Bus 230 Course Objectives

Enabling students to develop and successfully complete a research project is the overarching objective common to all sections of Bus 230. To assure that the projects are truly a research experience, students are instructed in and required to use the scientific method (see outline below). Instruction in the scientific method and requirement that it be used is also common to all sections of the course.

Outline of Scientific Method Presented in Bus 230

A.                  Identifying and focusing a research problem/question.

B.                  Reviewing the Literature.

C.                  Developing Working Hypotheses.

D.                  Design Decisions:

1.                   Definitions of data: primary vs. secondary.

2.                   Measurement and scale.

3.                   Data sources.

4.                   Data collection methods.

5.                   Question and questionnaire design.

6.                   Sampling procedures.

E.                  Identifying and evaluating limitations, errors and biases associated with design decisions.

F.                  Considerations of ethical conduct and informed consent.

G.                 Preparing data for analysis.

H.                  Methods of analysis:

1.                   Descriptive statistics.

2.                   Confidence interval estimation.

3.                   Hypothesis testing.

4.                   Identifying relationships.

I.                     Interpreting and presenting statistical results

J.                   Drawing conclusions from statistical results.

K.                  Developing recommendations based on statistical results.

The requirement that students present their research findings as a written report and orally is also common to all sections of Bus 230.

Instructors meet the course’s common objectives using methods that emphasize their individual interests and expertise. Consequently, the path students’ take to their accomplishment – completing a research project – varies among instructors and sections of the course.