Organizational Research Methods

A Guide for Students and Researchers

Paul M Brewerton, Lynne J Millward

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2001
• ISBN:
  9781446223819
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Management
• Index: Business

`This text provides a timely and comprehensive introduction to major research methods in the Organizational sciences. It will be a boon to all students conducting their projects in this area, and may well become a standard reference for staff teaching research methods to undergraduate and postgraduate students of business studies or organizational behaviour? - Professor Neil Anderson, Goldsmiths College, University of London

?This reasonably priced text would provide an invaluable starting point for those considering undertaking research in organisational settings? - Paula Roberts, Nurse Researcher

This book provides the reader with clear pointers for how to conduct organizational research appropriately, through planning and making informed and systematic research decisions, to understanding the ethical implications of applied organizational research, to implementing, reporting and presenting the findings to the highest possible standards. It provides an overview of a wide variety of research strategies, methods of data collection (both qualitative and quantitative) and analysis in a volume accessible to both an undergraduate, postgraduate and practitioner readership alike.

Organizational Research Methods also represents a useful aid to the report writing task, indicating ways in which the project material can be most effectively organised for academic and feedback purposes, and by drawing upon real-life organizational contexts and examples to help the reader understand the core issues. Finally, the book offers a clear, manageable procedure for preparing a presentation to an academic or an organizational audience.

Providing practical guidance on all elements of the research process, this book will be essential reading to all undergraduate and postgraduate students, as well as researchers, in psychology, organizational studies and management disciplines.

1	Introduction

 

1.1 Research in organizations: debunking the myths

In our experience, the majority of students entering into the applied sciences in a professional capacity are put off by the prospect of ‘research’. Many potentially highly research-competent students perceive the research side of their degree to be something just to get through, a self-contained task to be completed and then forgotten about. Most are not short of ideas for neat and manageable research projects but these are too often sacrificed to pressures of time, an inability to get access to an appropriate sample (in part often due to a lack of advance and/or contingency planning) and/or a lack of confidence in actually getting a project off the ground. This is not due to incompetence. On the contrary, most trainee practitioners in the social sciences are well qualified in their discipline, often with broad experience of the real world and usually deeply enthusiastic about their subject. They are at the same time keen to liaise with ‘real-world’ clients and tackle live organizational issues.

Herein lies the problem. Many students in the applied sciences tend to distance themselves from what they construe to be more basic and distal approaches to their discipline. This is true too of qualified practitioners in many fields of the social sciences (Anderson, 1998). These students and practitioners perceive research as something done only by those more academically inclined, largely operating at a distance from the real world. To us, as both academics and practitioners in our field, this separation of the applied social science professions from their research bases represents a missed opportunity. The assumption that ‘only academics do research’ affords an image of research as largely consisting of experiments run in laboratories by scientists out of touch with reality, thereby perpetuating the myth that research is irrelevant to the real world, and thus a distraction from what one would really like to do. We feel that it is this set of assumptions and images which is also partly responsible for students’ lack of confidence and belief in their ability to ‘do’ research.

In this book, we challenge the myths about research, its white-coat image and supposed irrelevance to the practice of the social sciences. We demonstrate how research is an integral part of professional activity and that acknowledging this is fundamental to issues of accountability. We argue that research is an essential part of what social science is all about and, as such, is something that all social science students must become competent in, and must maintain competence in, as responsible practitioners in their respective fields.

To assist in facilitating such competence, this book takes the reader through the research process from beginning to end. We operate within a framework of applied science and to this end we address issues arising from the pursuit of research ‘in the field’, including obtaining organizational samples, the political context of the research, research design, data collection and analysis and report writing (in both client-friendly and academic versions).

1.2 Objectives of the book

It is intended that this text should help the reader to:

 

• Plan and make informed and systematic research decisions;
• Gain access to organizational settings;
• Understand the ethical implications of applied organizational research;
• Select appropriate methods for collection and analysis of organizational data;
• Implement, report and present the findings of meaningful applied research with a view to achieving the highest of academic and professional standards.

To achieve this, the book will provide the organizational researcher with a comprehensive understanding of the research process, presented according to the framework described in Figure 1.1. This framework model will be revisited throughout the text.

As you will see, while there is a linear, directional nature to the model (i.e. there are a number of stages which need to be completed en route to ‘reporting and presentation of findings’), it also has a cyclical, iterative flavour (i.e. at several stages it may be necessary to review progress and return to earlier tasks, particularly during the preliminary planning and reviewing phases). We feel this is a fair representation of the research process: review and revision should be seen as necessary and crucial parts of the process. Research is iterative and it is critical that organizational researchers accept this prior to embarking on a research project.

 

Throughout this book, we will emphasize the importance of several key activities: advance planning, strict time management and writing as integral parts of the research process. Advance planning ensures that the project is properly scoped and mapped out from beginning to end in terms of key steps and milestones. Strict management of time is essential to progress in line with this plan and will help promote a sense of calm as regards achieving project goals. Writing is an activity that can begin immediately and will help shape the research. It will also provide a focus for discussion during supervision and the basis for regular feedback, both of which are crucial to constructive progress.

The book provides clear pointers for how to reconcile ideals with reality and for maintaining project momentum. It provides overviews of a wide variety of different research strategies, methods of data collection and analysis well beyond those ordinarily discussed in mainstream textbooks. It also helps with the report-writing task, indicating ways in which the project material can be most effectively organized for academic and also feedback purposes.

Figure 1.1 The research process: a working model

Finally, the book offers a clear, manageable procedure for preparing a presentation to an organizational or academic audience.

1.3 The role of the researcher

The research process requires the researcher to adopt a variety of roles and to uphold a number of professional objectives. The researcher will be called upon to be objective, scientific, to think creatively and to conduct his/her research ethically. S/he will also be required to act as manager, data gatherer and ‘synthesizer’, as well as data analyst and presenter. The following explanation of the various roles of the researcher in the research process indicates relevant chapters which discuss each issue in more depth.

 

• Objective – in practical settings, the researcher is likely to enter the organization as an outsider, or third party, and will need to retain objectivity throughout the research process, regardless of external pressures and the method(s) selected for generating and gathering data from the participating organization.
• Scientific – the researcher will need to think critically and objectively at all times, examining the research question posed in detail and leaving ‘no stone unturned’ in seeking answers to that question.
  See Chapter 2 – Applying Social Science to the Real World – for more on the science of research.
• Creative – any research effort is likely to require the researcher to think ‘outside the box’ in order to generate a testable research hypothesis, for example, to identify a suitable project design or method for data collection, and to accommodate the differing agendas of academic and applied research.
  Chapter 5 – Project Design and Chapter 6 – Methods of Data Collection, discuss in depth the various approaches which can be taken when addressing a research question.
• Ethical – the researcher must be conscious of and respect any ethical issues raised. Research projects involving participants of any kind are likely to raise expectations, or have other implications for the organization or the participants involved. Confidential information gained from whatever source must remain confidential, and the researcher must retain a high degree of integrity in conducting research within a ‘live’ setting;
  Chapter 5 – Project Design outlines some of the key ethical issues which the prospective researcher will need to consider.
• Manager – project management is critical to the successful execution of the research process. The researcher must be well organized, setting realistic deadlines and milestones, meeting representatives from the participating organization on a regular basis and communicating progress. In an academic environment where there are numerous pressures on the student to spread his/her time across multiple projects, management of this kind is invaluable to ensure that the project remains on track.
  Chapter 3 – Starting off the Research Process – outlines the basic tenets of project management and provides some guidelines for using project management principles when developing a research proposal and plan.
• Salesperson – it may be that organizational access can only be secured by ‘selling’ an idea to a potential participating organization. This requires an articulate statement of the aims of the research and its practical significance, particularly in terms of tangible benefits for the organization. At the same time, the researcher needs to be sure not to overstate these benefits in order that the organization retains realistic expectations of what is being offered.
  Chapter 4 – Obtaining and Using Access to an Organization – explains how to ‘sell’ your research into an interested organization and how to manage the relationship with that organization throughout the research process.
• Data gatherer and ‘synthesizer’ – the researcher will be called upon to gather and interpret large amounts of information during the early stages of the research process (particularly during the literature review). It is crucial that the researcher is able to analyse and synthesize this information rapidly and critically, identifying key issues and how they might impact on the research question.
  Chapter 3 – Starting off the Research Process – discusses in detail the literature review and its role in the research process. Chapter 6 – Methods of Data Collection – provides details of the many and varied methods available to the organizational researcher.
• Data analyst – analysis of data gathered is an integral part of the research process and the researcher will need competence in qualitative and quantitative analytic methods. It is likely that this will involve at least some bivariate or multivariate statistical analysis.
  Chapter 9 – Data Analysis – provides some pointers as to which statistical tests (or other forms of data analysis) should be used when analysing and interpreting project findings.
• Presenter – the researcher will need to be able to present and communicate research findings in a digestible and appropriate way, depending on the audience (i.e. academic or organizational). This will require honed interpersonal skills for one-to-one or group presentations to participating organizations, in addition to scientific writing skills for the preparation of the project report or dissertation.
  Chapter 10 – Reporting Research Findings – gives some detailed guidance on how to construct research reports and presentations tailored to a particular target audience.

1.4 References and further reading

Anderson, N. (1998). The practitioner–researcher divide in work and organizational psychology. The Occupational Psychologist, 34, 7–16.

Hackman, J.R. (1985). Doing research that makes a difference. In E.E. Lawler III, A.M. Mohrman Jr., S.A. Mohrman, G.E., Ledford Jr. and T.G. Cummings (Eds.), Doing Research that is Useful for Theory and Practice. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

2	Applying Social Science to the Real World

2.1 Introducing the scientist–practitioner model

The ‘scientist–practitioner’ model highlights the role of research in the practice of applied science on at least three different levels:

1. Research as a formal activity pursued in the form of a specific project with a clear beginning and a clear end (e.g. research into the antecedents of turnover decisions in nursing staff);
2. Research-based practice – i.e. drawing on the knowledge base of the discipline in an informed and critical way (e.g. uncovering motivations to leave their employing organisation in order to improve retention of nursing staff and overall performance of NHS Trusts);
3. Application of knowledge, experience and skill using the research process, i.e. systematic practice based on inquiry, a process of hypothesis formulation and testing, and model development (e.g. building a model of nursing turnover synthesizing theory and practical findings, obtained through application of appropriate data collection and analysis methods).

All of these uses of the term ‘research’ are built into the term ‘scientist’ as a preface to the term ‘practitioner’, and as such are highly pertinent to the practice of the social sciences. Unfortunately, the terms science and also research are imbued with a white-coat laboratory-based image of a quest for knowledge for its own sake rather than for its applicability and relevance to the real world, and largely addressed to basic and often highly trivial questions. However, this need not be the case. Research can be pursued on a highly applied yet nonetheless highly scientific basis, in either a laboratory or a field context.

For example, the question of ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• List of Boxes
• List of Case Studies
• Preface
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Applying Social Science to the Real World
• 3 Starting off the Research Process
• 4 Obtaining and Using Access to an Organization
• 5 Project Design
• 6 Methods of Data Collection
• 7 Sampling Considerations
• 8 Assessing Performance in Organizations
• 9 Data Analysis
• 10 Reporting Research Findings
• 11 Concluding Words
• Glossary
• Index