Research Methodologies

Objectives

The focus is on learning and applying scientific methods in data-driven marketing. More specifically, this course aims to assist master students in selecting a research topic and in developing a master proposal in the area of data-driven marketing. In this sense, the course focuses on the choice and development of a research problem, the presentation of the criteria that define the research design decision, the exposure of the methodologies more appropriate to the research problem, and the suggestion of additional bibliography.

General characterization

Code

200086

Credits

6.0

Responsible teacher

Paulo Miguel Rasquinho Ferreira Rita

Hours

Weekly - Available soon

Total - Available soon

Teaching language

Portuguese. If there are Erasmus students, classes will be taught in English

Prerequisites

None

Bibliography

BRYMAN, A. (2012). Social Research Methods. 4rd ed. Oxford University Press Inc.;

OATES, B. J. (2006). Researching Information Systems and Computing. London: Sage Publications;

RECKER, J. (2013). Scientific Research in Information Systems: A Beginner's Guide. Progress in IS, Springer;

SAUNDERS, M.; A. Thornhill e P. Lewis (2012). Research Methods for Business Students. 6th Ed. Prentice-Hall;

CATER-STEEL, A. e L. Al-Hakim (2009). Information Systems Research Methods, Epistemology, and Applications. IGI Global Snippet

Teaching method

The course is based on lectures and seminars. In addition to the recommended readings and exposure of the themes in the classroom, discussions and exercises will be promoted in the classroom. The seminars are geared for the analysis and development of students dissertaion proposals. Structured discussions and sharing of experiences will be encouraged.

Participants are faced with the need to address the systematic issues that arise during the preparation of a master final work that include chooosing a theme, identifying a problem to study, clarification of objectives, formulation of hypotheses, model building, application of quantitative, qualitative and mixed data collection and reporting, presentation of results and conclusions.

Evaluation method

Course assessement is based on the proposals for research, project work or internship report on two occasions:
- The first part of the proposal will have a weighting of 25% of the final grade.
- The final proposal will have a weighting of 75% of the final grade.
- Proposals are evaluated 0 to 20 (pass mark: 10)

Students who do not handin the 1st part of the proposal may submit their final proposal on the dates defined for the exams.In those instances the final proposal will have a weighting of 100% of the final grade.

Subject matter

1. Introduction to research work.
a) The nature of research
b) The investigation process
2. Topic formulation and research objectives
a) A good research topic
b) The generation of ideas
c) Research questions, goals and objectives
d) From idea to project
3. The proposal
a) Content
b) Standards
4. The Critical review of the literature
a) Critical review
b) Planning and implementation of literature search
c) Literature search tools and sources
d) Plagiarism
e) Rules for citation and references
5. Methodological approaches in scientific research. Strategies and methods for research
a) Approaches to research
b) Research designs
c) Methods of data collection
6. Presentation of the final work: structure, content, and editing rules
a) Repport structure
b) Organization
c)Writting: editing and norms

Programs

Programs where the course is taught: