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SYLLABUS (FALL 2009) BPS 7302 001 RESEARCH METHODS Class time: Wednesdays 13:00-15:45 Class room: Glass

conference room SOM 4.418 (Change room from 2.903) Instructor: Dr. Lvia Markczy Office: SOM 4.206 Phone: 972-883-4828 E-mail: livia.markoczy@utdallas.edu Office hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:45 -5:00 PM Course pre-requisites Being enrolled in the Ph.D. program. Course Description The aim of this course is to lay the foundations for good empirical research in the social sciences and to introduce students to the assumptions and logic underlying social research. Students are exposed to a variety of approaches to research design, develop their own research projects, and evaluate the products of empirical research. Students learning objectives/outcomes By the end of the course, you should be able to: a) plan a program of research, including the following steps: formulating a research question, developing the research theoretically, integrating what is already known (the extant literature) and developing new hypotheses, designing a study to test these hypotheses, and designing data collection methods and measures that accurately reflect the study design and the theory; and b) critique research done by others, covering all five points above. Course Requirements You are required to do all required readings, attend all classes, and participate actively in discussions. Over the course of the semester, you will develop a research question and design an empirical study to answer this research question. Grading Your grade for the course will be determined as follows: Research proposal: Class participation: 1

70% 30%

Required readings The readings listed below are required readings unless specified otherwise. COURSE OUTLINE 1. August 24: Introduction to Social Science Research Topics covered What are we doing this semester? What are the goals of this course? What is scientific method and why do we need it? Required reading Gilovich, Thomas. 1991. How we know what so isnt. The fallibility of human reason in everyday life. The Free Press. New York. pp: 29-72. David Goodstein. How Science Works, http://methods.fullerton.edu/chapter1.html 2. August 31: Progress in Science Topics covered How does science evolve? Does organization science need to be more paradigmatic? Required reading Kuhn, Thomas S. 1970. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 3rd Edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Chapters 2-5 (pp. 10-51). Pfeffer, Jeffrey 1993. Barriers to the advance of organizational science: Paradigm development as a dependable variable. Academy of Management Review, 18, 4, 599-621. Cannella, Albert A. Jr., & Paetzold, Ramona L. 1993. Pfeffer's barriers to the advance of organizational science: A rejoinder. Academy of Management Review, 19, 2, 331341. Miller, Chet C. 2006. Peer review in the organizational and management sciences: Prevalence and effects of reviewer hostility, bias, and dissensus. Academy of Management Journal, 49, 3, 425-43. 3. September 7: Theory

Topics covered Why do we need a theory to guide our research? What are the attributes of a good theory? Required reading Sutton, Robert I. & Staw, Barry M. 1995. What a theory is not. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40, 3, 371-384. Weick, Karl E. 1995. What theory is not, theorizing is. Administrative Science Quarterly, 40, 3, 385-390. DiMaggio, Paul J. 1995. Comments on "What theory is not". Administrative Science Quarterly, 40, 3, 391-397. Whetten, David A. 1989. What constitutes a theoretical contribution? Academy of Management Review, 14, 4, 490- 496. Recommended reading Kuhn, Thomas S. 1970. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 3rd Edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Chapters 6-13 (pp. 52-173). 4. September 14: Library presentation about available data bases 5. September 21: Ups and downs of the process of doing academic research Invited speaker: Martina Quan Readings will be distributed at least one week before the class.

6. September 28: Rigor-relevance-interestingness-validity


Topics covered Is rigor and relevance in conflict? What is interesting research? Validity-and reliability Required reading Davis, M. S. 1971. That is interesting. Philosophy of Social Sciences,1: 309-344. Baldridge, David C., Floyd, Steven W., & Markczy, Lvia. 2004. Are managers from Mars and academicians from Venus? Toward an understanding of the relationship between academic quality and practical relevance. Strategic Management Journal, 25, 11, 1063-1074.

Markczy, Lvia, & Deeds, David. 2009. Theory building at the intersection: Recipe for impact or road to nowhere? Journal of Management Studies. 46: 10761088 Kerr, N. L. 1998. HARKing: Hypothesizing after the results are known. Personality and Social Psychology, 2, 3, 196-217 6. October 5: Topic selection for publishing in top tier journals Topic covered * Topic selection * Theory testing or theory building * Special issues and impact Required readings Colquitt, JA. And George G. 2011. From the Editors, Publishing in AMJ-Part 1: Topic Choice. Academy of Management Journal, 54(3): 432-435 Colquitt J, Zapata-Phelan C. 2007. Trends In Theory Building And Theory Testing: A Five-Decade Study of The Academy of Management Journal. Academy of Management Journal. 50(6):1281-1303. Conlon D, Morgeson F, McNamara G, Wiseman R, Skilton P. 2006. Examining The Impact And Role of Special Issue and Regular Journal Articles In The Field of Management. Academy of Management Journal, 49(5):857-872.

8. October 12: Sample Selection Bias Invited speaker: Seung Lee Topic covered * Sample selection bias * The endogeneity problem and how to deal with it Required readings Shaver, M. 1998. Accounting for endogeneity when assessing strategy performance: Does entry mode choice affect FDI survival? Management Science, 44: 571-585. Lee S.-H. & Makhija, M. 2009. The effect of domestic uncertainty on the real options value of international investments. Journal of International Business Studies. 40: 405-420. Lee, S.-H., & Baik, Y. 2010. Corporate lobbying and injury claims in antidumping cases:

Looking into the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act. Journal of Business Ethics, 96: 467-478 Other references (skim through) Hamilton, B., & Nickerson, J. 2003. Correcting for Endogeneity in Strategic Management Research, Strategic Organization. 1: 51-78. Hitt, M., Bierman, L., Uhlenbruck, K., & Shimizu, K. (2006). 'The importance of resources in the internationalization of professional service firms: The good, the bad, and the ugly', Academy of Management Journal, 49: 1137-1157. 10. October 26: Varieties of Research Design I: Surveys. Invited speaker: Matthew Wilson. Topics covered What does it take to construct and conduct good surveys? What are structured interviews and how can I conduct them? What are the strengths and weaknesses of these research designs? Required reading Asher, Herbert. 2004. Polling and the public: What every citizen should know. CQ Press: Washington, DC. Chapters 2-3. Dillman, Don A. 1991. The design and administration of mail surveys. Annual Review of Sociology, 17: 225-249. Brockner, Joel, Steven Grover, Thomas Reed, Rocki DeWitt, and Michael OMalley. 1987. Survivors reactions to layoffs: We get by with a little help for our friends. Administrative Science Quarterly, 32: 526-541.

11. November 2: Varieties of Research Design II: Computational Models Invited speaker: Richard Harrison Topic covered The usefulness of computational models in organization science The validity of computational models

Required reading Macy M. W., & Willer, R. 2002. From factors to actors: Computational sociology and agent based modeling. Annual Review of Sociology. 28, 143-166 Burton, R. M., & Obel, B. 1995. The validity of computational models in organizations science: From model realism to purpose of the model. Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, 1, 57-71. Burton, R. M. 2004. Computational laboratories for organization science: Questions, validity, and docking. Computational & Mathematical Organization Theory, 9, 91-108. Lee, Jeho & Harrison, Richard J. 2001. Innovation and industry bifurcation. The evolution of R&D strategy. Industrial and Corporate Change, 10, 1, 2001. Harrison RJ, Lin Z, Carroll GL, and Carley KM. 2007. Simulation Modeling in Organizational and Management Research. Academy of Management Review, 32: 1229-1245. 12. November 9 (AT SMS conference): How to read the method section of papers Invited speaker: Ciprian Stan 13. November 16: Varieties of Research Design IV: Laboratory Experiments Invited speaker: Rachel Croson Topic covered What are the features of good laboratory experiments? What are the biggest problems with laboratory experiments? How do you solve them? Required reading Croson, Rachel 2002. Why and how to experiment: Methodologies from experimental economics. Working paper. (Ask for copies from the Instructor). Croson, Rachel 2005. The method of experimental economics. International Negotiation. 10, 131-148. Croson, Rachel 2005. Theories of commitment, altruism and reciprocity: Evidence from linear public good games. Economic Inquiry. 45, 2, 199-216.

14. November 23: Varieties of Research Design III: Qualitative Research


Invited speaker: Richard Scotch Topics covered What is ethnography (participant observation, open-ended interviews)? What can we learn from ethnography that we cant learn from other research designs? How does research that is primarily inductive differ, in practice, from research that is primarily deductive? How does the use of qualitative data differ from the use of quantitative data? What are the strengths and weaknesses of case studies? Required reading Morgan, Gareth, & Smircich, Linda. 1980. The case for qualitative research. Academy of Management Review, 5, 4, 491-501. Eisenhardt, Kathleen M. 1989. Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review, 14, 4, 532-551. Rynes, Sara L. 2007. Academy of management journal editors forum on rich research. Academy of Management Journal, 50, 1, 13-13. Eisenhardt, Kathleen M., & Graebner, Melissa E. 2007. Theory building from cases: Opportunities and challenges. Academy of Management Journal, 50, 1, 25-32. Recommended reading Bielefeld, Wolfgang, Scotch, Richard K., & Thielemann, G.S. 1995. National mandates and local nonprofits: Shaping a local delivery system of HIV/AIDS services. Policy Studies Review 14, 1/2, 127-136. (Ask for copies from the instructor). Scotch, Richard K., & Schriner, Key. 1997. Disability as human variation: Implications for policy. Annals, AAPSS, 549, 148-159. (Ask for copies from the instructor).

15. November 30: Paper Presentations Students should be prepared to critique each others papers and presentations. 16. December 7: Deadline for Submitting Revised Project Papers

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