Collaborative Research Design Working With Business for Meaningful Findings

430 Pages·2017·6.483 MB·English

by  Freytag, Per, Young, Louise

Per Vagn Freytag · Louise Young Editors
Collaborative
Research
Design
Working with Business for Meaningful
Findings
Collaborative Research Design
Per Vagn Freytag Louise Young
(cid:129)
Editors
Collaborative Research
Design
Working with Business for Meaningful
Findings
123
Editors
PerVagn Freytag LouiseYoung
University of SouthernDenmark University of SouthernDenmark
Kolding Kolding
Denmark Denmark
and
Western Sydney University
Sydney
Australia
ISBN978-981-10-5006-0 ISBN978-981-10-5008-4 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5008-4
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2017940542
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Foreword
Interaction Between Business Research and Business
Practice—Collaboration or Arm’s Length?
Who, outside academia, is interested in scientific knowledge development about
business and business markets? Business managers? Government policy makers?
Other stakeholders? These categories ought not only to be interested in research
resultsbutalsoincontributingtotheresearchprocess,fromproblemformulationto
considering any impact of research results. But are they? Do they find academic
research relevant for them? Do they understand or are they aware of the reports
communicated in academic journals? (Likely not.) Regardless of how we answer
these questions, as academic researchers we should recognize them as of utmost
importance. How can our research become more interesting and valued outside
academia?
In this book, these issues are discussed with reference to methods used in
scientific inquiries focused on business in the context of business markets. The
overall idea is that research ought to be more collaborative between academia and
practice.Knowledgeshouldbeseenasco-created.Abetterbalanceamongresearch
and business perspectives on research should be achieved. This asks for reevalu-
ation of research methods as regards interaction between research practice and
business/market practice as well as the role of quantitative vs. qualitative research.
Mainstreamresearchdominatingacademicmarketingresearchisrathernegative
to co-creation ideas and qualitative research. It is quite reductionist and asks for
increasingly“rigorous”methods.Theeditorsofthisbooksuggestareinterpretation
ofrigorous tomean“rigorousrelevance”inbusinessmarketscontexts.Iagree and
hope that such a reinterpretation will help to avoid “rigor mortis” depending on
overemphasis on what is believed to be “rigorous” methods.
Research could be basically theory driven, method driven, or problem driven.
There is of course interaction between the three forces, but one of them might
dominate. Collaborative research must to an important extent be problem driven,
giving also the business community an important role in problem formulation.
v
vi Foreword
Problemformulationmightalsoinvolveabroadersetofactorssuchasgovernment
agencies and other stakeholders, especially when societal dimensions, such as
sustainability, innovation, and regional development, are important.
AnexampleofaSwedishresearchprogramonbusinessmarketingthatinvolved
collaboration and co-creation is the following. In Sweden, the Marketing
Technology Center (MTC) was founded in 1973 by IVA (The Royal Swedish
AcademyofEngineeringSciences)andIFL(TheSwedishInstituteofManagement,
the further management education arm of the Stockholm School of Economics).
MTC got widespread support from Swedish industry. The purpose was to develop
and communicate knowledge about marketing, especially producer goods market-
ing, in interaction between academia and business. IVA and MTC established a
problem-driven research project “Marketing for Competitiveness” engaging an
academicresearchteamwithacommonbackgroundasregardsongoingtheorizing
efforts.Theteamgotunprecedentedaccesstomanagersforopeninterviews,loosely
guided by interview guides, at different levels in major Swedish firms with sub-
sidiariesaroundtheglobe.Thereport,publishedasabookinSweden,soldoverthe
next several years 30,000 copies, both to academia and to business. A follow-up
research program helped finance six dissertations and resulted in a number of
academic publications. Thus, collaborative research is more than a one-to-one
relationship. It takes place over time in a societal context favorable to such inter-
action with regard to problem identification, theoretical and methodological com-
petencies, access to financial and human resources, and opportunities for
communication of results outside academic publications.
Toconductcollaborative research,amutual interestmustevolve that stimulates
substantiveinteractionbefore,during,andafteraresearchproject.Relevanceofthe
research must be judged as high for both parties to motivate the human, organi-
zational, and financial resources deployed. Academic rewards for this type of
research are, however, not self-evident. A serious threat is the extent to which
academic research is driven by intra-academic priorities in the context of journal
specialization, journal rankings, citations, and number of published articles.
Leaving business to a large extent uninterested.
Therefore, the present volume is a most welcome addition to the literature on
research methods that allows and stimulates collaborative research.
Lars-Gunnar Mattsson
Stockholm School of Economics
Contents
Part I Introductory Remarks
1 Doing Quality Collaborative Research with Business... ..... .... 3
Louise Young and Per Vagn Freytag
Part II Research Models and Processes
2 Understanding the Process of Empirical Business Studies:
The Influence of Methodological Approaches . .... .... ..... .... 21
Anne-Mette Sonne, Mads Bruun Ingstrup and Anders Peder Hansen
3 Theory Building: Using Abductive Search Strategies... ..... .... 45
Kristian Philipsen
4 A Framework for Undertaking Conceptual and Empirical
Research.. .... .... .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 73
Susanne Wiatr Borg and Louise Young
5 The Palette of Literature Reviews Available
for Critical Realists. .... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 93
Majbritt Rostgaard Evald
Part III Research Methods for Information Gathering
and Generating
6 Interviewing Like a Researcher: The Powers of Paradigms... .... 125
Majbritt Rostgaard Evald, Per Vagn Freytag and Suna Løwe Nielsen
7 Using Workshops in Business Research: A Framework
to Diagnose, Plan, Facilitate and Analyze Workshops .. ..... .... 155
Pia Storvang, Bo Mortensen and Ann Højbjerg Clarke
8 Tangible Business Interviews .. .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 175
Jacob Buur
vii
viii Contents
9 Multi-method Systematic Observation: Theory and Practice.. .... 195
Sana Marroun and Louise Young
10 The Use of Experiments in Business Research .... .... ..... .... 223
Anders Haug
Part IV Analysis and Presentation of Findings
11 Analysis of Qualitative Data: Using Automated Semantic
Analysis to Understand Networks of Concepts.... .... ..... .... 251
Louise Young and Kristin B. Munksgaard
12 Displaying Research Results... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 285
Winie Evers, Ian Wilkinson and Per Vagn Freytag
Part V Researching in the Present and Future
13 Vignettes in Critical Theory Investigations... .... .... ..... .... 313
Grethe Heldbjerg and Dennis van Liempd
14 Improvising in Research: Drawing on Theatre Practices..... .... 341
Henry Larsen and Preben Friis
15 Computer Simulation and Agent-Based Models
as a Research Method... ..... .... .... .... .... .... ..... .... 377
Fabian Held and Ian Wilkinson
Part VI Overview and Conclusion
16 Good Qualitative Research: Opening up the Debate ... ..... .... 401
Catherine Welch
17 Bringing It All Together and Leaving It All up to You! ..... .... 413
Per Vagn Freytag and Louise Young
Part I
Introductory Remarks
Chapter 1
Doing Quality Collaborative Research
with Business
Louise Young and Per Vagn Freytag
Abstract Thischapterprovidesbothanoverviewofthevolume’schaptersandthe
ways in which they interrelate and a foundation for their use. There are two main
components to the foundation. The chapters are intended to guide collaborative
research with business—although the methods articulated could be used in other
kinds of research.Collaborationinvolvesresearch participants working togetherto
produce work meaningful to them and the methods presented are articulated in
these terms. The other key component of the foundation is the importance of
research designers articulating their conceptual assumptions. This enables better
and more transparent research designs and interpretation of research findings. This
is always important but particularly so in collaborative research settings.
This book is consistent with a small but growing trend among academic market
researchers to seek greater balance among research activities, specifically theoriz-
ing, exploring, testing and accepting (or not) new marketing and management
thought (Alvesson and Deetz 2000; Hunt 2013). An over arching argument
throughout this volume is that one important way that increased balance can be
achievedisbyworkingmorecloselywithbusinessandgovernmentpractitionersto
ensure that the research produced is both meaningful and relevant to them and to
the wider research community. We argue that to be meaningful and relevant these
research collaborations need to include solid theoretical grounding and quality
research practices that are geared to these collaborative settings. This kind of
research will advance not only practice-related knowledge but also the theoretical
and empirical knowledge of business academia.
L.Young(&)
WesternSydneyUniversity,Sydney,Australia
e-mail:[email protected]
L.Young(cid:1)P.V.Freytag
UniversityofSouthernDenmark,Kolding,Denmark
©SpringerNatureSingaporePteLtd.2018 3
P.V.FreytagandL.Young(eds.),CollaborativeResearchDesign,
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