21991 Quantitative Methods and Analysis

Warning: The information on this page is indicative. The subject outline for a particular session, location and mode of offering is the authoritative source of all information about the subject for that offering. Required texts, recommended texts and references in particular are likely to change. Students will be provided with a subject outline once they enrol in the subject.

Subject handbook information prior to 2025 is available in the Archives.

UTS: Business: Management
Credit points: 6 cp

Subject level:

Undergraduate

Result type: Grade and marks

There are course requisites for this subject. See access conditions.

Description

This subject has been specifically designed for Honours and PhD students without any statistical background. It has been designed in parallel to other Honours subject offerings in the overall research process, qualitative research methods and exemplary research to assist in the preparation of the student's research proposal and thesis. It develops expertise in research design and methods, as well as project management skills needed to effectively conduct quantitative management research. Topics include research design, secondary data, survey research, experiments and quasi-experiments, case studies, statistical analysis and the academic writing of articles.

Subject learning objectives (SLOs)

Upon successful completion of this subject students should be able to:

1.	Understand the role of quantitative methods in management research
2.	Critically evaluate a range of quantitative research methods used in management, organisational and industry sector research and their associated ethical considerations
3.	Review, critically evaluate and interpret results from research studies
4.	Design, collect and undertake appropriate statistical analysis; and clearly communicate the findings

Contribution to the development of graduate attributes

This subject aims to introduce students to quantitative methods and statistical analysis who have not had any academic research background. It enables students to understand the role that quantitative methods, data collection and analysis could play in the development of their honours or PhD research topics. The assessment develops quantitative research skills through a literature review of quantitative empirical research, questionnaire design and analysis, and a quantitative research design proposal.

Teaching and learning strategies

This subject involves a variety of teaching and learning activities, which may include: lectures, workshops, industry presentations, problem-solving exercises, computer laboratory and case studies. Content for this subject will be supported through the use of the UTS Learning Management System, together with industry-standard online questionnaire design and data collection (Qualtrics) and statistical analysis package (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences SPSS).

Content (topics)

Emphasis will be placed on the practice of conducting management research:

Range of Quantitative Methods and their ethical considerations
Exemplary sampling practice
Sound questionnaire design
Quantitative data collection techniques
Selection of appropriate statistical tests and interpretation of the output
Basic statistical theories
Descriptive analysis and data presentation (including correspondence analysis)
Inferential statistics and data presentation (chi square, t-tests, ANOVA

Assessment

Assessment task 1: Presentation of Exemplary Quantitative Study (Individual)*

Objective(s):	This addresses subject learning objective(s): 1, 2, 3 and 4
Weight:	25%
Length:	The annotated bibliography has no assigned length but will be presented as an appendix to a 1500 word literature review of quantitative articles in your field of study.
Criteria:	*Note: Late submission of the assessment task will not be marked and awarded a mark of zero.

Assessment task 2: Research Design Assignment (Individual)

Objective(s):	This addresses subject learning objective(s): 1, 2, 3 and 4
Weight:	50%
Length:	No more than 2500 words excluding references

Assessment task 3: Final Exam (Individual)

Objective(s):	This addresses subject learning objective(s): 3 and 4
Weight:	25%
Length:	Four hours in class time

Minimum requirements

Students must achieve at least 50% of the subject’s total marks.

Required texts

There is no prescribed text. However, course materials including readings, computer laboratory exercises, computer software and data will be provided electronically as the course progresses:

Veal, A. J. & Darcy, S. (2014). Research Methods for Sport Studies and Sport Management: A Practical Guide. Routledge: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4SB, UK.

A great deal of this material comes from my own research methods text together with a more general Australian business research methods text:

Veal, A. J. (2005). Business research methods: a managerial approach (2nd ed.). South Melbourne, Vic.: Pearson Addison Wesley.

Recommended texts

A more general business research methods text that does not cover quantitative methods in the same way as the above two books do is:

Bryman, A., & Bell, E. (2011). Business Research Methods (3rd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

I would also recommend the following manual for the SPSS statistical software that we will be using in the subject:

Pallant, J. F. (2016). SPSS survival manual: a step by step guide to data analysis using SPSS for Windows (5th ed.). Crows Nest, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin.

Additionally the following general references will be useful:

Cassell, C., Cunliffe, A. L., & Grandy, G. (2018). The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Business and Management Research Methods: History and Traditions . SAGE Publications Ltd.

Creswell, J. W. & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (Fifth edition.). SAGE Publications, Inc.

De Vaus, D. A. (2001). Research design in social research. London: SAGE.

Gorard, S. (2013). Research design : creating robust approaches for the social sciences. London ;: SAGE. (available online via UTS library)

Leavy, P. (2017). Research design : quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, arts-based, and community-based participatory research approaches. New York, New York ;: The Guilford Press. (available online via UTS library)

Strang, K. D. (2015). The Palgrave handbook of research design in business and management. New York City, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

References

Easterby-Smith, M., Thorpe, R., & Jackson, P. (2012). Management Research (4th ed.). London: Sage.
Stokes, Peter (2011) Key Concepts in Business and Management Research Methods, Palgrave Macmillian, Hampshire, UK
Gray, D.E. (2013). Doing Research in the Real World (3rd ed.). London: Sage
Thiétart, R.A. et al, Doing management research: a comprehensive guide, Sage, 2001

Refereed Journals in your field of study

Within the subject, there will be a focus on empirical quantitative or mixed method research in your field of study. The best source of examples of empirical research using quantitative or mixed methods can be found in refereed journal articles. A comprehensive list of journals and their ranking across business and management is provided by the Australian Business Deans Council: http://www.abdc.edu.au/journalreview.html

Other resources

Students will use the following software packages: electronic bibliographic program (Endnote or Refworks), Microsoft Excel, Qualtrics Online Questionnaire Design and Analysis, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, Nvivo and Leximancer.