Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Universidade Nova de Lisboa

NOVA Information Management School

Research Methodologies

Code

200086

Academic unit

NOVA Information Management School

Credits

7.5

Teacher in charge

Weekly hours

2.0

Teaching language

Portuguese. If there are Erasmus students, classes will be taught in English

Objectives

Prepare students to conduct the diferent stages of a research or work project, or project, which include the design and planning of the proposed work, project implementation, the definition of objectives and methods, and preparation of final the report (dissertation, thesis, project or internship report). Provide to students an opportunity to: 1) integrate the acquired knowledge; 2) exercise and expand their ability to: a) independent study; b) use the literature to develop and justify their arguments through critical analysis of information from various sources; c) discuss results and draw conclusions based on literature and information gathered, with the formulation of new concepts and proposals for future work; d) communicate and present results in an appropriate style , resulting in a final report properly structured

Prerequisites

None

Subject matter

1. Introduction to research work.
a) The nature of research
b) The investigation process
2. Topic formulation and research objectives
a) A good research topic
b) The generation of ideas
c) Research questions, goals and objectives
d) From idea to project
3. The proposal 
a) Content
b) Standards
4. The Critical review of the literature
a) Critical review
b) Planning and implementation of literature search
c) Literature search tools and sources
d) Plagiarism
e) Rules for citation and references
5. Methodological approaches in scientific research. Strategies and methods for research
a) Approaches to research
b) Research designs
c) Methods of data collection
6. Presentation of the final work: structure, content, and editing rules
a) Repport structure
b) Organization
c)Writting: editing and norms

Bibliography

BRYMAN, A. (2012). Social Research Methods. 4rd ed. Oxford University Press Inc.
OATES, B. J. (2006). Researching Information Systems and Computing. London: Sage Publications
RECKER, J. (2013). Scientific Research in Information Systems: A Beginner's Guide. Progress in IS, Springer
SAUNDERS, M.; A. Thornhill e P. Lewis (2012). Research Methods for Business Students. 6th Ed. Prentice-Hall
SAUNDERS, M.; A. Thornhill e P. Lewis (2012). Research Methods for Business Students. 6th Ed. Prentice-Hall

Teaching method

The course is based on lectures and seminars. In addition to the recommended readings and exposure of the themes in the classroom, discussions and exercises will be promoted in the classroom. The seminars are geared for the analysis and development of students dissertaion proposals. Structured discussions and sharing of experiences will be encouraged.

Participants are faced with the need to address the systematic issues that arise during the preparation of a master final work that include chooosing a theme, identifying a problem to study, clarification of objectives, formulation of hypotheses, model building, application of quantitative, qualitative and mixed data collection and reporting, presentation of results and conclusions.

Evaluation method

Course assessement is based on the proposals for research, project work or internship report on two occasions:
- The first part of the proposal will have a weighting of 25% of the final grade.
- The final proposal will have a weighting of 75% of the final grade.
- Proposals are evaluated 0 to 20 (pass mark: 10)

Students who do not handin the 1st part of the proposal may submit their final  proposal on the dates defined for the exams.In those instances the final proposal will have a weighting of 100% of the final grade.

Courses