APPLIES TO ACADEMIC YEAR 2013/2014

GRA 2258 Research Methodology for Organizational Psychology

Responsible for the course
Anders Dysvik

Department
Department of Leadership and Organizational Behaviour

Term
According to study plan

ECTS Credits
6

Language of instruction
English

Introduction
The purpose of this course is to provide students with knowledge and skills that enable them to conduct the initial phase of their Thesis projects. The course is process-oriented and has an applied focus, where students are initially given a general introduction to research methodology covering issues in both quantitative and qualitative methodology, the philosophy of science, theories of knowledge and knowledge development, research ethics, and learn to search and critically examine available sources for scientific knowledge. Students are also trained in critical evaluation of research conducted by others as well as their own research. As part of the course, students will work towards submitting and presenting their initial Thesis research proposal

Learning outcome
After undertaking this course you should:
Be familiarized with key insights from the philosophy of science, including issues such as what science is and where knowledge comes from, and research ethics.
Be provided with appropriate tools for evaluating the validity of inferences drawn from empirical research using both quantitative and qualitative methodology.
Be able to apply these insights to conduct research within the field of organizational psychology and understand the main approaches by which researchers attempt to provide answers to research questions within our field.
Be provided with a broader understanding of advanced information search strategies; acquaintance with advanced methods for information ”harvesting”, search technique, evaluation of sources; understand what a cited reference search is, know how to do it and be acquainted with how one can make use of it; and know what a critical literature review is and how this type of articles may be searched for and used.
Be able to apply the knowledge and skills acquired in the course when writing and presenting your initial Thesis proposal document.

Prerequisites
A Bachelor's degree qualifying for admission to the Master programme. Students should have basic knowledge in statistics and in the use of library sources and search techniques.

Compulsory reading
Books:
Bryman, Alan & Bell, Emma.. 2011. Business Research Methods. (3rd Edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press

Other:
During the course there may be hand-outs and other material on additional topics relevant for the course and the examination.
Saunders, Mark. 2012. Research methods for business students.. 6th ed. Pearson Education, Essex. Chapter 3: critically reviewing the literature, pp. 70- 124. Will be available electronically


Recommended reading
Books:
Field, Andy. 2009. Discovering statistics using SPSS : (and sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll). 3rd ed. Sage
Nunnally, Jum C., Ira H. Bernstein. 1994. Psychometric theory. 3rd ed. McGraw-Hill
Shadish, William R., Thomas D. Cook, Donald T. Campbell. 2002. Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for generalized causal inference. Houghton Mifflin
Silverman, David. 2013. A very short, fairly interesting and reasonably cheap book about qualitative research. 2nd ed. Sage
Silverman, David. 2013. Doing qualitative research : a practical handbook. 4th ed. Sage

Course outline
The learning outcomes will be realized by five course components consisting of:
1. Philosophy of science
2. Research ethics
3. Qualitative and quantitative research designs
4. Thesis seminars
5. Practical exercises in a pc lab

During the semester there will be thesis seminars to guide the students towards writing a thesis registration form. This is conducted outside the course.

Computer-based tools
It's Learning & online library resources : ISI web of science and Business Source Complete, and Google Scholar.

Learning process and workload
A course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of 160-180 hours.

Research Methodology is a very important course in the MSc Programme as the course is central to the thesis work. Please make sure you read the information about the thesis work in the web-based Student Handbook.

Examination
A written Thesis registration form (pass/fail)
A final 3 hour individual written exam (counts for 90 % of the final grade) and a completed and approved work assignment given by the library (counts for 10% of the final grade).

Specific information regarding student evaluation beyond the information given in the course description will be provided in class. This information may be relevant for requirements for term papers or other hand-ins, and/or where class participation can be one of several elements of the overall evaluation.

This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam elements). Each exam element will be graded using points on a scale (e.g. 0-100). The elements will be weighted together according to the information in the course description in order to calculate the final letter grade for the course. You will find detailed information about the point system and the cut off points with reference to the letter grades on the course site in It’s learning.

Examination code(s)
GRA 22583 for the Thesis registration form (pass/fail)
GRA 22584 continuous assessment accounts for the final letter grade in the course

Examination support materials
A bilingual dictionary
Exam aids at written examiniations are explained under exam information in the student portal @bi. Please note use of calculator and dictionary in the section on examaids

Re-sit examination
It is only possible to retake an examination when the course is next taught.
The assessment in some courses is based on more than one exam code.
Where this is the case, you may retake only the assessed components of one of these exam codes.
Where this is not the case, all of the assessed components of the course must be retaken.
All retaken examinations will incur an additional fee.

Additional information
Honour code

Academic honesty and trust are important to all of us as individuals, and represent values that are encouraged and promoted by the honour code system. This is a most significant university tradition. Students are responsible for familiarizing themselves with the ideals of the honour code system, to which the faculty are also deeply committed.

Any violation of the honour code will be dealt with in accordance with BI’s procedures for cheating. These issues are a serious matter to everyone associated with the programs at BI and are at the heart of the honour code and academic integrity. If you have any questions about your responsibilities under the honour code, please ask.