MBA 6310: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Methods
Analysis for Managers
Course Syllabus – Summer 2013
Instructor
Schedule
Ezekiel Kimball, Ph.D.
Director of Institutional Research
Curry College
1071 Blue Hill Avenue
Milton, MA 02186
|P| 617.333.2271
|E| ekimball@curry.edu
Course Meetings: Wednesdays, 5:30-9 PM
Duration: May 22-July 3
Office Hours: I am available by appointment
from 7:30-4:30 Monday-to-Wednesday. My
availability is more sporadic on Thursdays and
Fridays. I am also available before class.
Course Description
This course is an expanded version of MBA6310: Quantitative Analysis for Managers. Whereas
the course originally focused on the application of statistical and analytical tools to existing
datasets, this version explores the creation of those datasets utilizing a variety of research
techniques—including quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods approaches. We will then
discuss a variety of analytical techniques—including qualitative coding, statistics, and data
mining—that can be used to create meaning from the data. This course makes use of techniques
from a wide variety of academic disciplines—including sociology, anthropology,
communications research, mathematics, statistics, and economics. In short, this course introduces
the techniques of applied business research.
Unpacking the Course Description
This course is designed to help current and aspiring senior managers better understand the
relationship between business research and the epistemic hierarchy (also known as the data-todecision ladder). In this course, we will address three linked questions: 1) How do we produce a
good data? 2) How do we examine that data in aggregate to produce meaningful information?
and 3) How do we combine that information to produce actionable knowledge? The frequent use
of the word “produce” here is intentional. Neither data nor meaning is intrinsic to the business
environment. We must actively seek them out: how well (or poorly) we do so has a great deal to
do with our success as managers.
For some of you, your portfolio may now or in the future include the management of some part
of the business research process. This course will offer a foundation for future study in this area
as well as a holistic way to view the business research process. For those of you who will or do
rely on others for the provision and interpretation of data, the recognition that business research
is a human process wherein error or bias might be introduced is critical. To that end, this course
will afford you the skillset necessary to ask key questions about the fundamental design of
business research and the resulting narrative.
By the conclusion of the course, you should be able to:
1)
2)
3)
4)
Utilize the language and thought processes associated with business research;
Identify business research problems and develop appropriate research designs to
address them;
Apply the foundational techniques of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods
research to produce relevant data;
Apply relevant analytical techniques to generate meaning from that data.
Course Texts
The following books are required for the course:
Bryman, A. (2012). Social Research Methods (4th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods
Approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
[Note: Depending on where you purchase the book, both the third and fourth
editions may be available to you. Either will be fine. The fourth has updated
instructions regarding APA formatting, but the third will likely be cheaper.]
As finances permit, I would also recommend that you consider purchasing the following books:
Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., & Williams, J. M. (2008). The Craft of Research (3rd ed.).
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Urdan, T. C. (2010). Statistics in Plain English (3rd ed.). New York: Taylor & Francis.
[Note: You’re welcome to adopt any statistics text that you like, but I recommend
this text as it is highly readable and many students find it easy to understand.]
Assignments
This course is structured around a real-world problem that can be better understood through the
lens of applied business research. You will work in teams of 3-4 students to define the scope of
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the problem, develop appropriate data collections mechanisms, and to apply relevant analytical
strategies. The following are the details of our collaboration this semester:
We will be partnering with Curry College’s MBA program to support its decision-making
related to online and hybrid course offerings. Since this course session is being offered in
this format for the first time, this partnership will allow easy access to key stakeholders
should we need to clarify their needs or interests.
Online and hybrid offerings are a rapidly growing part of the higher education
landscape, and many of Curry’s peer institutions have moved into that marketplace more
aggressively than it has. Furthermore, a number of large for-profit corporations possess
an increasingly large portion of the higher education marketplace and developed
sophisticated approaches to online and hybrid education.
Throughout this course, we will define the scope of the problem and then develop a
research strategy to help Curry College’s MBA program to make the best possible
decisions about online and hybrid education. Please note that, while this question can
also be approached from the perspective of creating the best possible educational
outcomes (which the MBA program certainly is considering), you will be focused solely
on addressing this question as a business problem. You are welcome to consider
educational efficacy but only as it impacts issues such as market share and branding.
All course assignments are designed to help you generate or process data related to this realworld project. Further, the results of each assignment are intended to provide the foundation for
later assignments—culminating in a project report. Grading will be based upon a 100 point scale.
Letter grades will be assigned based upon the following correspondences (please be aware that
any grade less than a B- cannot count toward the completion of your MBA; in that case, you will
need to retake this course as your expense to continue in the program):
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD
F
More than 94 Points
90-93 Points
87-89 Points
83-86 Points
80-82 Points
77-79 Points
73-76 Points
70-72 Points
60-69 Points
Less than 59 Points
The following assignments [with their associated point values] are included in the course grade:
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-
Attendance & Participation [20 points]: Since a key part of graduate education is
discussion, I expect that you will attend each week’s class meeting having read the
week’s assignment and ready to participate. As you prepare for class, you are required to
keep a reflective journal that chronicles your learning and experiences. You will briefly
summarize these reflections in a short paper at the end of the semester. Further, since this
course is taught in a hybrid format, I expect you to be engaged in discussions with your
group members or on our online discussion boards for a total of 2-3 hours each week.
Interview & Focus Group Questions [Not Graded]: For this assignment your group
must develop a protocol for both an interview and a focus group. We will conduct these
interviews and focus groups in class.
-
Field Notes [10 Points]: In this assignment, you will provide a narrative account
consisting of “thick” description, reflexive observations about your role as a researcher,
and interpretation of your interaction with Curry College over the period of one hour.
You may choose the site or focus of your field notes, but some suggestions that lend
themselves well to this assignment include: 1) imagine yourself in the place of a
prospective student and record your experience navigating the website and finding
information related to application to the MBA program; 2) log onto the Curry web portal
and visit the Blackboard site for one of your prior courses—recording your observations
about the course design; and 3) “visit” the library online and in person.
-
Précis Assignment [Not Graded]: A précis is a summary (or sometimes an
abridgement) of a much larger piece of writing. In many ways, it is similar to a policy
briefing or a quarterly financial report: it takes something that is far more complex and
reduces it to the key information necessary to make what is hopefully an informed
decision. For this assignment, you will be required to identify five resources related our
research problem. Suggested topics for these resources include technology, cost, pricing,
market position, demographics, and administrative issues related to online and hybrid
education, but you are welcome to provide a précis of any piece of relevant research. You
will then provide the following information for each piece that you read: an overall
summary of less than one paragraph (note: do not simply “borrow” the abstract; instead
indicate why it is useful for this problem specifically); a list of key literature cited by the
piece; a description of the theory the piece is designed to test or the argument it makes; a
description of the research design including (if appropriate) information about the
sample, techniques, and any limitations that you or the author note; a summary of key
findings; and any recommendations that the author makes for practice.
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Analysis of Qualitative Data [10 points]: You will complete this assignment in
conjunction with the other members of your group; the work may be divided however
you see fit, but you will all receive the same grade. For this assignment, you will need to
transcribe the recordings of at least two interviews and one focus group. You will then
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need to code that data, use your initial codes to generate axial codes, and use your axial
codes to generate themes. The work that you will turn in for this assignment includes the
coded transcripts and a completed hierarchy of themes, axial codes, and initial codes.
-
Survey Questions [Not Graded]: For this assignment your group will utilize Qualtrics
to develop a survey for administration to the other members of the course.
-
Literature Review [10 points]: You will complete this assignment in conjunction with
the other members of your group; the work may be divided however you see fit, but you
will all receive the same grade. In this assignment, your group will utilize the précises
you completed previously to develop a literature review, which uses the reading that you
have completed to make a specific argument about what “the literature” leads you to
expect as researchers. The literature review will be presented in two formats: 1) a paper
of 4-5 double-spaced pages (noting that the paper should read as though written in one
“voice”); and 2) a brief class presentation of 5-10 minutes.
-
Meaning from Data [10 points]: You will complete this assignment in conjunction with
the other members of your group; the work may be divided however you see fit, but you
will all receive the same grade. For assignment, you will use a variety of quantitative
techniques to generate meaning from raw data derived from survey responses. Your work
for this assignment will be represented by a narrative description that uses quantitative
evidence that you have produced to support an argument.
-
Journal Reflection Paper [10 points]: In approximately 5 pages, you will provide a
summary of your learning for the semester. At the individual level, please provide a
candid assessment of your research skills at both the start and end of the semester. This
reflection will be helpful during your capstone experience. At the course level, please use
this summary to reflect on what worked well this semester and what did not. This
feedback is critical to the instructor and MBA faculty.
-
Project Report [30 points]: For this assignment, you will utilize the products that you
have completed thus far (in addition to other data collection and analysis you may choose
to conduct) to prepare a report summarizing your findings and making a series of
recommendations for practice. You will complete this assignment in conjunction with the
other members of your group; the work may be divided however you see fit, but you will
all receive the same grade. This report can utilize as much or as little of previously
completed assignments as you like (including reusing text—noting however that the final
report should read as though written in one “voice”). Your final project report should be
12-15 pages including an executive summary, a statement of the problem, a literature
review, a description of research design, findings, and a conclusion that includes a series
of evidence-based recommendations.
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Course Schedule
Week One: Foundations (May 22)
Topics:
- Epistemology
- Modes of Inquiry
- Research Questions
- The Role of Theory
- Research Design & Ethics
Readings:
- Bryman: Chapters 1-3 [if needed]
- Creswell: Chapters 1, 3, 7 [if needed]
Assignments:
- N/A
Week Two: Qualitative Inquiry (May 29)
Topics:
- Trustworthiness & Reliability
- Ethnography
- Interview Techniques
- Focus Group Facilitation
Readings:
- Bryman: Chapters 17, 19, 20, 21
- Creswell: Chapters 2, 9 [if needed]
Assignments:
- Interview & Focus Group Questions (Due: May 28)
Week Three: Qualitative Data Analysis (June 5)
Topics:
- QDA Software
- Induction vs. Deduction vs. Abduction
- Coding
- Code Families
- Themes
Readings:
- Bryman: Chapters 24, 25
- Creswell: Chapter 9 [if needed]
Assignments:
- Field Notes (Due: June 4)
- Précis Assignment (Due: June 4)
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Week Four: Survey Research & Facilitation Tools (June 12)
Topics:
- Validity & Bias
- Survey Software
- Delphi Technique
- Nominal Group Technique
Readings:
- Bryman: Chapters 8, 9, 10, 11
Assignments:
- Analysis of Qualitative Data (Due: June 11)
- Survey Questions (Due: June 11)
Week Five: Quantitative Research Design (June 19)
Topics:
- Measures of Central Tendency
- Visual Display of Quantitative Information
- Statistical Tests
Readings:
- Bryman: Chapters 7, 15, 16
- Creswell: Chapter 8 [if needed]
Assignments:
- Literature Review (Due: June 18)
Week Six: Mixed Methods, Data Mining, and Model Building (June 26)
Topics:
- Mixed Methods Data Cleaning
- Advanced Statistical Techniques
Readings:
- Bryman: Chapters 26, 27
- Creswell: Chapter 10
Assignments:
- Meaning from Data Assignment (Due: June 25)
- Journal Reflection Paper (Due: June 25)
Week Seven: Project Reports (July 3)
In recognition of the large amount of out-of-class work that this course requires and the
upcoming holiday, this course does not meet on July 3. In lieu of meeting, please submit your
final project reports electronically by 9PM.
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Course Policies
IRB Exemption for Course Activities: Ordinarily, any study involving human subjects that you
conduct while a student or employee of a higher education institution (and some corporations or
government agencies) must receive prior authorization from an institutional review board (IRB).
Since the work that you will be doing this semester is part of a course, you are not required to
receive IRB approval and instead must receive the approval of the instructor before conducting
any research activities. Your research this semester will also be restricted in two key ways: 1)
you may not collect information from individuals outside of the course enrollment without the
permission of the instructor; and 2) if you do collect information outside of class, you must
identify yourselves as students completing a class assignment during any data collection.
Submission of Work: All assignments should be submitted by email (ekimball@curry.edu) one
day prior to the course meeting at which they will be discussed. I will confirm receipt. If you do
not receive an email from me by 8:30AM the next morning, please follow-up. Since no single
assignment counts for a significant portion of the course grade and the assignments serve as
the basis for in-class discussion, no late assignments can be accepted.
Course Technologies: You must utilize your Curry email resources on a daily basis for course
information, contact with other students and the professor, and general communications. Your
Curry accounts are necessary for your access to Blackboard and for your use of the library
electronic databases and other resources while you are at the Curry campus and from your home
or work computer (remote access). During class meetings, you should also manage your
electronic devices in a professional and courteous manner. Place cell phones on “off or vibrate”
and only surf the web when it is in support of your project.
Academic Support: If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability,
please contact me as soon as possible. Additionally, the College has a staff of highly capable
professionals who can offer assistance with most of the learning struggles that a student can
encounter. For problems with writing skills or time management, make an appointment with the
Academic Enrichment Center (617.333.2385). Help is also available through the Counseling
Center (617.333.2182) and the Disability Services Officer (617.333.2385).
Academic Honesty and Plagiarism: Students are expected to adhere to the highest levels of
ethical behavior. Issues of plagiarism, cheating, or any other unethical & disruptive behavior are
destructive to the acquisition of knowledge. They may result in a failing grade for this course or
dismissal from the program. If you are not confident that you understand what constitutes
academic dishonesty or plagiarism, the Levin Library has very good resources on these issues
that are available to you. You may also speak with the instructor for clarification in advance of
engaging in any behavior that may constitute unethical course behavior.
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