Bachelor´s degree, consisting of 180 credits. English 6 in Swedish secondary school.

The course is included in the main area of Leadership and Organisation second cycle, 91-120 credits.

The aim of the course is to develop knowledge and understanding about social science research methodology, and methods in a multidisciplinary context. It provides advanced skills for designing, performing, evaluating and reporting a research project in the context of organisation and leadership. The course highlights critical thinking and ethical approaches in research and provides knowledge, understanding and skills about different qualitative and quantitative methods and strategies for research design and data analyses.

The course includes the following content areas:

• Identifying a research problem within the context of leadership, organisation and sustainability
• Designing, performing, evaluating and reporting a social science research project
• Qualitative and quantitative methods and strategies for research design and data analyses in the context of leadership, organisation and sustainability
• Ethics in social science research

After a successful completion of this course the student will be able to:

1- identify, describe and differentiate between different forms of qualitative and quantitative methods and strategies for research design and data analyses and explain how multiple approaches could be used in social science research
2 - discuss and critically interpret the methodological approach and research strategy adopted in diverse data sets and published research projects
3 - describe and apply diverse quantitative and qualitative research methods to collect and analyse data
4 - to understand ethical conduct, implications, and processes in social science research
5 - analyse a given situation and then identify and argue for a research problem in the context of organisation and leadership
6 - select and argue for the appropriate methods research design in the context of a given research problem
7 - collect and analyse qualitative and quantitative data in line with a given research problem
8 - report the research process and the results in a comprehensive, relevant, academic, and scientific manner
9 - assess the quality of research within the academic world as well as in the practical sphere
10 - reflect and improve his/her practices in collecting and analysing data to support higher quality in his/her analysis
11 - integrate their methodological and ethical knowledge into the design of a specific research project

Learning activities in the course consist of lectures, workshops, group work, seminars and presentations. All learning activities are structured to facilitate collaborative learning and critical thinking skills. Including quantitative and qualitative lab work in pairs, group work, peer teaching and critical evaluation of published research.

Student work is assessed based on three forms of examination:

• Written examination focusing on qualitative and quantitative methods (2 credits) (UG) (learning outcomes 1, 7, 10)

• Research seminar, based on both written preparation for the seminar and participation in discussion (2 credits) (UG) (2, 3, 5, 9, 10, 11)

• Individual written examination (3,5 credits) (UA) (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11)

Course grade is based on the Individual written examination (3,5 credits)

• 6 & Bellamy, C. (latest edition). Principles of Methodology - Research Design in Social Science. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publication.
• Blaikie, N. (latest edition). Analyzing Quantitative Data - From Description to Explanation. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publication.
• Booth, W.C., Colomb G.G. & Williams, J.M. (latest edition). The craft of research. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• Cresswell, J. W. & Cresswell, J. D. (latest edition). Research Design, Qualitative, Quantitative, and mixed methods approach. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
• Silverman, D. (latest edition). Interpreting Qualitative Data. (5th Edition). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publication.
• Additional material may be added and be made available electronically

Malmö University provides students who participate in, or who have completed a course, with the opportunity to express their opinions and describe their experiences of the course by completing a course evaluation administered by the University. The University will compile and summarise the results of course evaluations. The University will also inform participants of the results and any decisions relating to measures taken in response to the course evaluations. The results will be made available to the students (HF 1:14).

If a course is no longer offered or has undergone major changes, students will be offered two re-take sessions based on the syllabus in force at registration during a period of one year from the date of the implementation of the changes.

If a student is to be allocated special educational support, the examiner has the right to provide them with an adapted test, or to allow the student to complete the examination in a different format. 
This syllabus is a translation from Swedish