Phenomenology: An Introduction

 

 

Introduction

A research strategy provides the overall direction of the research. Deciding between theoretical or empirical research is an important decision in research strategy. Theoretical research requires intensive textual investigation while empirical research requires primary data collection and use of secondary data. Theoretical research is more intellectually demanding and the risk of failure is greater than empirical work.

In empirical research, there are two research orientations: positivistic and phenomenological. The other categorization of empirical research is quantitative and qualitative.

Phenomenology has origins in social sciences, especially in Psychology, where it has developed into a recognized branch of the discipline.

Phenomenology may be understood as a method for investigating the cognitional structure of experience or as a movement in the history of philosophy. 

When considered as a movement in the history of philosophy, Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) is identified as the founder of phenomenology, and when considered as a method Immanuel Kant  (1724-1804) is identified as the progenitor of phenomenology.


Kant obtained the term from Johann H. Lambert’s 1764 New Organon (Neues Organon).  In a 1770 correspondence with Lambert, the outline of Kant’s appropriation of the term into the Critique of Pure Reason can already be seen. According to Kant,

The most universal laws of sensibility play an unjustifiably large role in metaphysics, where, after all, it is merely concepts and principles of pure reason that are at issue. It seems to me a quite particular, although merely negative science, general phenomenology (phaenomenologia generalis), must precede metaphysics. In it the principles of sensibility, their validity and their limitations, would be determined, so that these principles could not be confusedly applied to objects of pure reason (Kant, 1986, p. 59, translation slightly modified; compare Heidegger, 2005, p. 3).

 “Phenomenology,” for Kant, should be understood as the “science” that studies the aspects universal to human experience.

Husserl is identified as the founder of this movement, the perplexities involved in understanding this movement as unified are discussed below. What is clear is that Husserl’s initial formulation of phenomenology was influenced by Franz Brentano (1838-1917). Not only is Brentano credited with identifying “intentionality” as the mark of the mental, at the University of Vienna “in his lectures on Descriptive Psychology (1889), Brentano employed the phrase ‘descriptive psychology or descriptive phenomenology’ to differentiate” a descriptive science of the mental “from genetic or physiological psychology” (Moran, 2000, p. 8). However, in what will be a central and career-long concern for Husserl, a descriptive phenomenology or psychology must avoid psychologism.

despite differences across human subjects (for example color blindness, mental illness, habitual tendencies) there are objective aspects of the experience of a thing which are universalizable across humans. Hence, phenomenology is not concerned with the non-universalizable.  Psychologism  may be simply understood as the attempt to make objective reality depend upon the psychological features of some subject.

Generally stated, objective aspects of human experience are “psychologized” when “their objective sense, their sense as a species of objects having a peculiar essence, is denied in favor of the subjective mental occurrences, the data in immanent or psychological temporality” (Husserl, 1969, p. 169).

In the second volume of Logical Investigations Husserl identifies the “exclusive concern” of phenomenology as


experiences intuitively seizable and analyzable in the pure generality of their essence, not experiences empirically perceived and treated as real facts, as experiences of human or animal experients in the phenomenal world that we posit as an empirical fact. This phenomenology must bring to pure expression, must describe in terms of their essential concepts and their governing formulae of essence, the essences which directly make themselves known in intuition, and the connections which have their roots purely in such essences. Each such statement of essence is an a priori statement in the highest sense of the word (Husserl, 2001b, p. 86).

Source for the above content
https://www.iep.utm.edu/phen-psy/

Phenomenology – Definitions

Cohen and Manion (1987): ’Phenomenology is a theoretical point of view that advocates the study of direct experience taken at face value; and one which sees behaviour as determined by the phenomena of experience rather than by external, objective and physically described reality.’

Rudestein and Newton (1992):  “Phenomenology attempts to describe and elucidate the meanings of human experience.”

Camus (O’ Brien,1965): “Phenomenology declines to explain the world, it wants to be merely a description of actual experience.” 

Boland (1985): “Phenomenology is a term that carries a great deal of ambiguity along with its sometimes confused and faddish use.”

Phenomenology – Explanation

The central premise is that the researcher should be concerned to understand phenomena in depth and that this understanding should result from attempting to find tentative answers to questions such as ‘What?’  ‘Why?’ and ‘How?’

Phenomenology contends that such understanding is essential and will not come from answering the questions ‘How many?’ or ‘How much?’

Phenomenology assumes that knowledge can be gained by concentrating on phenomena experienced by people.

At the heart of the phenomenology is the relationship between self and society, as expressed in the work of Mead (1934), the originator of phenomenological psychology.

Clegg and Dunkerley (1980) took the position that in research involving people, the variables being manipulated could not be treated as independent of the ‘meaning which individuals assigned to them. This is one of the fundamental assumptions of phenomenological researchers. People have the ability to think, argue, and experience the world of events in idiosyncratic ways. The positivistic research strategy cannot deliver an understanding of these human dimensions.

Resources on the web

Google Books

Logical Investigations, Volume 2

Edmund Husser
Psychology Press, 2001 - Philosophy - 380 pages

Edmund Husserl is the founder of phenomenology and the Logical Investigations is his most famous work. It had a decisive impact on twentieth century philosophy and is one of few works to have influenced both continental and analytic philosophy.
This is the first time both volumes have been available in paperback. They include a new introduction by Dermot Moran, placing the Investigations in historical context and bringing out their contemporary philosophical importance.
These editions include a new preface by Sir Michael Dummett.
https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Logical_Investigations.html?id=FquCVBoVja0C

Husserl: An Analysis of His Phenomenology
Paul Ricoeur
Northwestern University Press, 1967 - Philosophy - 260 pages
Paul Ricoeur was one of the foremost interpreters and translators of Edmund Husserl's philosophy. These nine essays present Ricoeur's interpretation of the most important of Husserl's writings, with emphasis on his philosophy of consciousness rather than his work in logic. In Ricoeur's philosophy, phenomenology and existentialism came of age and these essays provide an introduction to the Husserlian elements which most heavily influenced his own philosophical position.
https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Husserl.html?id=3MacEVF4s-QC


Edmund Husserl: Founder of Phenomenology
Dermot Moran
Polity, 2005 - History - 297 pages
Dermot Moran provides a lucid, engaging, and critical introduction to Edmund Husserl's philosophy, with specific emphasis on his development of phenomenology. This book is a comprehensive guide to Husserl's thought from its origins in nineteenth-century concerns with the nature of scientific knowledge and with psychologism, through his breakthrough discovery of phenomenology and his elucidation of the phenomenological method, to the late analyses of culture and the life-world. Husserl's complex ideas are presented in a clear and expert manner. Individual chapters explore Husserl's key texts including Philosophy of Arithmetic, Logical Investigations, Ideas I, Cartesian Meditations and Crisis of the European Sciences. In addition, Moran offers penetrating criticisms and evaluations of Husserl's achievement, including the contribution of his phenomenology to current philosophical debates concerning consciousness and the mind.
https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Edmund_Husserl.html?id=x88L0oiv3dIC
Edmund Husserl is an invaluable guide to understanding the thought of one of the seminal thinkers of the twentieth century. It will be helpful to students of contemporary philosophy, and to those interested in scientific, literary and cultural studies on the European continent. 

Ideas: General Introduction to Pure Phenomenology
Edmund Husserl
Routledge, 2012 - Philosophy - 376 pages
With a new foreword by Dermot Moran


'the work here presented seeks to found a new science – though, indeed, the whole course of philosophical development since Descartes has been preparing the way for it – a science covering a new field of experience, exclusively its own, that of "Transcendental Subjectivity"' - Edmund Husserl, from the author's preface to the English Edition
https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Ideas.html?id=3LXz0lZ2fUQC




Phenomenology as Research Method, by Beverley Campbell,
Victoria University of Technology

http://www.staff.vu.edu.au/syed/alrnnv/papers/bev.html

Ehrich, Lisa (2005) "Revisiting phenomenology: its potential for management
research."

In Proceedings Challenges or organisations in global markets, British
Academy of Management Conference, pages pp. 1-13, Said Business School, Oxford
University.

http://eprints.qut.edu.au/2893/1/2893.pdf 

Hawley, Georgina, A phenomenological study of the health-care related spiritual needs of multicultural Western Australians, Ph d thesis, 2002

http://espace.library.curtin.edu.au/R?func=dbin_jump_full&object_id=13369

Unwin, Bren Carolyn, Phenomenology and Landscape Experience: A Critical Appraisal For Contemporary Art Practice

http://hdl.handle.net/2299/2115

My Thesis Prospectus

http://heideggerian.blogspot.com/2008/04/my-thesis-prospectus.html

Durie, Robin, Phenomenology and Deconstruction

http://hdl.handle.net/1842/1799

Marlow, Susan Anne, A Voyage of Grief and Beauty: a Phenomenological Study of the Experience of Supporting a Family Member with an Intellectual Disability Who is Dying in a Community Setting

http://hdl.handle.net/10063/140

Phenomenology as an Educational Research Method--van Manen

http://www.otal.umd.edu/~probinso/Dissertation/methodology/phenomenology.html



Phenomenological approaches: challenges and choices

http://nurseresearcher.rcnpublishing.co.uk/archive/article-phenomenological-approaches-challenges-and-choices

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Interpretation in Phenomenology

Phenomenology, Interpretation, and Community (Google eBook)
Leonore Langsdorf, Stephen H. Watson, E. Marya Bower

SUNY Press, 1996 - Philosophy - 295 pages
Google Book Link with preview facility
http://books.google.co.in/books?id=cVYCcklydYMC

Phenomenological Interpretation of Kant's Critique of Reason
by Martin Heidegger
Google book link
http://books.google.co.in/books?id=hB4XjaGLflMC


The Role and Influence of Interpretation in Hermeneuticphenomenological Research
Currents: New Scholarship in the Human Services, 2008
http://currents.synergiesprairies.ca/currents/index.php/currents/article/view/30/26



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  OK - http://knol.google.com/k/narayana-rao/phenomenology-an-introduction/ 2utb2lsm2k7a/ 34

Updated on 16 May 2019,11 July 2013

Moral Epistemology

Moral Epistemology

How is moral knowledge possible? This question is central in moral epistemology.
There are  a cluster of problems in moral epistemology. The most important are the following.

Sociological thinking: The best explanation of the depth of moral disagreements and the social diversity that they reflect is one of two things.

(a) No moral facts exist to be known.
Moral disagreements exemplify merely clashes in moral sensibility rather than differences about matters of fact.

(b) Moral knowledge exists, but moral facts are relative to the social group in which moral sensibility is formed with the result that no moral truths are known to hold universally (Descriptive morality - Morals are made in a society and are binding on members of the society.).

Psychological thinking: Moral judgments are intrinsically motivating. Judgments about matters of fact, on the other hand, are never motivating just in themselves. Since to constitute moral knowledge a moral judgment must be made about some moral fact, moral knowledge is not possible.

Ontological: Moral knowledge is about moral reality. How is that reality constituted? Three general possibilities present themselves.

(a) Moral reality might be theological in nature, pertaining to (say) the will of God.

 (b) It might be a non-natural realm that is neither theological nor natural, but sui generis.

(c) It might be comprehensible as a part of the natural world studied by science.

Each of these possibilities, however, is beset with difficulties.

Evolutionary: Where do human morals come from?

A familiar and widely accepted answer is that human morals are in essence, despite their modern variations, Darwinian adaptations. As such morals are about survival and reproduction and have nothing to do with moral truth.

While the intuitive, emotional basis of moral judgments was useful to our ancestors, this basis is out-dated and unreliable in modern industrial society and thus current moral thought in such society, which inevitably embeds this basis, is without rational foundation.

Methodological: Traditionally philosophers have sought to explain the possibility of knowledge by appeal to at least some principles that can be grasped and defended a priori and thus independently of natural science. A new and revolutionary epistemology introduced by Quine seeks to explain the possibility of knowledge through science itself. “Naturalized epistemology” has been immensely popular since its inception in the 1960s, largely because it promises to make epistemology consistent with a scientific world-view.

At the same time the new methodology appears to make it more difficult to explain the possibility of moral knowledge. Two allied methodologies that seek to find moral truth in a reflective equilibrium of judgments or in applications of rational choice theory are much less restrictive but open to the objection that they are morally conservative. A recent methodology allied to naturalized epistemology is pragmatic naturalism. Taking its inspiration from examples of transforming the moral status quo, it is less vulnerable to the charge of moral conservatism. However, by understanding moral knowledge as mainly a matter of knowing how to live well interdependently with others by resolving issues collectively as they arise, this methodology may not offer a conception of moral truth appropriate to genuine moral knowledge.

Moral: Feminists among others are often critical of traditional epistemologies as well as the innovative recent methodologies on the moral ground that the standards found there are unjustly biased against women and other marginalized groups. For example, feminists often reject the standard of impartiality contained in these forms of epistemology because it renders invisible important knowledge possessed by women and thereby contributes to their oppression.

If, for reasons to be given, the criticism has merit, then it presents an apparent paradox within feminist moral epistemology, since it appears to reject the ideal of impartiality on the ground that it is not itself impartial.

The Marxist complaint that the standard of impartiality is unjustly biased against the working class because it renders invisible their exploitation gives rise to the same contradiction. Resolution of the paradox is important for both evaluating such criticisms and understanding in general how to evaluate moral criticisms of epistemic standards.

About the entry in the Plato Encyclopedia

First, the entry ignores global skepticism, which doubts the possibility of anyone's having any knowledge at all.

Second, in keeping with the last restriction, the entry takes for granted that our capacity to have other kinds of knowledge is not in question. Indeed, the six problems above arise in part because of the implications of having other kinds of knowledge.

Third, the entry assumes that moral knowledge entails (roughly) justified true moral belief. An expressivist may invoke a deflationary conception of truth to support the idea that we can speak of justified moral beliefs that are “true” — without implying that justified moral beliefs accurately represent moral reality. Moral justification is discussed below, however, only as it pertains to putatively reliable representations of moral reality.

Fourth, many important epistemological issues arise in the context of considering specific normative theories or types of normative theory. (Can virtue ethics explain how we can know what course of action is morally acceptable for a situation demanding the exercise of conflicting virtues?) The focus in this entry is on issues that are special to moral epistemology. 

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/moral-epistemology/

What is Intellectualism?

Oxford Dictionary

Doctrine that knowledge is wholly or mainly derived from pure reason.



Intellectualism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectualism


The Rise of Pseudo Intellectualism
https://medium.com/@chikaumeadi/the-rise-of-pseudo-intellectualism-cc1756bd83ea


Anti-intellectualism
Anti-intellectualism is to put it simply, the glorification of stupidity and dissing of intelligence in favour of so called "common sense". Anti-intellectuals believe that science, expertise and "book knowledge" are less valuable than "street smarts" and "common sense." They also believe that they don't have to read anything about a field of knowledge before dismissing it with their own "theories".
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Anti-intellectualism


Knowledge How
Intellectualism - Anti-intellectualism
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/knowledge-how/

Statistical inference

Methods of statistical inference enable the investigator to argue from the particular observations in a sample to the general case. A statistical inference can sometimes be incorrect. Nevertheless, one of the great intellectual advances of the twentieth century is the realization that strong scientific evidence can be developed on the basis of many, highly variable, observations.

The subject of statistical inference deals with collecting informative data, interpreting these data, and drawing conclusions. Statistical inference includes all processes of acquiring knowledge that involve fact finding through the collection and examination of data. These data collection processes are as diverse as opinion polls, agricultural field trials, clinical trials of new medicines, and the studying of properties of exotic new materials. Statistical inference has permeated all fields of human endeavor in which the  data-based evidence is being used.

A few characteristics are common to statistical inference projects. First,  relevant data must be collected. Second, variability is unavoidable in observations even when observations are made under the same or very similar conditions. The third, is that access to a complete set of data of the population is either not feasible from a practical standpoint or is physically impossible to obtain.

The first step in making a statistical inference is to model the population(s) by a probability distribution which has a numerical feature of interest called a parameter. The problem of statistical inference arises when we want to make generalizations about the population based on sample data.

A statistic, based on a sample, must serve as the source of information about a parameter. The  salient points regarding statistics.

Because a sample is only part of the population, the numerical value of the statistic will not be the exact value of the parameter. The observed value of the statistic depends on the particular
sample selected. Some variability in the values of a statistic, over different
samples, is unavoidable.

The two main classes of inference problems are estimation of parameter(s) and testing hypotheses about the value of the parameter(s).

The first class consists of point estimators, a single number estimate of the value of the parameter, and interval estimates. Typically, the interval estimate specifies an interval of plausible values for the parameter but the subclass also includes prediction intervals for future observations.

A test of hypotheses provides a yes/no answer as to whether the parameter lies in a specified region of values.

Because statistical inferences are based on a sample, they will sometimes be in error. Because the actual value of the parameter is unknown, even a test of hypotheses may yield the wrong yes/no answer and the interval of plausible values may not contain the true value of the parameter.

Statistical inferences, or generalizations from the sample to the population, are founded on an understanding of the manner in which variation in the population is transmitted, via sampling, to variation in a statistic.

There are two primary approaches, frequentist and Bayesian, for making statistical inferences. Both are based on the likelihood but their frameworks are entirely different.

https://www.encyclopediaofmath.org/index.php/Statistical_inference

Research Strategies and Tactics - Dan Remenyi - Chapter Summary

Establishing  an overall strategy and detailed tactics for a research project is an important step in  the initiation of a masters.

 In the final analysis, the researcher’s creativity and imagination are of paramount importance and the research strategy and tactics are there to support rather than hinder the researcher’s creative faculties.

At a strategic level the research process is defined in broad terms that take into account the general philosophical approach adopted by the researcher.   This includes being aware of the ontological and epistemological assumptions that underpin each different research methodological strategy.

In deciding on a research strategy the masters and doctorate students should first decide if the research is to be essentially theoretical or empirical.  In the field of business and management studies at masters and doctoral level the vast majority of the research is traditionally empirical in nature and students should respect this precedent unless there is good reason for doing otherwise.

Theoretical research requires intensive textual investigation while empirical research in business and management studies requires extensive interaction with people.

Within the empirical approach to research there are two major options or research orientations : positivistic (which is an approach which is essentially derived from the natural sciences) and phenomenological (which is an approach which is essentially derived from the social sciences).  Once a strategy has been decided, consideration can be given to the specific research methods or tactics that will  be used. Decide on a research strategy, choose a research tactic.

Factors Influencing the Choice of Research Strategy

The research strategy is determined by four key issues, three of which are to do with resources and one is a direct function of the research question.   These key issues are :  Research question.,

Research Problem or Question

The first issue that the masters or PhD student needs to consider is the research problem or question.
Skills of the Researcher
Thus those educated in mathematics or natural and life sciences should be cautious if they decide to adopt a phenomenological strategy .  Phenomenology and positivism are so different that few individuals can bridge the two research cultures and those who attempt to so do need to be aware  of the potential  problems.

The Place for  Theoretical Research
Anyone undertaking a theoretical masters and especially a theoretical PhD will need to be extraordinarily competent.
Longitudinal Versus Cross-Sectional Research

Closely  allied to the research strategy issue is whether the research will be longitudinal  or cross –sectional
The term longitudinal is used to describe a study that extends over a substantial period of time and involves studying changes over time.


Cross –sectional research refers to studies which take a snapshot of a situation in time.  This type of research does not attempt to comment on trends or on how situations develop over a time period.  Rather cross-sectional research examines how something is done at the time of the research study and will generally seek to identify and understand differences between the various members of the study population.

A doctoral dissertation lasting three to five years might qualify for a longitudinal study.  Longitudinal research studies conducted over a period of several years can be used to monitor the progress of  interventions over time.  This paradigm is not extensively used in business and management research at universities for the reasons of time and costs noted above.

Different Tactics for Pursuing  Research

The techniques which will be used to collect evidence and which influence the way in which the evidence will be analysed is referred to here as the research tactic. There is an almost limitless number of research tactics and variations in business and management studies.

Galliers (1992) provides a list of approaches or tactics, a subset of which has been discussed in this chapter. This list may be considered as a set of well-known and accepted research tactics or tools that are available to the aspirant researcher.

Action Research
(More details)

Action research was developed during the 1960s and has proved particularly useful in the area of managing change.

The process of systematically collecting research data about an ongoing system relative to some objective, goal or need of that system; feeding these data back into the system; taking action by altering selected variables within the system based both on the data and on hypotheses; and evaluating the results of the actions by collecting more data.
As a process, action research is dependent upon an external view of a situation and it essentially involves:

Taking a static picture of the organisational situation;
Formulating a hypotheses based on the picture;
The manipulation of variables in control of the researcher;
Taking and evaluating a second static picture of the situation.

The action researcher is thus involved in a real manner in an organisational situation where there is not only an expectation that a ‘contribution to knowledge’ should be made, but also to directly produce usable knowledge that ‘can be applied and validated in action’.  In addition Gummesson points out that there is an expectation that the researcher should also develop a sensitivity to the theoretical categories which are being used so that they are transcended and transformed into better theory.

As Gummesson points out, the skill here is whether the researcher can successfully combine the role of almost a consultant and that of academic researcher. Action research usually involves a small-scale intervention on the part of the researcher in the phenomenon being studied.

Depending  on the circumstance, quantitative  or qualitative analytical techniques may be required to analyses the evidence being collected.

However, PhD level it needs to be implemented with considerable care and attention.
Action research is essentially phenomenological in nature.  It would clearly not be replicable.


A recent example of a dissertation based on action research involved a researcher who implemented a new activity based costing system in an organisation.   The focus the research was to understand how this new technique was being used to improve corporate financial performance.


Case Studies
(More details)

The case study is a sophisticated research tactic that will be discussed in detail in Chapter 10.   The case study is a research tactic for the social scientist as experiments are a research strategy for the natural scientist

Yin (1989) states that  a case study from a research strategy point of view may be defined as an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real life context, when the boundaries between phenomenon and the context are not clearly evident, and in which multiple sources of evidence are used.  It is particularly valuable in answering who, why and how questions in management research.

According to Bell (1993) the case study methodology has also been used as an umbrella term for a family of research methods having in common the decision to focus on an enquiry around a specific instance or event.  The philosophy behind the case study is that sometimes only by looking carefully at a practical, real-life instance can a full picture be obtained of the actual interaction of variables or events.

The case study allows the investigator to concentrate on specific instances in an attempt to identify detailed interactive processes which may be crucial, but which are transparent to the large-scale survey. Case studies are an important approach for business and management researchers and some masters and much doctoral research work is conducted using this method.

Because of its flexible nature a case study may be an almost entirely positivistic or almost entirely phenomenological study or anything between these two extremes.

A recent example of dissertation based on a case study approach involved the detailed examination of a large industrial conglomerate over a substantial period of time.  The focus of this case study was to understand the inter-relationships between the group corporate strategy and the individual strategies of the separate and somewhat independent subsidiaries in the group.

The main focus of the analytical work was on quantitative issues that employed the extensive use of  a statistical packages.

For another dissertation an intensive case study of a medium-sized specialist consulting practice was conducted .The objective here was to investigate the evolution of power  relationships in the orgnisation.

Practice which enabled some observation of interaction between consultants during the normal course of the working day. The company also allowed the researcher access to board and weekly planning meeting.  In addition, interviews were conducted with at least ten consultants and support staff.  The chairperson and managing director were also interviewed as they both consulted with clients.  The data collected was then analysed using the grounded theory method

Ethnography
(More details)

Ethnographic research requires the researcher to become part of the ‘tribe’ and to fully participate in its society.  ‘ethnography is that type of field observation in which a society’s culture  is studied . Ethnographic research is essentially phenomenological in nature.

A recent dissertation that used elements of ethnography was produced for a PhD where the student spent three years studying how the corporate culture changed as an organisation went on the acquisition trail.

This dissertation was not exclusively ethnographic and it would be quite unusual for a business and management research degree only to employ a pure ethnographic approach.

In a classical ethnographic situation a researcher would live with a tribe for five or more years and then return to his or her institution and write up the findings.  In business  and management studies, especially at the masters and even the doctoral level, this would usually not be feasible.

An ethnographer will be concerned with a detailed understanding of how the society being studied works, i.e. its culture, and thus when this approach is used in business and management studies it will focus on detailed aspects of corporate relationships.

Field Experiments
(More details)

Field experiments are more common and regarded as far more authentic than laboratory experiments in business and management research.   The famous Hardware studies that signalled the beginning of formal research studies in this field of endeavour, were field experiments that provided insight into issues concerning worker productivity.

However, a field experiment probably could be conducted around a change of policy or a new investment, and the student would simply have to obtain the agreement of the organisation to participate in this event as an observer.  Thus field experiments do have an important role in business and management research.

Field experiments are less positivistic as they clearly do not present the same opportunity for control and replication as the laboratory experiment.  Therefore field experiments are approached from a less traditional scientific point of view.  The results of a field experiment will often be interpreted in a much more phenomenological way.

Research in business and management studies is no longer largely, or even substantially, experimental in either the laboratory  or in a field study setting, but rather is based on the observation of actual business and management functions as they happen or as they have happened.

Experiments are frequently regarded as too artificial in the business and management world to be of any real applicability and thus many masters and PhD students tend to avoid them.

A recent example of dissertation based on a field experiment was a study as to how a group of sales people responded to a new incentive payment in one particular part of an organisation.  The researcher was able to to examine the sales group performance before the introduction of the new incentive scheme and was then able to observe the differences in performance after the change.

Using primarily quantitative techniques, this research confirmed that the new arrangements did in fact work and that they were suitable to be employed throughout the whole orgnisation.  This approach to research is usually straightforward, with the main problem for the researcher being the acquisition of access to organisations undertaking changes in the field.

Focus Groups
(More details)

This is a research approach for collecting evidence from a highly specialised group of individuals.  It is usually considered necessary to have a group of more than four individuals to constitute a focus group that will debate an issue of interest to the researcher.   This is a relatively easy way for a researcher to accumulate some evidence from a number of experts.

Again, the way in which this evidence is processed is similar to that described above under the heading of in-depth surveys and the positivistic and phenomenological implications are similar.

There would be no point in giving one example of the use of a focus group in masters and doctoral research.  Sometimes focus groups are used at the outset of the research to support the literature review in the formulation of a research question.  At other times the focus group is an approach to validating the research conclusions at the end of the project.

The  evidence collected during a focus group is usually analysed using qualitative techniques.  Focus groups are a useful way of obtaining evidence from experts in an intense or concentrated way.

Forecasting
(More details)

Forecasting research tends to be associated with mathematical and statistical techniques of regression and time series analysis.  This type of research may also be regarded as falling under the heading of mathematical simulation.  These techniques allow projections to be made on the basis of past or historic evidence.

This is usually a highly quantitative approach in which mathematical models are fitted to empirical data or evidence points.  This research attempts to establish relationships between different sets of historical evidence and to understand why these relationships exist.

The techniques used in forecasting are essentially positivistic in nature.  However , the results of forecasting research can be interpreted in a more phenomenological way and thus be integrated into a greater business and management paradigm than simply a mathematical view of the situation.

A recent  example of a dissertation based on forecasting research was work conducted to establish the viability of multiple regression analysis in supporting decisions to invest in plant and equipment in a large-scale processing industry.

This was a highly quantitative and mathematical piece of work which relied on a high degree of numerical sophistication as well as the ability to interpret the results in a way which was of value to management .  The result of this work showed that the forecasting approach being studied did in fact contribute to the organisation’s ability to forecast their need for more investment.

Futures Research
(More details)

Futures research also provides a way of considering and developing predictions.  However, unlike forecasting, futures research has a forward orientation and thus looks ahead, rather than backwards, using techniques such as scenario projections and Delphi studies.

The experts in a Delphi study are normally physically separated and are unknown to one another.  The purpose of a Delphi  study is to produce a relatively narrow spread of opinions.

This research tactic would not generally be sufficient on its own as the main focus for phD, but it could be used to support other tactics in an attempt to triangulate and thereby validate the conclusions.

A recent example of a masters dissertation that involved futures research was a study to establish what leading firms of chartered accountants thought were the main technological developments that would affect their practices or business over the next five years.

Game or Role Playing
(More details)

This research tactic or approach involves asking individuals to participate in a business or management game by playing out a specific role.
A recent example of a dissertation based on game or role playing considered how managers made different decisions when they were put in different competitive situations.

In-depth Surveys
(More details)

This type of survey generally attempts to obtain detailed in-depth evidence from a relatively small number of informants through a series of interviews.  In this case a questionnaire is generally not used, but rather the informant is allowed to speak freely on the subject of interest to the researcher.

At the end of an in-depth survey the researcher will have a series of transcripts and the task is then to analyse these and to produce appropriate findings.

The use of in-depth surveys is well illustrated by research conducted into how innovative companies manage to maintain an environment that supports new product development.

Twelve companies were identified and were asked to identify three innovative products.  The data was analysed through the use of quantitative methods where researchers compared quantifiable data across companies.  However, the primary focus of analysis was on the qualitative data in the form of stories.

Laboratory Experiments
(More details)

Borrowed from the physical and life sciences laboratory, experiments are sometimes used in business and management research.   However, they are not much used in practice, except in limited or specific circumstances, because many of the issues which are of most interest to business and management researchers cannot easily or convincingly be studied in laboratory settings.

Organisations and even individual managers will not usually collaborate in such experiments.  Sometimes students are used as surrogates for managers and executives in laboratory settings, but this is not often considered convincing.   Laboratory experiments are used far more frequently in the USA than in other parts of the world.

However, a recent example of a dissertation based on this approach was one in which the researcher used a group decision support system to examine how decision making differed depending upon a variety of different variables, including the number of decision makers participating in the meeting.

This experiment provided an insight into how different types of questions are best handled under different circumstances.  Laboratory experiments use quantitative techniques of evidence analysis to deliver answers to highly structures research questions.

Large –scale Surveys
(More details)

Surveys are a common approach to research in business and management.  Surveys, which for the purpose of this chapter are concerned with the administration of questionnaires, offer an opportunity to collect large quantities of data or evidence(oppenheim,1966) in a quick and convenient manner.  In business and management research, questionnaires are often used to collect evidence concerning management opinions.

Questionnaires allow evidence to be gathered concerning how much or how long or when, but are of less value when the researcher is asking about how or why.  Surveys are thus more often used as the sole or primary source of evidence at the masters level than at the PhD level.   However, some PhD dissertations might include a survey as an attempt to corroborate a theoretical conjecture.

The logic of a traditional survey is strictly positivistic.  The evidence is frequently treated as though it were the result of measurements of a machine used in an entirely physical or life science environment. Standard statistical techniques used for ordinal numbers are increasingly applied with no recognition of the problems of the subjectivity of the opinions.  Although surveys are still extensively used in business and  management research there is an increasing feeling that they are not suitable for the collection of evidence about management issues.

A recent example of a dissertation based on a large-scale survey was an exploration into the acceptance of an organisation’s computer strategy by its staff, by examining the level of user satisfaction with a management information systems based on end-user computing.

Some 1,500 computer users within the organisation were asked to complete a questionnaire, and approximately 300 completed forms were returned.  These were analysed using a number of statistical approaches.  As a result of the evidence  collected it was possible to suggest ways in which the organisation could improve the implementation of its strategy.

Participant –Observer Approach
(More details)

Using the participant-Observer tactic the researcher joins a team of individuals who are part of the phenomenon being studied.  The researcher takes part in the phenomenon in the same way as the other participants, but at the same time focuses on observing the way in which the group operates.  This research technique is essentially phenomenological in nature.

A recent example of the participant-observer approach involved research conducted into the management of design and manufacturing processes in small textile companies in central England.  The student conducted research in two companies and spent some time working as an employee in these organisations.

Access was negotiated with the owner –manager of the organisations and the researcher participated as a complete participant, or a normal member of the organisation, gathering information on how the design and the production process was managed by working alongside the mainly female workforce.

Scenario Research
(More details)

This research tactic involves collecting evidence from a group of suitably qualified experts who are asked to discuss the implications of a particular hypothetical situation occurring.   This evidence too is collected and processed in much the same way as in in-depth surveys and again the positivistic and phenomenological implications are similar.

A recent example of a dissertation using scenario discussions as part of an evidence collection strategy involved the presentation of  a number of views as to how the market for a product might change  over the next five years.  Each scenario was fully debated by a group of informants and the researcher collected their evidence.  This evidence was then analysed in the same way as it would be in the case of in-depth interviews or focus groups.

Simulation or stochastic Modelling
(More details)

In the context of this chapter, simulation or stochastic modelling may be defined as a domain of study in which the input variables and the manner in which they interact is generally known to an uncertain level of accuracy.  In such situations, when there is some question as to the accuracy, it is considered inappropriate to use single point estimates of the variables.

Stochastic modelling is used to investigate situations that do not readily lend themselves to a strictly deterministic or analytical treatment.  Sometimes simulation can be used as a substitute for a laboratory or field experiment.

Simulation is particularly relevant where there is a requirement for the evaluation of formal mathematical relationships under a large variety of assumptions.   There is not a high degree of utilisation of this research paradigm in business or management research except where mathematical modelling is key part of the study.   The techniques used for stochastic modelling are positivistic in nature but the results may be interpreted in a more phenomenological way.

A recent example of a dissertation based on simulation involved the building of a mathematical model which was used to describe how to optimise the logistics function of a large manufacturing firm.  This model included a large number of variables.  Some of these variables were quite difficult to estimate and as a result a stochastic rather than a deterministic approach was taken.

The model was eventually computerised and a large number of simulated trails were performed in order to obtain a better understanding of the impact of different values for the variables, and thus to understand better how to optimise the logistics function.  This was a highly mathematical dissertation requiring the researcher to have a strong quantitative background, as well as an ability to be able to present the findings to management in terms that were comprehensible to them.

Research Tactics and their Philosophical Bases

Table 3.1 summarises the general philosophical  bases underpinning the different research tactics.  It should be noted that most research tactics can be used, at least to some extent, as either positivistic or phenomenological devices.  However some tactics are much more studied to one type of research than another and appropriate comments are made in the table.


Suggested Further Reading 


Ethnography: Principles in Practice, Tavistock, Landon. 
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=voia5txnkbQC

‘Getting answers from a focus group’.

Issues in Participant Observation.
Whyte, W.F. (1985) Participatory Action Research.  Sage Focus Editions Vol.123


Updated on 19 November 2018
Last update  1 September 2013

Ethnography Research in Business and Management

Books

Ethnography: Principles in Practice

Martyn Hammersley, Paul Atkinson
Psychology Press, 1995 - Social Science - 323 pages

In this accessible introduction to the methods of ethnographic fieldwork, Hammersley and Atkinson reconsider the status of ethnography and seek to place it quite explicitly in a general methodological context. Ethnography provides a systematic and coherent account of ethnographic principles and practices. From an outline of the principle of reflexivity the authors go on to discuss and exemplify the main features of ehtnographic work, such as the selection and sampling of cases, the problems of access, observation and interviewing, recording and filing data, and the process of data analysis. There is also consideration of the ethical issues surrounding ethnographic research. Throughout, the discussion draws on a wide range of illustrative material from classic and more recent studies in Britain and the US. 

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=voia5txnkbQC

Articles and Papers

Colin Dey, (2002) "Methodological issues: The use of critical ethnography as an active research methodology", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 15 Iss: 1, pp.106 - 121


USING ETHNOGRAPHY IN STRATEGIC CONSUMER RESEARCH
2002 paper
http://business-school.exeter.ac.uk/research/areas/topics/management/outputs/publication/?id=112

Digital ethnography: The next wave in understanding the consumer experience
Design Management Journal, 2003
http://www.dmi.org/dmi/html/interests/research/03142MAS75.pdf

ETHNOGRAPHY, ETHNOGRAPHERS AND HOSPITALITY RESEARCH:
COMMUNITIES, TENSIONS AND AFFILIATIONS
Peter Lugosi, PhD
School of Services Management, Bournemouth University
http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/11185/2/P_Lugosi_THPD_Final_Resubmission.pdf

Ethnographic Research Methods in Business and Information Systems Research
Ann Brown and Jessica Iacono
Page 79
Proceedings of the 11th European Conference on Research Methods
28-29, June 2012
http://phd-research-methodology.blogspot.com/2012/10/proceedings-11th-european-conference-on.html

Gartner: Call for Participation - Ethnography within enterprise, 2013
http://blogs.gartner.com/mike-gotta/call-for-participation-ethnography-within-the-enterprise/

ADVANCED QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES: ETHNOGRAPHY, CASE STUDIES, GROUNDED THEORY AND ACTION RESEARCH
Course page: http://badm.au.dk/uddannelse/badm-phd-courses/badm-phd-courses-2013/advanced-qualitative-research-methodologies-ethnography-case-studies-grounded-theory-and-action-research/



Updated on 19 November 2018
Last update 31 August 2013

How to Do and Write Literature Review?

Literature review has to be done by every researcher to make a research proposal. The proposed research is trying to extend the understanding of a particular phenomenon. This necessarily implies that the researcher made a review of the present understanding of the phenomenon and identified the need for further understanding. In academic research that is knowledge enhancing research, literature review is done using research journals.


The Procedure Described by Remenyi et al. in their book.

Chapter 4

The Literature Review

The literature review is a material part of the research process, taking a significant amount of the time and the energy to be expended on the research degree.   Furthermore the literature review is never completed, as the researcher has to remain abreast of the latest literature right up to the final publication of the dissertation.

As already mentioned, in the first instance the researcher should have some idea of the field of study, or the area of his or her interest in which the research is to be carried out.  This will perhaps be related to earlier undergraduate academic interests, or to current working experience, or both.  Defining the field of study in such broad terms would be specific enough at the early stage of the research project.

The next step is to review the literature in this general area in some detail. This means reading as much of the published material on the subject area as possible.  Initially the researcher needs to review all possible references available, including textbooks, academic papers, professional magazines and newspapers.  In addition television broadcasts and video recordings are also acceptable sources during this stage of the literature review.  Emphasis should be placed on the most recent material.

However, as the researchers’ interests begin to focus on a possible research topic, the literature emphasis should be increasingly placed on papers published in academically reviewed journals.  The popular press and even textbooks should be given relatively low emphasis at this stage.  Of course, it is sometimes the case that the topic is so new or novel that the popular press or videos have be used as a primary source of reference material.  In such cases it is important that support for views expressed in these media be sought from experts in the field.

The literature review should indicate a suitable problem to research as well as give the researcher some idea of the research methods or approaches that have been traditionally used in this field.

In reviewing the literature it is useful to look for contradictions or paradoxes.  These usually suggest that there is an interesting research question which could be addressed for a masters or doctoral degree.

It is important to note that in the dissertation the literature should be critically evaluated and not just accepted on face value.  It is this critical evaluation of the thoughts of other academics which usually leads to the formulation of suitable research question.

Traditionally researchers used paper reference indexes available in the university or business school library as the way of initiating a literature search.  These references lead researchers to seminal papers in the field of interest and these papers in turn contained references to other important papers.  However, increasingly this type of paper-based literature search is being replaced by electronic searchers.

Many libraries now supply their students with access to electronic databases, either over telecommunications networks or on CD-ROM.  In addition, there are extensive literature search facilities on the Internet, which is currently available to researchers at a low cost.

By the end of the literature review the researcher should have a vision of what he or she wishes to achieve in his or her research.

https://phd-research-methodology.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-research-programme-and-process-dan.html

Chapter 5

Literature Review

Once the literature has been fully and critically reviewed, the researcher should be able to provide a narrative description of the current understanding in the field of study, including at least one area where there is incomplete knowledge which could be further investigated.

Assessment of the Established Theory

There are agreed facts and established (if sometimes conflicting) theories, and the researcher may have deduced a new theory by analysing and then sythesising ideas and concepts, already present in the literature of the discipline.

In business and management  studies established and accepted theories are unlikely to be available.  There is little grand theory and few, if any, authors who have developed seminal theories of the kind offered by Freud, Marx or Keynes.  As a result the business and management researcher needs to generate a grounded theory, a concept developed by Glaser and Strauss(1967), which they define as: ‘ an inductive, theory discovery methodology that allows the researcher to develop a theoretical account of the general features of a topic while simultaneously grounding the account in empirical observations or evidence.’            

The grounded  theory methodology normally relies heavily on the use of in-depth interviews with experts in the field of study for the collection of evidence that will be used in an inductive way to assist in the theory generation.

Theoretical Conjecture

The primary aim of the researcher developing a grounded theory is to describe the phenomena of interest accurately.  The grounded theory emerges through the process of concept discovery, within which the researcher develops abstract concepts and categories from the evidence.   It is important to note that in this approach to research, concepts and theories are regarded simply as more or less useful and not as more or less true or valid.

Once the grounded theory has been developed, the researcher in business and management studies is in a position to  make a theoretical conjecture or thesis, but there is no structured methodology for doing this.  Rather, this aspect of research or scientific study can be regarded as an art that relies almost entirely on the imagination and creative abilities of the researcher.

It is not acceptable for the researcher completely to invent a theoretical conjecture, and he or she needs to be able to defend how the concepts and ideas which exist in the literature and which arose from the evidence lead to the theoretical conjecture.

The following is an example of a theoretical conjecture developed through the use of the grounded theory approach for a doctoral dissertation in information systems management(Remenyi,1990a).

Strategic Information Systems (SIS) occur as a result of pressure or opportunities directly related to industry drivers.  The firm’s response to this pressure or opportunity is influenced by its strategy and by its critical success factors (CFS), and these issues determine the formulation of the SIS.  The decision to attempt to take advantage of SIS is made with little attention to detail concerning cost-justification and vendor selection, but with more attention to communicating with the staff, training appropriate people and setting up support facilities.

An important change occurs at this stage of the research.  Whereas the formulation of the research problem began as a description of the known facts from which a narrative theory was developed, this narrative will now be used paradigmatically.  That is to say, it will provide a set of logical conjectures as the basis on which to predict and explain observations.

Whereas in the physical sciences the theoretical conjecture will frequently be expressed as a formula or as a series of simple propositions, in business and management research the theory or thesis will often be reduced to a diagram for the purpose of clarification

Read an interesting paper

A Systems Approach to Conduct an Effective Literature Review
Yair Levy and Timothy J. Ellis
Nova South Eastern University, Florida, USA
Informing Science Journal, Vol. 9, 2006
http://inform.nu/Articles/Vol9/V9p181-212Levy99.pdf

Ideas from A Systems Approach to Conduct an Effective Literature Review
Yair Levy and Timothy J. Ellis

Literature: Step of Processing

Know the literature

Comprehend the literature

         Cognitive Issues - Constructs and Concepts

Apply the literature

Analyze the literature

Synthesize the literature

Evaluate the  literature

Literature Step: Outputs

Writing arguments and Argumentation theory

Writing the literature review

The literature review must do more than just "point to the literature." An effective review must describe the major points contained in the article, interpret those points, classify the article's position in the BOK, explain the importance of the article, compare and contrast the findings and position of the article from the BOK, and evalute the findings of the article in light of the rest of the BoK.

Video Lecture based on the above Paper

Effective Literature Review - Video Lecture by Yair Levy - Part 1/5 - YouTube Video

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English Language to use in Literature Reviews

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Structuring and Writing Literature Review

Introduction: Literature needs to have introductory paragraphy explain the focus of the literature review.

The suggestions are start from a broard area discussion to more specific topic close to your area of research.

Present the literature chronologically.

Where multiple themes or topics are there, present the review theme wise. Within each of these, chronological order needs to be followed.

Critical analysis of the papers brings out the areas of agreement and disagreement expressed by other scholars as well as the conclusion of the candidate writing literature review. Hence carefully reading the criticism of a paper by other scholars and evaluating it is important. The candidate has to make judgment whether the criticism is justified or not and if it is needed the candidate may correct the unjustified criticism or misrepresentation.

A concluding paragraph or section summarizes the key issues covered in the literature review and the gaps identified for further research.

http://library.bcu.ac.uk/learner/writingguides/1.04.htm


References


The Literature Review: A Step-by-Step Guide for Students (SAGE Study Skills Series)
Diana Ridley

chapter
http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/29986_Chapter3.pdf

Bryman 3 edition chapter
http://www.oup.com/uk/orc/bin/9780199202959/bryman3e_ch04.pdf


Updated 14 November 2018,
First published 6 Decmber 2012