METHODOLOGICAL FIT IN MANAGEMENT

FIELD RESEARCH

Rashid ShafiqFarooq Ahmad

By AMY C. EdmondsonStacy E. Mcmanus

Origin, history and evolution The authors of this article

AMY C. EDMONDSON & STACY E. MCMANUS Harvard Business School Monitor Executive Development

Edmondson received her PhD in organizational behavior

AMY C. EDMONDSON is a Professor of Leadership and Management Co-Unit Head, Technology and Operations Management Unit at Harvard Business School

Edmondson joined the Harvard faculty in 1996.

Her research examines leadership influences on learning, collaboration and innovation in teams and organizations

Over 50 articles published in academic journals, management periodicals, and books.

Contd.. In 2003, the Academy of Management's Organizational

Behavior Division selected Professor Edmondson for the Cummings Award for outstanding achievement in early mid-career, and in 2000 selected her article, "Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams," for its annual award for the best published paper in the field.

Her article (with Anita Tucker), "Why Hospitals Don't Learn from Failures: Organizational and Psychological Dynamics That Inhibit System Change" received the 2004 Accenture Award for a significant contribution to management practice.

Professor Edmondson teaches MBA and Executive Education

courses in leadership, team decision making, and organizational learning, and a doctoral course in field research methods.

She has served on 18 doctoral committees and is the author of twenty HBS teaching cases, including leadership cases on The Cleveland Clinic, General Motors Power train, Prudential Financial, Simmons Mattress Company, YUM brands, IDEO product design, and NASA's failed Columbia mission.

Contd..

This article was published in Academy of Management Review on 2007

The main purpose of this article is to provide guidelines for helping new field researchers develop and sharpen their ability to align theory and methods in field research as well as

Author also suggest that methodological fit in field research is created through an iterative learning process that requires a mindset in which feedback, rethinking, and revising are embraced as valued activities, and to discuss the implications of this for educating new field researchers.

Methodological fit has deep roots in organizational research

Contd.. In 1976, Bouchard focused on how to implement research

techniques such as Interviews, Questionnaires and Observation, noted,

“The key to good research lies not in choosing the right

method, but rather in asking the right question and picking

the most powerful method for answering that particular

question”

Author has pointed out the issue in this article about the appropriateness of combining qualitative and quantitative methods within a single research project. Discussion is that whether qualitative and quantitative methods investigate the same phenomena,

Contd..

are philosophically consistent, and are paradigms that can reasonably be integrated within a study. Author propose that the two methods can be combined successfully in cases where the goal is to increase validity of new measures through triangulation (a process by which the same phenomenon is assessed with different methods to determine whether convergence across methods exists).

Theory, Model and Research type

In this Article Author introduces a framework for assessing and promoting methodological fit as an overarching criterion for ensuring quality field research

Methodological fit promotes the development of accurate and required field research

Author define Methodological fit as internal consistency among elements of research project

Research Question

Prior WorkResearch DesignContribution to literature

Contd..

Model presented in this Article

Research question

Prior Work

Research design

Contribution to Literature

Methodological Fit

Four Key Elements of a Field Research Project

Element Description

Research question

Focuses A study Narrows the topic area to meaningful, manageable size Addresses issues of theoretical and practical significance Points toward a variable research project – that is, the question can be answered

Prior work The State of the literature Existing theoretical and empirical research papers that pertain to the topic of the

current study An aid in identifying unanswered questions, unexplored areas, relevant constructs,

and areas of low agreement

Research design

Type of data to be collected Data collection tools and procedures Type of analysis planned Finding/selection of sites for collecting data

Contribution to literature

The theory developed as an outcome of the study New ideas that contest conventional wisdom, challenge prior assumptions,

integrate prior streams of research to produce a new mode, or refine

understanding of a phenomenon Any practical insights drawn from the findings that may be suggested by the

researcher

Contd..

Three Levels of Prior Work

Intermediate Mature Nascent

Intermediate

In intermediate level hybrid methodological approach is used

Mature

correspond to quantitative methodological approach

Nascent

correspond to qualitative methodological approach

Contd..Parameters for Methodological Fit

State of Prior Theory & Research

Intermediate Mature Nascent

Research questions

Proposed relationships between new & establish constructs

Focused questions and/or hypotheses relating existing constructs

Open-ended inquiry about a phenomenon of interest

Type of data collected

Hybrid Quantitative Qualitative, initially open-ended data that need to be interpreted for meaning

Illustrative methods for collecting data

Interviews;

observations;

Surveys; …

Surveys; interviews or observation …….

Interviews;

observations;

obtaining other documents …

Constructs & measures

Typically one or more new constructs and/or new measures

Typically relying heavily on existing constructs & measures

Typically new construct, few formal measures

Goal of data analyses

Preliminary or exploratory testing of new constructs

Formal hypothesis testing Pattern identification

Data analysis methods

Content analysis, exploratory statistics & …..

Statistical inference, standard statistical analyses

Thematic content analysis coding for evidence of constructs

Theoretical contribution

A provisional theory

A supported theory A suggestive theory,

Contd..Traditional Implicit View of the Field Research Process

Identify target area of interest

Read the literature

Develop Research question

Design a study

Collect & analyze data

Write up results

Publish

Founders, Proponents and Critics

Founder Proponents Critics

Amy C. Edmondson

Stacy E. Mcmanus

Jim Detert

Robin Ely

David Ager

Richard Hockman

Connie Hadley

Bertrand Moingeon

Wendy Smith

Terrence Mitchell

Contd..

Terrence Mitchell Masters and Ph.D. from Illinois in 1969 in organizational psychology.

He has been at the University of Washington since 1969 and became the Carlson Professor of Management in 1987, a position he still holds (renewed four times). The Carlson Professorship is one of the largest and most prestigious professorships awarded by School.

He is also a Professor of Psychology at the University of Washington.

Over the past 30 years he has published over 100 journal articles

He has won THE University of Washington Business School’s s Best Researcher award three times, most recently in 2005.

Proposed Model

.

Nature of Study

QualitativeQuantitative

Selection of Appropriate data Collection Methods

InterviewsQuestionnaire Observations

Independent Variable Dependent Variable

Variables & Methodology

Variables

Independent Variable

Nature of Study (Quantitative / Qualitative)

Dependent Variable

Selection of Appropriate Data collection method (Questionnaire, Interviews, Observations)

MethodologyLiterature review