JSBJ1310 Statistical Research Methods (5–8 cr)

• Causality, three conditions for demonstrating it 
• Statistical infrence and causal inference
• Regression analysis, including diagnostics and interpretation
• Moderation, mediation, and instrumental variables
• Generalized linear and other non-linear models
• Realibility and validity
• Measurement and measurement validation
• Factor analysis
• Research design
• Research ethics 

The goal of the course is to develop an understanding of how statistical methods are used in management and other social research and how results are usually presented in journal articles. The course is designed for both those interested in just reading and understanding research done with statistical methods and for those who already use or plan to use statistical research methods in their own work. 

During the course we will go through empirical papers published in Academy of Management Journal and Strategic Management Journal, and other high-quality journals and analyze how these papers were done. The methods and research designs used in these papers cover a majority of basic methods and designs used in these journals. 

The analysis techniques covered during the course include regression analysis, its application moderation, mediation, and basic non-linear models, and factor analysis, focusing on exploratory factor analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis is explained on a surface level that is sufficient for its basic application and evaluation of published results. Extensions of these techniques, such as structural regression models (structural equation models), or multilevel models or other similar techniques for non-independent observations (e.g. longitudinal or multilevel data) are briefly introduced, but a more thorough study of these techniques is left for advanced courses. The data analysis assignments can be completed with Stata, R, or SPSS. 

The course will run from January to April every academic year. The pre-exam must be completed in December 

The course is organized in collaboration with Aalto University. The materials are hosted on Aalto Moodle (mycourses.aalto.fi) and on Zotero. The reading materials consists of articles, book, and book chapters on research design and analysis. The course follows a blended learning where the traditional lecture content is delivered as prerecorded videos. The video materials include about 110 lectures of varying length.