Research strategies & Methods of data collection

1. Research strategies &Methods of data collection (brief descriptions)Documentary researchCase studiesAction research

2. Unobtrusive research • Studying economic or social behavior without affecting it (can be qualitative and/or quantitative).Examining ´clues´ instead of actual behavior. • Some unobtrusive research types: • Content analysis (e.g. documentary research) • Secondary statistical data analysis • Unobtrusive online research • Comparative and historical research

3. Content/documentary analysis • The study of recorded human communications or products (books, websites, paintings, etc.). • Considerations: • Topics appropriate • Conceptualization • Units of data collection vs. units of analysis • Sampling • Coding (transforming raw data into standardized form) • Manifest content (surface) • Latent content (underlying meaning)

4. Useful sources (examples only) • Communications (e-mails, letters, blogs, social media etc.) • Individual (personal) records (diaries, notes, calendars etc.) • Organizational sources (agendas, administrative records, policy statements, reports, book keeping etc.) • Government sources • Media sources (TV, radio, online media, printed media etc.)

5. An example (recording table for TV violance vs. target group research)

6. Some qualitative field research approaches • Naturalism • Ethnomethodology • Grounded theory • Case studies • Institutional ethnography • Action research

7. Case study • An in-depth inquiry of a single instance of a topic or phenomenon within real time setting. • Its examines the topic and its dynamics within its context. • The ‚case’ can refer to (it is always ‚one’): • Real person (individual) • Group • Organization • Settlement • Association • Project or one time process • Event • A period of time • Etc.

8. Case study • The chief purpose may be • Descriptive • Gaining explanatory insights • The use of a case study can be: • Providing idiographic understanding • Forming a basis for the development a more general theory/research • It is a useful research strategy when the boundaries between the phenomenon and the context is not apparent. • Its results are not generalizable.

9. The extended case method • The purpose is to discover flaws in existing theories and then improve them. • Expectations are set before entering the field (the case).

10. Research techniques/design used in case studies • Mixed methods • Dominantly qualitative • Most frequently used ones: • Document/content analysis • Observation • Ethnography • Interview • Focus groups • Questionnaires • Etc.

11. Naturalism • A field research approach assuming that an objective social reality exists and can be observed and reported accurately.

12. Ethnography • A report on social life that focuses on detailed and accurate desription rather than explanation.

13. Ethnomethodology • An approach to the study of social life focusing on the discovery of implicit (unspoken) assumptions and agreements. • Ethnomethodologists believe that reality is socially constructed and not an objective thing. • A frequent technique to intentionally break these agreements to reveal them.

14. Grounded theory • An inductive approach to the study of social life. • Attempts to generate a theory through the constant comparing of unfolding observations.

15. Action research • An emergent and iterative process of inquiry that is designed to develop solutions to real organizational problems through a participative and collaborative approach. • It uses different form of knowledge • It will have implications for participants and the organization beyond the research project. • Its purpose is to promote organizational learning (to produce practical outcomes). • It works through several stages.

16. Action research The figure is from Saunders et al. 2016