Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ž. Piligrimienė, Marketing Department About the course: This course is designed for PhD students and provides an exposure to research design and methodology in social sciences with particular emphasis on examples from management field. Course material will equip PhD students with basic skills to critically evaluate and design research projects. This course aims to extend and deepen the understanding of different research approaches and methodologies in the social sciences and to develop skills for applying different research methods in the broad range of business and management disciplines. This course will prepare PhD students to develop their research proposals and guide them through the process of identifying and formulating research problems, conducting literature review, choosing a theoretical perspective that will inform the methodology, selection of research strategy and design, and the application of particular research methods. It is a hands-on course designed to impart education in the foundational methods and techniques of academic research in social sciences and management context. Throughout the course, participants work together under intensive guidance toward a final product, which is a detailed and developed research design for their PhD project. Aim of the course: The primary objective of this course is to develop a research orientation among the scholars and to acquaint them with fundamentals of research methodology that would enable their in-depth understanding of the different research approaches, specific research methods and techniques of data collection and analysis, theory building or testing, etc. It aims to develop research skills required for planning and executing research projects, including conducting literature review, articulating research questions, justifying a research approach and methodology, designing a study and selecting specific methods and techniques appropriate for answering the questions. http://ktu.edu/phd Target group: The target group is doctoral students of Social sciences with specialization or particular interest in Management. Course format, ECTS credits: This course has five interactive lectures and seminars. Participants focus on the design of their own project and apply the ideas, methodological principles and methods introduced in the course. The progress made by participants as well as any stumbling blocks and obstacles they encounter are discussed in the group. Participants are provided with assignments (related to research project stages) with feedback. Participants work on assignments individually and contribute to group discussions with examples from their own project. The course combines lectures, seminars, debates and group work. It assumes active students’ participation in and contribution to class activities. Therefore, participants are expected to have read the assigned chapters and papers as well as other related materials of their choice, to prepare for class. “Reading” means a thorough study that enables discussion and active participation during class time. Students are expected to class discussion on a regular basis. The Evaluation involves: Class preparation, presentation and participation 50% Research Proposal 50% The evaluation is on a pass/fail basis (graduation on the Lithuanian 10-scale may be obtained if necessary). Study load: 9 ECTS credits. http://ktu.edu/phd Main topics of the course: o Introduction to Research Project Design Understanding of research methodology and scientific method, social research dialectics, research process overview and the main stages of PhD research project. o Research Objectives and Research Structure The project context and the research objective, constructing a research framework (logical structure of the research), developing research questions. o Conceptualization, Operationalization and Measurement Defining the main research concepts, elaborating conceptual model, operationalizing and measurement. o Research Strategies and Methods Quantitative, qualitative and mix-method research, survey research, experiment, case studies, grounded theory approach, desk research, etc. o Research Material and Planning Units of analysis and units of observation, data collection methods, and activity plan. References: 1. Verschuren, P.J.M. & Doorewaard, J.A.C.M. (2010). Designing a research project (2nd ed.). The Hague: Eleven International Publishing. 2. Babbie, E. (2010). Practice of Social Research. 12th Edition, Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. 3. Creswell, J.W. (2009). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches. 3rd Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publ. Course schedule: Start date: March 14, 2016 at 9 a.m. End date: March 18, 2016 at 2 p.m. Course fee: The course fee includes course documentation, materials, free internet access across university, but does not cover accommodation. Price for this 5-day 9 ECTS credits course is € 810. Course is free of charge for students who come to study under the Erasmus+ program. Contacts: Unit of Doctoral Studies, Kaunas University of Technology Phone: +37037300042, e-mail: doktorantura@ktu.lt http://ktu.edu/phd