	Week 22	28^th May 2018 Monday, 13:00 – 17:00	Mediation and Moderation	Ex 3 SEM is due
8	Week 22	31^st May 2018 Thursday, 13:00 – 17:00	Secondary Data and Meta-Analysis
9	Week 23	4^th June 2018 Monday, 13:00 – 17:00	Econometric Modeling
10	Week 23	7^th June 2018 Thursday, 13:00 – 17:00	Project Presentation
* Time subject to change. Please check Learn for updates

Learning objectives

At the end of the course, students should be able to:

Discuss the theories and methods that were presented in class and covered by the readings
Design theoretically valid and methodologically rigorous quantitative studies
Develop instruments for quantitative data collection
Identify and assess data sources and data collection methods for quantitative studies
Assess the reliability and validity of measures
Demonstrate understanding of quantitative data analysis techniques
Interpret analytical results from quantitative studies
Articulate in writing a formal description of quantitative research design and analysis

Exam

Exam will take the form of an individual take-home 15 pages written exam that is designed to foster deep reflections on the quantitative research methods covered in the course. The exam involves data analytical procedures in SPSS and SmartPLS (or another structural equation modeling software of your choice). All work must be original material that is produced individually. The exam will be distributed after the last class of the course and will be due in one week. Re-take exam, if necessary, will be administered about a month later.

Other

Start date

07/05/2018

End date

07/06/2018

Level

PhD

ECTS

Language

English

Course Literature

TextbooksDeVellis, R. F. Scale Development: Theory and Applications (Vol. 26), Sage Publications, 2011.Pedhazur, E. J., and Schmelkin, L. P. Measurement, Design, and Analysis: An Integrated Approach, Psychology Press, 1991.Supplementary Readings:See reading list under a separate cover. Additional articles and resources will be provided on a need-to basis.

Fee

6.500 DKK

Minimum number of participants

Maximum number of participants

Location

Copenhagen Business School
Room:

Kilen K 1.43 on the following dates:
7, 9, 14, 17, 24 and 31 of May

Kilen, K 1.50 on the following dates:
28 of May and 4 and 7 of June

2000 Fredriksberg

Contact information

For further enquiries about the course please send mail to Blazenka B. Kvistbo, bbk.research@cbs.dk

Registration deadline

27/04/2018

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