Study Guide

Objective

The student learns with the principles of Industrial Management discipline and its research and development practice. The student is able to retrieve, analyze and produce information and evaluate it critically from the point of view of different fields and able to self-evaluate and develop one’s expertise in a versatile and focused way. The student gains understanding of how to approach a business issue in a systematic way to demonstrate the student’s best competence and understanding of research and development methodology and show the ability to utilize knowledge in a proactive and grounded manner in a format of a research and development project like the Master’s Thesis.

Content

- Principles of research; ‘truth’ , reliability, ‘objectivity’, self-correctiveness, review processes, upgrading of knowledge; theory building, ethics
- research, data, information and knowledge;
- analysis of research studies; types of research;
- source critique, relevance;
- research strategies: qualitative and quantitative;
- key research approaches: action research, design research and constructive case study, etc...;
- research techniques for qualitative and quantitative research
- data; types of data; data collection, data documentation, data analysis, data crystallization
- planning for evaluation of validity and reliability of research; relevance , trustworthiness, etc.
- discourse of research reports: Abstract, Preface, Introduction, Conceptual framework, Building a Solution, Validation of the Proposal, Discussion, Conclusions, and their purpose
- Readings for Research Methodology in the Curriculum Guide.

Assessment criteria, approved/failed

Assessment criteria, approved/not approved.

The coursework meets with more than three the six criteria below. The assignment shows satisfactory performance in three or more of the criteria.

The following criteria are used for assessing the IM Master’s coursework (lecture involvement, discussion, written assignments and discussion leaders).
•The student shows an understanding of the relevant course content in relation to the contents of the material, lectures and discussion.
•Student texts/presentations demonstrate an understanding of the article/lecture content and an ability to select, interpret and justify key messages in a grounded manner.
•The student shows interconnections between the proposed concepts and current business practice, showing abilities of reflection, evaluation and discussion.
•The student shows professional initiative, active participation and responsibility in both individual and team work.
• The student shows the ability to collect valid knowledge for his/her topic from outside the course sources by using scholarly search tools, by questioning current business practice and by practicing source critique.
•Student assignment is written in line with academic writing practice and instructions for Master’s Thesis, using the Harvard Referencing system, with references both in the text as well as reference list. The texts are written in coherent, fluent English.

Further information

Master’s Thesis in IM is integrated with Applied Research and Development Methodology, Research Clinic and Thesis Writing Clinics to support the Thesis process.

Assessment criteria, approved/not approved.