Most researchers in organization and management studies stick to two or three traditional research methods like surveys and interviews. Sticking with the familiar is seen as a safe bet, and innovation is discouraged by academic incentives and rewards. But research participants are now suffering from 'survey fatigue', and using the same old methods runs the risk of generating the same old findings.
This book describes twelve unconventional methodologies in organization and management research. These include unconventional research settings and data sources, unconventional research designs and data collection methods, unconventional analytic approaches, and designs and methods that exploit new technology developments. The aim is to encourage dialogue and experimentation with regard to the development of innovative, unconventional approaches to organization and management research. Several commentators have criticized the way in which research methods have become more formulaic, and have argued for greater diversity in research approaches. The methodological perspective that the we adopt shapes our interpretation of the information that we gather. Different methods generate different kinds of information, leading to different ways of understanding the phenomena that we are investigating. Our methods influence our styles of theorizing, ways of thinking and reasoning, and forms of writing and reporting research.
This book will be of value to academic researchers in organization and management studies, Doctoral candidates, and Masters students on MBA and similar programmes.
1: David A. Buchanan and Alan Bryman: 'Not Another Survey': The Value of Unconventional Methods
Part 1 Unconventional settings and data sources
2: Laurie Cohen and Joanne Duberley: Desert Island Data: Using BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs in Organization and Management Research
3: Robin Holt and Mike Zundel: Using Fiction in Organization and Management Research
4: Andrew Knight: Innovations in Unobtrusive Methods
5: David A. Buchanan and David Denyer: Research in Extreme Contexts
6: Christopher J. Schneider: Making the Case: A Qualitative Approach to Studying Social Media Documents
Part 2: Unconventional Research Design and Data Collection Methods
7: Robert Kozinets and Manuela Nocker: Netnography: Engaging with the Challenges
8: Alex Bitektine, Jeffrey W. Lucas, and Oliver Schilke: Institutions Under A Microscope: Experimental Methods in Institutional Theory
9: Steve Kempster and Ken Parry: Beyond One Voice: Co-Constructed Analytic Auto-Ethnography
10: Rebecca Whiting, Helen Roby, Gillian Symon, and Petros Chamakiotis: Participant-Led Video Diaries
11: Olivier Berthod, Michael Grothe-Hammer, and Jörg Sydow: Inter-Organizational Ethnography: Promises and Pitfalls
Part 3 Unconventional Analytic Approaches
12: Paul Carlile And Karl-Emanuel Dionne: Unconventional Yet Consequential: Using A Sociomaterial Approach To Drive Impact in Organization Studies Research
13: Jörg Sydow, Arnold Windeler, Gordon Müller-Seitz And Knut Lange: Path Constitution Analysis: A Methodology For Understanding Path Dependence and Path Creation
14: Alan Bryman And David A. Buchanan: Methodology Matters
