Assignment
The assignment is to write an individual essay (3000 words of pure text, i.e., not counting references or table of content) that explores a methodological topic of business research methods. This topic should be linked to the field of research design, data collection, or sampling. You can, for example, choose to:
● investigate the pros and cons of case studies;
● write your essay about when and how to use qualitative interviews;
● compare different sampling methods;
● compare an experimental with a non-experimental quantitative design, like a field survey study;
● describe the advantages and disadvantages of a scenario experiment compared to a laboratory experiment;
● compare the pros of cons of online versus paper-and-pencil surveys and develop suggestions when to use which type of survey;
● investigate the pros and cons of using online samples like MTurk or Prolific and propose when these can best be used;
Whatever the topic, make sure you primarily use scientific articles from academic sources/journals such as Organizational Research Methods or the Journal of Marketing Research! Please also note that a lot of journals from different business content areas publish methodological articles (e.g., Journal of Business & Psychology, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Management Science).
In sum, you should formulate a clear, specific question you aim to address in your essay, provide an overview of and summarize the relevant academic literature in this area, and answer the question with this literature. In doing so, please use at least three academic textbooks and ten articles from academic journals.