ESF:BPH_BAS1 Bachelor Thesis Seminar 1 - Course Information

BPH_BAS1 Bachelor Thesis Seminar 1

Extent and Intensity

0/0/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Taught online.

Teacher(s)

doc. Ing. Ondřej Částek, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Ing. Mgr. Michal Krčál, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. et Mgr. Tomáš Ondráček, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. Ing. Mgr. Jakub Procházka, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. Ing. Bc. Petr Suchánek, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Ing. Bc. Alena Šafrová Drášilová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. Ing. Radoslav Škapa, Ph.D. (lecturer)

Guaranteed by

doc. Ing. Mgr. Jakub Procházka, Ph.D.
Department of Business Management – Faculty of Economics and Administration
Contact Person: Vlasta Radová
Supplier department: Department of Business Management – Faculty of Economics and Administration

Prerequisites (in Czech)

BPH_TEBP Bachelor Thesis

Course Enrolment Limitations

The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

• Economic Information Systems (programme ESF, B-SI)
• Business Management (programme ESF, B-EKM)
• Business Management (programme ESF, B-PEM)
• Business Informatics (programme ESF, B-POIN)
• Business Informatics (programme ESF, B-SI)

Course objectives

The aim of the course is a) to teach students to solve professional and research problems in the fields of business, management or business informatics using scholary publications and primary and secondary data; b) to teach students to think critically about existing scientific knowledge and data obtained using various research methods. In the short term, the course helps students write a quality bachelor thesis. From a long-term perspective, it prepares them to work with new knowledge in the field and to solve new problems in various positions in companies or in research.

Learning outcomes

After completing the course, students will be able to:
- prepare a review of scholary publications on the topic of business, management or business informatics,
- identify the most salient problems in research designs and in conclusions of the scholary papers,
- formulate a research or managerial problem and justify the need to solve it,
- propose a method for obtaining valid primary data useful for solving a research or managerial problem,
- use new data and knowledge described in scholary papers to solve research and managerial problem,
- evaluate the costs and economic benefits of their proposals,
- follow the rules of research and publication ethics.

Syllabus

• Teaching takes place in two forms. The first is writing a bachelor thesis under the supervision of a consultant. The second form consists of 9 lectures focused on the methodology of social science research and solving of professional problems in the fields of business, management and business informatics.
  Seminars:
  1. Introduction
  - Requirements for bachelor theses at the department and faculty
  - Literature and onther resources
  
  2. Research problem, research question and hypothesis
  - How to identify a salaient research / professional problem
  - Justification of the need for research / solution of a managerial problem
  
  3. Review of scholary literature
  - Systematic review
  - Technologies supporting reviews
  - Writing review
  
  4. Critical work with text and argumentation
  - Science, non-science, pseudoscience and para-science
  - Components schemes and evaluation of the argument
  - (Critical) discussion of new knowledge
  
  5. Solving a managerial problem
  - How does a good bachelor's thesis focused on managerial problem look like?
  - What managerial problems make sense to solve?
  
  6. Research designs
  - How to choose a proper research design
  - Experiments, correlation studies, surveys and qualitative designs incl. case studies
  
  7. Methods of data collection
  - How to choose a suitable method of data collection
  - Why data can be unreliable
  - How (not) to formulate questions in the questionnaire and interview
  
  8. Data analysis
  - When it is and when it is not appropriate to use statistical analyses
  - Standards of work with statistical methods in business, management and business informatics
  
  9. Economic evaluation of proposals
  - How to economically evaluate a solution of managerial problems
  - How to take into account the economic aspects of the recommendations resulting from research
  
  

Literature

required literature
• Aktuální studijní materiály předmětu Akademické psaní. https://www.econ.muni.cz/akap/
• Fakultní pravidla pro závěrečné práce: https://www.econ.muni.cz/studenti/statni-zaverecne-zkousky
• Katedrová pravidla pro závěrečné práce: https://www.econ.muni.cz/o-nas/organizacni-struktura/562000-katpodnikoveho-hospodarstvi/szz-na-kph
• ČSN ISO 690. Informace a dokumentace – Pravidla pro bibliografické odkazy a citace informačních zdrojů. 2011. info

recommended literature
• SAUNDERS, Mark, Philip LEWIS and Adrian THORNHILL. Research methods for business students. Eight edition. Harlow: Pearson. xxxiii, 83. ISBN 9781292208787. 2019. info
• RABUŠIC, Ladislav, Petr SOUKUP and Petr MAREŠ. Statistická analýza sociálněvědních dat (prostřednictvím SPSS). 2., přepracované vydání. Brno: Masarykova univerzita. 573 stran. ISBN 9788021092488. 2019. URL info
• The SAGE handbook of qualitative business and management research methods : history and traditions. Edited by Catherine Cassell - Ann L. Cunliffe - Gina Grandy. Los Angeles: Sage. xxii, 597. ISBN 9781526429261. 2018. info
• FIELD, Andy. Discovering Statistics Using IBM SPSS Statistics. 5th. Sage Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5264-4578-0. 2017. URL info
• FIELD, Andy P., Jeremy MILES and Zoë FIELD. Discovering statistics using R. First published. Los Angeles: Sage. xxxiv, 957. ISBN 9781446200452. 2012. info
• GERŠLOVÁ, Jana. Vádemékum vědecké a odborné práce. 1. vyd. [Praha]: Professional Publishing. 148 s. ISBN 9788074310027. 2009. info
• ŠANDEROVÁ, Jadwiga and Alena MILTOVÁ. Jak číst a psát odborný text ve společenských vědách :několik zásad pro začátečníky. Vyd. 1. Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství. 209 s. ISBN 8086429407. 2005. info
• PIMPLE, Kenneth D. Six domains of research ethics. Science and Engineering Ethics. vol. 8, No 2, p. 191-205. ISSN 1353-3452. 2002. info

Teaching methods

Lectures, solving model problems, learning by doing (writing a bachelor thesis), feedback and mentoring (from the supervisor)

Assessment methods

Outputs from the course are a) final test and b) half of the text of the bachelor thesis.
The test is based on the content of lectures. The test is written online via IS, has multiple-choice questions, and the students are allowed to use any literature and their notes when writing. To successfully complete the test, the students should get at least 40% of points.

The credits are awarded by the supervisor of the thesis. Credit will be awarded to a student if the student a) passes the test, b) submits a part of his/her thesis.
The student should submit about half of the thesis. The expected range and the exact deadline are agreed with the supervisor at the beginning of the semester.

Language of instruction

Czech

Further comments (probably available only in Czech)

Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Note related to how often the course is taught: Výuka probíhá ze záznamu a formou konzultací s vedoucí/m práce.

Listed among pre-requisites of other courses

• BPH_BAS2 Bachelor Thesis Seminar 2
  BPH_BAS1  

Teacher's information

The records of lectures are available in Studium online.

Any copying, keeping a record of tests or carrying the tests out, using forbidden aids including any communication devices or any other breach of objectivity of the exam is regarded as a failure to meet the obligations of the subject and as a serious breach of study regulations. As a consequence, the teacher grades the student with "N" and the dean is allowed to initiate a disciplinary action, which might lead to the termination of the studies.

• Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2021, recent)
  
• Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/econ/spring2021/BPH_BAS1