Review of Research Design,

Literature Reviews,
Ethics and Research
Dr. Ed Carberry
Methodology of Management Science
September 28 29
Rotterdam School of Management

Review for Part 1

Submit your questions directly to me by
Friday, October 2
ecarberry@rsm.nl

Outline of Todays Lecture

Review of last week: research design

Getting a project started

Initial considerations (Chp 3)

Conducting literature reviews (Chap 4)
Referencing and plagiarism (Chap 4)

Ethical issues (Chap 5)

Review of Last Week

The Research Process

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Formulating questions
Literature review
Specifying the purpose of the research
Research design choices
Choosing a research strategy
Data collection
Data analysis
Writing up results
Disseminating results

Research Process

Formulating research questions

Should be as clear and specific as possible

Connected to existing literature
Can be modified

Purpose of research

Exploratory: what is going on?

Descriptive: how is it happening?
Explanatory: why is it happening?
6

Research Design Choices

Research method

Research design

Technique of data collection

Guiding framework for collecting and analyzing data

What influences research design choices?

Intellectual assumptions and paradigms

Research question
Resources available
Importance of causality, generalization, and context
7

Research Design Choices

Type of explanation (social context)

Ideographic: focusing on one case and all the

possible causes and influences
Nomothetic: identify a few causal factors that
impact a number of cases

Relationship between theory and data

Deductive: theory >>> data

Inductive: data >>> theory
8

Research Design Choices

Type of data

Qualitative: words and meanings

Quantitative: numbers

Results of interviews, direct observation, ethnography

Surveys, financial data, experiments

Often associated with specific ontological and

epistemological assumptions

Which people or phenomena? (generalization)

Population
Sample
9

Research Design Choices

Causality and the role of time (deductive and

quantitative)

Conditions for nomothetic causality

Cross-sectional vs. longitudinal research

Correlation
Time-ordering
Nonspurious relationship
One point in time vs. several points in time
Longitudinal is essential for uncovering time-ordering

Inductive and qualitative research is often

longitudinal
10

Research Design Choices

How will your research be evaluated?

Reliability: consistent measurement

Validity

Construct validity: do your measures

accurately reflect the underlying concept?
Internal validity: do your causal relationships
make sense?
External validity: do your results apply outside
of your research setting?
Ecological validity: do your results apply to the
every day world and real actors?

11

Research Design Choices

Nomothetic vs. ideographic

Deductive vs. inductive
Quantitative vs. qualitative
Population and sampling
Cross-sectional vs. longitudinal
Reliability, replication, and validity
12

Research Design Choices

How do our assumptions shape research

design?

Objectivist ontology, positivist epistemology

Deductive, quantitative, nomothetic approach

Constructionist ontology, interpretivist

epistemology

Inductive, qualitative, ideographic approach

13

Research Design

How does the importance of different

factors influence design?

Causality

Generalization

Longitudinal, deductive/inductive
Nomothethic, sampling

The specific social context in which social

behavior occurs

Inductive, ideographic
14

Research Design Strategies

Experimental

Survey

Causality
Deductive
Quantitative
Nomothetic
Quantitative: measurement very important
Cross-sectional or longitudinal

Case studies

Flexible and ideographic

15

Research Design: An Example

What is the effect of layoffs on employees

who keep their jobs?

Causality and generalization

Deductive, nomothetic, longitudinal

Survey a random sample of employees in a random
sample of companies
Conduct survey every 3 months for two years

16

Research Design: An Example

What is the effect of layoffs on employees

who keep their jobs?

Social context and changes over time

Inductive, ideographic, and longitudinal

Case study with one company
In-depth interviews, focus groups, observation

17

Getting Started

18

Getting Started
1.
2.
3.
4.

Initial considerations
Research questions
Literature review and sources
Referencing and plagiarism

19

Initial Considerations

What is expected of your institution and project?

Do not be afraid to use your supervisor

BA/IBA thesis?
Masters thesis?
Consult early and often

Keep meticulous records

How will you access your data? Do you need to
negotiate access?
Do you need to learn new software for data
analysis?
20

Initial Considerations

Time management: many phases of research take

longer than you expect

Formulate research questions

Literature review
Research design and methods
Write research proposal
Data collection
Data analysis
Write first and subsequent drafts
21

Literature Reviews

Description, summary, and critical

evaluation of existing work
Engaging in an intellectual conversation

Why is your research important?

What does it contribute?
Ongoing throughout research project

22

Literature Reviews

Purpose

Justifies and motivates your core question

What is already known?

What are the significant controversies?
How have different researchers approached the
question?
What are the most interesting questions?
Where is there space for a contribution?
23

Literature Reviews

Purpose

Assessing plan design

Identify potential concepts and variables
What types of methods have been used?
Interpreting your findings

Challenges

Much has been done: what can you contribute?

Too much information: your question crosses boundaries
and involves multiple literatures
Balancing systematic analysis with gaining understanding
24

Elements of Good Literature Reviews

Making informed judgments about relevant

sources
Moving beyond description and summary

Participating in a conversation: how do different

sources relate to each other?
How does existing work set up your own original
core question or thesis?
Evaluating research design, data collection, analysis
and conclusions
How might specific sources be biased and how
might this influence their argument and use of
evidence?
25

Using Sources

26

Finding Sources

Google/Wikipedia: be very very careful

What is the source of the site?

Person or organization behind the site?
How current is the information?
Can be good for initial exploration
Google scholar can be very helpful

27

Finding Sources

Books

In-depth single volumes on a topic

Chapters in edited volumes
Text books

Journal articles

Academy of Management Journal

Administrative Science Quarterly
Strategic Management Journal
28

Finding Sources

Non-academic research and reports

Government organizations
Policy organizations
Trade associations
Unions and employee groups
Shareholder activists
Social movement organizations
29

Finding Sources

Academic research: electronic databases

ABI/INFORM
EBSCO Business Source Premier
Social Science Citation Index

30

Accessing Library Databases

Library

(http://www.eur.nl/ub/english)

Search
Click

Databases
If accessing from campus
Alphabetical list
Most frequently used

If

accessing from off campus

Click Access to Databases from Home

Pick the correct manual for your PC operating
system

31

32

33

Using ABI Inform/Proquest

34

ABI Inform/Proquest: Types of

Sources

35

ABI Inform/Proquest: Getting Full T

Articles

36

Electronic Sources

Be exhaustive, systematic, flexible and creative

about search terms for all of these sources

Personnel systems, human resource management

Payment systems, reward management
Many articles and electronic citations contain keywords

Access to very sophisticated databases

Powerful tools, but can become overwhelming

Experiment and explore

37

Avoiding Plagiarism

38

Plagiarism: Type 1

Passing off someone elses work as your

own
Internet makes it easy, but also makes it
easier to detect

SafeAssignment

Instructors and TAs are more sensitive to

it than you think
39

Plagiarism: Type 1

AVOID IT AT ALL COSTS!

Can lead to failing a class,
dismissal from school

40

Plagiarism: Type 2

Presenting someone elses thoughts as your own

More specifically (Babbie 2004: 488-498)

Using someone elses exact words without using

quotation marks and a complete reference
Paraphrasing someone elses words and presenting them
as your own
Presenting someone elses ideas as your own, even if you
use your own words

41

Referencing

Proper referencing is the key to avoiding

plagiarism
Keep a meticulous record of what you read
Take clear and extensive notes about how
you are going to use the work of others
Common problems

Direct quotations
Paraphrasing and discussing the ideas of others

42

Referencing

Harvard style (primary method)

After you paraphrase an idea or argument of

someone else, add the last name and year of
publication, in parentheses (Babbie 2004)
If quoting, do the same, but also include the page
number (Babbie 2004: 487)
List all sources at the end in alphabetical order by
last name (Bibliography or References)
43

An Example

All social scientists approach their subject

via explicit or implicit assumptions about the
nature of the social world and the way in
which it may be investigated (Burrell and
Morgan, 1982: 1)

44

An Example

Acceptable: direct quote

Burrell and Morgan (1982: 1), in their

influential work on organizational paradigms,
point out that all social scientists approach
their subject via explicit or implicit
assumptions about the nature of the social
world.

45

An Example

Acceptable

Paraphrase

Burrell and Morgan (1982) have emphasized that

social researchers all work from different assumptions
about the social world

Using ideas

Some writers have focused on the role of

philosophical assumptions in social research (Burrell
and Morgan 1982)
46

An Example

Unacceptable

Direct quote, but not cited

In this paper, I will examine the role of

assumptions in research. All social scientists
approach their subject via explicit or implicit
assumptions about the nature of the social world
and the way in which it may be investigated.

47

An Example

Unacceptable

Paraphrased, but not cited

In this paper, I will examine the role of assumptions in

research. Social researchers of all kinds analyze their
topics with specific assumptions about the essence of
social life

Using ideas, but not cited

In this paper, I will examine the role of assumptions in

research. In examining social research, it is notable
that researchers bring in their own fundamental beliefs
about society.
48

Literature Reviews

Description, summary, and critical evaluation

of existing work
Engaging in an intellectual conversation
Ongoing throughout research project
Making informed judgments
Moving beyond description and summary
Avoiding plagiarism through proper citations
49

Part 3: Ethics and

Social Research

50

Ethics in Medical Research

Use of animals
Tuskegee Syphilis Study (1932-1972)

US government researchers
Examine the effect of treatment vs nontreatment on
400 African-American males
Participants lied to, given placebos, not told they
were part of a study
Funding ran out: observe progress of the disease
When effective treatment available, subjects were
prevented from receiving it
28 died of the disease, 100 died from complications
51

Stanley Milgram (1961)

Experiment on learning

Newspaper ad: $4.50 to participate in an

experiment on learning and memory
Participants

Academic running the experiment

One participant played the role of teacher
The other participant played the role learner

52

Milgrams Experiment

Learner was taken to another room and strapped

into a chair with electrode placed on their arm
Teacher in the next room with a large console
with knobs for different levels of electric current
Teacher reads pairs of words and asks learner to
read them back
If the learner made an incorrect answer, the
teacher was supposed to shock the learner
53

Milgrams Experiment

If teacher indicated they did not want to

administer the shock

Please continue
The experiment requires that you continue
It is absolutely essential that you continue
You have no other choice, you must go on

What was the experiment really about?

54

Milgrams Experiment

Results

65% of all participants punished learners to the

maximum of 450 volts
No participants stopped before 300 volts

Implications

Willingness of many people to obey authority

Ordinary people can engage in destructive acts
What ethical issues does it raise?

Engaging in abusive behavior

Severe anxiety and stress

55

Stanford Prison Experiment (1971)

What leads to abuse in prisons?

Experiment terminated after six days

21 undergraduates lived in a mock prison for two

weeks
10 prisoners and 11 guards
Guards were very abusive
Prisoners experienced severe emotional trauma

Influence of social conditions and roles on

behavior, obedience to authority
56

Ethics and Social Science

Milgram and Stanford Prison experiments

led to new standards for ethical procedures
in social science research
Key questions

How should we treat the people on whom we

conduct research?
Are there things we should or should not do?
57

Ethics and Social Science

Conforming to the standards is not enough

Developing an awareness of potential issues

Ethical issues are not always obvious: what is
right and wrong?
Balancing ethical considerations with the value of
research and knowledge
Not just experiments, but all type of research

58

Key Ethical Issues

Harm to participants
Informed consent and voluntary participation
Deception
Respect of privacy

59

No Harm to Participants

Participant is helping research with little

promise of direct return
Physical harm: rarely a consideration
Psychological harm

Stress of actual research

Experiments: Milgram
Interviews: length, frequency
Surveys: length, frequency
60

No Harm to Participants

Psychological harm

Asking subjects to reveal undesirable aspects of

themselves

Deviant behavior: prison experiment

Unpopular attitudes or characteristics that are
demeaning

Harm to reputation and careers

Dalton (1959): having a secretary provide access to

company files
The Experiment (BBC): role of television
61

Participation and Consent

Voluntary participation

Informed consent

Subjects should have the choice of whether or not to

participate
Addresses potential harm and voluntary participation
Potential subjects should information to make an
informed decision

Challenges and contradictions

If researchers provide all the information about the study,

many people may not participate
Can hinder our ability to study the social world
62

Deception

Experiments

Deceiving participants about the goals of the

research
Often essential to observe of the phenomena of
interest
May cause harm when truth is revealed
Debriefing interviews

Explain the real goals and potential consequences

Offer counseling if appropriate
63

Deception

Lying participants that you are a researcher

Observation (Dalton 1959)

Covert or overt: do you reveal your role?

How else could we observe this type of behavior?

Participant observation/ethnography

Can be more difficult to hide your role

Often, participants will adjust to you and
incorporate you into the group
64

Privacy

Anonymity

Most participants wish to remain anonymous

Researcher can not link responses to
respondents

Difficult with interviews, observation

Easier with surveys and quantitative research

Guaranteeing anonymity can increase

response rates
65

Privacy

Confidentiality

Researchers knows the identity, but does not

reveal it publicly
Researcher has to make the distinction between
anonymous and confidential
Sensitive corporate or personal information
Special care in reporting results: sophisticated
readers may be able to identify participants or
organization
66

Obligations to Scientific Community

Honesty and openness in reporting data

Make shortcomings of your research known

Science relies on trust until replication is possible

Reporting negative findings

Make transparent data collection and analysis

Making funding sources transparent

Research about effects of managerial decision-making on

performance funded by CEO association
Research on the success of an intervention funded by the
company
67

Stances on Ethics

Universalism

Situation ethics

Deception to be considered on a case by case basis

Ends sometimes justify the means

Ethical transgression is everywhere

Ethical principles should never be broken

All research involves ethically questionable behavior

Anything goes

Flexibility in ethical decision-making

Deceptions are often very minor
Very few researchers adopt this stance
68

Ethics: A Balancing Act

Goals of science & ethical considerations

Voluntary participation

No harm to participants

Are small amounts justified to collect data?

Deception

Need for subjects and representative samples

Necessary to measure certain phenomena

Not just blindly following formal guidelines,

but being aware of all potential ethical issues

69

Review for Part 1

Submit your questions directly to me by
Friday, October 2
ecarberry@rsm.nl

70

Next Week:
Quantitative Research
Read Bryman and Bell,
Chapter Six
71