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Research Design in Qualitative Methods (CMR15150)

General information

Type:

OB

Curs:

1

Period:

S semester

ECTS Credits:

2.5 ECTS

Teaching Staff:

Group Teacher Department Language
Alfons Sauquet Rovira Dirección de Personas y Organización ENG

COURSE CONTRIBUTION TO PROGRAM

This introductory course will expose participants to one of the core streams in research in management studies. Any solid academic career is to be based in the complete understanding of a field which is fundamentally diverse, therefore acquiring first time knowledge and understanding of the origins, purpose and specific challenges that informs qualitative research is a relevant piece for further personal academic development.

By way of revisiting the main schools of thought and the different traditions the participant will be able to understand the scope, the logic and some limitations of each one. Further, as each one will be placed in an academic and historical context the participants will be able to situate current initiatives in the appropriate context.

Last, the participant will learn from specific research outcomes the potential of this specific stream and its contribution to advancing general knowledge in management and more broadly, in social sciences.

Course Learning Objectives

At the end of the course students will have gained substantial knowledge over the different traditions and schools that inform the field of qualitative research. Further, the student will be familiar to the specific research agenda an motivation that informs each tradition as well as understand the potential by way of being exposed to relevant research outcomes. Through the course student will complement its understanding of the different research paradigms as well as its philosophical underpinnings. All in all students, at the end of the course will have developed a more refined assessment competence as well as practice critical thinking as the course leans on comparability of purposes and foundations. Last the students will be able to both appreciate the challenges, limits, and potentiality of research in management science.

Competences

25. Committed to ethical and social responsibility
27. Ability to work independently
26. Ability to adapt to new situations
23. Appreciation for diversity and multiculturalism
22. Ability to work in multidisciplinary and multicultural teams
7. Ability to synthesise and generalise information
1. Become familiar with knowledge creation theories (epistemology, philosophy of science, and reasoning)
6. Ability to reason analytically and reflectively
12. Skillful in the use of qualitative methods
29. Focused on quality

CONTENT

1. Session 1.

The first session puts management research in perspective in regard to history, goals and impact. Management research is put into context by way of different academic stand points. The work of Khurana, Goshal, Davis and Jenssen will be used to illustrate different responses to the challenges of management research.
In addition, the session will be devoted to give an overview of the course.

2. Session 2.

Examines the main discussions on Social Science regarding epistemology and methodology looking at its philosophical foundations. Paradigmatic differences between the different schools will be assessed as well as some references to the sociology of science.

3. Session 3.

Will be devoted to understanding Phenomenology from its initaial philosophical stand point in Husserl and Schutz to its further developments by Goffman and Garfinkel.
References to current research and management schools will be traced (e.g. Action Science, Communication research).

4. Session 4.

The core of the session is to be devoted to Etnography and its current versions.

5. Session 5.

Case studies have been tremendoussly popular as education tools. The session will be looking at them as one of the most productive research strategies in management studies. Further, its role in advancing theory will be discussed.

6. Session 6.

Will be dedicated to special strategies and their follow ups in management such as Action Research, Participatory Action Research, the biographical method, and the use of secondary sources will be also discussed..

References to Organizational Development, Clinical Inquiry will be used as illustrations of the above.

7. Session 7.

The session will focus on discussing most common data collection methods. Namely, Participant Observation, Interviews, Graphic representations, and the like.

8. Session 8.

The session will look at the general process of conducting qualitative research by discussing a general common structure of such studies. Designing, Structuring and Representing a Qualitative Research project.

Methodology


The course is based on a combination of lectures, group discussion and practice work. Students are required to come to class with the required assignments fulfilled, be those reading or conducting some practice activities.

Students are expected to exercise curiosity and practice its intellectual reasoning. Class discussions are thus understood as opportunities to challenge one's own perspective and that of colleagues and mates.

Participants in the course should understand that the topic and content requires a high level of intellectual maturity, Far from a course requisite, it is an assumed competence that should be cultivated during the course and evidenced by its end.

ASSESSMENT

ASSESSMENT BREAKDOWN

Description %
Class discussion 30
Practice activities 20
Final piece 50

Assessment criteria

The course will be assessed on equal basis on three grounds.

a. Class discussion. Which implies necessarily good preparation and an alert mind. 30%
b. Practice activities, students will be asked to spend some time conducting interviews or becoming familiar with any other method.20%
c. Students will write a final piece on a specific topic as a take away within a specified period of time. 50%

Each activity will have different weights still failure in any of the three will result in an incomplete.

Bibliography

Readings Session 1
S. Goshal. Academy of Management Learning and Education. 2005. 45.75-91
R.Khurana and D.Penrice. 2011. Business Education, The American Trajectory. In A. Sauquet and M. Morsing.(eds.) Business Schools and their contribution to Society. Sage.
Anne Tsui. Reconnecting with the Business World. EFMD. Global Focus:Volume 09 Issue 01, 37-39

Readings Session 2
Martin Hollis. The Philosophy of Social Science. P. 3-18. Cambridge U. Press.
Guba and Lincoln, Paradigmatic Controversies, contradictions and influences. Ch.8. In Denzin and Lincoln, Handbook of Qualitative Reseach. Sage.
H.S. Jenssen. Paradigms of theory building in business studies. 1995. Handelshojskolens Forlag.
Mintzberg, H. The nature of managerial work. HBR. 1973.

Readings Session 3
Garfinkel. H. Studies in Ethnomethodology. Selected pieces. Polity Press. 1999. Selected chapters.
Goffman, E. Asylums. Pengüin. 1961. Selected Chapters
Schon, D. The Reflective Practitioner.

Readings Session 4
K.Knorr Cetina. Epistemic cultures. Harvard U. Press. Selected chapters.
Van Maanen. J. Tales of the Field. Chicago U. Press.
Van Maanen. Images of Imaging. Notes on Doing Longitudinal Fieldwork. In A.Van de Ven and G.Huber (eds). Longitudinal Field Research Methods. Sage.
Orlikwski, W. and Feldman, M. Theorizing practice and Practicing Theory. 2011. Organization Science. Paper available through MIT Open Access Articles.

Readings Session 5
Kathy Eisenhardt, Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review. 14,4, 532-550. 1989.
Bou. E. and Sauquet A. (2006). Knowing in the consulting firm, in A.Buono and F. Poulfelt. Challenges and Issues in Knowledge Management. Scottdale, Information Age Publishing.

Readings Session 6
Karl Weick. (1993) The collapse of Sensemaking: The Mann Gulch Disaster. ASQ. 38, 4, 628.
Maclean, N. (1993) Young Men Against fire. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
E.Schein. (1996) Kurt Lewin's change theory in the field and in the classroom. Systems Practice 9 (1) 27-47

Readings Session 7
E. Schein. Culture: the missing concept in Organization Studies. 1999. Admisnistrative Science Quarterly. 229-240.
S. Barley and G. Kunda. Gurus, Hired Guns and Warm Bodies. Princeton University Press, 2004. Chapters 1 and 13.


Readings Session 8
Davis, G.F. What is Organizational Research for? ASQ.2015. Vol 60. 179.188.

Timetable and sections

Group Teacher Department
Alfons Sauquet Rovira Dirección de Personas y Organización

Timetable