Evidence-Based Management

Scientific articles are the most reliable source of information. The scientific method and procedures actively prevent various biases and errors that affect other sources. Unfortunately, we do not use them nearly as much as we could, due to obstacles such as lack of time or skills to utilize them. In this training, I teach methods that enable you to quickly find relevant research, access it, assess its quality and credibility, extract the desired information, and consider the findings in your conclusions and decisions. This will open up one of the most valuable sources of information, which you can use as a basis for decision-making in your work and personal life. By doing so, you will avoid many unnecessary mistakes and your opinions will be backed by quality evidence.

Learning Goals:
• Ability to appropriately choose and formulate a research question for conducting a review.
• Capability to select effective keywords for database searches and test them.
• Skill in using advanced search functions and operators in databases.
• Ability to access scientific articles and obtain the full text.
• Capability to identify relevant scientific articles and efficiently extract key data from them.
• Skill in critically assessing the quality and credibility of study results and evaluating their significance in answering the research question.

Entry requirements for the course: Advanced English level B1 and higher
Requirements for course completion: Active participation throughout the entirity of the whole course, student´s own research of a chosen topic and submitted short essay summarising it.

1. Introduction to Critical Thinking & Evidence-Based Management
a. Introduction of the instructor, program, and participants
b. Definition, importance, and obstacles of Critical Thinking & Evidence-Based Management
c. Scientific mindset

2. Fundamentals of the Scientific Method
a. Hypothesis testing and falsification
b. Difference between null and alternative hypotheses
c. Philosophical razors – tools for effective information processing

3. Causality
a. Difference between correlation and causation
b. Problem of confusing correlation with causation and regression to the mean
c. Bradford Hill criteria for assessing causality and its types

4. Hierarchy of Evidence and Types of Research
a. Pyramid of evidence strength
b. Experimental and observational research; quantitative and qualitative methods
c. Review research – meta-analyses and systematic reviews

5. Online Databases
a. Overview of existing online databases and how to effectively search for relevant research
b. Searching and testing keywords, operators, and filters
c. AI tools for researching scientific studies

6. Reading Scientific Articles
a. Navigating the structure of the text
b. Quickly assessing the relevance of an article to the studied topic
c. Efficiently extracting information from research texts

7. Critical Assessment of Credibility
a. What to watch for in scientific articles and what to monitor for credibility assessment
b. Issues: replication crisis, publication bias, predatory journals, p-hacking, HARKing
c. Solutions to these pitfalls

8. Evaluation of Research Results
a. Evaluation of data from research results
b. Effect size, confidence intervals, and uncertainty
c. Statistical and practical significance

9. Bayes' Theorem
a. Assessing probabilities of different explanations and evidence strength
b. Changing opinions in light of new evidence
c. Integrating various strengths of evidence and research into a final conclusion

10. Conclusion
a. Summary and conclusion of the entire program, recommendations for further work
b. Reflection on main ideas to reinforce new knowledge and skills
c. Discussion, Q&A

Available study materials:
Barends, E., & Rousseau, D. M. (2018). Evidence-based management: How to use evidence to make better organizational decisions. Kogan Page Publishers.