Research skills development in higher education students

This case study presents the development of a research project in a third-year undergraduate course, Family Business Administration. The research project aimed at promoting research skills in students. The authors formed working groups of no more than six students, and each group had to select an original research topic after conducting a literature review. Students were guided by the teachers and provided with initial reading materials, as well as an activity rubric specifying the minimum requirements of a scientific paper. The activity evaluation consisted of two parts, a written article (group assessment) and an oral presentation (individual assessment). After the activity concluded, students were asked to answer an online satisfaction survey. Results showed students viewed the activity as positive and appreciated the chance to develop several competencies, including research skills. The authors conclude several objectives were achieved, including: familiarize students with scientific research; make sure students are cable of finding information through primary sources; have students apply the knowledge acquired during the course; promote responsibility in students; cultivate in students the capacity to summarize ideas and expose them in a reasoned way; have students learn from the experiences and knowledge of others; and develop in students the capacity to synthesize all that information. -------------------------- El desarrollo de la capacidad investigadora en estudiantes de educacion superior Resumen Este estudio de caso presenta el desarrollo de un proyecto de investigacion en la asignatura “Administracion de la Empresa Familiar” de tercer curso. El proyecto de investigacion tenia como proposito fomentar de forma especifica la capacidad investigadora de los alumnos. Se formaron grupos de trabajo de no mas de seis estudiantes, y cada grupo tenia que seleccionar un tema de investigacion original tras realizar una busqueda de literatura. Los docentes guiaron a los estudiantes proveyendo materiales de lectura, asi como una rubrica especificando los requisitos minimos de un trabajo de divulgacion cientifica. La evaluacion de la actividad consistio de dos partes, un trabajo escrito (evaluado en grupo) y una presentacion oral (evaluada individualmente). Una vez concluida la actividad, se les pidio a los estudiantes que respondieran una encuesta de satisfaccion en linea. Los resultados mostraron que los estudiantes valoraron positivamente la experiencia y apreciaron la oportunidad de desarrollar varias competencias, incluyendo la capacidad investigadora. Las autoras determinaron que se alcanzaron varios objetivos, incluyendo: que los alumnos se familiaricen con la investigacion cientifica, que sean capaces de buscar informacion en fuentes primarias, que apliquen los conocimientos adquiridos, que sean responsables, capaces de establecer objetivos y planificar el trabajo necesario para alcanzarlos, que sean capaces de resumir ideas y exponerlas de forma argumentada, que aprendan de las experiencias y conocimientos de otros y sean capaces de sintetizar toda esa informacion. DOI:  10.18870/hlrc.v4i1.194 PDF document contains both the original in Spanish and an English translation.

Bajo estas premisas se plantea esta experiencia que se desarrolla en la asignatura de 6 créditos ECTS Administración de la Empresa Familiar de primer semestre de los alumnos de tercero del grado de Dirección y Creación de Empresas, cuya duración es de aproximadamente 12 semanas de clases. Las autoras consideran que esta es una experiencia interesante para la comunidad universitaria, pues se trata de una actividad que se puede adaptar a otras asignaturas de los Grados relacionados con el área de empresa, e incluso a asignaturas de cualquier otro Grado.
La Universidad española no puede permanecer ajena a este contexto y, más concretamente, los estudios de Administración y Dirección de Empresas deben profundizar en el estudio y el conocimiento de los problemas que afectan a la empresa familiar. Resulta pues muy oportuno ampliar el conocimiento existente para contribuir a comprender las variables que generan dicha mortalidad y mejorar el rendimiento general de las empresas familiares. Por otra parte, en línea con lo anteriormente expuesto, existe una carencia en el desarrollo de actividad investigadora en aquellos alumnos en áreas de ciencias sociales en el marco de la Educación Superior. Por ello, la presente actividad plantea el desarrollo de una labor investigadora por parte de los alumnos de la asignatura de tercer curso Administración de la Empresa Familiar, con el doble objetivo de fomentar sus capacidades de análisis crítico e investigación, así como también ampliar el conocimiento existente en este sector.
La segunda parte del trabajo consiste en una breve presentación oral en la que se exponen los principales resultados de la investigación y las aportaciones más relevantes. Estas presentaciones tienen lugar todas juntas en forma de seminario o congreso, incluso juntando a los alumnos de grupos de clases distintos, ya que esta práctica se desarrolló de forma paralela por los profesores que impartían la asignatura simultáneamente. El seminario llevó por título La Empresa Familiar en el Siglo XXI y tuvo lugar en la última semana de clase. En la última semana los alumnos reciben la calificación final de la actividad, cuya evaluación se describe a continuación, y se realiza una sesión de cierre y principales conclusiones obtenidas, y los alumnos tienen la oportunidad de evaluar la actividad realizada a través de un cuestionario de satisfacción presentado por el profesor.
Capacidad de comunicación oral. Se busca que la exposición sea clara, concisa y en el tiempo estipulado. Dicho tiempo es cronometrado por el profesor con el fin de evitar que los grupos se extiendan demasiado. Se valorarán aspectos tales como el contacto con los ojos de las personas que conforman la audiencia, la seguridad y claridad de la exposición oral, la postura y los gestos corporales durante la exposición de los trabajos.
Desarrollo de la innovación y la creatividad. Se trata de una competencia directamente relacionada con la actividad. La creatividad e iniciativa se evaluará a través del análisis de la calidad de las fuentes de información propuestas por los alumnos para la elaboración del artículo. Se valorará también la creatividad en la exposición oral del trabajo ante la comunidad universitaria. Serán mejor valoradas aquéllas presentaciones más atractivas y diferentes. La calificación final del trabajo en equipo para cada alumno será la media aritmética de la nota obtenida en el documento escrito y la de la exposición oral. A su vez, la calificación global obtenida con el desarrollo de esta actividad representará el 30% de la nota final de la asignatura.
En la encuesta se proveyó un apartado para comentarios y recomendaciones con el fin de que los alumnos pudieran opinar de forma libre. Los comentarios han destacado fundamentalmente los aspectos positivos de la práctica, agradeciendo la iniciativa y remarcando su utilidad. Cabe hacer mención a uno concretamente que hace una propuesta interesante y con visión de futuro: "mayor motivación a los alumnos, quizás con una revista interna, o con la posibilidad de publicar directamente en otros lugares". Este estudiante propone que se ponga en marcha una revista dentro de la Universidad en la que los alumnos puedan publicar sus investigaciones, o en su defecto, que se les apoye para poder publicarlos externamente en alguna revista de interés. Se recoge la idea, ya que podría elegirse el mejor trabajo y con el apoyo del profesor, podría intentar enviarse a alguna revista para que los alumnos conocieran la experiencia.
Con relación a los temas de investigación planteados por los alumnos, en primer lugar, se cita el "Análisis de grado de conocimiento que tienen los estudiantes de la UEM sobre la empresa familiar y sus principales características", con el que se pretendió demostrar a través de una encuesta realizada a los estudiantes del propio campus, la falta de conocimiento y el concepto erróneo que los estudiantes tienen sobre las empresas familiares y su importancia en la economía. En segundo lugar, se presenta el "Análisis del traspaso de primera a segunda generación de la empresa familiar española: Claves para su continuidad sobre la base del caso Codorniu", estos estudiantes profundizaron sobre uno de los problemas más importantes a los que se enfrenta la empresa familiar: el traspaso generacional, y lo hicieron con el estudio de una de las empresas familiares españolas más antigua e interesante. En tercer lugar, se presentó un interesante y oportuno trabajo sobre "El uso de la tecnología en la Empresa Familiar: análisis de su influencia en época de crisis", el cual mostró el estado actual de las empresas familiares en cuanto al uso de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación a través de un estudio empírico, llegando a muy interesantes conclusiones. Finalmente se cita el "Estudio de caso: ¿Cuándo es el mejor momento para la integración de la profesionalización en una empresa familiar?", cuyo objetivo se centró en investigar y analizar la profesionalización de la empresa familiar, realizando encuestas directamente a directivos de empresas familiares, concluyendo que la mejor solución sobre la profesionalización depende de las situaciones y posibilidades en que se encuentre cada empresa.
Las calificaciones obtenidas fueron muy altas y oscilaron entre 8 y 9,5 en los trabajos escritos, y 8 y 10 en las presentaciones orales. El día de la presentación, la clase se convirtió en un verdadero congreso de expertos sobre la materia y los alumnos disfrutaron mucho de su participación y la experiencia de otros. En definitiva, se trata de una propuesta docente muy interesante y recomendable, ya que, como se ha puesto de manifiesto, el alumno aprende a enfrentarse a la realización de un trabajo de investigación de verdad, lo cual le permite madurar y aprender de una forma muy activa, lo que repercute de forma muy positiva en su formación global. Se trata de una asignatura optativa de tercer curso cuyo temario se presta perfectamente a la innovación educativa y al desarrollo de alternativas docentes en un momento idóneo para que los estudiantes aprendan a investigar.

Introduction
The profound changes in traditional teaching methods as a result of the implementation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) are widely known. The academic community generally recognizes and accepts the big advantages students have in using new methodologies that promote, not only their own learning process, but also the development of different competences. In this context, competence is defined as the set of skills, abilities, knowledge, and responsibilities that describe learning outcomes of a degree, or a particular subject or course (Gonzalez & Wagenaar, 2006b). To achieve this, it has been necessary for both teachers and students to change their behaviors and attitudes; in other words, teachers assume the role of mentors and students, in turn, must take responsibility for their own learning as the new educational model focuses the basis for knowledge in their own work (Benito Hernandez, Lopez-Cozar Navarro, & Priede Bergamini, 2010;Cuadrado Gordillo & Fernandez Antelo, 2008;).
Competence development in students, thus, has become the great learning objective, promoting the use of new and different formative activities and influencing evaluation systems themselves (Gonzalez & Wagenaar, 2003). Among these formative activities, one of the most accepted is cooperative learning . This tool, developed during the 1960s, has been evolving through the years and adapting to the diverse educational T. Priede Bergamini and C. López-Cózar Navarro needs of the different knowledge areas where it has been applied. It is supported by the belief that student-student and professor-student interaction inside the classroom results in an exchange of skills and knowledge that improve group learning as a whole . Thus, cooperative learning seeks to develop a positive interdependency, to enhance face-to-face interaction, encourage individual responsibility, and improve social abilities .
There are numerous studies in the literature related to cooperative learning, showing the benefits of this teaching strategy from experience . Nonetheless, there are few occasions in which such activities are promoted, specifically designed to promote applied research. This study proposes a methodology based on the development of a research project on the subject "Family Business Management", which encourages in a particular way research skills in students. Based on these principles, the authors propose this experience, developed through the 6 ECTS, first semester, third year course Family Business Management, for students enrolled in the Management and Entrepreneurship program, which lasts approximately 12 weeks. The authors believe this to be an interesting experience for the university community, as it is an activity that can be adapted to other subjects in degrees related to Business, and even subjects of any other degree.

Justification and Objectives
The so-called family businesses, despite their importance, are in many cases unknown. Given the importance of these organizations in the entrepreneurial fabric of most economies, it is not surprising that in recent years there is growing interest in their study. According to the Family Business Institute in Spain (Instituto de la Empresa Familiar, IEF by its initials in Spanish), there are 2.9 million family businesses in Spain, representing 85% of all enterprises, which generate about 70% of jobs in the private sector and contribute 70% of GDP and exports (IEF, 2009, p.19). In general terms, they can be defined as a business in which members of one or more families participate significantly in its capital, are actively involved in the management, and intend to pass on the business to future generations (Astrachan, Klein, & Smyrnios, 2002;Lopez-Cozar Navarro & Priede Bergamini, 2009;Lopez-Cozar Navarro, Priede Bergamini, & Benito Hernández, 2013;Martin & Cabrera, 2007).
Despite their importance, scientific and academic research on family businesses in Spain was not being developed until a few years ago. Through the Family Business Institute (IEF), lectures and professorships developed by various universities, as well as certain specific publications, there have been several research projects aimed to describe, identify, and understand the peculiarities of these businesses. In addition, the new Higher Education Area has allowed universities to incorporate into their curricula specific subjects related to family business management. One of the main conclusions gathered from the analyses of these businesses is their high mortality rate. In fact, according to the Family Business Institute, the average lifespan of a family business is 30 years compared to 40 for a nonfamily business (2009, p 19), and only 10% and 15% of companies manage to achieve transfer to the third generation (Bañegil Palacios, Barroso Martínez, & Tato Jimenez, 2011;Lopez-Cozar Navarro & Priede Bergamini, 2009).
Spanish universities cannot remain aloof from this context and, more specifically, Business Administration studies should extend learning and knowledge of the issues affecting family businesses. It is therefore very appropriate to deepen existing knowledge to help understand the variables that generate such mortality and improve the overall performance of family businesses. Moreover, in line with the above, there is a shortage in the development of Research Skills Development in Higher Education Students 67 research activities for students in the social sciences in the context of higher education. Therefore, this activity presents the development of a research project by third year students in a Family Business Management course, with the dual purpose of promoting their critical analysis and research, as well as expand knowledge existing in this sector.
This activity seeks to awaken in students an interest in scientific research related to family businesses. Students must undertake research related to a topic of interest of such organizations and deliver an article that follows the guidelines of scientific journals in the field. Subsequently, the main results of their research are presented in a specific class turned into a Family Business Seminar. Following the completion of this task, students should be able to:  Reflect on some specific aspect of the family business.  Apply the knowledge acquired throughout the course.  Learn to carry out scientific research.  Present ideas and research results.

Teaching Experience Description: Scientific Research of Family Businesses
The Family Business Management course is optional and is taught in the third year of the Management and Entrepreneurship degree. It takes place during 12 weeks over a full quarter. During the first six to eight weeks of class, the teacher introduces students to the concept of family business, their main characteristics, and specific processes. These first theoretical-practical sessions are necessary to lay the foundation that will enable students to later develop the practical work of scientific research of the family business.
To perform this activity, the formation of working groups is necessary, which should consist of no more than six students. They can be formed freely, but once created teams must be approved by the teacher in order to obtain homogeneous groups.
To initiate the investigation, the selection of topics is important, which must be original and will be chosen by students with teacher supervision after group members undertake a literature research to find and read articles. The teacher should assume the critical task of offering reading materials and providing guidance for information research. The teacher should also be mindful during this first contact step, to prevent students from being lost and demotivated, even proposing the assistance and support of the library staff for research tasks.
Once topics are chosen and work teams organized, students are handed a rubric for the activity, which specifies that the research work consists of two parts and it must meet the minimum criteria of scientific publication. The first part is a short written article of about five to eight pages, which necessarily must include: an abstract -in Spanish and English-key words, literature review, research body, results, main findings and conclusions, study limitations, and future research. The article written must meet the formal requirements generally required by scientific journals. This is so that students are faced with this situation and understand that when an investigation of certain level is performed, what you say is important but also how you say it, and that if it does not meet the minimum requirements, will not be accepted by the academic community. Instilling in students seriousness and rigor in what they do helps them mature and become better professionals. On the same note, it is specified that content copied from a source of information should be in italics or inside quotation marks and properly cited. In such cases, it is essential to include a reference at the end of the paragraph with the information pertaining to the sources that have been used, and of course they must be included in the bibliography. There is an emphasis on the fact that T. Priede Bergamini and C. López-Cózar Navarro any copied content without proper citations will be grounds for suspension, thereby attempting to eliminate the habit acquired by most students to cut and paste, presenting plagiarized content as original.
Another relevant point regarding the investigation is the choice of methodology for conducting research, which is complex because students are still in their third year and do not have a broad methodological knowledge. However, efforts to find methods available to them should be encouraged, but at the same those methods should be deemed worthy and acceptable. The second part of the project consists of a brief oral presentation in which the main results of the research and main contributions are presented. These presentations take place all together in the form of a seminar or conference, even bringing together students from different class groups, as this practice was developed in parallel by the teachers who taught the same subject. The seminar was titled The Family Business in the XXI Century and took place during the last week of the course. During that last week, students receive the final grade for the activity, the evaluation described below, a closing session is conducted where conclusions are presented, and students have the opportunity to evaluate the activity through a satisfaction questionnaire presented by the professor.

Evaluation Method
As just mentioned, the activity consists of two clearly specified parts: writing an article and an oral presentation, each of which will be evaluated independently. Regarding the written article, which must comply with previously detailed theoretical content and formal aspects, the grade obtained will be common to all team members. In regards to the oral presentation, it must meet the detailed specifications and will take place on a date previously set by the teacher. The grade for this part will be individual to each student. This activity is evaluated based on four fundamental aspects: Written communication skills. They are evaluated from the document delivered by each team, and value is placed on aspects such as: the correct identification of the objective or purpose of the project and knowledge about what is really important when writing on the subject; text organization, coherence, and structure; absence of typos or grammatical or spelling errors; the clear presence of a theoretical and methodological perspective and development of findings, among other.
Oral communication skills. It is intended so that the exposition is clear, concise, and within the stipulated time. The given time is measured by the teacher in order to prevent each group's presentation to extend too long. Aspects valued during the presentations include eye contact with the audience, assurance and clarity of the oral presentation, and posture and body language.
Team work development and cooperation. The result of the overall team work is valued. For the oral presentation part, value was placed on the coordination among team members, as well as how they organized themselves and made transitions among presenters. Specific questions were asked to each member of the group in order to determine their degree of involvement in the overall project. Moreover, the result of the written work is also assessed by analyzing features such as structure, formal aspects, and expression, among other, to determine whether the levels of consistency, uniformity, and meaning were achieved through the required team work.

Research Skills Development in Higher Education Students 69
Development of creativity and innovation. This competence is directly related to the activity. Creativity and initiative will be evaluated through the analysis of the quality of information sources proposed by the students for the preparation of the article. The creativity in the oral presentations of the work to the university community will also be assessed. The more appealing and distinctive presentations will receive higher valuations.
Final grading of the team work for each student will be the arithmetic mean of the grade obtained in the written article and the oral presentation. In turn, the overall grade obtained with the development of this activity will represent 30% of the course's final grade.

Results and Conclusions
The students evaluated the activity through a satisfaction survey conducted via the Internet, and 12 responses were obtained 2 . The questionnaire is based on a series of variables to be valued -based in the objectives presented before-in a Likert-scale from 1 to 5. Specifically, respondents were asked their opinion on the issues that are presented in Figure 1, which presents the results of the survey. In view of the data presented, it can be observed that, in general, most students valued the activity in a very positive way. Students considered learning from the subject analyzed as important. The high valuation of the usefulness of the practice by most students stands out. Students have been able to appreciate as well learning from the development of a scientific research work, which was the main objective of this pedagogic activity. Competence development has also been highly valued; teamwork, initiative, and focus on results stand out among the most valued, although it is generally considered that this practice provides the opportunity to develop various competences satisfactorily. Also noteworthy is the work of the professor in following up with the projects, which was highly valued by the students. Finally, it should be stressed that no 2 A priori it seems to be a reduced number of responses; however, it is necessary to clarify that just students in one of the courses could participate in the questionnaire. Thus, it is 12 responses out of 26 students, which comprises 46% of students. variable showed a "very low" rating, which shows the overall student satisfaction with all the aspects developed in this initiative.
A section for comments and recommendations was provided in the survey so that students could freely present their point of view. Comments have mainly emphasized the positive aspects of the project, welcoming the initiative and highlighting its usefulness. A specific comment should be mentioned, as it brings an interesting proposal for the future: "more motivation to students, perhaps with an internal magazine, or with the possibility of directly publishing to other places." This student proposed to launch a magazine within the University, in which students can publish their research or, alternatively, to receive support in order to be able to publish externally in a journal of interest. The idea has been well received as the best article could be selected and, with the support of the professor, sent to a journal so that students go through that experience.
With respect to research topics proposed by students, the "Analysis of the degree of knowledge UEM students have regarding the family business and its main characteristics" is first cited, which sought to demonstrate through a student survey on campus the lack of knowledge and misconceptions students have about the family business and its importance in the economy. In second place, there was an "Analysis of transfer from first to second generation in the Spanish family business: Keys to continuity on the basis of the Codorniu case," in which the students delved into one of the most important issues that family businesses face: generational transfer, and they did so with the study of one of the most ancient and interesting Spanish family businesses. Thirdly, an interesting and opportune work was presented regarding "The use of technology in the family business: Analysis of its influence in times of crisis", which showed the current state of information and communication technology use in family businesses through an empirical study, reaching interesting conclusions. Finally, there was a "Case study: When is the best time for integrating professionalism in a family business," which focused around the objective of investigating and analyzing the professionalization of family businesses, conducting surveys directly with family business managers, and concluding that the best solution regarding professionalism depends on the situations and possibilities of each enterprise.
The scores obtained were very high and ranged between 8 and 9.5 in writing assignments, and 8 and 10 in oral presentations (on a 1-10 scale). The day of the presentation, the class became a true congress of experts on the subject and the students thoroughly enjoyed their participation and each other's experience. In sum, this is a very interesting and recommended pedagogic proposal since, as shown, students learn to cope with the completion of a real research project, allowing them to grow and learn in a very active way, which impacts in a very positive way on their overall training. This was for a third-year elective course with an agenda that is ideally suited to educational innovation and the development of educational alternatives, in an ideal time for students to learn to investigate.
With the development of this educational initiative, the following objectives have been achieved: to familiarize students with scientific research; make sure students are cable of finding information through primary sources; to have students apply the knowledge acquired during the course and be able to delve into the aspects they find most interesting; to promote responsibility in students, so they are capable of setting goals and planning the necessary work to achieve them; to cultivate in students the capacity to summarize ideas and expose them in a reasoned way; to have students learn from the experiences and knowledge of others; and to develop in students the capacity to synthesize all that information. Ultimately, the students become the center of their own learning. It has been an interesting experience, very enriching for both all Research Skills Development in Higher Education Students 71 students and professors. Undoubtedly, it will be repeated with some improvements in subsequent courses.