essential-guide-to-qualitative-in-organizational-research

More documents

Recommendations

Info

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– LIFE HISTORIES –––––––––– 43The method can be used either in conjunction with others, or as a technique on its own.However, my own preference is for using a variety of methods together so that theycomplement each other, providing, at least potentially, a more fertile data set. For example,participant observation (see Waddington, Chapter 13, this volume) can be combined with lifehistory data to provide a richer, more holistic picture than perhaps either method couldfurnish on its own. Similarly, discourse analysis can be applied to data generated through lifehistory method to strengthen the analysis (see Dick, Chapter 17, this volume).The major problem of using the method is that it is immensely time consuming for boththe researcher and the actors involved. Gathering and analysing life history data commonlyinvolves the researcher in many hours of data collection, and analysis can be an uncertainprocess requiring a high tolerance of ambiguity over considerable periods of time. Althoughthe resulting accounts might read as if the data collection and analysis were planned, linear andunproblematic, this does not reflect my experience. Other problems associated with this kindof research include the emotional repercussions that can result (see Musson, 1994), andreporting data that compromise neither the richness of the stories nor the actor’s anonymity.These are factors that the life history researcher must be prepared to face.FURTHER READING ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––The text by K. Plummer (1983) Documents of Life: An Introduction to the Problems and Literatureof the Humanistic Method, London: Allen and Unwin, should be read by anyone consideringusing the life history method. Plummer has also written an edited version of Chapter 5 of theabove book, entitled ‘Life story research’, in J.A. Smith, R. Harré and L. Van Langenhove(1996) (eds), Rethinking Methods in Psychology, London: Sage, which focuses on the keypracticalities of life history research.Kathleen Casey (1993) has written a very interesting book on her life history research withthree distinct groups of women teachers: Catholic nuns, secular Jewish women, and AfricanAmerican women, I Answer with My Life: Life Histories of Women Teachers Working for SocialChange, London: Routledge.The chapter by Jones (1983) ‘Life history method’, in G. Morgan (ed.), Beyond Method:Strategies for Social Research, Beverley Hills, CA: Sage, is powerful, practical and very readable.REFERENCES ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––Becker, H.S. (1966) ‘Introduction to “The Jack Roller” by Clifford Shaw’, in H.S. Becker, Sociological Work (1971), London: AllenLane.Bertaux, D. (1981) Biography and Society, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Bloor, G. and Dawson, P. (1994) ‘Understanding professional culture in organizational context’, Organization Studies, 15 (2):275–95.Blumer, H. (1969) Symbolic Interactionism, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Casey, K. (1993) I Answer with My Life: Life Histories of Women Teachers Working for Social Change, London: Routledge.Cohen, L. and Musson, G. (2000) ‘Entrepreneurial identities: reflections from two case studies’, Organization, 7(1): 31–48.Elder, G. (1981) ‘History and life course’, in D. Bertaux (ed.), Biography and Society, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Forester, J. (1992) ‘Fieldwork in a Habermasian way’, in M. Alvesson and H. Willmott (eds), Critical Management Studies, London:Sage.Garfinkel, H. (1967) Studies in Ethnomethodology, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Glaser, B.G. and Strauss, A.L. (1967) The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research, New York: Aldine.
44 –––––––––– QUALITATIVE METHODS IN ORGANIZATION STUDIES ––––––––––––––––––Gramsci, A. (1980) Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci, ed. and trans. Q. Hoare and G.N. Smith, NewYork: International.Hammersley, M. (1989) The Dilemma of Qualitative Method: Herbert Blumer and the Chicago Tradition, London: Routledge.Jones, G.R. (1983) ‘Life history method’, in G. Morgan (ed.), Beyond Method: Strategies for Social Research, Beverley Hills, CA:Sage.King, N. (1994) ‘The qualitative research interview’, in C. Cassell and G. Symon (eds), Qualitative Methods in OrganizationalResearch: A Practical Guide, London: Sage.Laughlin, R.C. (1991) ‘Environmental disturbances and organizational transitions and transformations: some alternative models’,Organization Studies, 12 (2): 209–32.Mathews, F. (1977) Quest for an American Sociology: Robert E. Park and the Chicago School, Montreal: McGill-QueensUniversity Press.McAdams, D.P. (1989) ‘The development of narrative identity’, in D.M. Buss and N. Cantor (eds), Personality Psychology: RecentTrends and Emerging Directions, New York: Springer-Verlag, pp 160–74.Middleton, D. and Edwards, D. (eds) (1991) Collective Remembering. London: Sage.Morgan, G. (1986) Images of Organization. Beverley Hills, CA: Sage.Musson, G. (1994) ‘Organizational responses to an environmental disturbance: case studies of change in general medicalpractice’. PhD thesis, University of Sheffield.Pettigrew, A.M. (1987) ‘Context and action in the transformation of the firm’, Journal of Management Studies, 24 (6): 649–70.Plummer, K. (1983) Documents of Life: An Introduction to the Problems and Literature of the Humanistic Method, London: Allen& Unwin.Plummer, K. (1996) ‘Life story research’, in J.A. Smith, R. Harré and L.Van Langenhove (eds), Rethinking Methods in Psychology,London: Sage.Schein, E.H. (1985) Organizational Culture and Leadership, London: Jossey-Bass.Thomas, W.I. (1966) in M. Janowitz (ed.), Organization and Social Personality: Selected Papers, Chicago: University of ChicagoPress.
Page 4 and 5:
ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO QUALITATIVE METH
Page 6:
This book is dedicated to our child
Page 9 and 10:
viii ---------- CONTENTS ----------
Page 12 and 13:
Notes on ContributorsJohn Benington
Page 14 and 15: -----------------------------------
Page 16 and 17: -----------------------------------
Page 18 and 19: -----------------------------------
Page 20: AcknowledgementsIt has been 10 year
Page 23 and 24: 2 ---------- QUALITATIVE METHODS IN
Page 31 and 32: 10 ---------- QUALITATIVE METHODS I
Page 55 and 56: 4 ---- Life Histories -------------
Page 63: 42 ---------- QUALITATIVE METHODS I
Page 107 and 108: 8 ---- The Twenty Statements Test -
Page 115 and 116:
94 ---------- QUALITATIVE METHODS I
Page 117 and 118:
96 ---------- QUALITATIVE METHODS I
Page 119 and 120:
9 ---- Qualitative Research Diaries
Page 121 and 122:
100 ---------- QUALITATIVE METHODS
Page 123 and 124:
Page 125 and 126:
Page 127 and 128:
Page 129 and 130:
tended to get shovedin the backgrou
Page 131 and 132:
Page 133 and 134:
Page 135 and 136:
10 ---- Stories in Organizational R
Page 137 and 138:
Page 139 and 140:
Page 141 and 142:
Page 143 and 144:
Page 145 and 146:
Page 147 and 148:
Page 149 and 150:
Page 151 and 152:
Page 153 and 154:
Page 155 and 156:
Page 157 and 158:
Page 159 and 160:
Page 161 and 162:
12 ---- Group Methods of Organizati
Page 163 and 164:
Page 165 and 166:
Page 167 and 168:
Page 169 and 170:
Page 171 and 172:
Page 173 and 174:
Page 175 and 176:
13 ---- Participant Observation ---
Page 177 and 178:
Page 179 and 180:
Page 181 and 182:
Page 183 and 184:
Page 185 and 186:
Page 187 and 188:
Page 189 and 190:
Page 191 and 192:
Page 193 and 194:
Page 195 and 196:
Page 197 and 198:
Page 199 and 200:
Page 201 and 202:
15 ---- Critical Research and Analy
Page 203 and 204:
Page 205 and 206:
Page 207 and 208:
Page 209 and 210:
Page 211 and 212:
Page 213 and 214:
16 ---- Hermeneutic Understanding -
Page 215 and 216:
Page 217 and 218:
Page 219 and 220:
Page 221 and 222:
Page 223 and 224:
Page 225 and 226:
Page 227 and 228:
Page 229 and 230:
Page 231 and 232:
Page 233 and 234:
Page 235 and 236:
18 ---- Talk-in-interaction/convers
Page 237 and 238:
Page 239 and 240:
Page 241 and 242:
Page 243 and 244:
Page 245 and 246:
Page 247 and 248:
Page 249 and 250:
19 ---- Attributional Coding ------
Page 251 and 252:
Page 253 and 254:
Page 255 and 256:
Page 257 and 258:
Page 259 and 260:
Page 261 and 262:
Page 263 and 264:
20 ---- Grounded Theory in Organiza
Page 265 and 266:
Page 267 and 268:
Quote Code in open coding Concept T
Page 269 and 270:
Page 271 and 272:
Table 20.2 Examples of open coding,
Page 273 and 274:
Table 20.3Collective stressors and
Page 275 and 276:
Page 277 and 278:
21 ---- Using Templates in the Them
Page 279 and 280:
Page 281 and 282:
Page 283 and 284:
Page 285 and 286:
Page 287 and 288:
Page 289 and 290:
Page 291 and 292:
Page 293 and 294:
Page 295 and 296:
Page 297 and 298:
Page 299 and 300:
Table 22.1Matrix 1: descriptive sum
Page 301 and 302:
Table 22.1 cont1.1 Analysis by colu
Page 303 and 304:
Table 22.2DebbieAndrewMatrix 2: con
Page 305 and 306:
Table 22.2cont.Allan Petrol scam Wa
Page 307 and 308:
Page 309 and 310:
23 ---- Preserving, Sharing and Reu
Page 311 and 312:
Page 313 and 314:
Page 315 and 316:
Page 317 and 318:
Page 319 and 320:
Page 321 and 322:
Page 323 and 324:
Page 325 and 326:
Page 327 and 328:
Page 329 and 330:
Page 331 and 332:
Page 333 and 334:
25 ---- Ethnography ---------------
Page 335 and 336:
Page 337 and 338:
Page 339 and 340:
Page 341 and 342:
Page 343 and 344:
Page 345 and 346:
Page 347 and 348:
Page 349 and 350:
Page 351 and 352:
Page 353 and 354:
Page 355 and 356:
27 ---- Soft Systems Analysis: Refl
Page 357 and 358:
Page 359 and 360:
Page 361 and 362:
Page 363 and 364:
Page 365 and 366:
Page 367 and 368:
Page 369 and 370:
Page 371 and 372:
Page 373 and 374:
Page 375 and 376:
Page 377 and 378:
Page 379 and 380:
Page 381 and 382:
Page 383 and 384:
Page 385 and 386:
Page 387 and 388:
Page 389 and 390:
Page 391 and 392:
Page 393 and 394:
30 ---- The Future Conference -----
Page 395 and 396:
Page 397 and 398:
Page 399 and 400:
Page 401 and 402:
Page 403 and 404:
Page 405 and 406:
Page 407 and 408:
386 ---------- INDEX --------------
Page 409:
388 ---------- INDEX --------------
show all

essential-guide-to-qualitative-in-organizational-research

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?