İŞL335

Research Methods in Social Sciences

Faculty \ Department
School of Economics and Administrative Sciences \ Business Administration
Course Credit
ECTS Credit
Course Type
Instructional Language
3
6
Compulsory
English
Prerequisites
İKT 253
Programs that can take the course
Management
Course Description
This course is designed to introduce students to data collection and analysis methods used by researchers and academics in various fields of social sciences.
Textbook and / or References
1. Malhotra, N. K. (2020). Marketing research: an applied prientation, Pearson.
2. Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.). (2011). The Sage handbook of qualitative research, Sage.
3. Bolarinwa, O. A. (2015). Principles and methods of validity and reliability testing of questionnaires used in social and health science researches. Nigerian postgraduate medical journal, 22(4), 195-201.
Course Objectives
To explain research questions that can be encountered in fields such as Business, Marketing, Psychology, Sociology, Organizational Behavior in social sciences,
To provide information that will enable a research design appropriate to the research question,
To introduce the differences between qualitative and quantitative approaches,
To explain observation, focus groups, and interviews as qualitative data collection methods,
To explain surveys and experiments as quantitative data collection methods,
To show the preparation of a data set to analyze numerical data using SPSS,
To give examples of numerical analysis techniques such as mean comparisons, correlations, and regression,
To discuss ethical issues in quantitative and qualitative research methods,
To discuss the reliability and validity of data.
Course Outcomes
1. Define and formulate research questions in fields such as Business, Marketing, Psychology, Sociology, and Organizational Behavior.
2. Develop a research design appropriate for a given research question and select suitable research methods.
3. Explain the key differences between qualitative and quantitative research approaches and assess when each method is more appropriate.
4. Gain knowledge of qualitative data collection methods (observation, focus groups, interviews) and quantitative data collection methods (surveys, experiments) and apply them where necessary.
5. Prepare datasets in SPSS and perform fundamental data analysis tasks.
6. Understand and apply key statistical methods such as mean comparisons, correlation, and regression analysis.
7. Discuss ethical principles in research and evaluate the societal implications of research.
8. Assess data validity and reliability.
9. Utilize English communication skills effectively.
Tentative Course Plan
Week 1: Introduction to Research Methods and Formulating Research Questions
Week 2: Epistemology and Research Approaches
Week 3: Secondary Data Collection and Sampling Methods
Week 4: Observation and Focus Groups
Week 5: In-depth Interviews and Guest Speaker
Week 6: Qualitative Analysis and First Midterm Exam
Week 7: Scaling and Survey Development
Week 8: Experimental Methods and Introduction to SPSS
Week 9: Data Cleaning in SPSS, Basic Statistics, and Mean Comparisons
Week 10: Correlation Analysis, Regression Analysis, and Cluster Analysis in SPSS
Week 11: Factor Analysis in SPSS and Second Midterm Exam
Week 12: Ethical Review of Research Methods and Data Reliability
Tentative Assesment Methods
Activities Number Weight (%)
Course Attendance/Participation - -
Laboratory - -
Application - -
Homework - -
Project - -
Presentation - -
Field Work - -
Internship - -
Course Boards - -
Quiz - -
Midterm Exam 2 60%
Final Exam 1 40%
Total 100%

Tentative ECTS-Workload Table
Activities Number/Weeks Duration (Hours) Workload
Course Hours (first 6 weeks) 6 4 24
Course Hours (last 6 weeks) 6 3 18
Laboratory - - -
Application - - -
Homework - - -
Project - - -
Presentation - - -
Field Work - - -
Internship - - -
Course Boards - - -
Preparation for Quiz - - -
Preparation for Midterm Exam 2 20 40
Final Exam 1 2 2
Preparation for Final Exam 1 30 30
Study Hours Out of Class (preliminary work, reinforcement, etc.) 12 5 60
Total Workload 174
Total Workload / 30 174 / 30
5.800000
ECTS Credits of the Course 6
Program Outcome **
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Course Outcome
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9