RESEARCH METHODS FOR BUSINESS

Credit Units: 3 units

Course Prerequisite(s): Statistics 2 (EKU 2014)
Textbook(s) and Reading:
Sekaran, Uma, 2003, Research Metodhs for Business, 4th Ed., John Wiley and Sons, New York, USA(US)
Selected Articles

Course Description
Through this course the students learn how to conduct a systematic and organized effort to investigate a
specific problem encountered in the work setting that needs a solution. Students will learn a series of steps
designed and executed, with the goal of finding answers to the issues that are of concerns to the manager in the
work environment. This course provides students knowledge and experience in identifying research problems,
reviewing theory and literature, developing hypotheses, developing measures, sampling, collecting data,
analysing and interpreting data, and comunicating research process and results.

Course Objective(s)
This course has several objective(s)
1. Students should develop the basic skills required to understand and manage business research programs.
2. Students should be able to understand the business research process, including the development of research
questions and application of methods that are appropriate for specific research problems.
3. Students should develop the understanding necessary to critically evaluate the reliability and validity of
research studies.
4. Students should develop a broad appreciation of the social and ethical issues in business research.
Course Policies
Presence. Predicated on FE UGM regulation, students are required to attend lectures at least 75% of
total lectures held. Any violation against this rule may cause the ineligibilty to get a final grade.
Class participation. Students are highly expected to contribute ideas, thoughts, experiences, and
arguments to the class discussion. Although students have been provided overviews of key points and, students
should comprehend the materials in details, raise questions and ideas.
Critical review. Students will be distributed into groups that consist of five or six members. Besides
functioning as a discussion forum, the group has taks to present critical review of research articles and submit
papers of the review. The length of each paper should not exceed four pages of A4-sized paper, with space 1.5,
nad font size 12.
Examinations. Mid-term and final tests purport to examine students knowledge and understanding on
concepts learnt from the course.
Guidelines for Written Work, Assessment, and Plagiarism
At the undergraduate level, a high quality of presentation and content is expected and required. All
works should be typewritten, proff-read, and checked for accuracy before submission. Marks will be deducted
for lack of referencing.
Gadjah Mada University has strict rules regarding honesty in assessment. All candidates should be
aware of the rules concerning misconducts in assessment, which prohibit certain behaviours, such as:
No part of the work has been copied from any other persons work expect where due acknowledgement is
made in the text,
No part of the work has been written by any other person except where such collaboration has been
authorised by the course lecturer concerned, and

 No part of the work has been submitted for assessment in another course in this or another part of the
university except where authorised by the lecturer(s) concerned.
Course Grading
Item

Weight

Class participation

20%

Paper

20%

Mid-term examination

30%

Final examination

30%

Grade categories:
A = 4.00

C+ = 2.25

A- = 3.75

C = 2.00

B+ = 3.25

C- = 1.75

B = 3.00

D+ = 1.25

B- = 2.75

D = 1.00

E = 0.00

Course Calendar/Schedule
Session
1.

Topics
Introduction to Business Research:

Source
Chapter 1

a) Research in Business
b) Types of Business Research
c) Managers and research
d) Ethics and business research
2.

Scientific Investigation:

Chapter 2

a) The Scientific Research

b) The Building block of science
c) The hypothetic-Deductive Method
3.

Computer Technology and Business Research:

a) Information needs in Business
b) The Role of information System in

Chapter 3

Managerial Decision Making

c) Managerial Implications of Technology
Advancements

4.

The Research process:

Chapter 4

a) The Broad Problem Area

b) Preliminary Data Gathering
c) Problem Definition
5.

The Research process:

a) Theoretical Framework

Chapter 5
Chapter 6

b) Hypotheses Development
c) Elements of Research design
d) Research Proposal
6.

Experimental designs:

Chapter 7

a) Laboratory and Field Experiment,

b) Control and manipulation of independent
Variable
c) Internal and External Validity
7.

Measurement of Variables:

Chapter 8

a) Operational definition
b) Scales
c) Scaling
d) Reliabilty
e) Validity
8.

Data Collection Methods:

Chapter 10

a) Primary sources data

b) Secondary source data
c) Interviewing and questionnaires
9.

Observations:
a) Nonbehavioral observation

Chapter 10

b) Behavioral observation
c) Observation methods: direct, indirect,
participant, simple, and systematic
observation
10.

Sampling:

Chapter 11

a) Probabilty Sampling
b) Nonprobability Sampling
11.

Data Analysis Interpretation

Chapter 12

Research Report and Presentation

Chapter 13

12.

Critical Review Discussion (from selected articles)

13.

Critical Review Discussion (from selected articles)

14.

Critical Review Discussion (from selected articles)