5305 - APPLIED RESEARCH

The purpose of the course is to enable students to structure and conduct autonomously a research project based on the analysis of data sets concerning business, economics and the social sciences in general. The course presents a set of tools with an applied perspective, providing the methodological knowledge that is necessary to conduct such project with a fair level of competence and with the ability to choose appropriate statistical methods for various problems. Lectures providing motivation, methods and examples are alternated with applied workshops (held in the computer lab) in which students actively participate. The lectures supply the students with the basic concepts and techniques of multivariate data analysis, which are then to be linked to applications and data sets. Lectures and tutorials are also scheduled in order to introduce the students to the use of the widely-used package SPSS for the analysis of multivariate data (although alternative packages, including freeware packages, are discussed).

Introduction 

• Structure of a research project based on the analysis of economic and business data
• Types of data collection (i.e. census methods, sample surveys, cross-sectional and longitudinal data)
• Sample surveys: some notes on sampling (i.e. stratification, two-stage sampling), some examples of questionnaires
• Searching for data. Publicly available data (focus on the web) and restricted-access data
• Searching for references and examples. 

Analysis of Dependence

• Regression analysis  (i.e. Analysis and forecasts of pricing schedules)
• Analysis of Variance (i.e. Analysis of effects of advertising campaign on different subgroups of consumers)
• Models for limited dependent variables Logit Models (i.e. Entry decisions; choice models)

Analysis of Interdependence 

• Principal Components Analysis (i.e. Reduction of complex data)
• Factor Analysis (i.e. Social/status component vs. individual component as functions of observable purchasing characteristics)
• Cluster Analysis (i.e. Classification of consumers in groups according to observable characteristics)

Students will have to take a written exam and also hand in a workbook with the collection of applications done in the computer room, duly commented.

• HAIR, BLACK, BABIN, ANDERSON, TATHAM, Multivariate data analysis, Pearson- Prentice Hall,  2005, 6 ^th Edition, ISBN 0-13-032929-0

• Other notes and lectures to be specified in the detailed syllabus.