Bryman Bell, Business Research Methods, 2nd edition, Chapter 21

1. Authored by David McHugh Bryman & Bell, Business Research Methods, 2nd edition, Chapter 21 Documents as sources of data

2. Authored by David McHugh Nature of Documents Documents are forms of material that: can be read (though `read' has to be understood in a somewhat looser fashion than when we come to visual materials, like photographs) have not been produced specifically for the purposes of research, although we will also refer to documents that have been generated by researchers are preserved so that they become available for analysis are relevant to the concerns of the business researcher

3. Authored by David McHugh Scott�s (1990) Criteria for Assessing the Quality of Documents Authenticity - is the evidence genuine and of unquestionable origin? Credibility - is the evidence free from error and distortion? Representativeness - is the evidence typical of its kind, and, if not, is the extent of its untypicality known? Meaning - is the evidence clear and comprehensible?

4. Authored by David McHugh Types of Documents Personal documents: diaries, letters and autobiographies visual objects Public documents Organizational documents Mass media outputs Virtual outputs

5. Authored by David McHugh Diaries, Letters, and Autobiographies May be used: as the primary source of data within a qualitative study as adjuncts to other methods, such as interviews or participant observation to trace the history of an organization through the letters and diaries of its founders as a method of data collection

6. Authored by David McHugh The Diary of a French Factory Worker The diaries and letters of Simone Weil (1909-43), are used by Grey (1996) to gain insight into her view of management as a form of oppression. Grey suggests that Weil�s views derive in part from her experiences as a factory worker at the Alsthom electrical plant in Paris, a metal-working factory and at Renault, Grey shows how these experiences shaped her view that mechanised work was degrading to the individual. He further argues that: �Weil�s experience of factory work showed her that the condition of oppression was in part an outcome of the ways in which workers themselves were actors in the reproduction of their own servility� (1996: 604). In other words, it was her view that managerial oppression relies on employees being willing to submit themselves to managerial control and being active in maintaining and reinforcing this oppression.

7. Authored by David McHugh Using a Diary Study to Investigate Coal Miners� Attitudes to Incentive Schemes Bowey and Thorpe (1986) explored coal miners� attitudes as part of a larger, multi-method study. Over a three-month period miners in the North West of England were asked to keep a daily written record of their feelings, observations and opinions about their life and work. The topics they were asked to consider included: relationships with other people, including supervisor, workmates etc. any particular difficulties encountered during the day, with machinery, raw materials or other people. details of how the incentive bonus scheme affected the individual�s work. (Easterby-Smith et al. 2001) The diaries were returned to the researchers each week, so that they could keep track of their development and write back to the diarist asking for clarification of specific points. This process also helped encourage the diarists to feel an interest was being taken in what they were doing.

8. Authored by David McHugh Using Photographs With Other Methods of Data Collection Helps the organizational researcher to: develop a richer understanding of organizational processes capture data not disclosed in interview reveal to staff aspects of work in other sections of the organization with which they have little or no regular contact offer a novel channel for respondent validation of data, and involve staff in debate concerning the implications of research findings

9. Authored by David McHugh Using Photographs to Capture Organizational Beliefs About Customers The Hospital customer: Left: Digital (DEC); top right: IBM; bottom right: Burroughs

10. Authored by David McHugh Using Public Documents to Analyze an Organizational Disaster Gephart (1993) collected two kinds of data: Naturally-occurring retrospective and archival qualitative data; public inquiry transcripts and proceedings, newspaper reports, corporate and government documents. Self-generated texts including field notes describing inquiry events. The study addressed the following research questions: What concepts, terms, or vocabularies are used by organizational members in sensemaking about disasters? How do people use risk and blame concepts in disaster sensemaking? How are sensemaking practices used in the interpretation of disasters? What role do collective and individual interpretative schemes play in disaster sensemaking? Data in the study was used to compile two electronically held data bases: A word processor database of all the information from the transcripts, company documents, field notes, newspaper articles and official report. A textual data base from the entire text of the inquiry proceedings.

11. Authored by David McHugh Organizational Documents In the public domain: annual reports mission statements reports to shareholders transcripts of chief executives� speeches press releases, advertisements public relations material in printed form and on the Web Not in the public domain: company newsletters organizational charts external consultancy reports minutes of meetings memos internal and external correspondence manuals for new recruits policy statements company regulations

12. Authored by David McHugh The World as Text The word text is frequently employed as a synonym for terms like `written document' The word `text' has been applied to an increasingly wide range of phenomena: just about everything can be treated as a text and perhaps as a document and thus submitted to �readings� e.g.: theme parks, landscapes, heritage attractions, technologies, wrestling matches, Citro�n cars, and striptease acts (e.g. Barthes, 1972; Grint and Woolgar, 1997) This approach based on two assumptions (Gephart, 1993): that the texts have the interpretations of their creators embedded in them that a text acquires meaning through �its embeddedness in a multiplicity of discourses and texts�

13. Authored by David McHugh The Difference Between Readers and Writers Intentions Concerning Managerial Initiatives In a study of the Investors in People initiative, Bell et al. (2002) explored the meaning of cultural artefacts, (the badge, the plaque and the flag) displayed in six organizations that had achieved the Standard: the authors suggest there can be a significant gap between understanding of what the initiative ought to signify and what it comes to represent For example, one story was told of an organization that was formally recognized as an Investor in People, but was informally known as a �Divestor of People�, partly as a result of a major, long-term redundancy programme This finding confirms that readers (employees) frequently come up with alternative readings to those intended by writers of the text (managers and policy makers).

14. Authored by David McHugh Approaches to Analysing Documents ECA (ethnographic content analysis) Semiotics Hermeneutics

15. Authored by David McHugh Qualitative Content Analysis Less frequently used than quantitative content analysis in business and management It comprises a searching-out of underlying themes in the materials being analysed Unlike quantitative content analysis, the processes through which the themes are extracted is usually left implicit The extracted themes are usually illustrated�for example, with brief quotations from a newspaper article or magazine Quantitative content analysis typically entails applying predefined categories to sources

16. Authored by David McHugh Ethnographic Content Analysis (ECA) Ethnographic content analysis (Aitheide, 1996) codifies procedures typical of qualitative content analysis: ECA follows a recursive and reflexive movement between: concept development-sampling-data collection-data coding-data analysis-interpretation The aim is to be systematic and analytic but not rigid Categories and variables initially guide the study, but others are allowed and expected to emerge during the study, including an orientation to: constant discovery and constant comparison of relevant situations, settings, styles, images, meanings, and nuances

17. Authored by David McHugh Checklist on Content Analysis of Documents Can you answer the following questions?: Who produced the document? Why was the document produced? Was the person or group that produced the document in a position to write authoritatively about the subject or issue? Is the material genuine? Did the person or group have an axe to grind and if so can you identify a particular slant? Is the document typical of its kind and if not is it possible to establish how untypical it is and it what ways? Is the meaning of the document clear? Can you corroborate the events or accounts presented in the document? Are there different interpretations of the document from the one you offer and if so what are they and why have you discounted them?

18. Authored by David McHugh Main Terms Employed in Semiotics The sign, that is, something that stands for something else The sign is made up of: a signifier and the signified The signifier is the thing that points to an underlying meaning (the term sign vehicle is sometimes used instead of signifier) The signified is the meaning to which the signifier points A denotative meaning is the manifest or more obvious meaning of a signifier and as such indicates its function A sign-function is an object that denotes a certain function A connotative meaning is a meaning associated with a certain social context that is in addition to its denotative meaning Politely refers to a quality of signs�namely, that they are always capable of being interpreted in many ways The code is the generalized meaning that interested parties may seek to instil in a sign; A code is sometimes also called a sign system

19. Authored by David McHugh A Semiotic Disneyland Part of Gottdiener�s semiotic analysis of Disneyland in LA suggests that different `lands' that make up the park are associated with signifiers of capitalism, as follows: Frontierland�predatory capital Adventureland�colonialism/imperialism Tomorrowland�state capital New Orleans�venture capital Main Street�family capital.

20. Authored by David McHugh Hermeneutics Hermeneutics refers to an approach that was originally devised in relation to the understanding or interpretation of texts and of theological texts in particular. It has been influential in the general formulation of interpretivism as an epistemology and is more or less synonymous with Weber's notion of Verstehen. The central idea behind hermeneutics is that the analyst of a text must seek to bring out the meanings of a text from the perspective of its author. An approach to the analysis of texts like qualitative content analysis can be hermeneutic when it is sensitive to the context within which texts were produced.

21. Authored by David McHugh A �Critical Hermeneutic� Approach Phillips and Brown's more formal approach entailed the examination of advertisements in terms of three `moments�: The social�historical moment, involving `an examination of the producer of the text, its intentional recipient, its referent in the world [i.e. what it refers to], and the context in which the text is produced, transmitted, and received' (1993: 1558). The formal moment, involving `a formal analysis of the structural and conventional aspects of the text' (1993: 1563). This means that the texts must be examined in terms of the constituent parts of each text and the writing conventions employed. This phase can involve the use of any of several techniques, such as semiotics or discourse analysis (see Chapter 20). Phillips and Brown used the former of these. The interpretation�reinterpretation moment, which `involves the interpretation of the results of the first two moments' (1993: 1567); in other words, they are synthesized.