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C24Johan Brink, IIE8 December 2010
Reflections and Critical thinkingLecture 10
23-04-18
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Agenda
• Review of Qualitative &. quantitative methods• Mixed methods• Reflections and critical thinking• Ethics
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Review quantitative
MethodsStructured interviewsQuestionnairesStructured observationContent analysis of text and
images
Hypothesis testing & statistical tools
Operationalization & constructs
Sample & populations
Reliability & Validity
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Review qualitative
MethodsSemi and unstructured interviewsEthnographyFocus groupsHistorical cases
Generate theory
Cases – authentic
Interpretations Grounded theory & codingNarrative, historical & hermeneutical approaches
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Qualitative and quantitative methods
However… it doesn’t need to be like this!
• There is a difference in how quantitative researchers usually writes and talks about their research processes!
• Do qualitative researchers really get a true contact with the social reality just by ‘being there’? How intrusive is the semi-structured interview?
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Distinctions between qualitative and quantitative
Behavior and meaningQuantitative often focus on behaviors –
what they doQualitative often focus on meaning – what
they think But in reality both paradigms can and do
capture a bit of both!
Testing vs. Generating theoriesBoth qualitative and quantitative can be
designed to test theories!Both qualitative and quantitative can be
designed to test theories!
Usage of numbersFor qualitative:Frequency of themes and constructs, Statistics in casesFor quantitative:Operationalisation and definitionsGeneralization to theories or populations
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Mixing methods
Epistemological versionIncompatible due to differences
in epistemological paradigms (Positivistic or Interpretative)
Technical version Mutually supportive, although
requiring different skills • Methodological triangulation• Facilitation – sequence– Providing hypothesis– Design quantitative research– Select cases– Fill in the gaps & nuances– Content and process• Complementarity -parallel
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Mediating the clash: Critical realism• An entity can exist
independently of our knowledge of it – its ‘real’ – However the social world is always mediated and thus subjective
• ‘The social world is reproduced and transformed in daily life’ – There are mechanisms that are real, but these mechanism are directly accessible – but only through their effects
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Reflections: Interpretations
InterpretationWhat do I see?Primary interpretationsMisunderstandingsUnclear tiesBiased dataIncomprehensibleSecondary interpretationsTheory pre-understandingLanguageAssumptions
ReflectionContext, History, Discourses…Critical theory What in the social world can be changed?
What can’t?
‘All credibility, all good conscience, all evidence of truth come only from the senses’- Nietzsche
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Reflections: Critical thinking
A critical thinker• What is the real problem?• Which definitions are there?• Which assumptions are there?• Is there information lacking?• Who benefits?• Which relationships are there/
patterns?• Are there inconsistencies &
conflicting logics?• What would happen if
something is changed? (contra factual reasoning)
• Self awareness!• Multiple perspectives!
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Reflections: Theories
TheoryAs explaining the meaning, the
‘nature’As explaining the correspondence –
frequencies , relationships, cause & effects
As providing usability - applications
TheoriesGrand theoriesConflicting – incommensurability
Epistemological paradigmsPerspectives
ModelTheoreticalEmpirical
Accuracy
Simplicity
Generalizability
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Reflections: Evidence-Based Management
• What assumptions does the idea or practice make about people and organizations? What would have to be true about people and organizations for the idea or practice to be effective?
• Which of these assumptions seems reasonable and correct to you and your colleagues? Which seems wrong and suspect?
• Could this idea or practice still succeed if the assumptions turned out to be wrong?
• How might you and your colleagues quickly and inexpensively gather some data to test the reasonableness of the underlying assumptions?
• What other ideas or management practices can you think of that would address the same problem or issue and be more consistent with what you believe to be true about people and organizations?
In search of excellence: Lessons from best run companies
The myth of Excellence: Why great companies Never try to be the best at everything
Managing by Measuring: How to improve your organization’s performance through effective benchmarking
Managing with passion: Making the most of your job and your life
The quest for authentic power: Getting past past manipulation, control, and self-limiting beliefs
What would Machiavelli do? The ends justify the Meanness
Build to last: :Successful habits of visionary companies
Corporate failure by design: Why organizations are built to fail
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Reflections: Ethics
Implications for the subjects• Will this cause any harm?– What is harm? For whom?• Power and intrusive? – Invasion of privacy• Experiments and interfering?– Does the goal justify the means?• Covert strategies, deception &
observations
Confidentially agreements and anonymity
Openness
Conflicts of interestsIndependenceFinanciers?
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Answers to questions
• The feedback on the 15 December is optional – but we have reserved time
• Hand in the first version of T3, the proposal today 8 December at 24.00
• The Final version of the proposal on which you are graded to be handed in the 15 January!
• There will be 1 assigned student + one from faculty to comment on your proposal – however – I encourage you to read and participate in the informal discussions during the presentations
• Student 1 comment on student 2, student 2 on 3, 3 on 1• There are some students who still haven't responded!