RES 711 Syllabus

WESTCLIFF UNIVERSITY
DOCTORAL PROGRAM

RES 711
Research Methodology I

16-Week Syllabus
 RES 711 Syllabus

Table of Contents

Course Description 4

Learning Outcomes (CLOs) Linked to Program Outcomes 5

CLA Linking Table 7

PA Linking Table 7

DQ Linking Table 7

Activity Linking Table 8

Detailed Course Outline 9

1. Week 1 9
2. Week 2 10
3. Week 3 11
4. Week 4 12
5. Week 5 14
6. Week 6 16
7. Week 7 17
8. Week 8 18
9. Week 9 19
10. Week 10 20
11. Week 11 21
12. Week 12 22
13. Week 13 24
14. Week 14 25
15. Week 15 26
16. Week 16 27

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RES 711 Syllabus

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 RES 711 Syllabus

Course Description
COURSE NAME Research Methodology I
CODE RES 711
UNITS 4.5
LENGTH OF CLASS 16 weeks
COURSE DESCRIPTION This course investigates methods of quantitative and qualitative
research, including data collection and analysis, and provides a
framework based on which researchers can design their research
methodology. Different qualitative orientations including,
phenomenological, ethnographic, grounded theory, and case study
are covered. Data collection methods including interviews, focus
groups, participant observation, historical research, survey interviews
and instruments are also discussed. In addition, the course covers
qualitative data coding and analysis. In quantitative methods, topics
include fundamentals of statistics as they relate to developing
doctoral dissertations, including concepts of probability, probability
distributions, evaluative statistical research on a population and
comparative research incorporating two populations. Additional
topics include analysis of variance (ANOVA) and simple linear
regression. The course will also provide an introduction to the SPSS
and NVivo software, as well as Excel statistical functions.

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REQUIRED TEXTS Zikmund, W. G., Babin, B. J., Carr, J. C. & Griffin, M. (2013). Business
research methods (9th ed.). Cengage Learning
ISBN-13: 9781111826949
Blair, E. (2015). A reflexive exploration of two qualitative data coding
techniques. Journal of Methods and Measurement in the Social
Sciences, 6(1), 14-29. http://doi.org/10.2458/jmm.v6i1.18772
RECOMMENDED FOR Jackson, K., & Bazeley, P. (2019). Qualitative data analysis with NVivo
ANALYTICAL TOOLS (3rd ed.). Sage Publishing
ISBN 9781526449931
Field, A. (2018). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics (5th.
ed.). Sage Publishing.
ISBN 9781526440273
METHOD OF INSTRUCTION The course is conducted on-campus and/or online modality. Students
interact with each other and with the faculty in a classroom setting
and/or via an online learning system. Learning will be facilitated
through lecture-discussions, presentations, collaborative learning,
and case studies.
SCOPE Student outcomes are measured through professional individual
assignments, discussion postings, comprehensive learning
assessments, and class participation. This ensures that the scope of
this course will cover the course learning outcomes (CLOs).

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Learning Outcomes (CLOs) Linked to Program Outcomes

Learning outcomes are statements that describe significant and essential learning that learners have
achieved, and can reliably demonstrate at the end of the course. Learning outcomes identify what the
learner will know and be able to do by the end of a course – the essential and enduring knowledge,
abilities (skills) and attitudes (values, dispositions) that constitute the integrated learning needed by a
graduate of this course. The learning outcomes for this course summarize what you can expect to
learn, and how this course is tied directly to the educational outcomes of your DBA degree.

Doctoral (K) Knowledge

Course Learning Objectives (CLOs) Program (S) Skill
Objectives (A) Attitude
1. Assessing basic research and applied research, reviewing
hypotheses and how theories are developed, and arguing the
differences among methodologies and of reasoning in research 1, 2, 5 K, S, A
design.
2. Reflecting the significance of research questions and their
relationship to other components of design, reviewing the basic
4, 7, 8 K, S, A
attributes of qualitative and quantitative methods, and detecting
the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics.
3. Commenting on the concepts of reliability and validity, assessing
the conceptual and practical differences between the
quantitative and qualitative aspects of reliability and validity, and,
3, 6 K, S, A
composing different types of instruments and the different
methods of data collection and measurement including
observational methods.
4. Arguing the advantages of surveys as method of data collection,
reflecting the type of information that may be gathered in a survey,
assessing the significance of decisions about questionnaire design
7, 8 K, S
and wording open-ended and closed-ended questions, and building
criteria for pretesting and revising a questionnaire and for adapting
it to global markets.
5. Assessing the basics of probability concepts and their applications
in solving business problems, detecting the concept of random
variables both in discrete and continuous domains, and 2, 5, 6 K, S
commenting on the common representations of random variables
and the common indicators of their characteristics.
6. Reviewing the Central Limit Theorem and its application for 1, 6, 8 K, S
confidence interval estimation, detecting the fundamental
terminology in formulating a hypothesis and the underlying
tenets in testing a hypothesis, and arguing the common.
methodologies in testing hypothesis on the parameter of a

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population and in testing hypothesis on the variation of a

parameter across two populations.
7. Detecting the analysis of variance methodology in testing
hypotheses on variations of the mean across several populations
8, 9 K, S
and commenting the post-hoc methodology in ranking
populations according to the values of the mean.
8. Solving correlation and simple linear regression situations,
detecting the test of hypotheses procedure for simple regression,
commenting the dependent and independent variables in a 1, 2, 6, 10 K, S
simple regression and the significance of R-Square, and adapting
the linear regression methodology in examining causality.

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CLA Linking Table

Comprehensive Learning Assessments (CLAs), Professional Assessments (PAs) and Discussion Questions
(DQs) directly measure Course Learning Outcomes and indirectly measure DBA Program Outcomes.
The following table shows how all those are linked together.
Comprehensive Learning
Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) DBA Program Outcomes
Assessments (CLAs)
CLA1 (Week 8)
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
CLA2 (Week 16)
5, 6, 7, 8 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10

PA Linking Table
Professional Assessments (PAs) Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) DBA Program Outcomes
PA1 (Week 4)
2 4, 7, 8
PA2 (Week 13)
3, 4, 5, 6, 7 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

DQ Linking Table
Discussion Questions (DQs) Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) DBA Program Outcomes
DQ 1 (Week 1) 1 1, 2, 5
DQ 1 (Week 2) 1 1, 2, 5
DQ 1 (Week 3) 2 4, 7, 8
DQ 1 (Week 4) 1, 2, 3 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
DQ 1 (Week 5) 2, 3, 4 3, 4, 6, 7, 8
DQ 1 (Week 6) 5, 6 1, 2, 5, 6, 8
DQ 1 (Week 7) 5, 6 1, 2, 5, 6, 8
DQ 1 (Week 8) 6 1, 6, 8
DQ 1 (Week 9) 6 1, 6, 8
DQ 1 (Week 10) 6,7 1, 6, 8, 9
DQ 1 (Week 11) 6, 7 1, 6, 8, 9
DQ 1 (Week 13) 2, 4, 6 1, 4, 6, 7, 8
DQ 1 (Week 14) 5, 7 2, 5, 6, 8, 9
DQ 1 (Week 15) 6, 8 1, 2, 6, 8, 10
DQ 1 (Week 16) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 9, 10

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Activity Linking Table

Activity) Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) DBA Program Outcomes
Activity 1 (Week 1) 1, 2 1, 4, 5, 7, 8
Activity 2 (Week 2) 1, 2 1, 4, 5, 7, 8
Activity 3 (Week 3) 2, 3, 4 3, 4, 6, 7, 8
Activity 4 (Week 5) 2, 3, 4 3, 4, 6, 7, 8
Activity 5 (Week 6) 4, 5, 6 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Activity 6 (Week 7) 1, 3, 4 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
Activity 7 (Week 9) 4, 5 2, 5, 6, 7, 8
Activity 8 (Week 10) 4, 5 2, 5, 6, 7, 8
Activity 9 (Week 11) 5, 6 1, 2, 5, 6, 8
Activity 10 (Week 13) 5, 6 1, 2, 5, 6, 8
Activity 11 (Week 14) 5, 6, 7 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Activity 12 (Week 15) 5, 6, 7 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

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Detailed Course Outline

The following outline provides important assignment details for this course, week by week. You are
responsible for all of the assignments given. Refer to the Detailed Description of Each Grading Criteria
in the University Policies for specific information about each assignment.

1. Week 1
Assignments to complete this week:
● Reading: Zikmund et al. (9th ed.)
○ Chapter 3: Theory Building
○ Chapter 4: The Business Research Process
● Post DQ Answers by Thursday at 11:59 p.m.
● Post DQ Peer Responses by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.
● Activity 1: Article Review due by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.

Each week if required, students must post one (1) answer and one (1) peer response for every
discussion question. See Grading Criteria for Discussion Board Participation in the University Policies for
Discussion Question and Response expectations.

Discussion Question 1 – CLO 1

On January 30, 2018, three major US corporations, Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase
announced their partnership to create solutions to address the healthcare needs of their US
employees. (https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180130005676/en/Amazon-Berkshire-
Hathaway-JPMorgan-Chase-partner-U.S.).
Based on decision making situations outlined in Chapter 4 of Zikmund textbook where potential
situations are categorized based on the degree of certainty or ambiguity and perception of problem vs
opportunity:
● How would you categorize this decision?
● Based on your analysis, discuss how you would evaluate the classification that is presented in
your textbook?

Activity 1 - Article Review – CLO 1, CLO 2

For responding to this Activity 1, you need to review the article titled, “From Risk-Seeking to Risk-
Averse: The Development of Economic Risk Preference from Childhood to Adulthood” by Paulsen, et.al,
2012 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3436335/#B40) . Based on what was discussed
in Chapter 3 of Zikmund textbook and the theories discussed in the article:
● What would be your proposition if you were given an opportunity to present your case in favor
of conducting research on this matter?
● Based on your proposition, create a hypothesis that could be used in your research.
● Finally, how would you restructure the employee benefits package if your hypothesis was
confirmed?

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Important: Be sure to include in-text citations and peer-reviewed references in APA format in your
discussion post.

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2. Week 2
Assignments to complete this week:
● Reading: Zikmund et al. (9th ed.)
○ Chapter 5: The Human Side of Business Research: Organizational and Ethical Issues
○ Chapter 6: Problem Definition: The Foundation of Business Research
● Reading (optional): Jackson & Bazeley (3rd ed.)
○ Chapter 1: Where to begin
○ Chapter 2: Designing an NVivo Project
○ Chapter 3: Coding Foundations
● Video Files (optional) to watch:
○ NVivo 12 Introduction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MmiSqmKRQs&feature=youtu.be
○ NVivo 12 and Thematic / Content Analysis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s9-rg1ygWs
● Post DQ Answers by Thursday at 11:59 p.m.
● Post DQ Peer Responses by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.
● Activity 2 due by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.

Each week if required, students must post one (1) answer and one (1) peer response for every
discussion question. See Grading Criteria for Discussion Board Participation in the University Policies for
Discussion Question and Response expectations.

Discussion Question 1 - CLO 1

Suppose you are trying to collect data for a research project by conducting an online survey. Based on
the discussions presented in Chapter 5 of Zikmund textbook:
● Assess what information you will provide to your targeted audience in order to address some of
the ethical issues in data collection.

Activity 2 - CLO 1, CLO 2

For this activity you can select one of the following options, and respond to either Option 1 or Option
2:
Note: If you do not have access to NVivo, you can select Option 2.

Option 1:
After reviewing Chapters 1-3 of your NVivo text and watching the NVivo video files posted above,
explain the following capabilities of NVivo software:
● Discuss the meaning of the term “Node” used in the NVivo software, and how a Node is used?
● Assess the meaning of the term “Case Node” used in the NVivo software, and discuss how a
Case Node is used?

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Option 2:
● Discuss what grounded theory is in qualitative research and provide a hypothetical research
example that can be used.
● Explain how you would collect data for your hypothetical example.

Important: Be sure to include in-text citations and peer-reviewed references in APA format in your
discussion post.

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 RES 711 Syllabus

3. Week 3
Assignments to complete this week:
● Reading: Zikmund et al. (9th ed.)
○ Chapter 7: Qualitative Research Tools
○ Chapter 9: Survey Research: An Overview
● Post DQ Answers by Thursday at 11:59 p.m.
● Post DQ Peer Responses by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.
● Activity 3 by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.

Each week if required, students must post one (1) answer and one (1) peer response for every
discussion question. See Grading Criteria for Discussion Board Participation in the University Policies for
Discussion Question and Response expectations.

Discussion Question 1 – CLO 2

Use the problem-definition process outlined in Chapter 6 of Zikmund textbook and begin the relevant
research questions for a specific research problem. Remember, problem statement can be a long
process and you will probably need to refine and/or redefine it several times, and:
● Review the business situation, define the symptoms, and identify what problems can be
induced based on the symptoms?

Activity 3 - CLO 2, CLO 3, CLO 4

“The U.S. Congress passed a law setting up a National Do Not Call Registry. By law, salespeople may not
call numbers listed on this registry, but charities and researchers can still call these numbers. However,
a recent Internet survey showed that less than 25% of respondents knew that researchers “are allowed
to call,” and over half (63%) weren’t sure about researchers’ rights under the law”.
Use your recent knowledge from Chapter 9 and provide the answer to the followings:

● Was an online survey the best medium for a poll on this subject?
○ What were some pros and cons of conducting this poll online?
● How might the results have differed if this poll had been conducted by telephone?
● As a researcher, how would you address people’s doubts about whether pollsters may contact
households listed on the Do Not Call Registry?

Important: Be sure to include in-text citations and peer reviewed references in APA format in your
discussion post.

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4. Week 4
Assignments to complete this week:
● Reading: Zikmund et al. (9th ed.)
○ Chapter 9: Survey Research: An Overview
○ Chapter 10: Survey Research: Communicating with the Respondents
● Reading: Blair, E. (2015). A reflexive exploration of two qualitative data coding techniques.
Journal of Methods and Measurement in the Social Sciences, 6(1), pp. 14-29.
http://doi.org/10.2458/jmm.v6i1.18772
● Post DQ Answers by Thursday at 11:59 p.m.
● Post DQ Peer Responses by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.
● Professional Assignment 1: Due by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.

Each week if required, students must post one (1) answer and one (1) peer response for every
discussion question. See Grading Criteria for Discussion Board Participation in the University Policies for
Discussion Question and Response expectations.

Discussion Question 1 – CLO 1, CLO 2, CLO 3

Discuss what potential sources of error might be associated with the following surveys:
● In a survey of frequent fliers ages 50 and older, researchers concluded that price does not play
a significant role in airline travel because only 25% of the respondents check off price as the
most important consideration in determining where and how they travel, while 35% rated price
as unimportant.
● Researchers who must conduct a 45-minute personal interview decide that they will offer $25
to each respondent because they believe that people who will sell their opinions are more
typical than someone who will talk to a stranger for 45 minutes.
● A survey comes with a water hardness packet to test the hardness of the water in a
respondent’s home. The packet includes a color chart and a plastic strip to dip into hot water.
The respondent is given instruction in six steps on how to compare the color of the plastic strip
with the color chart that indicates water hardness.
Important: Be sure to include in-text citations and peer reviewed references in APA format in your
discussion post.

Professional Assignment 1 – CLO 2

Following the passage of the Tax Cuts Act by the US Congress in late 2017, several large corporations
announced the offering of employee bonuses and other incentives to their employees as a good faith
gesture of passing on parts of the tax gains to employees. In early 2018, United Airlines offered a
lottery system of employee rewards and incentives instead of the more traditional employee bonus
package. However, United Airlines’ plan quickly backfired and resulted in public humiliation for its top
executives. Based on the information discussed in Chapter 6 of Zikmund textbook:
If you were tasked with conducting research to recommend United Airlines on its bonus

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● Develop a problem statement using proper research terminologies?

● Develop a purpose statement for your research.
● Determine the unit of analysis to be studied.
● Determine the relevant variables of the study.
● List a few (at least two) research questions which will guide you to study the problem and
find managerial solutions.

Make sure to include in-text citations and peer reviewed references in APA format

*Refer to the Grading Criteria for Professional Assignments in the University Policies for specific
guidelines and expectations.

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5. Week 5
Assignments to complete this week:
● Reading: Zikmund et al. (9th ed.)
○ Chapter 13: Measurement and Scaling Concepts
○ Chapter 14: Attitude Measurement
○ Chapter 15: Questionnaire Design
● Reading (optional): Jackson & Bazeley (3rd ed.)
○ Chapter 4: Advanced Coding
○ Chapter 5: Cases, Classifications, and Comparisons
○ Chapter 6: Surveys and Mixed Methods
● Video Files (optional) to watch
○ UQL NVivo 12 Introduction
○ NVivo 12 and Thematic / Content Analysis
● Post DQ Answers by Thursday at 11:59 p.m.
● Post DQ Peer Responses by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.
● Activity 4 due by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.

Each week, students must post one (1) answer and one (1) peer response for every discussion question.
See Grading Criteria for Discussion Board Participation in the University Policies for Discussion Question
and Response expectations.

Discussion Question 1 – CLO 2, CLO 3, CLO 4

Assume that you are hired as a researcher to provide consultation to the University in helping the
institution to better support the students. Based on interviews with school administrators, you have
concluded that the University is interested in improving student retention and graduation rates. You
have also formed the operational theory that student retention is influenced by general and academic
adjustment, including financial and living conditions of the students.
You are asked to conduct a qualitative study, either through one-on-one interviews (at least three
students) or a focus group (at least five students). In preparation for your study, Answer the following
questions
● Assess if your research is Confirmatory or Exploratory in nature, and what is the orientation of
your research and why?
● Provide your rationale for selecting data collection methods through focus group or direct
interview, and how did you address some of the main disadvantages of your approach?
● What are some of the questions that you are planning to ask during a focus group meeting or
the interview? How will you analyze your collected data?

Activity 4 - You have the option of doing this activity through NVivo or manually – CLO, 2, CLO 3, CLO
4

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 RES 711 Syllabus

This activity relates to Week 5 DQ1. For this assignment you are tasked with reporting the results of
your study in the form of a written paper. Before presenting the results and your conclusion, use your
answers to Week 5 DQ1 to explain the purpose, data collection method, and the design of your
qualitative study, explain your data coding procedures and extraction of results.
● Show coding of the data in transcription of the interviews
● Extract issues regarding students based on the coding of the data
● In the paper, you must also explain your approach in addressing some of the ethical issues in
data collection through interviews.

Important: Be sure to include in-text citations and peer reviewed references in APA format in your
discussion post.

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6. Week 6
Assignments to complete this week:
● Reading: Zikmund et al. (9th ed.)
○ Chapter 16: Sampling Design and Field Work
○ Chapter 17: Determination of Sample Size: A Review of Statistical Theory
● Reading (Optional): Field (5th. ed.)
○ Chapter 4: The IBM SPSS Statistics
○ Chapter 5: Exploring Data with Graphs
● Post DQ Answers by Thursday at 11:59 p.m.
● Post DQ Peer Responses by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.
● Activity 5 due by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.

Each week if required, students must post one (1) answer and one (1) peer response for every
discussion question. See Grading Criteria for Discussion Board Participation in the University Policies for
Discussion Question and Response expectations.

Discussion Question 1 – CLO 5, CLO 6

Define, describe and give an example how each of the following are used in statistical analysis:
● Sampled population, random sampling, convenient sampling, judgmental sampling, stratified
random sampling, consistency in sampling, relative efficiency.
● Explain why a sample is of probabilistic nature.

Activity 5 - Problems from the Text: CLO 4, CLO 5, CLO 6

Provide complete solutions to Exercises 10, 12, and 13 on page 439 of Zikmund et al. text (Chapter 17).

Important: Be sure to include in-text citations and peer reviewed references in APA format in your
discussion post.

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7. Week 7
Assignments to complete this week:
● Reading: Zikmund et al. (9th ed.)
○ Chapter 16: Sampling Design and Field Work
○ Chapter 17: Determination of Sample Size: A Review of Statistical Theory
● Reading (Optional): Field (5th. ed.)
○ Chapter 4: The IBM SPSS Statistics
○ Chapter 5: Exploring Data with Graphs
● Post DQ Answers due by Thursday at 11:59 p.m.
● Post DQ Peer Responses due by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.
● Activity 6 due by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.

Each week if required, students must post one (1) answer and one (1) peer response for every
discussion question. See Grading Criteria for Discussion Board Participation in the University Policies for
Discussion Question and Response expectations.

Discussion Question 1 – CLO 5, CLO 6

Review the chapter readings of this week and appraise the following:
● The major issues in determining the sample size.
● The point estimate, an unbiased point estimate, and argue how the sample mean can be an
unbiased estimate of the population mean.
● Justify that the sample variance is an unbiased estimate of the population variance?

Activity 6 - CLO 1, CLO 3, CLO 4

Upload the Excel data file Career in SPSS and save it in SPSS data format for future use. The data are
provided as an embedded Excel file under Appendix # 1 in this syllabus. Complete the following tasks
and copy your results in a word document and submit your report.

Note: If you do not have access to SPSS, you can do this assignment in Excel.
● Build a frequency table for the variable Age.
● Compose standardized values for the variable Family Income. Report key descriptive statistics
for this variable. Make sure your report table includes measures of Kurtosis and Skewness.
● Sketch a histogram for the variable Family Income. Based on your visual inspection and
measures of Kurtosis and Skewness, what is your conclusion regarding the shape of the
distribution?
● Create a cross tabulation of Education vs Income and interpret the result.

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Important: Be sure to include in-text citations and peer reviewed references in APA format in your
discussion post.

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8. Week 8
Assignments to complete this week:
● Reading: Zikmund et al. (9th ed.)
○ Chapter 20: Basic Data Analysis: Descriptive Statistics
○ Chapter 21: Univariate Statistical Design
● Reading: Field (5th ed.)
○ Chapter 5: Exploring Data with Graphs
○ Chapter 6: The Beast of Bias
● Post DQ Answers by Thursday at 11:59 p.m.
● Post DQ Peer Responses by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.
● CLA 1 by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.

Each week if required, students must post one (1) answer and one (1) peer response for every
discussion question. See Grading Criteria for Discussion Board Participation in the University Policies for
Discussion Question and Response expectations.

Discussion Question 1 - CLO 6

Review the chapter readings of this week and reflect the following terms and applicability and
significance of each:
● Sampling distribution and central limit theorem. Include hypothetical examples for better
clarity.
● The z statistic and what qualifies a statistic to be z statistic based on the central limit theorem
and the basic properties of normal distributions? What are the limitations of the central limit
theorem, and how some of these limitations are bypassed?
● What test statistic is used for constructing a confidence interval on the population’s
proportion?
● Why and when t statistic is used in constructing a confidence interval for the mean of a
population.
Important: Be sure to include in-text citations and peer reviewed references in APA format in your
discussion post.

CLA 1 Comprehensive Learning Assessment I – CLO 1, CLO 2, CLO 3, CLO 4, CLO 5

Read the case study “Pointsec Mobile Technology” under Appendix # 2 in this syllabus and write a
paper that provides:
● Introductions to the case,
● Explanation of the:
○ Flaws in research design in this study,
○ Flaws in interpretation of the outcome of the research
● The natural objective of this research, formulation of the research question(s), correct design of
the research, and the correct methodology to deduce valid results from the acquired data
Justify and support your arguments with appropriate in-text citations from peer-reviewed source(s).

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*Refer to the Grading Criteria for Comprehensive Learning Assessments (CLAs) in the University
Policies for specific guidelines and expectations.

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9. Week 9
Assignments to complete this week:
● Reading: Zikmund et al. (9th ed.)
○ Chapter 20: Basic Data Analysis: Descriptive Statistics
○ Chapter 21: Univariate Statistical Design
● Reading: Field (5th ed.)
○ Chapter 5: Exploring Data with Graphs
○ Chapter 6: The Beast of Bias
● Post DQ Answers by Thursday at 11:59 p.m.
● Post DQ Peer Responses by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.
● Activity 7 due by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.

Each week if required, students must post one (1) answer and one (1) peer response for every
discussion question. See Grading Criteria for Discussion Board Participation in the University Policies for
Discussion Question and Response expectations.

Discussion Question 1 – CLO 6

Review the chapter readings of this week and reflect the following concepts:
● What is the sampling distribution of the population variance and what are the properties of this
distribution?
● What is the alternative of z statistic for normally distributed populations which eliminates some
limitations of the central limit theorem and what are the properties of this distribution?

Activity 7: Problems from the Textbook – CLO 4, CLO 5

Provide answers to the Problems posted under Appendix# 3 in this syllabus

Important: Be sure to include in-text citations and peer reviewed references in APA format in your
discussion post.

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 RES 711 Syllabus

10. Week 10
Assignments to complete this week:
● Reading: Zikmund et al. (9th ed.)
○ Chapter 20: Basic Data Analysis: Descriptive Statistics
○ Chapter 21: Univariate Statistical Design
● Reading: Field (5th ed.)
○ Chapter 5: Exploring Data with Graphs
○ Chapter 6: The Beast of Bias
● Post DQ Answers by Thursday at 11:59 p.m.
● Post DQ Peer Responses by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.
● Activity 8 due by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.

Each week if required, students must post one (1) answer and one (1) peer response for every
discussion question. See Grading Criteria for Discussion Board Participation in the University Policies for
Discussion Question and Response expectations.

Discussion 1 - CLO 6, CLO 7

Review the chapter readings of this week and assess the following concepts:
● Hypothesis testing, null and alternative hypothesis, non-directional and directional hypothesis,
type I error in testing hypothesis, type II error in testing hypothesis.
● Probability of type I error (ɑ), probability of type II error (ß), power of the test and its
significance, the critical value(s), and p value.

Activity 8 - Problems from the Text: CLO 5, CLO 6

Provide complete solutions to the Problems posted under Appendix # 4 in this syllabus. Note you must
show details of each step of your work towards final answers.

Important: Be sure to include in-text citations and peer reviewed references in APA format in your
discussion post.

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11. Week 11
Assignments to complete this week:
● Reading: Zikmund et al. (9th ed.)
○ Chapter 21: Univariate Statistical Design
○ Chapter 22 (pp. 528-542): Bivariate Statistical Analysis: Differences Between Two
Variables
● Reading: Field (5th ed.)
○ Chapter 5: Exploring Data with Graphs
○ Chapter 6: The Beast of Bias
○ Chapter 10: Comparing Two Means
● Post DQ Answers by Thursday at 11:59 p.m.
● Post DQ Peer Responses by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.
● Activity 9 due by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.

Each week if required, students must post one (1) answer and one (1) peer response for every
discussion question. See Grading Criteria for Discussion Board Participation in the University Policies for
Discussion Question and Response expectations.

Discussion 1 - CLO 6, CLO 7

Review the chapter readings of this week and distinguish between testing hypotheses on one
population and testing hypotheses when comparing two populations followed by providing a
hypothetical example.

Activity 9 - SPSS (or Excel) – CLO 5, CLO 6

Note: If you do not have access to SPSS, you can do this assignment in Excel

A car manufacturer is introducing a new model and they claim that the average fuel consumption for
this model is 35 miles or more per gallon on the open road. The competitors believe this estimate is
too high. You are employed by a testing agency to run a statistical test and verify the car
manufacturer’s claim. You conduct a highway mileage test on 80 cars and save the results in an Excel
file. Upload the Excel file CarEfficiency and save it in SPSS data format for future use. The data are
provided as an embedded Excel file under Appendix #5 in this syllabus. Complete the following tasks
and copy your results in a word document and submit your report.
1. Examine if the sample data follows a normal distribution using the Explore feature under the
Descriptive Statistics in SPSS (or Insert Statistic Chart in Excel).
2. Construct a confidence interval for the population mean at 99% confidence level.
3. Conduct a test of hypothesis at 1% significance level to verify if the car manufacturer, the claim
is justified. State the Null and Alternative hypotheses in the proper conventional form.

Important: Be sure to include in-text citations and peer reviewed references in APA format in your
discussion post.

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12. Week 12
Assignments to complete this week:
● Reading: Zikmund et al. (9th ed.)
○ Chapter 21: Univariate Statistical Design
○ Chapter 22: Bivariate Statistical Analysis: Differences Between Two Variables
● Reading: Field (5th ed.)
○ Chapter 5: Exploring Data with Graphs
○ Chapter 6: The Beast of Bias
○ Chapter 10: Comparing Two Means
● Professional Assignment 2 by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.

Each week if required, students must post one (1) answer and one (1) peer response for every
discussion question. See Grading Criteria for Discussion Board Participation in the University Policies for
Discussion Question and Response expectations.

Important: Be sure to include in-text citations and peer reviewed references in APA format in your
discussion post.

Professional Assignment 2 - CLO 3, CLO 4, CLO 5, CLO 6, CLO 7

Note this PA has two parts:
Part I – Qualitative
Part II – Quantitative.

Part I (Qualitative)
Build Your Own Questionnaire! In your Week 5 Discussion 1, you explored and identified factors that
influence adjustment issues and their impact on academic performance of university students. In this
assignment, your task is to create a survey instrument (consisting of no less than 10 items) to assess
various dimensions of student adjustment in the US.
Before creating your survey questionnaire, Review Chapters 14 and 15 of Zikmund et al. textbook and
use the Library and Information Resources Network of Westcliff University (LIRN) to find resources
(including dissertations and theses) that address a similar topic.
Note that you are not allowed to use existing survey instruments at all for this assignment. Existing
instruments are mostly copyrighted © materials and should not be used without proper permission
from the author.
● Based on your response and the feedback from the professor to your Week 5 DQ construct
your own survey instrument and present it as an attachment to your PA2.
● After constructing the instrument write a paper of minimum three (3) APA formatted pages,
and provide a background on the process of creating the instrument, explain different
dimensions and subscales of the instrument, discuss reliability and validity issues, and the
explain scoring process (including reverse coding if needed).

Part II (Quantitative)
Note: If you do not have access to SPSS, you can do this assignment in Excel as instructed below.

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Use the Excel file titled, General-Electric (GE) that are provided as an embedded Excel file under
Appendix # 6 in this syllabus This file contains GE’s daily stock market data covering the period of
12/13/2010 to 12/11/2018. The file includes a total of 2013 daily transaction records including date,
opening price of the GE stock for the day, highest price, lowest price, closing price, closing price
adjusted for dividends, and the number of stocks traded (volume).

Complete the following tasks on the GE’s stock and copy your results in a word document and submit
your report.
● Use the explore command in SPSS and explain whether the trading volume of the stock is
normally distributed. Make sure to discuss, mean, median, standard deviation, skewness,
kurtosis, results from the test of normality
○ (If you do not have access to SPSS, in Excel use the Data Analysis on the “DATA” tab,
then select descriptive statistics).
● Select a random Sample of exactly 125 observations. Then run the descriptive command and
calculate the mean and standard deviation of the sample. Calculate the 95% confidence interval
for the mean and verify if the population mean is within the estimated confidence interval.
○ (If you do not have access to SPSS, in Excel use the Sampling on the Data Analysis tab
to select your sample).
Suppose you believe that the true average daily trade volume for General Electric stock is 49,829,719
shares and a standard deviation of 21,059,637 shares. Considering a 95% confidence level:
● What is the minimum required sample size if you like your sampling error to be limited to
1,000,000 shares?
● What sample size would offer a sampling error of not more than 2,000,000 shares?

Refer to the sample size of 125 that you found in previous section above,
● Conduct a one-population test of hypothesis for the mean of the volume and determine if the
null hypothesis should be rejected or not.

*Refer to the Grading Criteria for Professional Assignments in the University Policies for specific
guidelines and expectations.

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13. Week 13
Assignments to complete this week:
● Reading: Zikmund et al. (9th ed.)
○ Chapter 21: Univariate Statistical Design
○ Chapter 22: Bivariate Statistical Analysis: Differences Between Two Variables
● Reading: Field (5th ed.)
○ Chapter 5: Exploring Data with Graphs
○ Chapter 6: The Beast of Bias
○ Chapter 10: Comparing Two Means
● Post DQ Answers by Thursday at 11:59 p.m.
● Post DQ Peer Responses by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.
● Activity 10 due by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.

Each week if required, students must post one (1) answer and one (1) peer response for every
discussion question. See Grading Criteria for Discussion Board Participation in the University Policies for
Discussion Question and Response expectations.

Discussion Question 1 – CLO 2, CLO 4, CLO 6

Review the chapter readings of this week and assess the following concepts:

● When the chi-squared statistic is used in testing hypotheses? Include underlying assumptions
and the test statistic for testing hypotheses on a single population variance.
● What is the criterion for rejecting the null hypothesis for both non-directional and directional
tests in chi-squared test of hypotheses? How do you find the p value in each case?

Activity 10 - Problems from the Text: CLO 5, CLO 6

Provide complete step by step solutions to the questions from the posted in the appendix # 7 of the
syllabus.

Important: Be sure to include in-text citations and peer reviewed references in APA format in your
discussion post.

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 RES 711 Syllabus

14. Week 14
Assignments to complete this week:
● Reading: Zikmund et al. (9th ed.)
○ Chapter 22 (pp. 542-548): Bivariate Statistical Analysis: Differences Between Two
Variables
○ Chapter 23: Bivariate Statistical Analysis: Measures of Association
● Reading: Field (5th ed.)
○ Chapter 8: Correlation
○ Chapter 9: The linear Model (Regression)
○ Chapter 12: Comparing Several Independent Means
● Post DQ Answers by Thursday at 11:59 p.m.
● Post DQ Peer Responses by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.
● Activity 11 due by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.

Each week if required, students must post one (1) answer and one (1) peer response for every
discussion question. See Grading Criteria for Discussion Board Participation in the University Policies for
Discussion Question and Response expectations.

Discussion Question 1 – CLO 5, CLO 7

Provide detailed assessment for the following and support your responses with some numerical
examples:
● What is the F probability distribution, in what way does it differ from a t probability
distribution?
● In an ANOVA what is between group difference and what is within group difference?
● What is covariance and how does it differ from correlation?

Activity 11 - SPSS Practice: CLO 5, CLO 6, CLO 7

Submit your response in a MS Word document after inserting the results from SPSS into your
document.
Note: If you do not have access to SPSS, you can do this assignment in Excel.

To determine the effectiveness of a sleeping drug, 75 people were randomly selected; 25 were
randomly assigned to take the drug, 25 were randomly assigned to take the placebo, and the other 25
did not receive any treatment. The time to fall asleep after going to bed was measured for the three
groups. The data are provided as an embedded Excel file under Appendix #8 in this syllabus. Enter the
data into SPSS and then answer the questions that follow.

You want to conduct a one-way ANOVA to examine if there is a statistically significant difference at 5%
level between the average time to fall asleep of the three groups.
1. Clearly state your research questions and State the Null and Alternative hypotheses in the
proper conventional format. Define any symbol that you use to state your hypothesis.

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 RES 711 Syllabus

2. Identify the independent (factors) and dependent variables.

3. Report your results and state your conclusion regarding the hypotheses.
4. Interpret the F and p values.
5. What is the real-life implication of your Step 3 results?
6. What are the assumptions of one-way ANOVA? Do the assumptions hold for the data used in
this exercise?

Important: Be sure to include in-text citations and peer reviewed references in APA format in your
discussion

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15. Week 15
Assignments to complete this week:
● Reading: Zikmund et al. (9th ed.)
○ Chapter 22: Bivariate Statistical Analysis: Differences Between Two Variables
○ Chapter 23: Bivariate Statistical Analysis: Measures of Association
● Reading: Field (5th ed.)
○ Chapter 8: Correlation
○ Chapter 9: The linear Model (Regression)
○ Chapter 12: Comparing Several Independent Means
● Post DQ Answers by Thursday at 11:59 p.m.
● Post DQ Peer Responses by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.
● Activity 12 due by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.

Each week if required, students must post one (1) answer and one (1) peer response for every
discussion question. See Grading Criteria for Discussion Board Participation in the University Policies for
Discussion Question and Response expectations.

Using your textbook, LIRN-based research, and your study notes, Answer the following questions and
explain the content in detail.

Important: Be sure to include in-text citations and peer reviewed references in APA format in your
discussion post.

Discussion Question 1 - CLO 6, CLO 8

Provide detailed argument for the following and support your responses with some numerical
examples:
● What is correlation coefficient, what are the range of its possible values, and why?
● How do you determine if a correlation coefficient is statistically significant?
● In a simple regression what is coefficient of determination and how is it interpreted?

Activity 12 - CLO 5, CLO 6, CLO 7

Provide step by step solutions for the problems posted in the appendix # 9 of the syllabus.

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 RES 711 Syllabus

16. Week 16
Assignments to complete this week:
● Reading: Zikmund et al. (9th ed.)
○ Review all chapters covered that will assist in the completion of the CLA 2 assignment
● Reading (optional): Field (5th ed.)
○ Review all chapters covered that will assist in the completion of the CLA 2 assignment
● Post DQ Answers by Thursday at 11:59 p.m.
● Post DQ Peer Responses by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.
● CLA 2 Presentation due in class
● CLA 2 due by Sunday at 11:59 p.m.

Each week if required, students must post one (1) answer and one (1) peer response for every
discussion question. See Grading Criteria for Discussion Board Participation in the University Policies for
Discussion Question and Response expectations.

Discussion Question 1 – Summary & Critical Thinking – Week/Course Learning Outcomes

 
Welcome to the last week of your course. In this discussion question you have the opportunity to be
creative and to relate what you have learned to your professional lives. Explore and critically think
about some of the learning outcomes and concepts presented in this course. Effectively communicate
how you would lead an organization (or a group of people within the organization) by applying the
knowledge you have learned ethically and responsibly. Your discussion should also include innovative
thinking, and information-technology aspects (such as the Internet, social-media, computers, and so
forth) that may assist you in decision-making. You may frame your discussion around any functional
component of business, and in any context; problem-solving, management, leadership, organizational
behavior, and so forth.

CLA 2 – Comprehensive Learning Assessment 2 – CLO 5, CLO 7, CLO 8

Note: If you do not have access to SPSS, you can do this assignment in Excel

Capital asset pricing model (CAPM) is a widely accepted, though controversial, theory of asset pricing
in the capital market. According to CAPM, the expected return of any asset in the capital market is a
linear function of the expected return on the whole market and the expected return of the risk-free
rate. Mathematically the model is stated as per Equation 1

E(Re) = E(RFR) + β *E(Rm – RFR) (1)

Where, E(Re) is the expected rate of return on a specific asset, E(RFR) is expected risk free rate, β is
sensitivity of the stock return with respect to the overall market return, E(Rm – RFR) is the expected
capital market risk premium.

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 RES 711 Syllabus

Empirical verification of CAPM is running a regression model of historical returns of stocks against
historical returns of the overall market.

In this CLA 2 assignment you will be doing the following:

1. Select the stock of a publicly traded company with at least 10 years of price history and
download the stock’s last 10 years monthly price history from yahoo finance or other sources.
2. Select a broad stock market index, such as S&P 500 Index, Russell 3000 Index, etc. and
download its last 10 years of monthly price history.
3. Use the adjusted closing prices of the stock and the index and calculate the monthly rate of
return of each.
4. Consider the stock’s monthly return as the dependent variable and the index’s monthly return
as the independent variable and run the following regression model:

Re = α + β*Rm + ε (2)
5.
a. Where Re is the realized monthly rate of return of your stock, Rm is the realized monthly rate
of return on the overall capital market, and ε is the error term.
6. After estimating the regression coefficients of Equation (2) through the ordinary least square
(OLS) method, conduct a test of hypothesis and determine if the estimates of α and β are
statistically significant at 5% level and report their t statistics and p values.
7. Determine if the F value for the correlation coefficient is statistically significant at 5% level
8. What is your interpretation of the R-square value? Explain to what extent your regression
estimates can predict future return of your stock against your index’s movements
9. What is the estimate of RFR?
10. Calculate the value of the error term for each year and construct the histogram of the error
terms
11. Using the Explore feature in SPSS (in Excel: Data Analysis, Regression, Normal Probability Plots),
conduct a test for normality of the error terms and exhibit the normality plot
12. Does the result of the test for normality of the error terms affect the validity of your regression
model? Explain
13. Present an APA formatted write-up of your finding in one paragraph.

Be sure to include in-text citations and peer reviewed references in your discussion post.

*Refer to the Grading Criteria for Comprehensive Learning Assessments (CLAs) in the University
Policies for specific guidelines and expectations.

CLA2 Comprehensive Learning Assessment (CLA 2) Presentation

In addition to your CLA2 report, prepare a professional PowerPoint presentation summarizing your
findings for CLA2. The presentation will consist of your major findings, analysis, and recommendations
in a concise presentation of 18 slides (minimum). You should use content from your CLA2 report as
material for your PowerPoint presentation. In addition, you should include learning outcomes from all

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 RES 711 Syllabus

your major assignments. This would include PA1, CLA1, PA2, and of course, CLA2 (unless otherwise
specified by your Professor). An agenda, executive summary, and references slides should also be
included. Keep in mind that the university is moving towards a more digital footprint for our students.
This means that your final CLA2 presentation may be recorded, so that you may include it in your “e-
portfolio” (graduating students should have all of their CLA2 presentations on a flash-drive, in addition
to student biography, resume, interests, and so forth). Students will present their PowerPoint during
the last week of class in either the On-Campus Class Session or the online Virtual Class Session, as
determined by the professor. Presentations should not exceed 18 minutes.
APPENDICES

Appendix # 1

Career Data: Required for Activity 6 in Week 7

Career

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RES 711 Syllabus

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 RES 711 Syllabus

Appendix # 2

Case 17.1 Pointsec Mobile Technologies Required for CLA 1, Part 2 in Week 8

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RES 711 Syllabus

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 RES 711 Syllabus

Appendix # 3

Problems form the Text: Required for Activity 7 in Week 9.

1. Use the data in the following table to

a. Prepare a frequency distribution of the respondents’ ages
b. Cross-tabulate the respondents’ genders with cola preference
c. Identify any outliers

2. Data on the average size of a soda (in ounces) at all 30 major league baseball parks are as
follows: 14, 18, 20, 16, 16, 12, 14, 16, 14, 16, 16, 16, 14, 32, 16, 20, 12, 16, 20, 12, 16, 16, 24, 16,
16, 14, 14, 12, 14, 20. Compute descriptive statistics for this variable including a box and
whisker plot. Comment on the results.

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RES 711 Syllabus

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 RES 711 Syllabus

Appendix # 4

Problems for the text: Required for Activity 8 in Week 10

1. A researcher is asked to determine whether or not a productivity objective (in dollars) of better
than $75,000 per employee is possible. A productivity test is done involving 20 employees.
What conclusion would you reach? The sales results are as follows:

2. Assume you have the following results from a sample data:

S = 30, n = 64, and sample mean = 218.

Conduct a two-tailed hypothesis test for

H0: µ =200 at the 0.05 significance level.

3. A researcher hypothesizes that 15 percent of the people in a test-market will recall seeing a
particular advertisement. In a sample of 1,200 people, 20 percent say they recall the ad.
Perform a hypothesis test.

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 RES 711 Syllabus

Appendix # 5

Car Efficiency Data: Required for Activity 9 in Week 11

Car Efficiency

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 RES 711 Syllabus

Appendix # 6

General Electric (GE) Data: Required for PA2, Part 2 in Week 12

GE Data

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RES 711 Syllabus

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 RES 711 Syllabus

Appendix # 7

Problems from the Text: Required for Activity 10 in Week 13

1. Perform a Chi-Square test on the following data:

a. Regulation is the best way to ensure safe products.

b. Ownership of residence

2. A sales force received some management-by-objectives training. Conduct a test of hypothesis to

determine if the mean salespeople’s job performance score has significantly improved after the
training at the 0.05 level? The results from a sample of employees are as follows

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 RES 711 Syllabus

Appendix # 8

New Drug Data: Required for Activity 11 in Week 14

New Drug

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 RES 711 Syllabus

Appendix #9

Problems from the Text: Required for Activity 12 in Week 15

1. The following table gives a football team’s season-ticket sales, percentage of games won, and
number of active alumni for the years 1996–2005.

a. Compute a correlation matrix for the variables. A software statistical package is

recommended. Interpret the correlation between each pair of variables.
b. Estimate a regression model for sales _ Percentage of games won.
c. Estimate a regression model for sales _ Number of active alumni.
d. If sales is the dependent variable, which of the two independent variables do you think
explains sales better? Explain.

2. Address the following questions about regression analysis:

a. Define simple linear regression.
b. When is it most appropriate to rely on raw parameter coefficient and when is it most
appropriate to rely on standardized parameter coefficients?
c. Why is the Y-intercept estimate equal to 0 for standardized estimates?
d. What are the steps in interpreting a regression model?

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