HLP 6535 RESEARCH METHODS
Section 1E98
Fall 2017
The University of Florida
School of Human Health and Performance
Department of Tourism, Recreation and Sport Management
WEIL 0279, M 8 - 10 (3:00 PM - 6:00 PM)
Instructor: Dr. Joon Sung Lee
Phone: 352-294-1654
E-mail: (the best way to contact me)
Office hours: T 2:00-4:00 PM (FLG 190D), or by appointment (preferred)
It is your right as a student to have full access to the instructor. I am glad to talk with you about the class or any assignments whenever you need me. Please contact me if you ever have any questions or concerns about anything related to the class.
I. Course Aims and Objectives:
The purpose of this course is to provide graduate students in the Department of Tourism, Recreation and Sport Management (TRSM) and related fields with an introductory survey of research methods. Lectures and field-based participation prepare the student to understand key components of academic/business research (research problem, hypothesis, review of literature, questionnaire design, pilot data collection and analyses, formulation of a research proposal, and research presentations). Ultimately, the basic understanding of the research methods will enhance decision making ability in solving various research/business problems. The course activities, experiences, assignments, and sequence are intended to provide opportunities for class members to accomplish the following:
Course Objectives / Learning Outcomes / Assessment Tool1. Understand relevant lines of inquiry, and contemporary research issues involved in TRSM. / Content knowledge, Critical thinking / Project, assignment
2. Be able to identify and develop a research idea. / Content knowledge
Critical thinking / Project, exam
3. Be able to conduct a critical review of literature related to TRSM. / Content knowledge,
Critical thinking / Project, assignment
4. Understand qualitative and quantitative research designs relevant to research problem. / Content knowledge / Project, exam
5. Be able to develop a valid and reliable survey questionnaire. / Content knowledge,
Critical thinking / Assignment, exam
6. Be able to select an appropriate target population and sampling method. / Content knowledge,
Critical thinking / Project, exam
7. Prepare a research proposal related to TRSM. / Content knowledge
Critical thinking / Project
8. Prepare a research presentation / Content knowledge,
Communication / Project
II. Course Textbook
(Required) Zikmund, W. G., Babin, B. J., Carr, J. C., & Griffin, M. (2012). Business Research Methods (9th ed.). New York: South-Western College Pub.
Other Suggested Readings
Business Periodicals
Reading from current business news periodicals (e.g., Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Economist, Fortune, etc.) is strongly recommended. The articles will help you learn what are the current issues surrounding sport business and industry, and identify research problems and questions.
Peer-reviewed Journals (See Appendix A)
Reading from journals other than those required is also strongly recommended because this will provide you to indirectly learn a variety set of research methods. Consider the following as only suggestive: Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Sport Management, Sport Marketing Quarterly, Sport Management Review, Journal of Advertising, and European Sport Marketing Quarterly. All other peer-reviewed academic journals related to your focus of interest are welcome. Students should be or should become familiar with electronic databases such as ABI Inform, Business Monitor Online, EBSCO and PsycInfo. Virtually any business-related publication (popular press or peer-reviewed articles) is available electronically through the UF library.
Library Resources
For research help, contact Leilani Freund (; 352-273-2622) or Aimee Barrett (; 352-273-2784), Sport Management Librarian. UF Business Library resource, Statista: http://businesslibrary.uflib.ufl.edu/statista.
III. Evaluation and Grading
Final course grades will be based on the accumulated points, out of a total of 200, based on the individual weight of each of the following:
Criteria Points Portion
Attendance/Participation 20 10%
Current Event Presentation 10 5%
Research Article Review 20 10%
Problem Statement 20 10%
Literature Review 20 10%
Questionnaire selection/development 10 5%
Research proposal (25%)/presentation (5%) 50 25%
Two exams (10 pts for each exam) 40 20%
Self-Goal Setting & -Evaluations 10 5%
Total 200 100%
Grading Standards
A = 93-100, A- = 90-92, B+ = 87-89, B = 83-86, B- = 80-82, C+ = 77-79,
C(S) = 74-76.5, C-(U) = 70-73, D+ = 67-69, D = 63-66, D- = 60-62, E = 0-59
General Guidelines for Written Assignments
● Written Work: All written work is due at the beginning of the class period. All documents must be submitted via Canvas. Submissions late by 10 minutes will lose 30% of the assignment’s total points. Any work later than that will lose 50% of the points. Assignments turned in two days late will receive zero points.
● An excessive number of typos and misspellings, or multiple grammatical errors will significantly lower your final grade.
● Failure in following guidelines will significantly lower your final grade.
Attendance/Participation (10%): Students are required to attend each class meeting and actively participate in class activities that reinforce the learning of research methods and application of them. It is essential that students participate in class discussions and activities. Students are also encouraged to be fully engaged in the learning experience: (a) asking thoughtful and thought-provoking questions, (b) offering insightful observations about the topic being discussed, and (c) embellishing the discussion with appropriate examples. Students should come to class prepared to answer key questions associated with each assigned chapter of the textbook. Students are encouraged to post relevant articles/cases on Canvas that are discussed during class. Students will also have opportunities to participate in a marketing research as part of participation grade.
Students will have ONE free absence without a point reduction. However, students those who with no absence throughout this semester will obtain extra credits at the end of semester. 2 late attendances are equal to 1 absence. For the excused absences, the students must submit relevant documentations.
(IMPORTANT!!!) With more than 4 absences including two free absences, you will get an E no matter what. No exception!! This rule will be STRICTLY applied
Current Event Presentation (Oral & Written) (5%): The purpose of this assignment is to share most up-do-date events within sport business field which will in turn provide better opportunities to better learn current issues in the industry. This assignment is also intended to drill students to search and synthesize relevant information to support their findings and arguments.
At the beginning of the semester, students will be required to select two dates on which he/she will give a 10-minute current event presentation to the class (https://goo.gl/3pgUdV) student should find a current event in the sport industry that relates to each student’s interest. Some useful resources might be Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal, databases available through the UF Libraries, newspaper such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, magazines such as Sports Illustrated, Forbes, or websites such as ESPN.com, CBSSports.com, etc.
Once a topic is selected, students should type a 1,000-word long written report (excluding appendix and references). The paper should include summary of the topic and three discussion questions on the topic. The paper should also include your source(s) for the current event information. Each student will report his/her findings to the class, and will ask his/her discussion questions. When developing the discussion questions, please avoid asking yes or no questions. Instead, ask questions that will prompt further commentary on the subject and will allow the rest of the class to express their opinions. The written assignment should be submitted and must include the following:
1. Summary of the article 2/20
2. Reasons why the topic is important 4/20
3. Three thought-provoking discussion questions on the topic 6/20
4. Your own critical analysis/findings to the questions above (based on your own research such as searching and reading relevant news/academic journal articles, etc.) 6/20
5. Reference and copy of the original article in appendix 2/20
Total 20
Note. Written assignment is due on the day he/she is scheduled to present (a hard copy and an electronic submission to Canvas site). Failure to present on the scheduled date without written notification in advance will lose 50% of the points. Each presenter should submit the link(s) of original article(s) to the link above at least three days before the presentation.
Research Article Review and Presentation (Oral & Written) (10%): The purpose of this assignment is to train students to think critically about a piece of research rather than just blindly accept the research as sound. Each student will choose 2 relevant articles from their interested academic fields and review them based on conceptual and empirical soundness, communication, and contribution. Each student then will present their review to the class on an assigned date. Please prepare your handouts and submit your file to e-learning (Canvas).
At the beginning of the semester, students will be required to select two dates on which he/she will give a 10-minute research article presentation to the class (https://goo.gl/3pgUdV). Each student should find an academic research article that relates to each student’s interest. The research article should be from a peer-reviewed academic journal (see Appendix A). Once the article is found, the student should read the article thoroughly and type a 1,000-word long review of article. The review should include the following:
1. Summary of the article
2. Significance of the article (why is this important to sport management practitioners?)
3. A detailed summary of the method section
- What type of method or methods did they use?
- How did they collect the data?
- Who or what were their research participants?
- How did they analyze the data?
- How did they establish the validity and reliability of their data collection tools?
4. A critical review of any information that you feel is missing or should be included in the article.
In class, each student will also present the article. The rest of the class will ask any questions they may have.
Note. Written assignment is due on the day he/she is scheduled to present (a hard copy and an electronic submission to Canvas site). Failure to present on the scheduled date without written notification in advance will lose 50% of the points. Each presenter should send me selected articles three days prior to the presentation so other students can read them before coming to the class.
Problem statement (10%): The main purpose of this assignment is to improve students’ ability to find out the gap to be filled based on newly implemented research. Each student needs to write a one-page problem statement, which fits the area of your research and business interest. You must find at least 5 current articles (no earlier than year 2010) from academic journals and 5 business/industry reports in the area of TRSM that are related to this problem. You need to add a reference list of these articles in the problem statement assignment, and submit electronic copies of the articles to Canvas site.
Literature Review (5%): After the first exam, students will be asked to form their group for final research project (4-5 students). After composing a group, each group will conduct their own literature review. Every group member needs to contribute to a critical review of literature. The review should be a minimum of 5 pages. Among the research topics reviewed by group members, a group needs to decide on one specific research topic.
Questionnaire Selection/Development (10%): To address the research topic of interest, the student should identify the best measure(s) through the review of literature process. When such a measure is not available, the student will have to develop a scale using inductive or deductive procedures and conduct examinations for validity and reliability. Lectures will be provided on fundamental measurement theories.
Research Proposal (20%)/Presentation (5%): Each group of 3-4 individuals is required to formulate a research proposal, following an APA journal article format. The proposal should include the following sections: introduction, literature review, and methods (participants, measurement, data collection procedures, analysis procedures, references, tables, and figures). Results and discussion sections are optional.
Proposal Presentation: Each group will make a 20-minute presentation on the research proposal to the class. The presentation should include a research problem, research questions and/or hypotheses, literature review, and method (if possible, results and discussion). A multimedia computer presentation must be utilized.
**Working as a Team
All team members will receive the same mark for both oral and written group work unless a specific request is lodged with the instructor outlining an unequal distribution of points. This should be submitted with the final proposal. Thus, teams with equal distribution will receive 100% of the available points for each person. Groups choosing an unequal distribution of points should express the contribution of members in a percentage ("contributed but didn't give it their all" 90%, "more than duty required" 110%), however, percentage allocations across members must average 100. For example, a group of four might view team member 1 as not having done their part in a rather significant way, while members 2 and 3 did their part and no more, while group member 4 contributed more than the others. Points might be allocated as follows: Member 1: 80%, Member 2: 100%, Member 3: 100%, Member 4: 120% with a resulting average of 100%. These percentages will then be set against the grade obtained by the group on the project. All group members must agree in writing to any uneven distribution of points. If groups cannot come to agreement, the instructor will make the point allocation and will extract for this service a 5% penalty from each member. Supporting evidence for an unequal distribution must be provided, including but not limited to meeting notes and attendance, drafts, collected secondary data and analysis.
Exams I & II (20%): There will be two exams and will comprise 20% of your final grade. Everything discussed in class (including current event presentation and research article review) and in the assigned readings may appear on the exam. A makeup exam must be requested in writing and will require written medical proof. No requests to retake the exam will be granted. Do not take the course unless you can sit for the exam indicated on the course outline.