The course is a prerequisite of DBA301 Dissertation Research II and guides students in defining and pursuing preliminary research in their area of dissertation topic with the goal of developing a working draft of the dissertation proposal and a research proposal poster.
This course is a continuation DBA103 Research Methods I and of provides the student with an advanced level of knowledge in methods/tools used in business research on topics such as data preparation, multivariate analysis, and dependence techniques. Through a series of assignments, the student demonstrates mastery of this knowledge and proficiency in the use of such tools. This course continues the sequence of research courses to prepare EBU students for skills needed to undertake a dissertation. Students are expected to begin this course with a defined dissertation research topic, a draft research question, a hypothesis (for quantitative research designs), a supporting literature review, and ideas about appropriate methods. This course will explore the next steps of the research process, to further develop methods for conducting the research. This will include refining the research question, what specific methods are appropriate, how to implement the chosen method, how to manage and organize data and how to present the data results. Primary data collection methods to be covered will include questionnaires/surveys, focus groups and key informant interviews. This course will explore low-tech ways to analyze qualitative data. At the end of the course, students will have an integrated research methodology into a completed draft version of their dissertation proposal. The Research Methods Module I, II and II operate in each term of the DBA Program.