The module provides an overview of the foundations and methods of empirical research in business administration. The following topics will be addressed:

• theoretical foundations of empirical research, derivation of research subjects and hypotheses
• statistical foundations of empirical research (e.g., descriptive statistics, probability distributions, key test statistics)
• introduction to qualitative research
• introduction to experimental research
• introduction to survey research
• introduction to reseach based on secondary data (structured and unstructured data)
• introduction to machine learning approaches (text analytics, image analytics)
• strengths and weaknesses of alternative qualitative and quantitative research methods

Basic knowledge in statistics at the Bachelor level is required. You still can attend the class without any basic knowlegde in statistics, but you will need more time for preparing each class.

MMM-Students: Students can either take the module CC 503  “Empirical Methods” oder the module CC 502 “Applied Econometrics”.

Different rules apply for MMBR-Students.

The module CC 503 is especially recommended for students who want to specialize in marketing as it is a very helpful basis for module MKT 520 “Market Research”.

In each term, the course will be offered in English language. The exam can only be written in English.

You will get actual information and supplementary documents via the platform ILIAS. Please enter the group CC 503 “Empirical Methods” on ILIAS to get access to the latest information.

The recognition of the module CC 503 in the context of the Master's program takes place according to the guidelines and by the examination board for business administration.

If the course CC 503 is to be taken as part of a stay abroad, a learning agreement must be concluded with me before the start of the stay. In principle, the recognition in the context of the Master's degree requires that the level of the courses abroad corresponds to the Master's level at the University of Mannheim. Graduate courses of foreign universities usually fulfill this requirement.

If recognition is to be granted, please contact me. Basically, I need a syllabus from the course to be recognized, which shows the exact content of the course and its scope, as well as the learning agreement.

If courses from other German universities are to be recognized, a similar examination will take place. However, this examination is carried out centrally by the Business Administration Examination Board. Therefore, please contact the BWL Examination Board first if you wish to receive recognition from another German university.