Management and Business Research

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Management and Business Research

Mark Easterby-Smith
Richard Thorpe
Paul R. Jackson

5th Edition

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SAGE Publications Ltd

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© Mark Easterby-Smith, Richard Thorpe and Paul R. Jackson 2015

First edition published 1991
Second edition published 2001
Third edition published 2008
Fourth edition published 2012
This fifth edition published 2015

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or
criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act,
1988, this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form, or by

5
any means, only with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the
case of reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of licences issued
by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside
those terms should be sent to the publishers.

All material on the accompanying website can be printed off and photocopied by
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entirety for use by others without prior written permission from SAGE. The web
material may not be distributed or sold separately from the book without the prior
written permission of SAGE. Should anyone wish to use the materials from the
website for conference purposes, they would require separate permission from us.
All material is © Mark Easterby-Smith, Richard Thorpe and Paul R. Jackson, 2015
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014952691

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ISBN 978-1-44629-657-8

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Contents

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Contents
About the authors
Preface to the fifth edition
Acknowledgements
About this book
Guided tour
Companion website
1 Getting started and writing the research proposal
The landscape of management and business research
Elements of a research proposal
Clear research questions and research objectives
Explanation of how the research relates to previous work in the field
Concise description of the research design and methods
The impact and engagement agenda
Conclusion
Further reading
2 Reviewing the literature
What is a literature review and what are its main purposes?
Preparing a literature review: finding and recording relevant literature
Finding relevant literature
Evaluating literature
Writing a literature review
Conclusion
Further reading
3 The philosophy of management and business research
The philosophical debates
Ontology: from realism to nominalism
Epistemology: positivism vs social constructionism
Strengths and weaknesses of the main traditions
Paradigms and research approaches
Conclusion
Further reading
4 Designing management and business research
The essence of research design
Positivist research designs
Experimental methods
Survey research
Constructionist research designs
Case method and grounded theory
Mixed methods
Common design dilemmas

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 Contributing to theory
Contrasting views on validity and reliability
Research design template
Conclusion
Further reading
5 Politics, access and ethics
Politics and power in research
Political influences on research
Politics of access
Ethics
Conclusion
Further reading
6 Crafting qualitative data through language and text
Crafting qualitative data
Textual data
Qualitative interviews
Preparing for data collection
Conducting interviews
Interview-based mapping techniques
Conclusion
Further reading
7 Crafting qualitative data through observation and interaction
Visual data
Observational research
Interactive and participatory methods
General concerns related to the creation of qualitative data
Conclusion
Further reading
8 Framing and interpreting qualitative data
Preparing and managing qualitative data
Framing and interpreting qualitative data: seven approaches
Computer-aided analysis
Quality in qualitative research
Conclusion
Further reading
9 Crafting quantitative data
Sources of quantitative data
Question design
Measurement models
Conclusion
Further reading
10 Summarizing and making inferences from quantitative data
Summarizing and describing data

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 Going beyond a sample
Conclusion
Further reading
11 Multivariate analysis
The domain of multivariate analysis
Multivariate analysis of causal models
Conclusion
Further reading
12 Writing management and business research
The skills of writing
The content of reports and dissertations
Writing up the literature review
Outputs and evaluation
Plagiarism
Dissemination strategies
Conclusion
Further reading
Answers to exercises
Glossary
Further readings
Bibliography
Index

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About the Authors

Mark Easterby-Smith
is Distinguished Professor of Management Learning at Lancaster University
Management School. He has a first degree in Engineering Science and a PhD
in Organizational Behaviour from Durham University. He has been an active
researcher for over 30 years with primary interests in methodology and
learning processes. He has carried out evaluation studies in many European
companies, and has led research projects on management development,
organizational learning, dynamic capabilities and knowledge transfer across
international organizations in the UK, India and China.
He has published numerous academic papers and over ten books including:
Auditing Management Development (Gower, 1980), The Challenge to
Western Management Development (Routledge, 1989), Evaluation of
Management Education, Training and Development (Gower, 1994),
Organizational Learning and the Learning Organization (Sage, 1998) and
The Handbook of Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management
(Wiley, 2011).
At Lancaster he has been variously, Director of the School’s Doctoral
Programme, Director of the Graduate Management School and Head of
Department. Externally he spent several years as a visiting faculty member on
the International Teachers’ Programme, acting as Director when it was held at
the London Business School in 1984. During the early 1990s he was national
co-ordinator of the Management Teaching Fellowship Scheme funded by the
UK’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), which was responsible
for training 180 new faculty members across UK management schools. He is a
former member of the ESRC Post-graduate Training Board and was President
of the British Academy of Management in 2006 and Dean of Fellows in 2008.
Richard Thorpe
is Professor of Management Development and Pro Dean for Research at Leeds
University Business School. His early industrial experience informed the way
his ethos has developed. Common themes are: a strong commitment to process
methodologies and a focus on action in all its forms; an interest in and
commitment to the development of doctoral students and the development of
capacity within the sector; and a commitment to collaborative working on
projects of mutual interest. Following a number of years in industry, he joined
Strathclyde University as a researcher studying incentive payment schemes.
This led to collaboration on Payment Schemes and Productivity (Macmillan,
1986).
In 1980 he joined Glasgow University, where he widened his research
interests to include small firm growth and development as well as making

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 regular contributions to the Scottish Business School’s Doctoral Programme.
In 1983 he attended the International Teachers’ Programme in Sweden where
he met Mark and embarked on a PhD under Mark’s supervision. Collaboration
continued through the 1990s with the ESRC Teaching Fellowship Scheme. In
1996 he was instrumental in establishing the Graduate Business School at
Manchester Metropolitan University and in 2003 joined the ESRC Training
and Development Board. There, he was involved in establishing the training
guidelines for both doctorate and professional doctorate provision and more
recently in initiatives to address capacity building in management and
business. In 2003 he contributed to the ESRC’s Evolution of Business
Knowledge programme, his research interests including: performance,
remuneration and entrepreneurship, management learning and development and
leadership. He has published (with others) a number of books including:
Strategic Reward Systems (Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 2000),
Management and Language: The Manager as Practical Author (Sage,
2003), Dictionary of Qualitative Management Research (Sage, 2008),
Performance Management: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (Palgrave, 2008)
and more recently the Gower Handbook of Leadership and Management
Development (2010). He was President of the British Academy of
Management in 2007, Dean of Fellows in 2012, and is currently Chair of the
Society for the Advancement of Management Studies.
Paul R. Jackson
is Professor of Corporate Communications at Manchester Business School. He
has a first degree in Psychology from the University of Sheffield and an MSc
in Applied Statistics from Sheffield Polytechnic (now Sheffield Hallam
University). His first university post was as a research assistant in studies on
impression formation, where he decided that it was worth learning how to
write programs in Fortran so that the computer could do the tedious work of
adding up and he could do the interesting bits. His research interests have
included lab studies of impression formation, large-scale surveys of the
impact of unemployment on psychological health, longitudinal field studies of
the effects of empowerment and work design on employee health and
performance, employee communication and teamworking, mergers and social
identity.
He has published widely in journals such as the Academy of Management
Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, British Medical Journal, Human
Relations, Journal of Occupational Health Psychology and British Journal
of Management. His books include: Developments in Work and
Organizational Psychology: Implications for International Business
(Elsevier, 2006), Psychosocial Risk Factors in Call Centres (HSE
Publications, 2003), Change in Manufacturing: Managing Stress in
Manufacturing (HSE Publications, 2001) and Organizational Interventions
to Reduce the Impact of Poor Work Design (HSE Publications, 1998).

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Over the years he has undertaken various roles including Director of Doctoral
Programmes at the University of Sheffield and, at UMIST, Head of the
Division of Marketing, International Business and Strategy as well as
designing the doctoral training programme at MBS. He has been teaching
research methods to undergraduate, masters and doctoral students since 1975
and has contributed to books on research methods teaching as well as
workshops for students and teachers on behalf of the British Academy of
Management.

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Preface to the Fifth Edition

The first edition of this book appeared in 1991, at a time when there were very few
management research methods books on the market. It quickly became established
as the leading text because it covered all of the essential ground, yet was not too
long or intimidating. Students and staff liked it because it tackled difficult issues,
but avoided either trivializing them or making them unnecessarily complex. The
success of the book was attested by the sales figures, and by the fact that it had
become the most highly cited management methodology book in the world
according to Google Scholar.

The second edition was published in 2002, and this included a substantial updating
of the material since methodology had become a hot topic during the intervening
years, and there were many new methods and approaches to management research
which needed to be covered. The market had also begun to change significantly, as
research methods were starting to be taught at undergraduate level. This resulted in
a modest repositioning of our book, but also stimulated the appearance of strong
competitors in the market.

The third edition maintained the continuity in the sense that it provided
comprehensive treatment of philosophies and methods, plus coverage of both
qualitative and quantitative techniques; but it also introduced some radical
departures both in terms of content and design. The most significant change was that
we strengthened the treatment of quantitative methods, running from the basic
techniques for collecting and analysing quantitative data, up to multivariate analysis
and structural equation modelling. In keeping with our desire to avoid
complications, we covered the principles of analytic methods without introducing
complicated algebra. We claimed in the third edition that this part of the book now
provided advanced statistics without tears!

The fourth edition was the first edition that deployed full colour. There were
additional boxed examples, usually drawn from our own experiences and from
those of our students. We also rethought some of the material on philosophy and
research design and extended the coverage of qualitative analysis, particularly with
the use of computer-assisted methods. The exercises, based on our own extensive
methodology teaching, were appropriately updated in response to student feedback.
We retained the companion website, developing our guidance to teachers. Perhaps
most striking of all to this edition was the addition of a system of icons based
around the metaphor of research being like a tree that sucks up nutrients (data, ideas
and experiences) from the ground and then converts them into leaves and fruits
(reports, publications and theses). Without wanting to labour the metaphor

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exhaustively, we then went on to develop the icons to illustrate some of the points
and as a general orientation tool.

The fifth edition builds on changes made to the book’s structure in the fourth
edition. We have also changed the order of some of the chapters in order to
improve the logic of our arguments and make the text flow better. A new Chapter 1
has been designed to give an overview of the book’s content, whilst at the same
highlighting what students at all levels need to consider when preparing their
research proposals. The chapter on literature searching has been brought forward
and updated, and the two qualitative methods chapters have been split into three to
mirror the three quantitative methods chapters later in the text. As with other
editions, we have offered students an increased number of examples and exercises
to help illustrate the points being made or the issues being discussed.

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Acknowledgements

This book is based on the personal research experience of the authors, but thanks
should also go to a number of students and colleagues. Both have contributed to this
edition in a number of ways, through their encouragement as well as their ideas. We
have tried to reflect their suggestions as far as possible in the text.

Our students have taught us a great deal and we have included a number of their
examples, both in this edition and earlier editions. We would like to thank Chavi
Chen, Gerard Duff, Ray Forbes, Suzanne Gagnon, Jean Clarke, Anya Johnson,
Mohamed Mohamud, Lee Beniston, Kendi Kinuthia, Paul Grimshaw, Anna Zueva,
Brian Simpson, Julie Schönfelder, Sanaz Sigaroudi and Geetha Karunanayake.

Colleagues have also assisted us by reading through the transcripts, making

comments and suggesting ideas, and to them we are extremely grateful. These
include Lisa Anderson, Susan Baker, Joep Cornelissen, Ann Cunliffe, Ardha
Danieli, Ashish Dwivedi, Paul Ellwood David Holman, Robin Holt, Ossie Jones,
Efthimios Poulis, Christine Reid, Haina Zhang, Liu Wei, Anna Lorbiecki, and
Hannah Preston. Jean-Claude Usunier provided a valuable critique of the first
edition of the book from a European perspective, and this led to a French
translation of the book, which is now in its second edition. Joanne Larty, Mirjam
Werner, Daniella Fjellström and Lena Kruckenberg all helped with the preparation
and organization of the manuscript from the third edition to the present day, with
Lena Kruckenberg being particularly helpful in the restructuring of sections of the
book for this fifth edition.

Our editor at SAGE for the first edition was Sue Jones. She provided us with the
initial inspiration, and since then Rosemary Nixon, Kiren Shoman, Natalie
Aguilera, Delia Alfonso and Alan Maloney offered encouragement, and
occasionally hectored us. Our minder for the fourth and fifth edition has been Kirsty
Smy.

The authors are grateful to SAGE for permission to include extracts from R. Thorpe
and J. Cornelissen (2003) ‘Visual media and the construction of meaning’ (Ch. 4) in
D. Holman and R. Thorpe (eds) (2003), Management and Language: The
Manager as Practical Author.

We would like to thank our families for their tolerance while this book was being
written and rewritten – we hope they will consider the outcome to be worth the
effort.

Paul would like to dedicate this book to the memory of Sallie, who died in the final

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production stages of this edition. She enriched his life beyond measure.

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About this Book

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We use the metaphor of a tree to represent how the research process unfolds. The
key elements of the tree are the roots, the trunk and branches, the leaves, and the
fruit – and each of these parallels an aspect of conducting research.

The roots symbolize the research traditions within particular disciplines as well as
the experiences of past researchers from particular fields. These perspectives,
understandings, ideas and beliefs are drawn up (as the tree draws nutrients from the
soil) to form the basis of the researcher’s ideas in relation to such things as design,
methods and forms of analysis.

The trunk transports the nutrients from the roots through the branches to the leaves
and fruit; it also provides strength and shape to the tree. Here we use a simplified
cross-section of the trunk to symbolize four main features of a research design. The
inner ring (or heartwood) is the densest part of the trunk, and we use it to represent
ontology, the basic assumptions made by the researcher about the nature of reality.
The next ring represents epistemology, the assumptions about the best ways of
inquiring into the nature of the world. The third ring from the centre represents
methodology, or the way research techniques and methods are grouped together to
provide a coherent picture. And the fourth ring represents the individual methods
and techniques that are used for data collection and analysis. The four rings are
named and ordered in this way, because the most visible parts of research projects
are the methods and techniques used for data collection and analysis and
represented by the outer ring. The three inner rings are increasingly hidden from the
external observer, yet each makes a critical contribution to the strength, vitality and
coherence of the research project.

Moving up and along the branches, the leaves and fruit form the tree’s canopy. The
leaves collect energy from sunlight, and represent the collection and analysis of
data within a research project. It is the collection of research data that stimulates
new ideas and enables the evaluation of existing theories. Here we distinguish
between three main kinds of data based on the underlying epistemology (second
ring in the trunk), according to whether they are essentially positivist,
constructionist or hybrid approaches. To provide differentiation we indicate the
positivist approaches in orange, constructionist approaches in green, and hybrid
approaches in a combination of these colours.

In the final chapter of the book we focus on the fruit of the tree, which represents
the way the research is written up and communicated to third parties. Here we
show the coherence between the outputs of the research, and the ontology,
epistemology, methodology and methods which underpin any research. In this way,
the views and values adopted by the researcher from the early stages of the framing
of the research, the design of the research project and the collection of the data are
coherently connected and linked.

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Within the chapters that follow we have placed a number of these icons in key
locations. This is not intended to be exhaustive in the sense that everything is
necessarily covered by the icons; nor are we seeking to explain everything through
the use of these icons. Our intention is mainly to use them in the light sense as an
organizer and as a reminder of the origins of some of the ideas being discussed.

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1 Getting started and writing the research
proposal

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Learning Objectives

To help students think through the issues they will need to consider when preparing a
research proposal.

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To understand the interdependence of philosophy, design and methods in effectively
addressing research questions.

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 To alert the reader to the impact and engagement agenda.

The landscape of management and business research

Elements of a research proposal
Clear questions and research objectives
Explanation of how the research relates to previous work in the field
Concise description of the research design and methods
The impact and engagement agenda
Conclusion
Further reading

This chapter offers an overview of the book through examining what students need
to consider when writing. In doing this, we take the view that the format of
proposals is essentially very similar whether for undergraduate projects,
postgraduate dissertations or doctorates.

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The Landscape of Management and Business
Research
Our aim in producing this textbook is to offer an insight into the nature of the
landscapes of management and business research and the different skills that will
be required to navigate it successfully. The research proposal is, for many students,
the first opportunity to test out the logic and content of the research on which they
wish to embark.

within this chapter we set out the thought processes that students might go through,
and what they need to consider when writing research proposals. We summarize the
nature of the intended project, including what research has taken place before, why
it would be useful to conduct a particular study, and why it may be opportune to
conduct a study at this time. If the study is at doctoral level, some institutions will
require proposals from prospective research candidates before they register; if not,
they will certainly do so between three and six months following enrolment. If the
purpose of the study is an undergraduate or postgraduate dissertation, then
proposals (and their quality) often form part of the assessment process prior to
conducting the research. They are often seen as a way of judging to what extent the
student has grasped the content of a formal training programme in research methods.

Different types of research also tend to be linked to different levels of degree.

Undergraduate research tends to be specific and bounded, either as an assignment
from tutors or as a question posed by a client. Common projects include small
market-research studies, or interview-based studies of employee attitudes. As a
consequence, there is more likely to be an emphasis on applied research. Again,
because of the limitations of time, it is more likely that a single method will be
used, and sometimes this might also be specified in advance of the study taking
place. The opportunities for choice with these types of project lie mainly around
the kind of methods that might be used, and how the results are to be interpreted and
communicated. In many cases, undergraduate research projects are also conducted
in teams, because – from a teaching point of view – this creates economies of scale,
for example when using surveys. It also means that more significant projects can be
undertaken in a short period of time, and students can gain the benefits of combining
their skills and working together in teams.

Research conducted as part of a postgraduate taught degree will normally have

greater scope, and more time will be available – often several months over the
summer. Again, applied research is likely to predominate. Evaluation research is
one of the easiest options, and this involves looking at some kind of existing
practice and making recommendations for how it might be changed and improved.
The advantage of a dissertation that seeks to comment on existing practice is that

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the company, as well as the student, knows about the organization, and the
dissertation will take on some of the features of action research. Involvement in
change can lead to rich and interesting results, and the student can develop skills
that might well be valuable if they are seeking work in consultancy.

Doctoral dissertations are required to produce contributions to knowledge and, as

a consequence, an additional element is a certain degree of originality. This
suggests that doctoral studies need to contain significant elements of pure
research. Although doctoral studies may include both applied and action research,
the theoretical contribution is a necessary condition for the award of a doctorate.
But there are also other contributions that can be made and assessed within a thesis.
One of those is the individual’s understanding of the research process adopted in
the search for new ideas. This might come from the invention of new procedures
and methods, the replication of existing studies in new contexts, or the application
of new theoretical perspectives to existing research questions. For many students,
the thesis is their first exposure to the world of work and organizational life;
empirical studies conducted within an organizational context can give students a
valuable insight into the world of work. This in turn can lead to insights into how
the results of their research study can be of use to management and business
practice, and as an applied field of study; this can be a contribution in its own right.

Funded projects are usually conducted by experienced researchers, but require

many of the same decisions as projects conducted as part of university degrees. The
required outputs will depend on the expectations of the funding body: if funding is
provided by a company, there may be an emphasis on applied research; and if it is
funded by a research council, then there will be an emphasis on pure research.

Of course, the reader should not assume that research is undertaken only by
qualified and trained individuals. In many ways, research is something that
managers do as a natural part of their everyday activity, collecting and analysing
data and drawing conclusions. Also, consultants conduct research, and many
management and business students go on to become consultants in later life.

What often differs, though, is the level of sophistication in the methods used, as
well as the speed with which answers are sought.

A recent report by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business

(AACSB, 2013) highlighted two dimensions on which scholarship might differ
while still remaining of high quality. One dimension focused on whether the
research was based on or undertaken by practitioners conducting their own
investigations (or perhaps acting as consultants) or by academics whose interest lay
in more abstract theories and ideas. The second dimension focused on whether the
research being conducted was basic foundational research (aiming to produce

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‘general theory’) or was focused on producing knowledge to be translated into
practice (perhaps case-specific research that values the richness of context and
explicit solutions to particular problems).

These issues and the main links between types and levels of research are discussed
in more detail in later chapters; factors that require a particular emphasis in
relation to management and business (e.g. the political and the philosophical factors
that can influence the way research is conducted in this field) are highlighted.

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Exercise 1.1 Thinking about the role of research
Individual or interactive exercise: What is the role of research in relation to the job of
academics, compared to the role of research in relation to the job of practitioners who
embark on research projects to improve organizational practices, to innovate or to explore
new areas of activity?

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Elements of a Research Proposal
Formal research proposals are becoming necessary at most levels. Organizations
that fund research, whether academic or applied, have to ensure that their money is
being wisely spent, so a paper trail has now become necessary. At the higher level,
research councils now require very detailed (but concise) proposals before they
will allocate money to applicants; there are similar requirements for those
upgrading their registration within doctoral programmes, sometimes referred to as
‘the transfer’. Even when there is no formal requirement to produce a research
proposal, the exercise of doing so is an extremely good discipline that can help
students draw together what they already know, their early ideas and what the
literature says on the topic. There is some truth in the saying that ‘you don’t know
what you think until you see what you say’! So, for many, writing a proposal offers
the opportunity to begin to see how elements of the research process come together,
and to demonstrate for others the coherence of what is being proposed.

To draw an analogy with cooking, a research proposal might be seen as a recipe,

for which ingredients are needed. Some of these ingredients are essential for good
taste (i.e. quality), while others are less important. Some chefs (researchers) will
approach cooking the dish in one way, and others in another. Bringing out certain
textures or flavours while suppressing others requires skill, and this both depends
on preferences and requires practice, ideas and a vision of what is being aimed for.
Thus, the purpose of proposals is to set out the ingredients required, and how the
food will be prepared and served. For example, what kind of dish is to be served?
Is it fast food of relatively poor quality or high-quality cuisine? What ingredients
will be used, and what cooking procedures and kitchen utensils will be required to
prepare the particular dish? This translates to the importance of students being both
qualified and capable of undertaking their study, and to supervisors being assured
that the research is feasible and likely to contribute to generating the knowledge
claimed.

Although the requirements for research proposals do differ from institution to

institution, there are some common elements that can be discerned.

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Clear Research Questions and Research
Objectives
Clarity in relation to the focus of the research is usually achieved by students
setting out the main research questions to be investigated and describing the aims
that will link to the outcomes of the research. Expressions such as ‘to investigate’
or ‘to study’ are not aims in themselves and need to be avoided. In addition, the
aims need to be consistent with the method or methodology adopted; in other
words, they need to be capable of being achieved through the methods proposed.
Overly general or ambitious aims can also be problematic. There have been many
occasions when supervisors have been heard to remark that for this research to be
completed, six researchers would need to work on it for a lifetime!

There can be several purposes behind a particular research project and these need
to be clearly articulated. They include the recognition of patterns in data or
information; the development or refinement of a particular methodological
approach; the ability to generalize to a wider population; and the ability to describe
a problem in a sufficiently detailed way to show the realism of a particular context.
We will consider all of these in later chapters of the book.

Having a clear objective is extremely important as it helps students to understand

and identify an interesting research project. Students will need to know, for
example, what are relevant criteria for deciding that a research idea is worth
pursuing and appropriate. Tracy (2013) gives some useful advice on this,
suggesting that there are a number of ways for students to generate their research
ideas. For example, ideas may stem from:

the student’s personal life – such as family, work, political beliefs and travel
current societal problems or organizational dilemmas – such as the cost of
food waste, or issues relating to ethnicity and employment
current events – such as societal needs or policy debates
current research debates – as expressed, for example, in the Point
Counterpoint papers in the Journal of Management Studies or in review
papers on a particular topic, such as in the International Journal of
Management Reviews.

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Explanation of How The Research Relates to
Previous Work in The Field
Understanding the literature in the area in which the student wishes to be taken
seriously is an important prelude to a research project. Not only is it the means by
which students see what work has been undertaken on the subject before, but also it
provides a stimulus to what focus the study might have and how it might be
undertaken.

At every level – undergraduate, postgraduate and doctorate – there will generally

be an expectation of evidence that the student has an understanding of what
literature already exists on a particular subject. Although there is often no specific
expectation to be definitive, there should be sufficient evidence produced to
indicate that there is a question to be answered. This is because it is through
generating knowledge via the research that those in the field will become more
knowledgeable. A simple test that might be used here would be to reflect on
whether the research proposal would convince someone with a good knowledge of
the area that the individual has a sufficiently good grasp of the relevant current
literature and the boundaries of that knowledge to claim that the topic warrants
further research.

There are a number of different ways of thinking about how knowledge might be
created, and students employ different strategies for different reasons. Research is
about both a creative and a disciplined sense of curiosity; how researchers employ
different strategies (sometimes simultaneously) in order to choose their research
questions is dealt with in detail in Chapter 2. One way of crafting a review of
previous work in the field that we discuss later is the notion of defining a gap. Gaps
can be defined in at least three ways: to take well-understood and mainstream
methods from one area of the social sciences and use them (perhaps for the first
time) in another; to take a well-understood problem within a particular discipline
that has been explored in a particular way, and to investigate the same phenomenon
using a different methodological approach; or to identify contradictory results and
try, through the research, to reconcile them or produce new findings.

However gaps are defined, the role of the researcher is to show how their research
serves to fill the gap and, in so doing, to offer explanations that are new and
original, producing knowledge that extends understanding of the problem or the
field.

Some academics go even further and suggest that the role of research students,
through the way they present their research, is to create gaps. Tom Lupton, an early
researcher in the field of management and business, and an anthropologist by

43
training, likened this process to a blind person crawling along a chain-link fence
feeling for a gap through which it would be possible to crawl in order to get to the
other side. Once the person found even the smallest chink in the fence, the
requirement would be to prise out a hole large enough to crawl through.

Another approach, which is quite different, relies on a creative process of

‘disciplined imagination’, a phrase coined by Karl Weick (1989). This process is
undertaken with a high degree of intuition and creative thinking, and contrasts with
the ‘gap spotting’ approach outlined above. The argument being made by Weick is
that unlike the natural science model of research, which many social scientists try to
emulate, social science is rather different and as a consequence requires a different
approach. This approach involves researchers thinking about a subject or problem
and ‘imagining’ the different ways in which they might operationalize their study.

Such an approach would normally surface a range of alternatives and perspectives

from which choices can be made (the ‘disciplined’ part), which in turn are further
specified in terms of more detailed hypotheses, research designs and questions
which are built into the conduct of the research. Weick also suggests that the
thinking process involved in disciplined imagination takes place simultaneously as
opposed to sequentially and includes three elements: problem statements, through
trials, and finally, the criteria used for selection.

Cornelissen (2006) suggests that it is helpful for researchers to engage in a series

of mental experiments which he refers to as ‘thought trials’, where researchers
iterate between the reviewed literature, preliminary analysis, background
assumptions and their intuition to consider a variety of metaphors, ideas as
representations of the subject or problem in hand (imagination) before selecting and
deciding on the way the problem might be conceptualized and, consequently, how
the research might be most appropriately conducted (discipline).

Weick suggests that such an approach offers an active role for researchers who can
imagine and construe theoretical representations, rather than see theoretical
representations as deductively or naturally following on from a literature review. In
Weick’s words, research and theorizing is more like artificial selection than natural
selection, as the research, rather than nature, intentionally guides the evolutionary
process of selecting new ideas and theoretical representations (1989: 819).

In practice, this means that all researchers will imagine and construe theoretical
representations in their own way, leading to different theoretical representations
even though the general topic of the research is the same. Further, the researchers’
educational and cultural backgrounds, as well as their previous research
experiences, will all serve to affect the way in which they view a research topic
conceptually.

44
An example of someone who has gone through a process of conceptualizing their
research topic in this way is offered by Joanne, a doctoral student at Cardiff
Business School (Example 1.1)

Having a conceptual model is not meant to restrict the student, merely to help to
guide and align their theorizing in more productive and focused ways. Joanne
indicated that through the process outlined below, she found many new and different
avenues to follow in her research and it also helped having a guide to keep the
research project focused.

Figure 1.1 An example of a conceptual framework

The debates and approaches that Joanne refers to are covered and illustrated in
Chapter 2 (on reviewing the literature). There, we set out how students might begin
to appreciate what a literature review entails at different levels, and why it is
necessary to undertake one. It also includes those practical skills that researchers
will need in order both to identify and to record relevant literature for inclusion
later in either a literature-review chapter or in the analysis and discussion sections
of the thesis. Most importantly, the chapter helps researchers to understand what is
meant by a critical review, including how researchers might evaluate the literature
in order to persuade their audience of the value of their research.

45
Example 1.1 A PhD student reflects on
conceptualization
When I initially embarked on the PhD programme I thought that I was quite fortunate,
already having an idea of what subject area I wanted to explore: ‘the family in
business’. This feeling of security quickly changed to a state of anxiety when I was
told by my supervisor that I would have to have some kind of ‘conceptual model’ to
frame my research. Despite initially trying to hope this requirement would disappear,
I eventually came to accept that I have to have a basis from which to work and as a
consequence I would need to have to look for a ‘model’ which justified my chosen
approach. My salvation was my supervisor, who proposed I use his model on
networking and ‘systems of exchange’. It took some time for me to see how this
model would fit with my research area – family business – while making a
contribution to organization theory, but, after reading more of the literature,
connections began to emerge between these two aspects which I incorporated into the
conceptual schema. Social capital literature made a good bridge and other links
became apparent and began to fall into place. It was the identification of the linkages
that led to the building of the conceptual model below. This was aided by the fact that
I was able to use my masters as a pilot study for the PhD, and this really helped me
get a sense of how I could apply the features of the model. It also highlighted to me
elements that could be included in the model that currently were not, such as trust and
the differing orientations to action of the different actors in a relationship. The
diagram below represents my thinking of ‘if that, plus that, are taken into account,
then maybe we may end up with a model looking something like that …’ This has
meant that the initial conceptual development is something like a hypothesis or
research question and will serve to guide my research and help me stay focused. See
Figure 1.1.

46
Concise Description of the Research Design
and Methods

47
The second element of a research proposal is a concise statement of the design to
be adopted and the methods which will be used to meet the objectives. We consider
that good research design is fundamental to achieving high-quality research, and so
we have brought together in Chapter 4 an analysis of design principles and
applications in different areas of research.

Before exploring design in detail, we think it is important for students to understand

the different philosophical assumptions that underlie management and business
research, and in particular to reflect on their own position, and we do this in
Chapter 3. Through appreciating the strengths and weaknesses of these different
perspectives, students will be able to appreciate how different philosophical
assumptions influence the criteria used when judging the quality of research, how
the assumptions made about research philosophy directly impact on research
design, and how the quality of the design proposed might also be judged.

48
Having settled on an appropriate research design based on a preferred
philosophical position, the next step is to consider the kinds of data to be collected,
and research projects may propose to use either primary data or secondary data
sources. Most of the examples we use throughout the book involve the collection of
primary data directly by the researchers. Primary data can lead to new insights and
greater confidence in the outcomes of the research, which is very useful for students
wishing to use their research experience as a basis for subsequent careers in
management consultancy. It is normally expected that dissertations at undergraduate,
postgraduate and doctoral levels will include some primary data.

However, some subjects – such as economics and finance – rely more on public or
corporate financial data and statistics (see Chapter 9). Research using secondary
data like this has value through exploring new relationships and patterns within
these existing data, and we give some examples later in the book. In Chapter 2, we
consider published literature as another form of secondary data, especially in the
form of literature surveys. Reinterpreting what has gone before is important so as to
avoid repeating something that has already been done, as well as to provide new
understandings which can guide empirical research.

The method section of the proposal may well be divided up into discrete stages of
the research, and each of these should be clearly linked to the aims of the research.
On occasions, some of the stages may have already been completed through a
previous research project. If this is the case, it is also worth linking to the nature of
this research, how it was conducted, and what conclusions were derived.

The most important feature of a good research proposal is that the study design and
the methods of enquiry should be appropriate to answering the research questions.
The literature review section should summarize existing knowledge, and identify
gaps in that knowledge which are the focus for the research questions. The design
and method sections then explain how the researcher intends to answer those
questions. Figure 1.2 illustrates the balance that we believe should be struck
between the research design and most appropriate methods to meet its
requirements; the research questions asked within the field; and the skills of the
individuals to carry out the research, undertake the analysis and communicate the
results. The biggest section of this book is concerned with methods, and we follow
conventional practice by looking separately at qualitative methods and quantitative
methods.

Figure 1.2 Balancing the components of research

49
Chapter 6 offers an overview of the nature of qualitative data and why data of this
type are collected. It focuses on textual data (both primary and secondary) and how
data are created through language. We specifically examine the nature of the
qualitative interview and how interviews might be appropriately conducted, as
well as textual data (again primary and secondary) through such devices as diaries.
Many research participants may never before have considered the answers to the
questions posed in a qualitative interview, and so their views may be hidden or
only partly understood. A key characteristic of a skilled researcher is the ability to
work with study participants to allow their opinions to surface. We conclude
Chapter 6 with a reflection on how researchers might gain access to, and collect
and store, data – including raising issues of data protection and the avoidance of
bias.

Chapter 7 focuses on the creation of qualitative data through observation and

interactions that take place between researchers and respondents and/or users. The
techniques that we explain include participant observation and a variety of
participatory tools that researchers might use in order to elicit understanding from
settings being studied. In studies like this, it is important to be aware of the ethical
issues linked to these methods, as well as on the risks and opportunities that occur
through involvement and interaction in the field. It is particularly important in
qualitative studies for the researcher to reflect on the ways in which they are
influencing the individuals from whom information is being collected, the research
process and the research outcomes. This kind of reflexivity is an important and
valuable part of the qualitative research process, and we will examine later how it
influences in conducting ‘good’ research.

Chapter 8 offers an overview of the different types of analysis of qualitative data,

explaining how these map on and link to different philosophical traditions. Again,
we stress the difference between pre-structured approaches (e.g. content analysis)
and emergent approaches to analysis (grounded analysis), stressing the importance
of adopting a systematic approach, while remaining flexible and creative in the
analysis. The chapter covers data-analysis techniques, focusing on how patterns
within the data can be identified through the way the data are indexed and coded.
More recent methods, such as the analysis of visual data, are also included. Chapter

50
7 also introduces a range of computer-aided analysis tools and techniques,
describing how these might be used, offering an overview of the main packages and
suggesting how students might find out more about them. Within the qualitative
tradition, we highlight the importance of the interplay between theory, data and
analysis through the process of research. The concluding part of the chapter
discusses the criteria that might be used for assessing the quality of qualitative
research.

The next section of the book (Chapters 9, 10 and 11) details opportunities,
expectations and methods that would be required if research students decide to
undertake their research within a quantitative tradition. Chapter 9 builds on the
foundations laid down in Chapters 3 and 4, and focuses on alternative sources of
quantitative data and the craft of designing structured questionnaires with well-
defined questions and appropriate measurement scales.

The next two chapters cover analysis of quantitative data. Here, we follow the
same principle as everywhere else in the book, by focusing on understanding why
particular methods are used rather than simply knowing what to do. Comments in a
research proposal such as ‘analysis will be undertaken using statistical methods’ or
‘the analysis will be undertaken using SPSS’ will detract from the credibility of the
research. SPSS is one of many software packages, and it almost never matters what
software is used to achieve a result. What matters much more is the kind of analysis
to be undertaken and how that analysis enables the research to answer the research
questions specified in the proposal.

Chapter 10 discusses the principles behind summarizing quantitative data, and then
considers the way in which significance tests can be used to make inferences from a
researcher’s sample data. Inference is a vital element in a research proposal, since
it provides the link between summaries of sample data and answers to research
questions which will be expressed in terms of a more general population. Chapter
11 is more advanced in that it covers multivariate analysis, and we include it in the
book because the methods we describe reflect more faithfully the reality of
management and business research where many factors need to be considered at the
same time.

51
The Impact and Engagement Agenda

Students carrying out research projects are now facing conflicting demands. They
are supposed to deliver parsimonious and abstract theory in order to contribute to
academic debate, while at the same time they are expected to provide detailed
solutions to practical problems. Closer linking of research to societal needs or
challenges is becoming an irresistible pressure within management and business
research – and within university research more generally – as there is an increased
emphasis given to relevance to the real world in all walks of life.

Because of this pressure, it has been argued that undertaking research differently –
by researching in teams, first valuing the perspective of practitioners and focusing
on problems that really matter to them – could be a way in which management and
business researchers can both write scholarly papers and at the same time create
‘useful’ knowledge. Gibbons et al. (1994) described two forms of research: mode

52
1 research concentrates on the production of knowledge, with academics working
from the perspective of their own discipline and focusing on theoretical questions
and problems; and mode 2 research generates knowledge through direct
engagement with social practice and problems. Some scholars (e.g. Tranfield,
2002) argue that management research should follow the latter approach, with its
emphasis on practical application. Others (e.g. Huff, 2000) suggest a compromise
position where both theoretical and practical work is required, and this is
sometimes characterized as mode 1½.

Many institutions now have in place performance-measurement systems that

address impact within research. As a consequence, younger researchers need to
take the impact and engagement agenda seriously if they are to be successful within
their careers.

One of the key features of basic research is that its results are brought into the
public domain for debate and disseminated through academic books, articles,
conference papers and theses that aim mainly at an academic audience.
Dissemination is seen as of primary importance and a major responsibility for the
researcher, and career progression for academics depends on getting the fruits of
their research published in the most prestigious journals. This is seen as proof of
the quality of the work. In contrast, applied research is intended to lead to the
solution of specific problems, and usually involves working with clients to identify
important problems and deciding how best to tackle them. There are several
variants of applied research. In evidence-based practice research, practitioner
knowledge and the results of previous research into the particular issue being
studied – as well as the researcher’s own understandings and results of empirical
research – are seen as important to comprehending particular phenomena. Action
research is another approach that involves making changes within an organization
or its parts in order to understand the dynamic forces there. Action research
recognizes that there can be multiple outcomes: academic outcomes for the
researcher; and practical outcomes, often the result of organizational changes made
through the research process. Engaged research requires close collaboration
between academics and practitioners (Van de Ven and Johnson, 2006).

The results of applied research always need to be reported to the client, who is
likely to evaluate the quality of the research in terms of its usability. But there is
always the potential to publish the results of applied research in practitioner or
professional journals, provided the results can be shown to have wider
significance, although this possibility often raises questions of commercial
confidentiality and the need to maintain good relationships with the initial client.
We discuss issues such as ethics, confidentiality and the control of information in
more detail in Chapter 5.

53
Conclusion
As we conclude this first chapter, we would like to encourage readers to reflect on
the emphasis they wish to give to their research. This book will help them in the
choices they make and how they might go about conducting such research.
Certainly, the next generation of management researchers will need to help in
developing practices that enable new ways of integrating the demands of mode 1
and mode 2 research.

54
Further Reading
Alvesson, M. and Willmott, H. (eds) (2003) Studying Management Critically.
London: Sage.

A collection of chapters for readers who are exploring areas for critical research in
business and management.

Bartunek, J.M., Rynes, S.L. and Daft, R.L. (2001) ‘Across the Great Divide:
knowledge creation and transfer between practitioners and academics’, Academy of
Management Journal, 44, 340–355.

This article discusses the role of relationships between practitioners and

academics in generating and disseminating knowledge across ‘the Great Divide’.

Grey, C. (2005) A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book
About Studying Organizations. London: Sage.

As it says on the label, this book provides a succinct overview of theories of

management and organization, and it is reasonably priced. It adopts a critical view
in the sense that it has a slight preference for the perspectives of those who are
managed, rather than the managers themselves.

Marshall, S. and Green, N. (2007) Your PhD Companion: A Handy Mix of

Practical Tips, Sound Advice and Helpful Commentary to See You Through Your
PhD, 2nd edn. Oxford: Cromwell Press.

A handy guidebook for readers embarking on doctoral study – and a good read.

Thomas, A. (2004) Research Skills for Management Studies. New York:

Routledge.

A comprehensive overview of skills required to conduct management research.

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