Designing a PhD Project - Kaunas University of Technology

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ž. Piligrimienė, Marketing Department
About the course:
This course is designed for PhD students and provides an exposure to research design and
methodology in social sciences with particular emphasis on examples from management
field. Course material will equip PhD students with basic skills to critically evaluate and
design research projects.
This course aims to extend and deepen the understanding of different research approaches
and methodologies in the social sciences and to develop skills for applying different research
methods in the broad range of business and management disciplines. This course will
prepare PhD students to develop their research proposals and guide them through the
process of identifying and formulating research problems, conducting literature review,
choosing a theoretical perspective that will inform the methodology, selection of research
strategy and design, and the application of particular research methods.
It is a hands-on course designed to impart education in the foundational methods and
techniques of academic research in social sciences and management context. Throughout
the course, participants work together under intensive guidance toward a final product,
which is a detailed and developed research design for their PhD project.
Aim of the course:
The primary objective of this course is to develop a research orientation among the scholars
and to acquaint them with fundamentals of research methodology that would enable their
in-depth understanding of the different research approaches, specific research methods and
techniques of data collection and analysis, theory building or testing, etc.
It aims to develop research skills required for planning and executing research projects,
including conducting literature review, articulating research questions, justifying a research
approach and methodology, designing a study and selecting specific methods and
techniques appropriate for answering the questions.
http://ktu.edu/phd
Target group:
The target group is doctoral students of Social sciences with specialization or particular interest
in Management.
Course format, ECTS credits:
This course has five interactive lectures and seminars. Participants focus on the design of their
own project and apply the ideas, methodological principles and methods introduced in the
course. The progress made by participants as well as any stumbling blocks and obstacles they
encounter are discussed in the group.
Participants are provided with assignments (related to research project stages) with feedback.
Participants work on assignments individually and contribute to group discussions with
examples from their own project.
The course combines lectures, seminars, debates and group work. It assumes active students’
participation in and contribution to class activities. Therefore, participants are expected to
have read the assigned chapters and papers as well as other related materials of their choice,
to prepare for class. “Reading” means a thorough study that enables discussion and active
participation during class time. Students are expected to class discussion on a regular basis.
The Evaluation involves:
Class preparation, presentation and participation 50%
Research Proposal 50%
The evaluation is on a pass/fail basis (graduation on the Lithuanian 10-scale may be obtained
if necessary).
Study load: 9 ECTS credits.
http://ktu.edu/phd
Main topics of the course:
o Introduction to Research Project Design
Understanding of research methodology and scientific method, social research dialectics,
research process overview and the main stages of PhD research project.
o Research Objectives and Research Structure
The project context and the research objective, constructing a research framework (logical
structure of the research), developing research questions.
o Conceptualization, Operationalization and Measurement
Defining the main research concepts, elaborating conceptual model, operationalizing and
measurement.
o Research Strategies and Methods
Quantitative, qualitative and mix-method research, survey research, experiment, case
studies, grounded theory approach, desk research, etc.
o Research Material and Planning
Units of analysis and units of observation, data collection methods, and activity plan.
References:
1. Verschuren, P.J.M. & Doorewaard, J.A.C.M. (2010). Designing a research project (2nd ed.).
The Hague: Eleven International Publishing.
2. Babbie, E. (2010). Practice of Social Research. 12th Edition, Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
3. Creswell, J.W. (2009). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods
Approaches. 3rd Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publ.
Course schedule:
Start date: March 14, 2016 at 9 a.m.
End date: March 18, 2016 at 2 p.m.
Course fee:
The course fee includes course documentation, materials, free internet access across
university, but does not cover accommodation. Price for this 5-day 9 ECTS credits course is
€ 810. Course is free of charge for students who come to study under the Erasmus+ program.
Contacts: Unit of Doctoral Studies, Kaunas University of Technology
Phone: +37037300042, e-mail: doktorantura@ktu.lt
http://ktu.edu/phd