Doing Research in Business and Management

An Introduction to Process and Method

Dan Remenyi, Brian Williams, Arthur Money, Ethné Swartz, Author

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 1998
• Print ISBN: 9780761959502, 9780761959496
• eBook ISBN: 9781446235386
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Management
• Index: Business

?[T]here is, as with all the chapters, an excellent set of suggested further reading...? - Management Learning

`Postgraduate students should find this a useful book, since it focuses on issues specific to their requirements. The philosophical underpinnings, methodology and practicalities of research are all discussed within the context of postgraduate research? - International Small Business Journal

This wide-ranging text comprehensively overviews management research and research methodology. The authors take the reader through all the major stages of the research process and introduce the key methods.

After highlighting the different contexts and purposes, strategies and tactics, programmes and processes of management research, the authors provide detailed coverage of the relevant research approaches and methods. They discuss the interrelationship of theoretical and empirical research, and how these apply to practice. The implications of using quantitative and qualitative methods are examined, and practical advice is given on the available analysis techniques and software packages.

II APPROACH, METHOD AND DATA

5

The Positivist Approach to Empirical Research

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5.1	Introduction
5.2	The Central Role of Observation
5.3	Combinations of Approaches
5.4	Passive Observation
	5.4.1	Literature Review
	5.4.2	Assessment of the Established Theory
	5.4.3	Theoretical Conjecture
	5.4.4	Hypotheses or Empirical Generalisations
	5.4.5	Measuring Instrument
	5.4.6	Sampling
	5.4.7	Testing and Analysis
	5.4.8	Confirmation and Refined Theory
5.5	Uncontrolled Interventions
	5.5.1	Literature Review
	5.5.2	Theoretical Conjectures and Hypotheses Formulation
	5.5.3	Evidence Collection Design
	5.5.4	Primary and Control Evidence
	5.5.5	Testing and Analysis
	5.5.6	Confirmation and Refined Theory
5.6	Deliberate Intervention
	5.6.1	Literature Review
	5.6.2	Theoretical Conjecture
	5.6.3	Experimental Design
	5.6.4	Measuring the Variables Ex-Ante
	5.6.5	Deliberate Intervention
	5.6.6	Measuring the Variables Ex-Post
	5.6.7	Testing and Analysis
	5.6.8	Confirmation and Refined Theory
5.7	Relationship Between the Three Categories
5.8	Summary and Conclusion
	Suggested Further Reading
	Notes

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Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it.

(A. A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh, 1926)

5.1	Introduction

This chapter addresses some of the issues that need to be thought through when pursuing a positivistic strategy to research in the field of business and management studies for masters and doctoral degrees. Three different approaches to the research process are offered together with some guidelines for selecting between these methodological options.

5.2	The Central Role of Observation

The essence of modern¹ knowledge is that it is derived from observations made on the world. All our research derives from, and ultimately refers back, directly or indirectly to our observations, our experiences and our measurements. Things that cannot be observed either directly or indirectly through their effects or consequences are generally regarded as being outside the domain of science and thus not amenable to research.

There are several ways in which observations can be made of the world around us, including passive observations, observations of the consequences of uncontrolled interventions, or observations of the results of deliberate interventions. These three types of observation are not mutually exclusive and a single research project could include any or all of these approaches.

1 Passive Observation² is the method most frequently used in business and management research when the researcher is unable to conduct an experiment and has to rely on evidence that already exists. The researcher collects evidence in the form of interviews, written reports, questionnaires, artefacts and so on. The researcher may be investigating one or many phenomena, but in all cases it is essential to realise that many different influences or variables in the environment will be active and will be reflected in the evidence being collected. Using passive observation, it is sometimes difficult to determine which variables or influences are causes, and which are effects of the factors being observed. For example, in the study of information systems, research into the reasons why computer aided systems engineering (CASE) tools do not always produce the anticipated benefits would be conducted, at least in part, by passive observation. The archetypal example of passive observation is astronomy from which all modern, natural philosophy³ is ultimately derived. Later in this chapter research on passive observation will be referred to as category one research.

2 Uncontrolled Intervention involves observing the effect of a major change in a driving variable on one or more dependent variables. The change in the driving variable will have occurred when something in the environment has changed, entirely beyond the control of the researcher. In this type of research the relationship between cause and effect is usually much clearer than in the case of passive observation, although noise in the environment may obscure the effects of the primary cause and there may be secondary driving variables which complicate the interpretation of the evidence. For example, in the study of manufacturing, research into whether an organisation purchases more equipment after a major devaluation of the pound would be typical of research based on observation of an uncontrolled intervention. A modern archetype in natural or physical science for this kind of research might be the observations of the consequences of increased carbon dioxide emission over this century on global temperature. More recently, biologists have learned much about the way biological systems respond to dramatic changes in the environment by following the way in which organisms have recolonised the area around Mount St Helen’s after the recent and dramatic explosion of that volcano. Later in this chapter research on uncontrolled intervention will be referred to as category two research.

3 Observation of Deliberate Intervention also involves observing the effect of a major change in a driving variable on one or more dependent variables, but in this case the researcher deliberately brings about the change in the driving variable. Here the researcher has more control over what is being changed as well as what is being observed, and the relationships between cause and effect are therefore relatively easier to interpret. It is not easy to find circumstances in business and management research, or for that matter in most aspects of social science research, where it is possible to conduct such controlled experimental research. In fact it may be argued that because each situation in information systems is so different from any other, controlled research in this field would often not be appropriate, even if it were possible.⁴ None the less, an example of the use of deliberate intervention in information systems research could be a firm deciding to introduce a graphical user interface into a department first, in order to determine the costs and the increase in productivity, before deciding to expand the use of the new system across the whole firm. The archetype for this approach in the physical sciences was Galileo’s⁵ observations of the effects of the acceleration of bodies rolling down inclined planes of varying slopes. Later in this chapter research on deliberate intervention will be referred to as category three research.

5.3	Combinations of Approaches

In a research project it is possible to employ more than one of the above three approaches. This is especially true in business and management studies at the doctoral level where the researcher might begin with a study based on passive observation, follow this by studying the effects of an uncontrolled intervention, and then try a deliberate intervention to see if it confirms the deductions made from the earlier studies.

5.4	Passive Observation

This section describes the main steps involved if one chooses to carry out passive observation within a positivistic strategy for a research programme in business and management studies for a master or doctoral degree.

5.4.1

Literature Review

As discussed in Chapter 4 an extensive literature review is an essential prerequisite for research in all three categories listed above. The literature review will reveal the established and generally accepted facts of the situation and these need to be fully understood by the researcher. In addition the review should enable the researcher to identify and understand the theories or models which have been used by previous researchers in the field. Finally the literature review should assist the researcher in identifying an unsolved problem in the field being studied that will become the focus of the research project (Leedy, 1989).

In order to review the literature adequately it is essential that the researcher examines the published work critically; not all that is published should be taken at face value for, as von Clausewitz (1832) observed, ‘it is a maxim in all books that we should trust only certain information and that we be always suspicious’. Once the literature has been fully and critically reviewed the researcher should be able to provide a narrative description of the current understanding in the field of study, including at least one area where there is incomplete knowledge which could be further investigated.

5.4.2

Assessment of the Established Theory

It is important to decide early on if the problem identified in the literature is sufficiently explicit and generally accepted by people working in the field as a relevant problem for the researcher to be able to develop a theoretical framework and to derive workable and testable hypotheses. In a relatively mature field of study, such as...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• How to Use this Book
• Layout of the Book
• About the Authors
• Acknowledgements
• Prologue
• I CONTEXT AND PROCESS
• II APPROACH, METHOD AND DATA
• III REPORTING RESEARCH
• Appendix A: A Note on Academic Degrees
• Appendix B: Measuring Instruments
• Appendix C: Further Information on Statistical Analysis
• Appendix D: Useful Web Site Addresses
• Appendix E: Software for Qualitative Evidence Analysis
• Appendix F: A Glossary of Terms
• References
• Index