Designing Rigorous and Impactful Empirical Research

The main objective of this PhD course is to provide doctoral students with basic and advanced knowledge about research designs and methodologies for rigorous and impactful research. The PhD course focuses on the fundamental ideas of various empirical research designs that can be used to investigate research questions with a specific focus on topics at the intersection between business and technology. Building on the foundations of scientific knowledge development and engaged scholarship, this course covers a range of qualitative and quantitative research designs. This course aims to introduce PhD students to the key considerations in designing rigorous and impactful research and thereby provides a solid basis for more advanced courses on specific research designs and methodologies. 

The course covers the following main topic areas: 

1. Foundations of scientific knowledge development at the intersection between business and technology, and implications for designing rigorous and impactful empirical research
2. Design science and action research (designs)
3. Qualitative research designs and methodologies
4. Quantitative and experimental research designs and methodologies 

After completion of this PhD course, participants should be able to:

• Understand the basic considerations of designing rigorous and impactful empirical research on problems at the intersection of business and technology.
• Understand fundamental ideas behind various empirical research designs and methodologies for disciplinary and interdisciplinary research.
• Learn about research designs and methodologies that combine academic knowledge creation with practical, real-world intervention.
• Develop a research design for PhD research projects that aim to advance knowledge in the intersection between business and technology and potentially combine practical, real-world intervention with academic knowledge creation.
• Choose and implement the appropriate research designs and methodologies with specific application to issues in interdisciplinary research at the intersection of business and technology according to the formulated research question.
• Learn how to critically assess different research designs and methodologies in scientific research at the intersection of business and technology.

This course is comprised of seven days of teaching in addition to preparing readings and assignments per session. Participants are expected to have carefully read the recommended articles prior to class. The mandatory articles are indicated (*) in the references list of the course. It includes a combination of seminal and instrumental articles on the qualitative and quantitative methodology discussed, as well as the examples of articles implementing those methods. 

The teaching format includes readings for each session, lectures, hands-on practical exercises in the classroom, and mandatory final assignment with an optional presentation.

Each day is comprised of three to four sessions (details to be defined by the teacher):

• Session 1: 09:00 am – 10:30 am
• Session 2: 11:00 am – 12:30 pm
• Lunch
• Session 3: 01:30 pm – 03:00 pm
• Session 4: 03:30 pm – 05:00 pm

This assignment aims to develop student skills in an elaborate, rigorous, and robust research design of a study. Each student must submit a detailed proposal for a research design utilizing the elements and the methodologies covered in the course. Appropriate methodologies (i.e., qualitative, quantitative, or the combination of both) should be described according to the research problem and examine research questions. This research design may be used for the entire PhD thesis or one of the research papers in the PhD thesis. 

Style guide for the final assignment: 

The document can include five to seven pages of text plus one page of references; single-spaced; 11 Times New Roman points.