Types of question and types of Data

Action and Case Research in Management and Organizational

Contexts

Quantitative data – questionnaires – which might be directed at particular cases;

Qualitative Research: Ethnographic; Several in-depth case studies; A single very deep case study;

Qualitative Research data gathering: Interviews; Observation; Texts; Artefacts; But also possibly surveys e.g. customer satisfaction

surveys.

Use of statistical techniques; SPSS; You may still need to wrestle with

your data to understand causal relationships.

You need to “code” your data according to categories;

NVivo and Nud*ist; Need for deep engagement with the data; Need time for reflection; You may need to select a case or cases

from which to gather the data.

Are you attracted to a positivist approach? A positivist approach often aims to identify

and test law like statement or causal relationships:

Define your research domain; Define your hypothesis; Identify your independent and dependent

variables; Design your questionnaire; If your hypothesis is born out this is the foundation

of your new theory.

Positivists often use surveys, to generate large quantities of data, using probability samples of general populations, or convenience samples.

They usually have a general hypothesis to test. They may want to test it in a particular context.

So they might identify a particular case (context), e.g. global banking sector, steel Industry in Libya, IT specialists in Gloucestershire.

A positivist researcher might identify a number of companies (cases) to investigate and use a survey to gain large amounts of data to test from employees in each company. This data might be purely factual i.e. gender, age how long employed, but might also be about opinions.

Case studies and positivism

Do you want to adopt a qualitative approach?

Are you interested in meaning from the respondents perspective;

Are you interested in meaning from your own perspective;

Are you interested in meaning from an existing theory’s perspective?

Is a case approach appropriate?

Social Constructionism –– Investigates how the world is socially constructed. See Berger and Luckman (1966);

Constructivism -– About how social activity produces social relationships and knowledge. See Lev., Vygotsky (1978);

Phenomenology –– About understanding how the world appears to those experiencing it. See Husserl (1989) and Heidegger (1982);

Interpretivism - This paradigm "seeks to explain the stability of behaviour from the individual's viewpoint". Researchers in this paradigm try to observe "on-going processes" to better understand individual behaviour and the "spiritual nature of the world". See Burrell and Morgan (1979).

All of these are about understanding actors’ intentions and could use case studies

Action research has an additional set of aims in addition to theory development;

It seeks to make an intervention; It is committed; It seeks to increase human flourishing; It is often centred on a case (especially in

2nd and 3rd person inquiry).

Case study and first, second and third person inquiry

• First-person inquiry - For me. The case might be an introspection or reflective piece about me in a particular context.

• Second-person inquiry - For us. This is typically a piece of research based on a single case.

• Third-person inquiry - For them. This would be typically based on multiple case studies.

Bradbury and Reason., (2001: 251 - 256).

Berger, P. L. and T. Luckmann (1966). The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge, Garden City, NY: Anchor Books.

Burrell G., and Morgan G. (1979). Sociological paradigms and organisational analysis, London: Heinemann Educational Books.

Heidegger, M. (1982 [1977]). Translated by Hofstadter, A. The Basic Problems of Phenomenology, Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press.

Husserl, Edmund (1989). The crisis of European sciences and transcendental phenomenology: an introduction to phenomenological philosophy. Evanston, Ill: Northwestern University Press. Torbert, W, (2001). The practice of action inquiry, in Bradbury and Reason, (eds), (2001), “Handbook of Action Research”. London: Sage.

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.