Business Research Methods

Course Description:

This introductory course in research design and methods is oriented to prepare students for performing effective and responsible graduate level research in any major of choice.

The course focuses on the analysis of business problems and the use of scientific research as a problem-solving tool. This encompasses the understanding and application of appropriate research designs, research statistics, and the use of the computer for data analyses, and report writing and presentation. Moreover, BBUS 450 provides the student with a study of the application of research methods in the collection of business information and the development of business strategy. In this course, applied business research studies are examined from the perspectives of planning, designing, executing, and interpreting.

Students will be exposed to the basic analytical, graphical and statistical methods used to generate and interpret data, and will demonstrate their knowledge of the course materials by analyzing and interpreting research from professional journals, from analyzing and graphing raw data provided in class and by planning an independent research study over the course of the semester.

Course Learning Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

1. Acquire skills to locate problem areas in organizational settings, and plan, organize, design,
2. Conduct research to help solve the identified problems;
3. Acquire knowledge about APA style and format
4. Write and present research reports; and
5. Develop skills and knowledge to discriminate “good” from “bad” research reported in academic, business, and trade journals.