Postgraduate Course: Advanced Quantitative Data Analyses (CMSE11712)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course provides advanced training in quantitative data analysis and methods commonly used in management, organisational, and behavioural research. It aims to equip students with the conceptual understanding and practical skills needed to apply contemporary advanced quantitative analytical techniques to their own research projects.
The course covers structural equation modelling, moderation and mediation analysis, latent class analysis, multilevel modelling, conjoint survey experiments, and necessary condition analysis. Emphasis is placed on understanding when and why each method is appropriate, how to implement the analyses, and how to interpret and report the results in a rigorous and transparent manner, aligned with the methodological practices in leading business and management journals.
What makes this course distinctive is its strong focus on applied and independent research: students work with real data, published research examples, and their own research questions drawn from business, organisational, management, and related fields. The course will cover tutorials of hot-use software for specific types of data analyses.
By the end of the course, students will be able to critically evaluate methodological choices in the literature and independently employ advanced quantitative methods to address substantive research problems in their own disciplines and research projects. |
| Course description |
Academic Description
This course develops advanced quantitative research skills for research-oriented postgraduate students in business, management and related disciplines. It aims to equip students to independently design, conduct, and evaluate analyses that are rigorous, theory-driven, and aligned with standards in leading business and management journals. Students learn to apply methods including structural equation modelling, moderation and mediation analysis, latent class analysis, multilevel modelling, longitudinal data analysis, conjoint survey experiments, and necessary condition analysis. Emphasis is placed on understanding when and why each method is appropriate, critically evaluating methodological choices, and independently applying techniques to their own research projects using real data and published studies.
Outline Content
1. Principles of Rigorous Research Design and Data Strategy: Foundational concepts in designing robust studies and experiments, including cross-sectional and longitudinal designs; strategies for collecting high-quality data, selecting appropriate data sources, and leveraging online survey platforms; emphasizing that the integrity and quality of data are essential prerequisites for applying advanced quantitative methods effectively.
2. Structural Equation Modelling, Moderation, and Mediation Analysis: Introduction to path models and latent variables, model specification, estimation, and interpretation; concepts of interaction and indirect effects, testing approaches, and integrating moderation and mediation within empirical studies; interaction/moderation plots.
3. Multilevel Modelling and Latent Class Analysis: Handling nested or longitudinal data structures, variance decomposition, classifying subpopulations, and applying these techniques to organisational and management research questions.
4. Conjoint Survey Experiment: Design, implementation, and analysis of conjoint experiments; understanding preference measurement and experimental control in applied business and management research.
5. Necessary Condition Analysis: Understanding the necessity logic in business and management theories, and evaluating the theory-method fit in integrating findings from multiple methods, and applying advanced techniques to students' own research questions and real datasets.
Student Learning Experience
The course is delivered over five intensive sessions of four hours each (5 X 4 hours).
This course combines interactive lectures and hands-on practices to provide a fully applied, research-oriented experience. Students engage with all stages of empirical research, from designing studies and collecting high-quality data to implementing advanced quantitative analyses and interpreting results. Emphasis is placed on using appropriate software to generate analyses and visualisations that meet standards observed in leading journals. Working with real datasets and authentic research analyses, students develop the skills to critically assess methodological choices, integrate empirical findings with theory, and produce research outputs - including charts, tables, and reports - that reflect rigorous, publishable-quality research practice.
Assessment
Students are required to develop and write a research plan report, including the research design, proposed data sources, quality considerations, and the rationale for the quantitative methods they intend to use.
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Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2026/27, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Other Study Hours 80,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
96 )
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| Additional Information (Learning and Teaching) |
80% self-directed study
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Individual project report 100% |
| Feedback |
Formative feedback: During class workshops, students receive immediate, hands-on feedback while working with real datasets and applying analytical techniques, helping them refine their research design and analysis skills before the final submission.
Summative feedback: Feedback will be given on the research project report. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Design and plan rigorous empirical studies, including experiments, surveys, and longitudinal research, to address complex research questions in business, management, and organisational contexts.
- Collect, manage, and evaluate high-quality data, applying appropriate strategies for ensuring reliability, validity, and ethical compliance.
- Apply advanced quantitative analytical techniques, including structural equation modelling, multilevel modelling, latent class analysis, moderation and mediation analysis, conjoint experiments, and necessary condition analysis, to own research.
- Critically assess methodological choices in published research, interpreting results accurately and integrating empirical findings into theoretically informed conclusions.
- Communicate research outcomes effectively, producing visualisations, tables, and reports that meet the standards of rigorous, publishable-quality research.
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Reading List
Core text:
Hayes, Andrew F. Introduction to Mediation, Moderation, and Conditional Process Analysis: A Regression-Based Approach. Third edition. New York: The Guilford Press, 2022. ISBN: 9781462549054
Key journal:
Organizational Research Methods; ISSN: 1094-4281; Online ISSN: 1552-7425 |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
C1: Meaningful Interpersonal Interaction
After completing this course, students should be able to:
- understand how to manage and sustain successful individual and group relationships in order to achieve positive and responsible outcomes, in a range of virtual and face-to-face environments.
C2: Effective Emotional Intelligence
After completing this course, students should be able to:
- understand oneself and others, through critical reflection, diversity awareness and empathic development, in order to maximise individual and collective resilience, and personal and professional potential.
C3: Authentic Leadership
After completing this course, students should be able to:
- act with integrity, honesty and trust in all business stakeholder relationships, and apply ethical reasoning to effective decision making, problem solving and change management.
C4: Ethical, Responsible and Sustainable Business Behaviour
After completing this course, students should be able to:
- work with a variety of organisations, their stakeholders, and the communities they serve - learning from them, and aiding them to achieve responsible, sustainable and enterprising solutions to complex problems.
C5: Appropriate Communication
After completing this course, students should be able to:
- convey meaning and message through a wide range of communication tools, including digital technology and social media; to understand how to use these tools to communicate in ways that sustain positive and responsible relationships.
C6: Understand and Make Effective Use of Data and Information
After completing this course, students should be able to:
- critically evaluate and present digital and other sources, research methods, data and information; discern their limitations, accuracy, validity, reliability and suitability; and apply responsibly in a wide variety of organisational contexts.
C8: Personal and Professional Competence
After completing this course, students should be able to:
- be self-motivated; curious; show initiative; set, achieve and surpass goals; as well as demonstrating adaptability, capable of handling complexity and ambiguity, with a willingness to learn; as well as being able to demonstrate the use digital and other tools to carry out tasks effectively, productively, and with attention to quality.
C9: Academic Excellence
After completing this course, students should be able to:
- demonstrate a thorough knowledge and understanding of contemporary organisational disciplines; comprehend the role of business within the contemporary world; and critically evaluate and synthesise primary and secondary research and sources of evidence in order to make, and present, well-informed and transparent organisation-related decisions which have a positive global impact.
C10: Intellectual Curiosity
After completing this course, students should be able to:
- identify, define and analyse theoretical and applied business and management problems, and develop approaches, informed by an understanding of appropriate quantitative and/or qualitative techniques, to explore and solve them responsibly.
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| Keywords | Structural equation modelling,moderation and mediation analysis,multilevel modelling |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Haien Ding
Tel:
Email: hding@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Erin Robbins
Tel:
Email: Erin.Robbins@ed.ac.uk |
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