OVERVIEW

This course covers the basics for acquiring, analyzing and presenting data that contributes to theory development, validation, and communication for business school PhD students. Along the way, we discuss issues in data sourcing, various analysis techniques, and the presentation of data as evidence for theory building. It will cover construct definition, operationalization, and validity, strategic literature reviews, hypothesis writing and testing, data structuring and evaluation, research design selection and justification, and academic reporting. The course is also designed to provide familiarity with the major journals in the discipline and the nature of scholarly publication.

The course consists of ten sessions of 120 minutes each.  The course will be offered on Thursdays from 12:00 – 2:00PM ET beginning on February 5, 2026. We believe 9:00AM Eastern

INSTRUCTOR:

Colleen M. Harmeling is the Persis E. Rockwood Associate Professor of Marketingin the Department of Marketing at Florida State University’s College of Business. Harmeling has taught undergraduate, graduate and doctoral marketing courses, including marketing strategy, marketing management, consumer behavior and marketing research.

Harmeling’s research focuses on engagement marketing theory and strategy with an emphasis in relationship dynamics, transformational events, customer experience design that facilitating customer engagement, relationship recovery, and brand advocacy in business-to-business, service and retail markets. Her research has appeared in Journal of Marketing, Harvard Business Review, Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of International Business Studies and Marketing Science Institute Working Paper Series, and has been presented at numerous marketing conferences. She has edited a book and co-authored book chapters on relationship development and customer engagement. Harmeling serves on the editorial review board for the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Service Research, and Journal of Retailing. Her work in group marketing won the 2017 Shelby D. Hunt/Harold Maynard Award for the best theory contribution to the Journal of Marketing. Her work in online engagement strategies has been funded by the Marketing Science Institute and was nominated for the Paul Root Award for the best contribution to marketing practice in Journal of Marketing. She has provided consulting and worked on collaborative research projects with firms in various industries including Emerson Electric, Belkin, Golden Lighting, Insinkerator, Wells Fargo, SC Johnson, Schneider Electric, Nature’s Bounty and World Vision. 

Prior to joining FSU’s faculty, Harmeling was a postdoctoral research fellow for the University of Washington’s Center for Sales and Marketing Strategy. Before entering academia, she worked as the community relations manager for Barnes and Noble, where she specialized in event marketing, sales management, customer relationship development and government contracting. She has additional experience working in non-profit marketing, sponsorship management and tradeshow marketing. 

Harmeling received her bachelor’s degree in mass communications from Southeast Missouri State University and her MBA from the University of Tampa. Her Ph.D. in marketing is from Saint Louis University.