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After finishing the course the student will be able to:
• Describe the data collection methods of the course: case study, focus group, in-depth interviews and questionnaire.
• Formulate a case study based on desk research.
• Formulate questions for interviews, focus groups and questionnaires.
• Drive data collection based on a questionnaire.
• Evaluate questionnaire design.
• Apply the necessary question scales for planned analysis.
• Reflect on reliability and validity.
• Evaluate sampling design.
• Insight and understanding of various univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analysis
• Interpret factor analysis and cluster analysis.
• Apply the program SPSS to analyze quantitative data and interpret the results.
Companies take actions based on information input from a range of sources. The profitability of these actions depends on the organizational ability to search for information and handle it properly. Therefore the individual information competence is important to management. The purpose of this course is to introduce students to qualitative and quantitative data collection methods in business covering the fields of strategy, innovation, marketing and organization. We will develop a fundamental tool box of methods and techniques in social sciences. These data collection methods give students the ability to generate and handle information needed for the implementation of theories from strategy, innovation, marketing and management in companies. In other words there is a direct link between the data collection and the quality of business decisions.
Data collection for business decisions in companies may be performed through focus groups, case studies, depth interviews and questionnaires. In the course students will learn how to conduct each of these as well as how to handle data gained from each of the methods. The students will further get insight into the synergies between methods and decision-making that are the fundamentals of information competence The course also introduces the students to the practical use of analysis techniques through the SPSS program. In addition, interpretation of statistical results for business decisions is discussed on the basis of concrete data handling.
The teaching in this course is very practical and students should expect to get hands-on-experiences with the methods in this course. The course will use "real life" situations as well as will discuss different potential topics for a bachelor thesis in the field of business management. Students with a general interest in strategy, innovation, marketing and organization will benefit from this course. Note that the course will take a more general point of view, though the text books are written in a context of marketing.
COURSE SUBJECT AREAS:
- Introduction to different aspects of data collection methods.
- Data collection design: explorative/descriptive/causal design, quantitative/qualitative analysis.
- Data sources: primary/secondary data, data quality (reliability, validity, generalizability ect.), measuring/scaling
- Sampling: stratification, cluster sampling, sampling of rare events.
- Handing of collected data and analysis planning.
- Quantitative data analysis using the Program SPSS
REQUIRED COURSES (progression): Either Regression or Applied Statistics
LECTURER: Jan Møller Jensen
The teaching will be practically oriented and will incorporate group work and mandatory assignments.
TEACHING LANGUAGE: Danish
Textbooks:
Malhotra, Naresh & Birks, David F., Marketing Research. An Applied Approach 3rd European edition. Pearson Education Limited 2007, chapters 1-4, 6-10,12-20, 22-23. In total 560 pages. (There is overlap with some topics in statistics courses. The focus in this course is on the application of these (and other) techniques.
Jensen, Jan Møller ; Knudsen, Thorbjørn. Analyse af spørgeskemadata med SPSS: Teori, anvendelse og praksis, 2 udg. Syddansk Universitetsforlag, 2009. Chapters 1-14, 16-18, 201 pages.
Other:
All material published via the courses site on www.aula.au.dk, this means lecture slides, articles, and further readings. Approximately 150 pages.
Total number of pages: approximately 890 pages.
FORM OF ASSESSMENT: Individual take home assignments of 96 hours. Furthermore the students must get 3, out of 4, mandatory home assignments approved.
EXAMINATION AIDS ALLOWED: All
