Balancing between methodological dilemma’s for business research and the focus on the theoretical contribution. (original) (raw)
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Research Methods for Business and Management
The Global Management Series, 2015
After many years of working with undergraduate, postgraduate and research students we recognise only too well the struggles that they often experience wrestling with the somewhat strange and seemingly obtuse language used to describe research philosophy. We once experienced similar difficulties and empathise with the confusion and lack of confidence that flows from being unclear whether you have really understood terms such as methodology, ontology or epistemology. We set out to produce a text that dealt with two problems. The first was to provide something that guides novice researchers through the whole process from identifying a topic to the writing up of findings via engagement with the literature and a brief overview of both qualitative and quantitative techniques. The second problem we wanted to tackle related to what we often refer to as ‘the ologies’. Here we wanted to offer a structured approach to familiarising yourself with the terminology and to demonstrate how a nested set of descriptions builds towards a coherent, comprehensive and consistent articulation of your research paradigm. We are indebted to our colleagues for their help in delivering on the first of these two problems in the first edition of the book. This was achieved at a pace which seemed frankly ridiculous but which produced a remarkably coherent guide for novice researchers. Despite positive feedback on many aspects of the first edition from both students and colleagues, we were however convinced that we could improve in relation to ‘the ologies’. For this reason, the second edition features some relatively minor changes to many chapters and a complete rewrite of our account of research philosophy. Central to the revised text is the methods map (see Chapter 4), which sets out a logical process for researchers to articulate their position in relation to five key aspects of their research philosophy. We have road tested this approach with many colleagues and students to ensure that it is clear and concise. In addition, we have developed a free app to accompany the book and this enables novice researcher to quickly develop a comprehensive justification of their particular research design in an interactive way. We would acknowledge that the methods map makes some simplifications and would suggest that for all but the most sophisticated of purposes, this is entirely appropriate. Indeed, if you are well enough versed in the philosophical nuances of knowledge explored in the method map then you are probably not part of our intended audience since you already possess the skills, confidence and capacity to articulate and defend the underpinning philosophical assumptions of your research. For everyone else, we hope that the second edition of Research Methods for Business and Management helps demystify the dreaded ‘ologies’.
Research Methods for Business Students, 2023
This is the proof copy of the Preface, Contents pages and Chapter 4 from the 9th edition, published in March 2023. It is uploaded with full permission from Pearson. The chapter introduces the research onion, defines ontology, epistemology and axiology, and explain their relevance to business research; explains the main research paradigms that are significant for business research; explains the relevance for business research of philosophical positions of positivism, critical realism, interpretivism, postmodernism and pragmatism; helps you reflect on and articulate your own philosophical position in relation to your research; Discusses and explains deductive, inductive, and abductive approaches to theory development. It also contains a tool developed by Alexandra Bristow and Mark Saunders called 'HARP' that will help you diagnose your own research philosophy.
Advances in Business Research, 2010
We suggest that organizational and managerial research tends to suffer from incremental approaches that marginalize the results. We review the history and nature of organizational research as a means of pointing out WKH OLPLWDWLRQV RI YDULRXV DSSURDFKHV WR WKH LVVXH RI GHYHORSLQJ KLJK TXDOLW\ UHVHDUFK WKDW FDQ VLJQL¿FDQWO\ LPSDFW research and practice. We note that research that tends to affect practice comes from qualitative studies that lack rigor, but frequently provide meaningful insights. We then examine one technique, called Spectrum analysis, as a means of improving the assessment of organizational information and as a basis for improving the quality of future qualitative research efforts. This is demonstrated by applying the Spectrum analysis to the information from the book Built to Last as a way of providing an example of the utility of such approaches to furthering knowledge of organizational and managerial experience.
Research Methods for Business Students (7th edition) Chapter 4, 2015
****PLEASE NOTE THE FULLY REVISED AND EXTENDED CHAPTER FROM THE 9TH (2023) EDITION IS ALSO AVAILABLE ON ACADEMIA.EDU**** This is the proof copy for Chapter 4 from the 7th edition, which was published in 2015. It is uploaded with full permission from Pearson. The chapter defines ontology, epistemology and axiology, and explain their relevance to business research; explains the main research paradigms that are significant for business research; • explains the relevance for business research of philosophical positions of positivism, critical realism, interpretivism, postmodernism and pragmatism; helps you reflect on and articulate your own philosophical position in relation to your research; Discusses and explains deductive, inductive, and abductive approaches to theory development. It also contains a tool developed by Alexandra Bristow and Mark Saunders called 'HARP' that will help you diagnose your own research philosophy.
Formulating the Nature of Management Research
European Management Journal, 2002
Despite significant successes and numerous exemplars of academic-practitioner collaboration, in recent times management research has been argued to have succumbed to a serious problem of relevance. Addressing this has become an important issue for both the academic and practitioner communities, and extensive debate is occurring on both sides of the Atlantic. Discussions have focused on the nature of management research itself, its key purposes and goals, the scope of the field, its boundaries and relations with other adjacent disciplines. Novel methods for the promotion of management research have also been part of the discussions. The possibility of developing a knowledge production system for management research based on the 'mode 2' ideas of Michael Gibbons et al. [Gibbons, M., Limoges, C. et al. (1994) The New Production of Knowledge: the Dynamics of Science and Research in Contemporary Societies. Sage, London] has attracted considerable attention. This paper outlines the background and current debates as introduction to the main studies in this special issue, which illustrate some of the experimentation being undertaken in creating innovative forms of management research.