51E00500 Academic Skills (6 ECTS)

1. 51E00500 Academic Skills (6 ECTS) October 8, 2013 Professor Rebecca Piekkari

2. Who is Rebecca Piekkari? Professor of International Business Vice Dean for Research and International Relations Area of interest in teaching and research: qualitative research methods, particularly the case study; management of multinational corporations; people issues, language and multilingualism in international organisations Visiting professor and researcher: Copenhagen Business School, INSEAD, University of Sheffield, University of Bath, University of Sydney, St Petersburg State University, and Warsaw School of Economics

3. After today’s lecture you should be able to: • differentiate between positivism, interpretivism/ social constructivism • understand how differences in philosophical assumptions influence decisions concerning research design and research methods • be able to argue for your own philosophical position

4. Social constructivism Positivism Where do you see yourself as a researcher on the continuum? Be prepared to advocate your philosophical stance to others in class.

5. Theory Theory testing Inductive theory building Data The positivist cycle

6. Positivist vsinterpretivist approaches ‘Positivist definitions of theory treat it as a statement of relationships between abstract concepts that cover a wide range of empirical observations. In this view, the objectives of theory are explanation and prediction … An alternative definition of theory emphasizes understanding rather than explanation… Interpretive theories allow for indeterminacy rather than seek causality and give priority to showing patterns and connections rather than to linear reasoning … Interpretive theory calls for the imaginative understanding of the studied phenomenon’ Source: Charmaz (2006, pp. 125-126)

7. The traditional ‘linear’ model of the research process Identify target area of interest Read the literature Develop research questions Design a study Collect and analyse data Write up results Publish!!

8. Trends in organizational research: boundaries, paradigms and methodological inventiveness Research topic Historical properties Organisational properties Choice of research method Political properties Personal properties Ethical properties Evidential properties Source: Buchanan and Bryman(2007, p. 488)

9. Traditional view: a step in the research process between setting the objectives and commencing field work a stand-alone decision reached at an early stage of the research process assumes that the research process flows logically from the research questions to findings Contextualised view: A multicriteria decision involving not only technical and theoretical considerations related to the research topic and objectives of the study, but also epistemological, historical, political, ethical evidential and personal factors choice of research method evolves as the research process unfolds Choice of research methods Source: Buchanan and Bryman (2007)

10. The interview situation with a corporate elite Researcher Elite interviewee • junior • academic • gender • culture and language skills • senior • business practitioner • gender • culture and language skills Introduction to Qualitative Methods, 25-26 September 2006

11. An interview with a corporate elite Q:What kind of gender policies do you have in your organisation? A: I’m tempted to say that this conversation will be very short if we discuss this issue. Let me rephrase the question: Why would you have gender policies in the first place? Q:Well, what I’m asking is that... [interrupted] A: Yes, yes, but in our [company] culture, everyone is equal and there isn’t a need for such policies. Whether this is the reality, whether the practices promote equality is another story... [fingerpointing] Source: Hearn and Piekkari (2005, p. 441)

12. Another interview with a corporate elite Q: Is there now something you would like to add or emphasize which I didn’t ask? A: When I think about this research topic, there is a strong hypothesis that you are testing ... the effect of gender on certain issues ... But the challenge is to frame the problem in such a way that you will arrive at the right results ... It is very central to get real objective information based on facts about the situation. Introduction to Qualitative Methods, 25-26 September 2006

13. Interview context Source: Marschan-Piekkari et al. (2004, p. 246) Academic vs professional language Interruptions Introductions Developing rapport Time constraints Tape recording Cultural norms Trust ORGANISATION ORGANISATION SETTING INTERVIEWER INTERVIEWEE NATIONAL CONTEXT Physical location Roleplaying Hiring interpreters Introduction to Qualitative Methods, 25-26 September 2006 Logistics Access Interpersonal dynamics Field notes

14. A sample structure of a methods chapter in a thesis 1. Ontology and epistemology 2. Research design 3. Unit of analysis 4. Sampling decisions 5. Data collection 6. Data analysis and interpretation 7. Ethical issues 8. Quality criteria 9. Limitations of the study Source: Adapted from Zalan and Lewis (2004, pp. 527-528)

15. What is abduction? Concept coined by Charles Peirce ‘who argued that discovery rests primarily on abductive reasoning. As a foundation for inquiry, abduction begins with an unmet expectation and works backward to invent a plausible world or a theory that would make surprise meaningful … abduction is a continuous process, taking place in all phases of the research process. Analysis proceeds by the continuous interplay between concepts and data … What makes for interesting scholarly work is the discontinuity of some (but not all) of the theoretical assumptions of the researcher and the research audience and some (but not all) of the discovered and claimed facts of the matter.’ Source: Van Maanen, Sorensen and Mitchell (2007, p. 1149)

16. Abductive approach not a mix between inductive and deductive ‘One major difference, as compared with both deductive and inductive studies, is the role of the framework. In studies relying on abduction, the original framework is successively modified, partly as a result of unanticipated empirical findings, but also of theoretical insights gained during the process.’(Dubois & Gadde 2002, p.559)

17. Making the abductive process of theorising explicit a non-linear process abductive logic: matching i.e. going backwards and forwards between framework, data sources and analysis (Dubois and Gadde 2002, p. 556) direction and redirection: data collection as a discovery process, leading to new dimensions of the research problem (Dubois and Gadde 2002, p. 556)

18. Writing up an abductive thesis • Explain the redirections and reinterpretations that took place in the course of the research • Why did you redirect your study? • What were the consequences of redirecting the study for the next phase or the study as a whole • What insights did you gain due to shift in focus? Source: Guest lecture on ‘case research’ by A Dubois, HSE, 13 February 2007

19. Your ontological and epistemological positions influence.... Purpose Source: Partington (2002) Research Question Theoretical Perspective Research Design

20. Different philosophical positionson interviewing 1) Neopositivist: extracting accurate information from the interviewee, need for neutrality and objectivity 2) Romantic: aim to create “a situated friendship” building rapport and trust with the interviewee essential 3) Localist: interview data co-produced by the interviewer and the intervieweeSource: Alvesson (2003), Welch and Piekkari (2006)

21. What is the approach to interviewing here? ‘Rather than denying or failing to see the situation of the interview as a determinant of what goes on in the questioning and answering processes, creative interviewing embraces the immediate concrete situation; tries to understand how it is affecting what is communicated; and, by understanding these effects, changes the interviewer’s communication processes to increase the discovery of the truth about human beings… Creative interviewing… involves the use of many strategies and tactics of interaction, largely based on an understanding of friendly feelings and intimacy, to optimize cooperative, mutual disclosure and a creative search for mutual understanding.’ (p. 22, p. 25) Source: Jack D. Douglas, Creative Interviewing, Beverly Hills: Sage 1985

22. What is the approach to interviewing here? ‘the value of interview data lies both in their meanings and in how meanings are constructed. These what and how matters go hand in hand … The entire [interview] process is fueled by the reality-constituting contribution of all participants; interviewers, too, are similarly implicated in the co-construction of the subject positions from which they ask the questions at hand’. Source: J.F. Gubrium and J.A. Holstein (eds), Handbook of Interview Research, Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2001, p. 16

23. Why do I need to understand philosophical debates in management research? Philosophical positioning assists in making concrete decisions concerning research design and methods: it is practical! Depending on your philosophical position the reader is able to appreciate your findings the practitioner is able to apply your findings A philosophical stands provides you with an academic worldview and road map