This 3-credit core doctoral course aims to equip students with research tools and processes to prepare successful research proposals. The course covers major steps in research including identifying problems, developing research questions, reviewing literature, analyzing data, and addressing ethical issues. Students will develop and present their research proposals, which will be evaluated based on mastery of course concepts. The course objectives map to the program's learning outcomes in critical thinking, research skills, and awareness of management and business issues.

1. INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA
COURSE OUTLINE
Economics & Management Sciences
Kulliyyah / Institute
Business Administration
Department / Centre
Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration (PhD. BA)
Programme
Research Methods
Name of Course / Mode
Course Code ECON 7910
Name (s) of Academic staff /
Dolhadi Zainudin, Dr
Instructor(s)
Rationale for the inclusion This seminar is designed to enlighten students on critical issues in research
of the course / module in the design. This will help them to prepare their research proposal. This is a core
programme course for PhD in Business Administration.
Semester and Year Offered Alternate semester
Status Core
Level Doctorate
Proposed Start Date On-going since 2007
Batch of Student to be
Current Students
Affected
Face to Face
Consultation
Presentation
Lecturer
Total Guided and
Independent Learning
Total Student Learning
Time (SLT)
Guided = 46
28 12 6 Ind. Learning = 85
Total = 131

2. Credit Value (hours) 3
Pre-requisites (if any) None
Co-requisites (if any) None
This course is intended to equip postgraduate students with research tools and
Course Objectives processes that can assist them in the preparation of research proposals that may
eventually lead to successful completion of their dissertations.
This course expects to provide students with the:
1. Identify research problems
2. Develop and formulate researchable questions
3. Identify the appropriate literature
4. Carry out a critical evaluation of literature review
Learning Outcomes
5. Analyse, summarise and integrate the literature.
6. Identify the range of research methods and designs that could be used
7. Interpret and analyse the existing data sets using available software
8. Report and discuss on the outcomes of the early investigation exercise
9. Aware of the ethical issues and challenges in the research process
Skills How they are developed Assessment method
Communication Students will participate Lecture and
skills weekly discussion Discussion
Students are expected to
Presentation present their proposal to
Presentations
Skills the class and faculty at the
end of the semester
Skills analyse critical
Proposal: part 1 and
Analytical Skills issues in management and
2
business
Student will have to
Planning &
critically evaluate Proposal: part 1 and
executing
literature in area of 2
research projects
interest
Type of Assessment Description
Consideration or examination by argument,
Discussion comment, etc., esp. to explore solutions;
informal debate.
Students are encouraged to derive their own
Teaching-Learning /
Discovery understanding of the issue being discussed on a
assessment strategy
weekly basis.
Students are required to demonstrate their
mastery of the issues introduced in the course
Mastery learning
by designing and developing a research
proposal.

3. This course reviews the methods of conducting research. It covers major steps
used for a research project, and students are then required to apply them to
conduct research independently. Students are, therefore, exposed to philosophy
Course Synopsis
of research, research process, literature review, hypothesis development, data
collection, data analysis, writing proposals and reporting research.
Classes will be conducted on lecture and discussion basis. Readings relevant for
each topic will be assigned to students at least one week prior to each class
session. All students are required to read the assigned readings and prepare notes
Mode of Delivery for discussion in the class. The lecturer will introduce the topic in class and then
lead the discussion with active participation of the students based on the notes
prepared by them.
LO Method %
1, 2, 3, 4, PART ONE: PROPOSAL 40
5, 6 and 9
Assessment Methods and 6, 7, 8 and PART TWO: PROPOSAL 40
Type/Course Assessement
9
State weightage of each type
4, 5, 6 and PRESENTATIONS 20
of assessment.
8
TOTAL 100
Mapping of course / module to the Programme Learning Outcomes
Programme Outcomes
Learning Outcome of the course
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09
√ √ √ √
1. Identify research problems √
Develop and formulate researchable √ √ √ √ √
2.
questions
√ √ √ √ √
3. Identify the appropriate literature
Carry out a critical evaluation of literature
√ √ √ √ √
4 review
Analyse, summarise and integrate the
√ √ √ √ √
5 literature.
Identify the range of research methods and
√ √ √
6 designs that could be used
Interpret and analyse the existing data sets
√ √ √ √
7 using available software

4. Report and discuss on the outcomes of the
√ √ √
8 early investigation exercise
9 Aware of the ethical issues and challenges
√ √ √ √
in the research process
Content outline of the course / module and the SLT per topic
Task/Reading
Weeks Topics Learning Hours
(author/page)
1 Research Philosophy and 6.1  Cooper & Schindler (1-2)
Research in Islamic economics  Salkind: 1(1-14)
 Lester and Lester: 1(1-8)
 McQueen & Knussen: 1(1-23)
 International Center for Research in
Islamic Economics
Research Process and research 10.1  Cooper & Schindler (3)
2
topic  Dees: 1,3 (1-11, 30-55)
 Rudestam & Newton: 1-3, 5 (3-51, 75-
90)
3 and 4 Quantitative Research methods 20.2  McQueen & Knussen: 2-5 (24-195)
 Rudestam & Newton: 6-7 (103-175
5 Qualitative Research methods & 10.1  Cooper & Schindler ((8-9)
Searching literature and data  McQueen & Knussen: 6 (196-214)
collection Dees: 2, 4-5 (15-29, 57-117)
6 Reading for research 10.1  Peters: 1-8 (1-109)
 Hart: 3 (44-78)
7 and 8 Technical writing 19.6  Pearsall: 1-7 (1-76)
 Bailey, Powell and Shuttleworth: 1-16
(1-139)
 Peters: 9-10 (113-44)
 Dees: 7-8 (131-1770)
 Hart: 5 (109-141)
 Rudestam & Newton: 9, 11 (197-222,
255-64)
 McQueen & Knussen: 7 (215-40)
9 and 10 Literature review of research 19  Cooper: 1 (7-18)
proposal  Hart: 1-2, 7 (1-43, 172-208)
 Rudestam & Newton: 4 (55-74)
11 and 12 Effective use of personal 19  Rudestam & Newton: 10 (223-254)
computer and internet for  Dochartaigh: 1-9 (6-219)
research  Schlein: 2-3, 5, 10-12 (21-59, 97-113,
195-249)
 Stein: 24 (267-282)

5. 13 and 14 Presentation (Projects) 17
TOTAL 131
Required references supporting the course
Cooper, Donald R. And Pamela S. Schindler (20011). Business Research Methods. 11th Edition.
McGraw-Hill International Edition.
Recommended references supporting the course
Cooper, H. M. (1989). Integrating research: a guide for literature reviews. Newbury Park: Sage Publications
McQueen, R. A. & Christina, K. (2002). Research Methods for Social Science: A Practical Introduction.
Harlow (England): Prentice-Hall
Dees, R. (1997). Writing the modern research paper (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Hart, C. (1998). Doing a Literature Review: Releasing the Social Science Imagination. London: Sage
Publications
International Center for Research in Islamic Economics. (1985). Guidelines for Key Issues in Islamic
Economics, Jeddah: King Abdul Aziz University.
Lester, J. D. & James, L. Jr. (2002) Writing research papers: a complete guide (10th ed.). New York: Longman.
Pearsall, T. E. (2001). Elements of Technical Writing (2nd ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Peeters, J. (1991). Elements of Critical Reading. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company
Rudestam, K. E., & Rae, R. N. (2001). Surviving Your dissertation: A Comprehensive Guide to Content and
Process (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Salkind, N. J. (2000). Exploring Research (4th ed.). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Schlein, A. (2000). Find It Online: A complete Guide to Online Research (2nd ed.). Tempe: Facts on Demand.
Stein, S. (1999). Learning, teaching and researching on the internet: a practical guide for social scientists. New
York: Longman