6 ECTS credits
180 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 1021584BNR for all students in the 1st semester at a (B) Bachelor - advanced level.

Semester
1st semester
Enrollment based on exam contract
Impossible
Grading method
Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
Can retake in second session
Yes
Enrollment Requirements
Students must have taken ‘Statistics for BE I’ and 'Introduction to Microeconomics, before they can enroll in this course.
Taught in
English
Faculty
Faculty of Social Sciences & SolvayBusinessSchool
Department
ES Academische eenheid
Educational team
Ilse Scheerlinck (course titular)
Leo Van Hove
Filip Van Droogenbroeck
Michaël Pascal D Distelmans
Imke Dirkx
Activities and contact hours
32 contact hours Lecture
18 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
130 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
Course Content

The course Research Methods for Business and Economics consists of:

  • a series of lectures on quantitative and qualitative research methods, delivered by course holders. Additional guest lectures may be scheduled,
  • written work.  With reference to a specific topic, students will be required to produce a search strategy and write an annotated bibliography, following the guidelines for academic writing, and compliant with the APA-referencing style.

Once a student has passed the course, s/he will have developed the skills that are required for writing a Bachelor’s paper or any other written work at a more advanced level. Ultimately, the course should prepare the student to embark on writing a Master’s thesis.

Course material
Digital course material (Required) : Syllabus and slides, Canvas
Handbook (Recommended) : Research Methods for Business, Sekaran & Bougie, Wiley, 9781119165552
Additional info

Not applicable.

Learning Outcomes

General Competences

After successfully completing the course, students

  • should be able to identify a research problem in economics or management and formulate a relevant and adequately underpinned research question;
  • should be able to find the related existing research results in the academic literature and report these results in a scientific and critical manner, with (correct) references and a bibliography;
  • should be able to paraphrase and synthesize the main ideas of scholarly articles;
  • should know the most important research methods in economics and management and have acquired insight into the applicability and pros and cons of these methods in a given context.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Written Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Written Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Written Exam with a relative weight of 60 which comprises 60% of the final mark.
  • Assignments with a relative weight of 40 which comprises 40% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

The final grade (100%) on the course will be weighted as follows:

  • Part 1. Written exam in January (60%): closed-book, incl. open-ended questions and true-false statements (with correction for guessing)
  • Part 2. Written work, consisting of various assignments, individually or in group (40%)

Note: If in-class presentations are organized, then this grade will count towards Part 2 of the final grade.

Important:

Students must participate in all parts (i.e., written exam and all components of written work) to obtain a final grade on the course.

In order to obtain an end score on the course that includes the grades on written work, the student should obtain at least 50% (or 10/20) on the written exam. If the grade is less than 50% or 10/20, then this grade will count towards the overall grade of the course.

In the second session, the grade on group work will be maintained, while the individual work and written exam will have to be retaken.

Outgoing Erasmus students who follow the course need to contact the course holder at the beginning of the academic year in order to agree upon an arrangement.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark
The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context

This offer is part of the following study plans:
Bachelor of Business Economics: Startplan Business Economics
Bachelor of Business Economics: Business and Technology
Bachelor of Business Economics: International Business