隔热西南财大——社会研究方法课程简介

2021年1月20日发(作者：osborne)
An Introduction to Social Research Methods for Business
–
Syllabus and
Schedule

Taught
by
Professor
Patricia
Fosh
[PF]
and
Dr
Christopher
T
Husbands,
Emeritus Reader, London School of Economics and Political Science [CTH]

This
course lasts
three
intensive weeks from
14 October
to
3 November 2013. The
classes
meet
in
the
evening,
divided
into
two
sessions
on
each
occasion:
a.18.30
–
19.40;
b.19.55
–
21.05,
although
there
can
be
some
flexibility
and
also
except
the
weekend
sessions,
for
which
more
informal
arrangements
will
be
announced
later.
The final formal meetings will be Workshops meeting in a computing laboratory.

The course is intended to offer a thorough introduction to the basic methods of social
research that may be used in business. Almost all these techniques may be used in all
social research
–
indeed, some such as the experiment could be used in any empirical
research
–
but the course concentrates on research for business purposes.

Because
teaching
of
the
course
is
concentrated
into
a
short
period,
topics
are
introduced
briefly
in
the
lectures,
but
the
workshops
provide
the
opportunity
for
practical experience in some of the techniques that are discussed. We are conscious
that students will not be working in their native language and have tried to ensure that
the
syllabus
and
the
manner
of
introducing
the
material
acknowledge
that
fact.
We
also recognise that the course contains a large amount of material to be absorbed in
three weeks and we have sought to devise the syllabus also to accommodate that fact.
There will be extensive handouts (in English) to accompany most topics.

Two
computer
packages
are
used
to
introduce
students
to
practical
data
analyses.
These are SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences), originally an American
computing package that
has
been available in
various versions from
the late 1960s,
that will be used for quantitative-data analysis; and NVivo, originally an Australian
computing package that is widely used for the analysis of qualitative data (such as text
from unstructured interviews or for organizing interview data).


The textbook for the course

Only one principal textbook will be used for the teaching of the course; this is:

Alan
Bryman
and
Emma
Bell,
Business
Research
Methods

(Oxford:
Oxford
University Press: 1
st
ed., 2003; 2
nd
ed., 2007). All the principal assigned readings for
particular aspects of the course will be from this book, giving pages for both 1
st
and
2
nd
editions. A 3
rd
edition of this book was published in 2011, but we can still work
from the 1
st
or 2
nd
editions.

There
are
numerous
publications
that
give
‘hands
-
on’
advice
for
using
SPSS
and
interpreting
the
data
output.
However,
many
students
find
the
following
one
especially useful:

Julie
Pallant,
SPSS
Survival
Manual: A
Step
by
Step
Guide
to
Data
Analysis
Using
IBM SPSS for Windows
(5th ed.; Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2013), which is
the latest edition, but recent earlier editions will usually meet your requirements.

2

Students
will
find
it
useful
to
refresh
in
advance
(if
they
need
to
do
so)
their
knowledge of basic statistics. There are many books that might be used for this. Just
two useful ones are:

James
T
McClave
and
Terry
Sincich,
Statistics

(12
th

ed.;
Upper
Saddle
River,
NJ;
Pearson Prentice Hall, 2012)

Richard
C
Sprinthall,
Basic
Statistical
Analysis

(9
th

ed.;
Upper
Saddle
River,
NJ;
Pearson Prentice Hall, 2011)

These are their latest editions but earlier editions will suit your revision purposes just
as well.

3
Schedule of the course

Many commentators criticise the rigid distinction between quantitative and qualitative
techniques but it remains the most useful one for organising the material for a course
such
as
this,
and
we
broadly
follow
the
practice.
Indeed,
the
textbook
makes
this
distinction,
before
introducing
the
conc
ept
of
‘mixed
methods’.
Thus,
within
this
course are two separate strands, one concentrating on quantitative techniques [CTH]
and
the
other
on
certain
qualitative
techniques
particularly
useful
for
business
research
[PF].
However,
the
session
on
case
study
research
attempts
to
bridge
the
divide.

Each day’s session has been given an ID number (number plus ‘a’ or ‘b’) so that the
assigned
readings
for
the
various
sessions
can
be
designated
in
the
listing
after
the
Schedule.

Monday 15 October
1a(i)
.
Introduction:
general
research
strategies
and
purposes
2013
[CTH]

1b
. Nature and types of qualitative research [PF]

Tuesday 15 October
2a
.
Approaches
to
causality;
use
of
correlation;
threats
to
2013
inference; research designs [CTH]

2b
. Purposes of qualitative research [PF]

Wednesday 16
3a
. Features of quantitative research: measurement,
October 2013
operationalization, reliability and validity [CTH]

3b
. Qualitative interviewing [PF]

Thursday 17 October
4a
.
Structured
interviewing;
use
of
questionnaires;
self-
2013
completion questionnaires; the art of asking questions; coding
procedures for quantitative data [CTH]

4b
. Ethnography and participant observation [PF]

Friday 18 October
5a
. Attitude measurement; univariate attitude scales; types of
2013
attitude
scale;
use
of
principal
components
analysis
for
data
reduction/scale construction [CTH]

5b
.
The
focus
group
method,
conversational
analysis,
discourse analysis and documents analysis [PF]

Saturday 19 October
Students to use this weekend each to devise their own short
2013
quantitative questionnaire, with facesheet variables and
Sunday 20 October
variables on a topic of interest to them; an informal workshop
session will be arranged to assist this.
2013