Swedish Business School at Örebro University

Course Syllabus

General Aims for Second Level Education

Second level education shall involve a deepening of knowledge, skills and abilities relative to first level education and, in addition to what applies to first level education, shall
- further develop the students' ability to independently integrate and use knowledge;
- develop the students' ability to deal with complex phenomena, issues and situations; and
- develop the students' potential for professional activities that demand considerable independence or for research and development work.
(Chapter 1, Section 9, Higher Education Act)

The student should after the course

- be highly skilled with using scientific methods for investigation
- be highly skilled in producing well-structured scientific texts
- be highly knowledgeable with the scientific literature on the topic of the thesis
- have advanced ability to analyse and critically assess scientific texts
- have advanced skills in presentation of scientific investigations

The course consist of three parts:

1) Planning a scientific inquiry
This part concerns learning how to operationalize a research question into a valid/well grounded research instrument.

2) Conducting a scientific inquiry
This part concerns conducting fieldwork based on the research instrument produced in the previous part.

3) Presenting a scientific inquiry
This part concerns writing a well-structured scientific paper based on the research instrument and the fieldwork produced in the previous parts of the course. This part also includes reviewing another students paper and communicating the review orally and in writing.

Teaching comprises lectures, seminars, and practical work. Participation in practical work and seminars is mandatory.

Students who have been admitted to and registered on a course have the right to receive tuition and/or supervision for the duration of the time period specified for the particular course to which they were accepted (see, the university's admission regulations (in Swedish)). After that, the right to receive tuition and/or supervision expires.

For further information, see the university's local examination regulations (in Swedish).

Unless otherwise prescribed in the course syllabus, a grade is to be awarded on completion of a course. The grade is to be determined by a teacher specifically appointed by the higher education institution (an examiner) (Chapter 6, Section 18, Higher Education Ordinance).

Unless the higher education institution prescribes another grading system, one of the following grades is to be used: fail, pass, or pass with distinction (Chapter 6, Section 19, Higher Education Ordinance).

Grades used on course are Fail (U), Pass (G) or Pass with Distinction (VG).

For further information, see the university's local examination regulations (in Swedish).

Completed studies corresponding to 180 ECTS credits from an institution of higher education or 90 ECTS credits in one major subject: basic, intermediate and advanced level. This course also requires a completed course in Research Methods 7,5 ECTS, Second Level.

For further information, see the university's admission regulations (in Swedish).

Students who have previously completed higher education or other activities are, in accordance with the Higher Education Ordinance, entitled to have these credited towards the current programme, providing that the previous studies or activities meet certain criteria.

For further information, see the university's local credit transfer regulations (in Swedish).

Marks awarded for the course are according to the ECTS grading scale.

Mark:
One of the following three marks is awarded: Distinction, Pass or Fail. In order to receive Pass all three phases, Planning, Conducting and Presenting, have to be passed. In order to receive Distinction, at least two of the three course parts have to receive the grade of Distinction.

Remaining tasks should be completed as soon as possible according to the teachers instructions.


Reading List and Other Teaching Materials

Required Reading

Mandatory reading:
Grönlund, Åke och Thomas Horan (2005) Introducing E-Gov: history, definitions, and issues. Communications of AIS, Volume 15

Grönlund, Åke och Annika Andersson (2007) E-government research 2003-2006: Improvements and issues. In Norris, D. (ed) Current Issues and Trends in E-Government Research. Hershey, PA: Idea Group, pp 247-288.

Grönlund, Åke (2006) Electronic Government. In Ari-Veikko Anttiroikko and Matti Mälkiä (eds) Encyclopedia of Digital Government. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Reference.

Williamson, Kirsty. Research methods for students, academics and professionals. Information management and systems. 2nd ed. Wagga Wagga, NSW: Charles Sturt University, 2002. xvii, 352pp. ISBN 1 876938 42 0

Literature directly supporting the students thesis is to be found by the student. This is typically 10-20 articles concerning the subject field and at least one instructional text on the method chosen.

See this Course Syllabus as PDF