Basics of research and development (5cr)

Objective

You know the needs of research and development work of your own professional and you can responde to them purposefully.
You are able to draw R&D plan and you know how to use different kind of approaches and methods.
You can work an active role in R&D project.
You know how to write R&D reports and use the source of the reference system.

Content

What is research and development work?
What kind of stages R&D process include?
What kind of methods research and developing can be done?
How to report and use the source of the reference system?

Course material

The course page in Xamk Learn will include course presentations as well as other materials related to the course.

The student could also use the following books:
Molinari J., 2022 What Makes Writing Academic
Lahman M., 2022 Writing and representing qualitative research
Silverman D., 2024 Interpreting qualitative data
Grønmo S., 2024 Social research methods : qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches

Study forms and methods

This course introduces and discusses approaches, strategies, and data collection methods relating to research in hospitality services. Students will consider how to select the appropriate methodology for use in a study to be performed. Additionally, students will learn how to collect data based on different data collection methods, construct these tools, and pilot them before they become ready for use. This course also discusses the requirements for an academic
work, considering aspects related to language, writing style, and text lay-out.

RDI and work-related cooperation

The practical tasks of the course can be linked to the student's own work, workplace or projects.

Timing of exams and assignments

Assignments and other deadlines are scheduled in the Learn.

Student workload

The course is 5 ECTS and it is to be completed in English. 1 ECTS means approximately 27 hours of student workload related to studying the course material, fulfilling the course assignments and acting as a group member. Contact days 5 x 8 hours, independent learning, group work and assignments 135 hours totally.

Course part description

The course is divided into the following topics:
- the stages and ethics of the research and development process
- the most common data collection methods
- the most common methods of analysis
- scientific writing

For each topic, you will find a theme lecture, a theory section and an assignment related to the topic. Themes are clarified and deepened during the course's joint theme lectures and independently by familiarizing yourself with the study material.

Further information

It is possible to link course assignments to one's own thesis, but the topic does not necessarily have to be known.

Evaluation scale

1-5

Assessment methods and criteria

Evaluation is based on tasks' fulfillment on a scale of 1-5.

The student can
* use professional concepts expertly in different situations.
* critically evaluate the information sources used.
* work as a team-member in expert positions in working life and notice and describe problems in the professional field.
* evaluate operations in customer, user and target group situations.
* choose appropriate models, methods, software and technologies and justify the choice.
* promote the goal-oriented activities of the team.
* critically applies the ethical principles of one's field in different situations.