![.
Realist researchers claim to be orthodox. They want to discover the
mechanisms that bring about events and they are concerned that their the-
ories should be verifiable and have some generalisability. Miles and
Huberman (1994: 5) expressed this position well:
We think that social phenomena exist not only in the mind but also in the
objective world – and that some lawful and reasonably stable relationships
are to be found between them. The lawfulness comes from the regularities
and sequences that link together phenomena. From these patterns we can
derive constructs that underlie individual and social life … [we] do not use
‘covering laws’ or the [ ] logic of classical positivism.
Realist researchers often seek to offer generalisable explanations but they
are less likely (than positivists) to offer predictions.
Realists like Miles and Huberman often use qualitative methods
although if they can then add some quantification to their qualitative
material (for example, counting the frequencies with which findings can be
classified under different headings) they have no objection to doing so.
However, because the realists recognise the role of subjectivity, all theories
have to come with a health warning because different researchers with dif-
ferent values will propose competing theories. The existence of competing,
or even of complementary, explanations is one of the features of realist
research. Tilley (1980: 33) argued (based on the writings of Karl Popper
(see p. 44)) that such disagreements are inevitable and they may even be
based on bias or prejudice. Nevertheless, it is still possible to have an
objective social science. This is because the explanations that researchers
propose are only ever provisional and they become the subject of scrutiny
and testing by other researchers. In the long run this critical debate will
drive out the inadequate explanations. The dangers of researchers’ subjec-
tivity are counterbalanced by debate and review.
Many MBA students will take a realist approach when doing their
dissertations.
Critical realism
Critical realism, as its name implies, shares the ambitions of realism and
so, in Figure 0.3., it is placed in the same quadrant as realism. However, in
the terms used in Figure 0.2 it takes a more gnostic than orthodox tack.
This is because it adds the notion of layers or stratification into our under-
standing of knowledge. Critical realists argue that there is a level of reality
below the everyday levels of events and our experiences of them (see
p. 285). It is at this level that the mechanisms that drive events in the
world exist. Unfortunately our knowledge of this level is not direct; it can
only be inferred. So, as with the gnostics, there is a claim that there is a
level of reality that is not easily accessible because it is hidden from
common view. As Miles and Huberman (1994: 5) expressed it:
Jargon, ‘isms’ and ‘ologies’ 19
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![.
We look for a [ ] process or mechanism, a structure at the core of events
that can be captured to provide a causal description of the forces at work …
The fact that most of these constructs are invisible to the naked eye does
not make them invalid. After all, we all are surrounded by lawful physical
mechanisms of which we’re, at most, remotely aware.
To discover this level of reality requires honest and intelligent people to
work hard at the problems and to become adept at discovering these
mechanisms. The need for honesty arises because those who do critical
realist research into business and management may discover bad things
that ought to be made known and have action taken to correct them.
There can be a moral component to the critical realist approach.
Managers doing dissertations as part of their management education may
not feel it is their role to provide such a moral critique of the market and
institutional context within which they make their living. Nevertheless, it
is a valid approach to management and business research and suggestions
for (and examples of) its application are provided in this guide.
Managerial autobiography
This is not really a research approach at all, and so it is marked out with a
dotted line in Figure 0.2. However, it is a common body of literature that
MBA students are often drawn to. The category is constituted of all those
books in which a successful entrepreneur’s or chief executive officer’s work
experience is written down and presented as a clear orthodoxy for those who
wish to achieve business success. As this knowledge has not been discovered
by an objective type of research, but unashamedly bases its claim to be heard
on its very subjectivity, it has been placed at that point on the vertical scale of
Figure 0.2 where knowledge is seen through the prism of subjectivity.
My experience of supervising MBA students suggests that this is not a
good route for them to take in their dissertation. The student who
announces that they wish to use the dissertation as a vehicle for distilling their
wisdom, drawn from their experience over many years of a certain industry,
often struggles. Their research becomes an apologia or a justification of their
actions and a chance to do down those who have opposed them.
Interpretivism and phenomenology
There are many terms for this approach to research. ‘Interpretivism’ is the
one that will be used in this guide, although ‘phenomenology’ is the pre-
ferred term of many textbooks. Other terms used are ‘constructionism’
and ‘naturalistic research’. (Concerning the spelling of interpretive, the
Oxford English Dictionary also allows interpretative.)
This approach is placed near the bottom of the vertical scale because
researchers who take this position believe that reality is socially con-
20 Chapter 0 • Introduction
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![.
The guide is also a collection of materials that were to hand. The post-
modernists would call such a collage by the French term bricolage. This is
not a problem. Room is left for you to develop your own approach by fol-
lowing the leads you find in the research literature. To the extent that the
guide is a collage, it will resemble your own project, in which you have to
make a convincing assemblage – of the pieces of research you have done,
the material from the literature, the stuff you learnt on other courses or at
school years ago and the ideas and the bees in bonnets collected over the
years – as you write your dissertation. It is possible to take the work seri-
ously while also taking a wry sidelong look at its nature. Taking things
seriously is often no more than taking oneself too seriously.
For these reasons you need to supplement your study of the guide with
reading in the literature on research methods in business, management and
organisational studies. In particular it will be necessary for you to read
further on the specific research techniques you plan to use in your project.
26 Chapter 0 • Introduction
Each of the chapters in the guide includes suggestions for further reading in its particular specialist area.
There are a number of general textbooks for people researching in managerial, organisational or business
topics. The main recommendation is Alan Bryman and Emma Bell, Business Research Methods (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2003). It is authoritative and detailed and provides many examples from published
research studies. Other useful general textbooks are:
Easterby-Smith, M., Thorpe, R. and Lowe, A. (2002) Management Research: An Introduction, 2nd edn,
London: Sage.
Gill, J. and Johnson, P. (2002) Research Methods for Managers, 3rd edn., London: Paul Chapman.
Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2006) Research Methods for Business Students, 4th edn, Harlow:
FT Prentice Hall.
Suggested reading
The role-modelling vicious circle
Supervisor: ‘You need to develop a conceptual framework.’
Student: ‘How do I do that?’
Supervisor: ‘Well, a conceptual framework means [etc. …]’
Student: ‘Uh?! Give me an example …’
Supervisor: ‘For example, take this concept and that concept and put them in
this 2 × 2 table and …’
Student: ‘That’s good. Can I use it?’
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![.
and to diagonally integrate professional functionalities – you probably do
not know what you are talking about (see Exhibit 1.2).
Once you have found answers to such questions, then you will be in a
position to draw conclusions and make recommendations about what
should be done in the future. The answers to the research questions cannot
dictate what action should be taken but they should provide a firmer basis
for judgement and decision making.
If you have tried all of the above but are still having trouble choosing the
topic for your dissertation, then try morphological analysis. Exhibit 1.3 is a
series of lists. The first list can be updated or changed to suit your personal
preferences. Just enter a series of current business and management topics
that interest you. Then step back, shut your eyes and stick a pin at random
in each of the lists. You can then read off a description of a project you
38 Chapter 1 • Choosing a topic and designing the project
Framing research questions
Express them in plain English as a question.
‘There is clearly a need to
investigate how tourists
[on escorted cultural tours]
develop an understanding of
transient destination images.’
They must intrigue and interest you.
They must be open.
Avoid assumptions – unless you are
researching them.
Exhibit 1.2
?
This is
how not
to do it!
Your research question
Identify a topic for your project and dissertation by working through the six stages
recommended above. Within the general topic chosen, identify:
a broad ‘what should we do about x?’ strategic type of question that responds to
managerial or organisational issues and concerns; and
one or more research questions that say what you want to find out;
and frame them in language that would be understandable to an interested lay person
in a pub who has asked about your research.
Exercise 1.1
This is
how not
to do it!
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Researching And Writing A Dissertation A Guidebook For Business Students 2nd Edition 2nd Edition Colin Fisher
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- 5. . Researching and Writing a Dissertation Researching and Writing a Dissertation A Guidebook for Business Students Colin Fisher ISBN 978-0-273-71007-3 9 780273 710073 www.pearson-books.com An imprint of An engaging and pragmatic introduction to researching and writing a dissertation for master’s level Business students. Key features of this book • Assessment criteria are explained so that your works is focused around the relevant academic objectives. • Step-by-step coverage, illustrated by examples of what to do and what not to do. • Understanding that project work is often not sequential, the author advises on how to juggle several stages at once. • Broader skill-sets, such as arguing and writing are developed. Researching and Writing a Dissertation A Guidebook for Business Students Colin Fisher Second Edition Colin Fisher With increased coverage of research ethics, research software and critical theories this new edition is more comprehensive and up-to-date. Recognising areas where students can struggle, there is also more on using the internet for research and on assessing the ‘critical weight’ of articles and different types of validity. Colin Fisher is a principal lecturer in Human Resource Management at Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University and has helped hundreds of students through their master’s projects. He and Alan Lovell have recently published a second edition of Business Ethics Values with Pearson Education. A gUIDEBOOK FOR BUSINESS STUDENTS Second Edition Second Edition A dissertation is a substantial part of a master’s qualification and students are often daunted by the prospect of embarking on such a sustained piece of academic work. This book takes an extremely practical, skills-based approach and covers both the research methods themselves and the process of choosing, planning, researching and writing the dissertation. 9780273710073_02_COVER.indd 1 15/1/07 10:15:48
- 6. . Researching and Writing a Dissertation: A Guidebook for Business Students REWD_A01.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page i
- 7. . We work with leading authors to develop the strongest educational materials in management, bringing cutting-edge thinking and best learning practice to a global market. Under a range of well-known imprints, including Financial Times Prentice Hall, we craft high-quality print and electronic publications which help readers to understand and apply their content, whether studying or at work. To find out more about the complete range of our publishing, please visit us on the World Wide Web at: www.pearsoned.co.uk REWD_A01.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page ii
- 8. . Researching and Writing a Dissertation: A Guidebook for Business Students Second edition Colin Fisher with John Buglear Diannah Lowry Alistair Mutch Carole Tansley REWD_A01.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page iii
- 9. . Pearson Education Limited Edinburgh Gate Harlow Essex CM20 2JE England and Associated Companies throughout the world Visit us on the World Wide Web at: www.pearsoned.co.uk First published 2004 Second edition 2007 © Pearson Education Limited 2004 © Pearson Education Limited 2007 The right of Colin Fisher to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without either the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London, EC1N 8TS. All trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners. The use of any trademark in this text does not vest in the author or publisher any trademark ownership rights in such trademarks, nor does the use of such trademarks imply any affiliation with or endorsement of this book by such owners. ISBN: 978-0-273-71007-3 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 11 10 09 08 07 Typeset in Sabon by 30 Printed and bound by Ashford Colour Press, Gosport The publisher’s policy is to use paper manufactured from sustainable forests. REWD_A01.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page iv
- 10. . Contents Acknowledgements ix 0 Introduction 1 Who is this guide for? 2 What does doing a dissertation involve? 2 The process of doing a dissertation 3 What does working at Master’s level mean? 7 The assessment criteria 10 The learning outcomes and assessment criteria 11 Jargon, ‘isms’ and ‘ologies’ 13 How to use this guide 25 Suggested reading 26 Other recommended books 27 References 27 1 Choosing a topic and designing the project 29 Introduction 30 Choosing a topic 31 Criteria for choosing a topic 31 A six-stage process for choosing your topic 33 Designing your project 39 Methodological stance 40 The researcher’s role 58 Breadth or depth 59 Choice of research methods 61 Ethical considerations 63 Writing the research proposal 71 Summary 74 Suggested reading 74 References 74 REWD_A01.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page v
- 11. . 2 Writing a critical literature review 77 Introduction 78 The sources 80 Searching for literature 82 Mapping and describing the literature 86 Describing the literature 86 Assessing the quality of an article or book 92 Forensic critique 94 Soundness of arguments 94 Evaluating arguments 97 Radical critique 105 The critical approach – Alistair Mutch 105 Developing a radical critique 108 Summary 116 Suggested reading 116 References 116 3 Concepts, conceptual frameworks and theories 119 Introduction 120 The roles of theory and conceptual frameworks 122 Developing conceptual frameworks 125 Defining concepts 125 Conceptual frameworks 126 Theories 133 Seeking inspiration: using your ‘intellectual baggage’ 134 Examples of the use of conceptual frameworks 139 An example of conceptualising and theorising in a study of organisational cultures 139 Another example 144 Summary 149 Suggested reading 149 References 150 4 Collecting and analysing research material 151 Introduction 152 Discoverers 153 Structure of the chapter 157 vi Contents REWD_A01.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page vi
- 12. . The range of research methods 158 Interviews 158 Panels 159 Questionnaires 161 Documentary research 161 Observational research 161 Deciding whether to use open or pre-structured methods 165 Planning and setting milestones 165 Exploratory research methods 166 Collecting the material 166 Interpretive approaches 171 Analysing the material 180 Survey research: pre-coded and structured research methods 189 Collecting the material 189 Analysing the material: basic statistical analysis of data – Diannah Lowry 207 Software for analysing research material 222 Using Minitab and SPSS to analyse survey results – John Buglear 222 Software for analysing qualitative material – Carole Tansley 253 Summary 264 Suggested reading 265 References 265 5 Interpreting the research material 267 Introduction 268 Choosing an interpretive grid 272 Styles of interpretive grid and the problem of ‘universals’ 274 Realism 276 Nominalism 281 Critical realism 284 Mixing interpretive grids 288 The validity and authenticity of research material 290 Saying what you mean 290 Saying what is valid 294 Improving the validity of research findings 299 Dialectical critique 303 Framing conclusions and recommendations 307 Contents vii REWD_A01.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page vii
- 13. . Problems of implementation 311 Accepting the limitations 312 Summary 313 Suggested reading 313 References 313 6 Framing arguments and writing up 315 Introduction 316 Structuring your dissertation 317 Writing a thesis, not just a dissertation 319 Constructing arguments 321 Constructing dialectical arguments 323 Supporting your arguments 325 Style guide 336 Dissertation, report and paper specifications 336 Style hints 338 Summary 347 Suggested reading 347 References 348 Index 349 viii Contents REWD_A01.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page viii
- 14. . I tried the patience of my friends at Nottingham Business School by constant requests for feedback. They replied with good humour, useful feedback and new material. I wish to thank Alistair Mutch, Diannah Lowry, John Buglear and Carole Tansley especially for writing whole sections of this book. John and Carole have written completely new sections for this second edition. All the contributions by colleagues are acknowledged in the text. Among other colleagues, and ex-colleagues who have moved to other universities, I wish to thank are Jim Stewart, Tony Woodall, Val Caven, Denise Fletcher, Sue Kirk, Suzanne Tietze and John Leopold. Many thanks also to Christos Athanasoulis for his helpful advice. Tony Watson deserves particular thanks. It was only when I was writing the first edition of the book that I realised what an influ- ence he has been on my thinking in the 20 and more years we had worked together at Nottingham Business School. Nevertheless, neither he nor any other colleague is responsible for errors or misunderstandings that might have found their way into this guide. Much of any practical wisdom to be found in this guide comes from the many postgraduate students I have worked with at Nottingham Business School when they were doing their dissertations. Many thanks are due to them. In particular I want to thank Alastair Allen who allowed me to use some of his research material to illustrate points about conceptual framework building. Publisher’s acknowledgements We are grateful to the following for permission to reproduce copyright material: Figure 0.3 Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Ltd from Gill, J. and Johnson P. (2002) Research Methods for Managers, 3e © Paul Chapman Publishing, 2002, Exercise 1.3, Exhibits 2.2, 3.1 and 3.2 photographs by Raj Shirole; Table 1.2 reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Ltd from Silverman, D., Interpreting Qualitative Data: Methods for Analysing Talk, Text and Interaction, © Sage, 1993; Exhibit 1.9 from Managing, crafting and researching: words, skill and imagination in shaping management research, British Journal of Management, Vol. 5 (Special issue), pp. 77–97, Blackwell Publishing (Watson, T.J., 1994); Exhibit 2.6 image of Bentham’s Panopticon from Bentham Papers 115/44, University College London; Figures 3.1, 3.2 and 3.8 reproduced with the permission of T.J. Watson; Figure 3.3 from Bad apples in bad barrels: a causal analysis of ethical decision-making behaviour, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 75, No. 4, pp. 378–385, American Psychological Association (Trevino, L.K. and Youngblood, S.A., 1990); Figure Acknowledgements REWD_A01.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page ix
- 15. . 3.9 from Kabbalah: Traditions of Hidden Knowledge, Thames Hudson Ltd (Z’ev ben Shimon Halevi, 1979); Figure 3.10 from Ethical stances: the percep- tions of accountancy and RM specialists of ethical conundrums at work, Business Ethics: A European Review, Vol. 8, No. 4, p. 241, Blackwell Publishing Ltd (Fisher, C.M., 1999); Table 4.2 from Brouse, Suzannah H. (2002) J. Advanced Nursing, Vol. 37, No.6, 607 in: Silverman D. (1993) Interpreting Qualitative Data: Methods for Analyzing Talk, Text and Interaction, 2e David Silverman © Blackwell Publishing, Table 4.4 from Research Methods for Business Students, Financial Times Prentice Hall (Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A., 2002); Figure 4.8 from Reason by Numbers, Pelican Books (Moore, P.G., 1980) copyright © Peter G. Moore, 1980; Figures 4.14, 4.15, 4.16 and 4.17 Screenshots from Minitab software, © Minitab Inc.; Figure 4.25 Screenshot from SPSS software; Figure 4.3 Interaction Process Analysis Bales, R.F. (1950) © University of Chicago Press; Exhibits 4.35, 4.36 and 4.37 Screenshots from NVIV07 software, NVIVO is designed and developed by QSR International Pty Ltd. NVIVO is a trademark or registered trademark of QSR International Patent pending; Table 4.5 from Statistics without Tears, Penguin Books (Rowntree, D., 1991), © Derek Rowntree, 1991. Figure 5.1 An Aztec map of Tenochtitlan, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, MS. Arch. Seldon.A.1, fol.2r; Figure 5.2 A Spanish map of Tenochtitlan, from www.newberry.org/media/Azrecismages.html, The Newberry Library, Chicago; Figures 5.6 and 5.7 from Does Business Ethics Pay?, Institute of Business Ethics (Webley, S. and More, E. 2003), Exhibit 5.13 reproduced with the permission of J. De Mey. Figure 6.1 from Business Ethics and Values: Individual, Corporate and International Perspectives Fisher, C.M. and Lovell, A. (2006) © Pearson Education. The Quality Assurance Agency for the extract ‘The QAA’s Descriptor for a qualification at Masters (M) level’ from The Framework for Higher Education Qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, © The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, 2001; and The Times Literary Supplement for the extract ‘Why it’s fun to be smart’ by Eisaman Maus as published in The Times Literary Supplement 25 May 2001, © The Times Literary Supplement. Exercise 2.2 from Resource Allocation in the Public Sector: Values, Priorities and Markets in the Management of Public Services, Routledge (Fisher, C.M., 1998); Chapter 3 example of conceptualis- ing and theorising in a study of organisational culture based on Organisation, Culture and the Management of Change in the National Health Service, PhD dissertation, the Nottingham Trent University (McNulty, T., 1990) repro- duced with permission of T. McNulty; Chapter 3 extract from Transforming former state enterprises in the Czech Republic, Organisation Studies, Vol. 16, No. 2, p. 215, Walter de Gruyter (Clark, E. and Soulsby, A., 1995); Exercise 5.7 from A Handbook of Structured Experiences for Human Relations Training, Pfeiffer, J.W. and Jones, J.E., ©1975 John Wiley Sons, Inc. This material is used by permission of John Wiley Sons, Inc. In some instances we have been unable to trace the owners of copyright material, and we would appreciate any information that would enable us to do so. x Acknowledgements REWD_A01.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page x
- 16. . Chapter 0 Introduction Although this book is clearly a textbook, it is intended to be used more like a tourist guide; a book to be used by readers as a guidebook to researching and writing a dissertation. It is written in a rather more infor- mal manner than many textbooks because it focuses on what the reader needs to know rather than on the debates in the academic literature. This introduction is Chapter 0. Such a quirky way of beginning the numbering of chapters needs to be explained. The guide is structured around six stages in the process of researching and writing a dissertation. These stages in turn reflect the six criteria that typify the standards that dissertations are marked against. The guide contains a chapter for each of these stages-cum-criteria. I wanted each of them to have the appropriate number, Chapter 1 for stage 1 and so on. This meant that the introduction that precedes the chapters had to be Chapter 0. Calling the introduction Chapter 0 does not mean it is empty of con- tent. It is quite important to read this chapter if you are going to get full value from the guide, because it will achieve the following: identify the assessment targets you need to hit for the dissertation to be passed; introduce you to methodological issues that can cause students prob- lems if they are not understood; explain the structure of the guide and introduce you to further resources. Contents Who is this guide for? What does doing a dissertation involve? The process of doing a dissertation What does working at Master’s level mean? The assessment criteria The learning outcomes and assessment criteria Jargon, ‘isms’ and ‘ologies’ How to use this guide Suggested reading Other recommended books References REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 1
- 17. . Who is this guide for? The first readership for the guide is all those doing an MBA, or an MSc or MA course in a management or business topic, and who have to write a dissertation as part of their studies. That said, many of the topics and skills the guide covers are relevant to anyone who has to research and write a dissertation or a long, research-based paper as part of their pro- gramme of study. The guide will be of use to undergraduates doing final-year dissertations and also to DBA and PhD students. What does doing a dissertation involve? Most MBA and Master’s in management programmes include a major project in which the students identify an issue of managerial, organisa- tional or business concern and research it. However, different business schools demand different things in the research component of their MBA and other Master’s programmes. Most commonly students will be required to write a dissertation, which is a report on a major piece of primary research (normally between 15,000 and 20,000 words long) which gives an account of a student’s investigation into a business or managerial issue, provides an analysis of the research and presents the conclusions that are drawn from it. In addition to, or instead of, the dissertation, students may be required to write one or more of the following: a proposal, which is a document that defines what the project is about, explains why it is important and describes how it is to be carried out; a paper, which is a short (normally around 4,000 to 6,000 words) doc- ument suitable for presentation to an academic conference or journal; a management report, which is a shorter document (2,000 to 4,000 words) that is suitable for presentation to managers and decision makers and that is designed to persuade them to adopt the recommen- dations you make. This guide focuses on the proposal and the dissertation but it also gives some help on writing papers and reports. Some other key terms are used frequently in the guide and it will be useful to define them before we proceed: A project means all the activities that go towards completing a dissertation. A thesis is an argument or a proposition supported by evidence and literature. A Master’s degree in a business or management subject brings together an academic concern for theory and understanding with a managerial 2 Chapter 0 • Introduction REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 2
- 18. . concern for analysis, planning and action. A dissertation should be written primarily for an academic audience, and it will be marked by academics. However, it should also contain elements that address the concerns of those in the organisations whose problems were the subject of the disserta- tion. Getting this balance right is one of the skills needed to write a good dissertation. The aims of the dissertation, and of the proposal and the conference paper if you are required to do them, will vary from institution to institu- tion and you will need to become very familiar with those that belong to your course. However, the following example would not be atypical. The objective of the dissertation is to give the student an opportunity: 1. to plan, research and write up a project that improves understanding of a significant managerial, business or organisational matter, and that, if appropriate, provides recommendations or findings upon which action can be determined; 2. to learn how to undertake a major project that requires you to: be focused on a complex and important issue; undertake effective and competent primary research; integrate theory and practice; incorporate understanding taken from a critical review of the appropriate literature; base your dissertation on sound analysis and arguments; and be sensitive to the requirements of the different audiences for the dissertation. The focus of the project is often a matter for you to decide. It may be on any of the following: a part of an organisation, or a comparison between parts of an organi- sation; a single organisation; a comparison between two or more organisations; a study of an industrial or commercial sector; a study of a managerial function or profession. The process of doing a dissertation In practice, doing a dissertation is not a sequential process in which the completion of one stage leads neatly to the next. There are often false starts and returns to earlier stages of the project to reconsider the focus and the aims. Many of the stages of doing a project will be pursued in par- allel. While you are reading for the literature review you may also be setting up contacts for interviews or drafting a questionnaire. However, there is a basic logic to the process and this can be used to explain the What does doing a dissertation involve? 3 REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 3
- 19. . contents of this guide. This logic is shown, as a series of stages for conven- ience, in Figure 0.1. In addition to this introduction, the guide contains six chapters. Each of the chapters deals with one of the stages shown in Figure 0.1. Taken together, the chapters will lead you through the processes of researching and writing your dissertation. Figure 0.1 has three dimensions. The time dimension runs vertically. The height of the cube represents the length of time you have to complete your project and dissertation. The other two dimensions are as follows: thinking — finding out confusion — confidence. Here is a description of the progress of an average project using these dimensions. Phase 1 – Choosing a topic and designing the project At the start, students are confused about what they are going to study for the project and how they are going to do it. In the first phase, thinking about choice of topic and what approach to research is going to be adopted leads to finding out about possible topics and investigating the 4 Chapter 0 • Introduction Framing arguments and writing up Finish Interpreting the research material Writing a critical literature review Developing a conceptual framework Researching and analysing Choosing a topic Planning the project Start Confidence Time Finding out Confusion Thinking Figure 0.1 The processes of researching and writing a Master’s dissertation REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 4
- 20. . range of research methods available. The combination of these activities increases students’ confidence, but not hugely. They are still a little fazed at the end of this first phase but they should have a clearer idea of what they want to research, why it is important and how they are going to do it. Phase 2 – Writing a critical literature review The next phase involves searching for books, academic papers and other materials that are relevant to the project, so quite a lot of energy at the early part of this phase goes into finding out what resources are available. Although finding materials is satisfying, there is a tendency to think that the information they contain can be transferred into one’s brain by some osmotic process that does not involve actually reading the stuff. This stage, of course, involves reading the material, making notes on it and thinking about it. In particular the various theories and frameworks drawn from the literature need to be criticised and evaluated to see which are academically robust enough to be used in your project. The reading and thinking normally mean that students have increased confidence in their project by the end of this phase. Phase 3 – Developing concepts, conceptual frameworks and theories As a result of their increasing confidence, students feel ready to move into the next phase, which is developing a conceptual framework. This is a ‘map’ that draws together the concepts that the students will use to guide their research and that suggests how they are related. Conceptual frame- works are normally modifications and developments of models and theories found in the literature. When a conceptual framework is decided upon it gives a great boost to students’ confidence. They feel in control of their project because they can see where it is going. However, once it is drafted, and they think about the framework some more, little doubts and worries creep in and the confidence begins to seep away. Then it is time to get into the next stage – of doing the research work. Phase 4 – Collecting and analysing research material Some thinking is needed at the start of the research phase of the project. Students have to decide in detail how they are going to conduct the research and organise the practical aspects of, for instance, conducting interviews or focus groups, identifying people to send questionnaires to and so on. But the bulk of this stage is about finding out. When students start to collect their research results it often boosts their confidence as they conclude that they will have enough material to write their dissertation. Phase 5 – Interpreting research material and drawing conclusions After a heap of research material has been collected it then remains to make sense of it – to interpret it. This can be a daunting task and initially What does doing a dissertation involve? 5 REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 5
- 21. . there can be an increase in confusion as students think about what the material means. But some hard thinking and interrogation of the research material usually result in students finding out more about their topic. The interpretation stage involves choosing an interpretive grid that will, most likely, be developed from the conceptual framework that was developed during an earlier stage of the project. Phase 6 – Forming arguments and writing up the dissertation In the final stage the students formulate their arguments arising from all their work and shape them into a written dissertation. The process therefore moves away from ‘finding out’ towards ‘thinking’ – although it is interesting to note that students often only find out what they mean when they start writing up the project. If all goes well, by the time they have finished writing up the students will have confidence in their project and their dissertation. The six chapters in this guide are designed to help you through each of these stages. Their contents are briefly summarised below. 6 Chapter 0 • Introduction Choosing a topic and designing the project Chapter 1 Identifying a topic Drafting research objectives Planning the research and the project ↓ Writing a critical literature review Chapter 2 Searching the literature Summarising and précising the literature Evaluating key concepts and theories ↓ Concepts, conceptual frameworks and theories Chapter 3 Identifying key concepts Drafting conceptual frameworks Theorising the material ↓ Collecting and analysing research material Chapter 4 Choosing and designing research methods Conducting the research Analysing, sorting and classifying the material ↓ Interpreting the research material Chapter 5 Honesty of argument and language Interpreting research material Drawing safe conclusions ↓ Framing arguments and writing up the dissertation Chapter 6 Arguing a thesis as well as writing a dissertation Structuring the dissertation Producing documents in accordance with the style guide REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 6
- 22. . What does working at Master’s level mean? Studying at Master’s level requires an extension of the academic skills you may have used when you were doing diploma-level studies, as well as the development of some new ones. In this section I identify these new skills and abilities and indicate which of the chapters in this guide are intended to help you develop them. Methodology Having a general familiarity with some of the philosophical issues and arguments about the process of research. The study of these philosophical aspects is known as methodology. It is not expected that you should become a philosopher. It is expected that you acquire sufficient knowledge of methodology to prevent yourself from making errors such as using inappropriate research methods that will be incapable of answering the research questions you have asked. See Jargon, ‘isms’ and ‘ologies’ in this chapter, Designing your project in Chapter 1 and Choosing an interpretive grid in Chapter 5. Theorising Attempting theoretical innovation. No one expects Master’s students to create new theories (although it is wonderful if they do). On the other hand, neither are they expected simply to take theories from the literature and use them uncritically. You should look for opportunities to develop, modify or adapt the theories you take from the literature. This is often nec- essary because you may take a theory that was developed in one field of study, or in one context, and try to use it in different circumstances. The theory may need adaptation, or at the least review, before it is relocated. Belbin’s (1981) theory of team effectiveness, for example, was derived from studies of managers, yet I have seen many people attempt to use it with pro- duction staff without checking the theory’s validity on the shop floor. See Chapter 2 and Framing conclusions and recommendations in Chapter 5. Dealing with complex and ambiguous matters Developing novel analyses and arguments. At diploma level, students face the task of understanding a management technique or approach so that they can apply it. At Master’s level the intention is that complex and intransigent issues and problems should be studied. This implies that exist- ing management techniques will be inadequate for solving such problems. Therefore, you will have to develop your own ways of thinking through the problem. Techniques will be helpful but in addition you will have to use your own thinking skills to analyse the issues and present arguments as to how the problem should be studied. See Chapter 5 and Writing a thesis, not just a dissertation in Chapter 6. What does doing a dissertation involve? 7 REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 7
- 23. . Learning to learn Reflecting on your learning. Often this means being willing, as part of doing the dissertation, to challenge the unthought-of assumptions and values that constrain our thoughts and actions. To use the current manage- rial jargon, you should think ‘out of the box’. Another way of learning how to learn is to provide a review and critique of how you tackled the Master’s project. It is generally reckoned a good idea to keep quiet about your mistakes when writing up your dissertation. This is itself a mistake. At Master’s level, errors are for learning from. If you made a mistake in good faith (as opposed to laziness or sloppiness) then report it in the dis- sertation and show how you have learnt from it. This should gain you extra marks. If, for example, after you have completed a questionnaire survey you decide it would have been better to do in-depth interviews, then explain, in the dissertation, why you have come to this view and how you would tackle such issues differently in the future. See Chapter 5. Undertaking a Master’s dissertation requires you to develop your skills of analysis and argument; abilities that C. Wright Mills, a sociologist, called intellectual craftsmanship (see Exhibit 0.1). 8 Chapter 0 • Introduction C. Wright Mills ‘On Intellectual Craftsmanship’ In 1959 C. Wright Mills added to his book The Sociological Imagination an appendix entitled ‘On Intellectual Craftmanship’ (in 1959 it was unexceptional to use sexist terms). The craft skills he identified are still those that underpin the ability to do academic work, at whatever level. Do not separate work from life This is especially important for people doing MBA or similar dissertations because they are likely to be researching the context they work within. His point is that ideas and insights from life can often provide the trigger or clue for theoretical understanding of the issues we are researching. He suggests, for example, that when we find ourselves feeling very emotional, perhaps angry, about something that happened at work; if we take the trouble to identify and analyse the cause of that anger then that effort can lead to thoughts that can become the basis of research. He recommends that all researchers keep research journals in which their occasional thoughts and ideas can be collected to be mulled over at a later time. Reasoning before emprical research Wright Mills took a stronger line on this than many Master’s supervisors could agree with. He thought empirical research a tedious necessity. ‘Now I do not like to do empirical work if I can possibly avoid it’ (Wright Mills, 1959). You will almost Exhibit 0.1 REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 8
- 24. . What does doing a dissertation involve? 9 certainly have to do empirical work to complete your dissertation but Wright Mills’ general point, that it is wise to do some reading, thinking and theorising before doing the empirical research, is still relevant. For him, reasoning consisted of: identifying elements and concepts; deciding the logical relationships between them, ‘building little models’; and then deciding what critical issues need to be tested by empirical research. This process is referred to, in this book, as conceptual framework building and is explained in Chapter 3. Getting ideas Imagination, according to Wright Mills, was what distinguished the scientist from the technician. Imagination can be encouraged in a number of ways. Challenging common sense explanations is a good starting point. A second method is to con- sider very carefully the words that are used to discuss the topic of the research. The ‘learning organisation’ was a frequent topic of research (recently it has been superseded by knowledge management). A careful dissection of the meanings of the two words – learning and organsation – will raise questions to be researched. Is learning, for example, a tangible thing that can be stored or is it a process that cannot? The third way of releasing imagination is to throw all your ideas, which you have carefully classified and organised under neat labels, into the air, allow them to fall randomly, and then re-sort and re-classify them. Framing a thesis Wright Mills made an important distinction between topic and theme. A common problem among students doing a dissertation is that they settle upon the topic of their research (a hard enough task) but do not go on to identify the themes of their research. A theme is a big idea or line of argument that gives shape to a dissertation and helps to separate the important research material from the unimportant. A good conceptual framework should help you identify your themes – you may have several – and this may involve choosing an interpretive perspective or lens (this is explained in Chapter 5). Writing in a clear and simple language Wright Mills pointed out (which management and business students already know), that many academics in the field write in a deliberaely obscure manner that appears to be intended to make the book or article seem cleverer than it is. Students should not emulate this but should, instead, write in a straightforward manner. Be a good craftsman A good intellectual craftsman, according to Wright Mills, avoids rigid and set procedures. They realise that research is not a matter of simply following a recipe. In this book I do give rather a lot of recipes for doing this or that aspect of researching and writing a dissertation. This is because one has to start some- where. But the recipes are just that – a start, a guide. Do not treat them as the final word on the matter. You have to make the methods your own and become your own methodologist and theorist. Exhibit 0.1 continued REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 9
- 25. . The assessment criteria In formal terms Master’s students have to show, in their proposals, papers and dissertations, that they have achieved a number of learning outcomes in order to pass the module. You should adopt a degree of instrumentality (by assuming the objective of the exercise is to pass the dissertation and gain the Master’s degree) and study the learning outcomes and assessment criteria that your business school will use in marking your dissertation. There is an independent body, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), which, among other things, sets the qualification descrip- tors for academic degrees in the United Kingdom. All MBAs and Master’s in management programmes may base their learning outcomes for assessing dissertations on the descriptor, which is shown in Exhibit 0.2. The learning outcomes and assessment criteria used in the business school where I work are used here to illustrate what the demands of a dis- sertation are. They are probably not very different from those of your institution, but if they are you should obviously work towards those that will be used to mark your dissertation. 10 Chapter 0 • Introduction The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education’s descriptor for a qualification at Master’s (M) level: Master’s degree Master’s degrees are awarded to students who have demonstrated: 1. a systematic understanding of knowledge, and a critical awareness of current problems and/or new insights, much of which is at, or informed by, the fore- front of their academic discipline, field of study, or area of professional practice; 2. a comprehensive understanding of techniques applicable to their own research or advanced scholarship; 3. originality in the application of knowledge, together with a practical understanding of how established techniques of research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge in the discipline; 4. conceptual understanding that enables the student: to evaluate critically current research and advanced scholarship in the discipline; and to evaluate methodologies and develop critiques of them and, where appropriate, to propose new hypotheses. Typically, holders of the qualification will be able to: (a) deal with complex issues both systematically and creatively, make sound judgements in the absence of complete data, and communicate their conclu- sions clearly to specialist and non-specialist audiences; Exhibit 0.2 REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 14:53 Page 10
- 26. . The learning outcomes and assessment criteria The following are the learning outcomes for a dissertation module. This guide has been structured so that each of the six chapters deals with one of these learning outcomes. The learning outcomes set the standard for what students have to achieve. However, they do not define the criteria that markers will use to decide whether a student has reached an appropriate level of achievement against each of the learning outcomes. These criteria can be seen in Table 0.1, called the assessment matrix. A number of points need to be made about this table: The assessment criteria 11 (b) demonstrate self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems, and act autonomously in planning and implementing tasks at a professional or equivalent level; (c) continue to advance their knowledge and understanding, and to develop new skills to a high level; and will have: (d) the qualities and transferable skills necessary for employment requiring: the exercise of initiative and personal responsibility; decision making in complex and unpredictable situations; and the independent learning ability required for continuing professional develop- ment. Source: The Framework for Higher Education Qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. © The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (2001). Exhibit 0.2 continued At the completion of this module students will be able to: 1. define the objectives of a research project and plan a valid and practicable project to meet the objectives; 2. carry out a critical literature review that provides a structure and focus for the dissertation; 3. define concepts and structure them in ways that give a useful theoretical shape to the dissertation; 4. design and apply appropriate research methods and analyse the research material systematically; 5. frame, and argue for, a clear thesis in the documents and draw safe conclusions; 6. write a clearly structured, adequately expressed and well-presented dissertation. REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 11
- 27. . The matrix is for assessing a complete dissertation. If you also have to submit a written research proposal or an academic paper for assess- ment, then probably only some of the criteria would apply. The matrix identifies a number of levels. Most are self-explanatory. The borderline fail level needs explanation, however. A student who is marked 46–49 per cent is classified, in some institutions, as a border- line fail. This indicates that the dissertation would only need relatively minor changes and improvements to bring it up to pass standard. In some programmes it may be possible to show this improvement at a viva voce examination. Table 0.1 Assessment criteria for postgraduate dissertations in business, organisational and management studies Identify a research Write a critical Define working Collect and Interpret findings Write question and design literature review concepts and analyse research sensitively as reports and a project to conceptual data efficiently a basis for dissertations answer it frameworks and effectively making that are to give structure recommendations persuasive, to the work for action that well are practicable structured and sound and well written 80–100% An excellent The literature Significant Makes a Complex and A work of Excellent proposal that would review is itself additions to contribution sophisticated art written be awarded a grant a significant the theoretical to the interpretation of with style if it were sent to a contribution and development the material. and wit. research funding to the literature conceptual of methods The conclusions Strong body understanding for collecting are based on arguments of the subject and analysing the findings but that refer research transcend them. back to material and/or Subtle each other. methodological understanding debate of action in organisations 70–79% Clear and specific The literature An attempt, Modifies and Interprets the Clear and Very good about research is cogently not necessarily develops findings in a persuasive Distinction question, project described and wholly methods for sophisticated arguments level design and evaluated from successful, is collecting and manner. expressed research methods. novel or made to analysing Conclusions are in good These three complex theorise beyond research firmly based in plain English elements are perspectives the current material in a findings but in a shown to be state of the way that show a well-structured well coordinated literature reflects creative spark. document and an appropriate methodological Implementation admixture understanding plans show an awareness of the interaction of understanding and action 12 Chapter 0 • Introduction REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 12
- 28. . Table 0.1 continued 60–69% Well-defined The literature A conceptual Uses methods Uses techniques Either Good research question. is cogently framework is of gathering for interpretation expressed Sensible project evaluated using developed, and analysing but in a well or design and clear positions already or an research mechanical way. technically plans for available in the existing one material well Conclusions correct but conducting the literature adapted, in and shows an based well on not both. research context of an understanding findings. Practical Clear structure evaluated of schemes for action adequately literature methodological argued issues 50–59% Clear research Good description Concepts are Methods for Treats the Adequate Competent question. Explicit of the appropriate clearly defined gathering and findings as expression Pass level ideas on design field(s) of and appropriate. analysing straightforward but a and methods but literature. Some They are set in research and noticeable there are some general criticisms the context material unproblematic. number of issues about the made but no of the literature are used Conclusions mistakes. fit between close evaluation competently have some Argumentation question, design of concepts connection with is sometimes and methods the findings. replaced by Action plans are assumption or general but assertion prescriptive 46–49% Identified an Inadequate or The definition Methods for The occasional Sentences Borderline interesting topic limited and use of gathering and insight takes the often do not fail but the research description of theoretical analysing place of make sense. question is very the appropriate concepts is research interpretation. Uses bullet broad and the field(s) of confused. No material Conclusions points to details of the literature, attempt at are used in have a tenuous disguise a project are hazy and/or theoretical a confused link with findings. lack of no criticism or synthesis or and Action plans are arguments evaluation evaluation unsystematic simple way exhortations or lacking 45% The focus, The author No conceptual No primary Provides no Scrappy Fail purpose and appears to or theoretical research of evidence that presentation, method of the have read discussion of any value they know what illogical project are little and any value this outcome structure. No unclear understood is about arguments or less silly ones Jargon, ‘isms’ and ‘ologies’ If you are studying for a Master’s qualification you have to come to terms with the ‘isms’ and ‘ologies’ that are appropriate to your study. This means you will have to read and understand some books and articles that are relevant but difficult. To have a Master’s degree in a subject means that you have a mastery of that subject. You cannot have mastery if there Jargon, ‘isms’ and ‘ologies’ 13 REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 13
- 29. . are some books and articles that are relevant to it that you declare out of bounds because you consider them too difficult. Consequently you will have to learn to understand some difficult jargon. Part of the purpose of this guide is to make that task a little easier when it comes to the jargon of doing research. To use a term that was mentioned earlier, an awareness of the methodological issues surrounding research is necessary. There are a number of methodological terms you may come across, and what follows is a brief introductory comment on some of the major ones. A dissertation is founded on research, which is an effort to find things out. Unfortunately there is a dispute between researchers about what it is possible to discover by research. The argument is not restricted to the business and management field. It is a general one about the nature of knowledge. The proper title for the study of the nature of knowledge is epistemology. The epistemological debate has a long history and it is unlikely that the matter will be resolved during your work on the disserta- tion. It thus remains a dangerous current that threatens to drag you off course as you try to steer your research efforts. This danger is the reason for having a sufficient knowledge of methodological and epistemological issues. An awareness of the currents and tides in this area will help you keep out of danger. The methodological argument affects all aspects of doing a dissertation and its impact can be seen in all six chapters of this guide. In this introduction an attempt is made to provide an understanding of the broad issues in the arguments about methodology so that the more careful arguments in the later chapters can be more easily understood. A number of different methodological approaches to research are shown in Figure 0.2. This is a slightly quirky analysis based on the way I have made sense of methodology. If you wish you can skip this and move on to Figure 0.3, which classifies methodological approaches using a framework based on the literature. In Figure 0.2 the research approaches are plotted using coordinates from two axes or dimensions. The first dimension concerns the relation- ship between the knowledge it is possible for us to have about the world external to us and that world itself. At one end of the spectrum it is thought that our knowledge is an exact reflection of the world. At the other end of the dimension the world is thought to be largely unknowable and that what we can know is patchy. There are two intermediate posi- tions plotted between these two extremes. The terms ‘orthodox’ and ‘gnostic’ will be used to describe the other dimension in Figure 0.2. These are not terms you will find elsewhere in the literature on research methods. They are taken by analogy from early div- isions in Christianity. However, the different views of the world taken by the orthodox and the gnostics can still be seen in modern perspectives on research. Some idea of the positions taken by the two sides can be gained from Exhibit 0.3. 14 Chapter 0 • Introduction REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 14
- 30. . This distinction will be used to map out some of the major methodological disagreements in research. It is hoped this will give you a starting point for your methodological understanding. If you are not interested in the source of the analogy then ignore Exhibit 0.4. Jargon, ‘isms’ and ‘ologies’ 15 We seek objective knowledge of the world, which reflects external reality We seek systematic knowledge of the world but recognise that it is influenced by subjectivity We seek knowledge of the processes by which people in groups and societies make sense of their world. The real world has to be seen through human thought and not seen as separate from it Knowledge is uncertain. The connection between reality and our knowledge of it is hidden Knowledge and reality The nature of knowledge Orthodox Gnostic Positivism Realist research Critical realism Postmodernism Interpretivism and phenomenology Standpoint research Managerial autobiography Action research Hermeticism Figure 0.2 The main forms of management research Ontological realism Positivism Methodological pluralism Realist research Critical realism Standpoint research Action research Interpretivism Not a possible combination Ontological nominalism Recognition of the relevance of human subjectivity Non-recognition of the relevance of human subjectivity Figure 0.3 Methodological choices Source: adapted from Figure 10.2, Gill and Johnson (2002:196). REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 15
- 31. . 16 Chapter 0 • Introduction The orthodox and the gnostic Orthodox Gnostic There is an objective truth Truth is subjective Truth is simple and transparent Truth is hidden Truth is an agreed body of knowledge Truth is gained through personal struggle Conformance and obedience Challenge and diversity Language is transparent Language is ambiguous Exhibit 0.3 Orthodoxy and Gnosticism The Orthodox view of Christianity is to be found in the Bible. Orthodox in this sense refers to the position of all the institutional churches such as the Catholic, the Eastern Orthodox and the Anglican churches. It used to be thought that the books included in the Bible, the canon, were the main Christian texts. It was known that there were various heretical texts in the early years of the Church but that these were marginal. But in 1945 a peasant found pots buried in the Egyptian desert that contained ancient scrolls. These turned out to be early Christian gospels that in most cases had never been heard of before, such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Philip, the Gospel of the Egyptians. They were written in the second century AD. These gospels suggest that there were two early versions of Christianity and that each saw the world and the truth in very different ways. The Orthodox gospels see the world as a good place that has a real existence. The task of humankind is to use it well and live according to the rules and values preached in the gospels. Salvation comes from obedience to the rules of the Church; through obedience to rules that are clear and apply to everyone. The Gnostic gospels see the world differently. Gnosis is a word of Greek origin that means knowledge. But it is different from technical knowledge. It is insight into oneself or others gained through intuitive self-examination. The Gnostics cared little about the physical world. They saw it as a snare and an illusion. The important thing was for individuals to develop their own souls through reflecting upon their own subjective processes of thought and understanding. By increasing their inner perfection they could become close to God. Gnostic knowledge was hidden and not easily found. Acquiring this knowledge called for moral worth and intellectual effort. For Gnostics the world was dominated by chance and irrational forces. Individuals have to learn how to cope with an uncaring world. The Orthodox view was expressed through institutions, through churches, whereas the Gnostics approached religion from an individualist perspective. There were many different forms and sects of Gnosticism. Unsurprisingly, the Orthodox spent most of their time, in the early centuries of Christianity, fighting the Gnostics. The Gnostics spent most of their time squabbling among themselves. Historically the Orthodox prevailed over the Gnostics. Pagels (1982) provides a good introduction to Gnosticism. Exhibit 0.4 REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 16
- 32. . Figure 0.3 classifies the different methodological approaches in a more conventional manner by using a framework developed by Gill and Johnson (2002: 173). It is worth remembering that while innovation may be appreciated in a dissertation, it should be innovation that develops what is in the literature and not innovation that starts afresh with a clean sheet. In Gill and Johnson’s framework the two dimensions are: whether human subjectivity is recognized or ignored; whether what is being researched is thought to have an objective exis- tence (realism) or focuses on the subjective meanings that individuals and societies use to make sense of their world (nominalism, see p. 281.) The research approaches shown in Figures 0.2 and 0.3 are now discussed in more detail. Positivism Auguste Comte (1798–1857) coined the term ‘positivism’ in the nineteenth century. It was a statement about the power of science and of rational thought to comprehend and manipulate the world. It rejected the meta- physical and subjective ideas and was interested only in the tangible. Positivism holds that an accurate and value-free knowledge of things is possible. It holds out the possibility that human beings, their actions and institutions can be studied as objectively as the natural world. But posi- tivism’s emphasis on tangible things is important in this regard. It may be possible to study scientifically the tangible aspects of human activity – behaviours, speech – but not of course the intangible – the internal inter- pretation or motivation of those externals. Behaviourism was an example of this approach from psychology. Its heyday was in the 1960s and 1970s, and behaviourists held that psychology should be the study of people’s observable and quantifiable behaviour and that no regard should be given to their internal processes of consciousness. The intention of positivism is to produce general (sometimes called ‘covering’) laws that can be used to predict behaviour, in terms of proba- bility at least, if not with absolute certainty. These general laws would form an open and orthodox body of knowledge, and the positivist method would be the standard approach for all scientific endeavours. It has often been assumed that traditional social science is positivist; however, some (such as Tilley, 1980: 28) argued that it is possible to have an objective, scientific social science without taking a fully fledged positivist stance, a view that is discussed in the next section. There is no doubt that in some cases, such as mathematical models of crowd behaviour in shops and stadiums and models of market behaviour, a hard scientific approach can be invaluable. However, there are problems with these methods. They can, for example, predict only the average Jargon, ‘isms’ and ‘ologies’ 17 REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 17
- 33. . behaviour, not the behaviour of individuals; and in many situations under- standing particularities is as important as understanding the norm. Another issue is that many choices and assumptions have been made when developing such models, and these choices open the door for the researchers’ values and preferences to enter into the research process. Many researchers argue that research into the social and institutional world cannot be value-free, and that the aspiration for social researchers to become hard scientists such as chemists is not achievable (Robson, 2002: 22–23). Probably it would not be possible for MBA students work- ing on their dissertations to adopt an extreme positivist stance, if for no other reason than that they are likely to be researching their own organisa- tions and therefore are not the disinterested observers that scientists are supposed to be. We will not spend too much time on positivist approaches to research in this guide. Realist research Realist research is an approach that retains many of the ambitions of posi- tivism but recognises, and comes to terms with, the subjective nature of research and the inevitable role of values in it. Realism still aims to be sci- entific but makes fewer claims to knowledge that perfectly mirrors the objects of study. Researchers with this stance recognise that things such as ‘strategy’ and ‘job satisfaction’ cannot be measured and studied in the same way as can chemical and physical processes. However, they do believe that a worthwhile attempt can be made to fix these subjects and treat them as if they are independent variables. Realist research has therefore been placed in the top right-hand quadrant of the framework in Figure 0.3. As an example, let us imagine someone is interested in human resource development (HRD) because they think it is an underrated function of management. They suspect that uncertainty about the values of HRD may contribute to its low status. They wish to rectify the situation by research- ing the core values of HRD. Taking a realist approach they know that there has been much argument over the definition of HRD but this does not prevent them from believing there is a thing called HRD that can be defined and measured. They send out questionnaires to HRD practitioners and use the responses to identify several core values that define the basis of HRD practice. While they recognise that individual HRD practitioners may have different reactions to these core values they believe that HRD has an existence separate from these individual reactions and that it is pos- sible and sensible to talk about HRD’s values. Realist research puts things into categories and labels them, although it is possible to argue about whether the right categories (‘should we call it HRD?’) have been chosen. 18 Chapter 0 • Introduction REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 18
- 34. . Realist researchers claim to be orthodox. They want to discover the mechanisms that bring about events and they are concerned that their the- ories should be verifiable and have some generalisability. Miles and Huberman (1994: 5) expressed this position well: We think that social phenomena exist not only in the mind but also in the objective world – and that some lawful and reasonably stable relationships are to be found between them. The lawfulness comes from the regularities and sequences that link together phenomena. From these patterns we can derive constructs that underlie individual and social life … [we] do not use ‘covering laws’ or the [ ] logic of classical positivism. Realist researchers often seek to offer generalisable explanations but they are less likely (than positivists) to offer predictions. Realists like Miles and Huberman often use qualitative methods although if they can then add some quantification to their qualitative material (for example, counting the frequencies with which findings can be classified under different headings) they have no objection to doing so. However, because the realists recognise the role of subjectivity, all theories have to come with a health warning because different researchers with dif- ferent values will propose competing theories. The existence of competing, or even of complementary, explanations is one of the features of realist research. Tilley (1980: 33) argued (based on the writings of Karl Popper (see p. 44)) that such disagreements are inevitable and they may even be based on bias or prejudice. Nevertheless, it is still possible to have an objective social science. This is because the explanations that researchers propose are only ever provisional and they become the subject of scrutiny and testing by other researchers. In the long run this critical debate will drive out the inadequate explanations. The dangers of researchers’ subjec- tivity are counterbalanced by debate and review. Many MBA students will take a realist approach when doing their dissertations. Critical realism Critical realism, as its name implies, shares the ambitions of realism and so, in Figure 0.3., it is placed in the same quadrant as realism. However, in the terms used in Figure 0.2 it takes a more gnostic than orthodox tack. This is because it adds the notion of layers or stratification into our under- standing of knowledge. Critical realists argue that there is a level of reality below the everyday levels of events and our experiences of them (see p. 285). It is at this level that the mechanisms that drive events in the world exist. Unfortunately our knowledge of this level is not direct; it can only be inferred. So, as with the gnostics, there is a claim that there is a level of reality that is not easily accessible because it is hidden from common view. As Miles and Huberman (1994: 5) expressed it: Jargon, ‘isms’ and ‘ologies’ 19 REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 19
- 35. . We look for a [ ] process or mechanism, a structure at the core of events that can be captured to provide a causal description of the forces at work … The fact that most of these constructs are invisible to the naked eye does not make them invalid. After all, we all are surrounded by lawful physical mechanisms of which we’re, at most, remotely aware. To discover this level of reality requires honest and intelligent people to work hard at the problems and to become adept at discovering these mechanisms. The need for honesty arises because those who do critical realist research into business and management may discover bad things that ought to be made known and have action taken to correct them. There can be a moral component to the critical realist approach. Managers doing dissertations as part of their management education may not feel it is their role to provide such a moral critique of the market and institutional context within which they make their living. Nevertheless, it is a valid approach to management and business research and suggestions for (and examples of) its application are provided in this guide. Managerial autobiography This is not really a research approach at all, and so it is marked out with a dotted line in Figure 0.2. However, it is a common body of literature that MBA students are often drawn to. The category is constituted of all those books in which a successful entrepreneur’s or chief executive officer’s work experience is written down and presented as a clear orthodoxy for those who wish to achieve business success. As this knowledge has not been discovered by an objective type of research, but unashamedly bases its claim to be heard on its very subjectivity, it has been placed at that point on the vertical scale of Figure 0.2 where knowledge is seen through the prism of subjectivity. My experience of supervising MBA students suggests that this is not a good route for them to take in their dissertation. The student who announces that they wish to use the dissertation as a vehicle for distilling their wisdom, drawn from their experience over many years of a certain industry, often struggles. Their research becomes an apologia or a justification of their actions and a chance to do down those who have opposed them. Interpretivism and phenomenology There are many terms for this approach to research. ‘Interpretivism’ is the one that will be used in this guide, although ‘phenomenology’ is the pre- ferred term of many textbooks. Other terms used are ‘constructionism’ and ‘naturalistic research’. (Concerning the spelling of interpretive, the Oxford English Dictionary also allows interpretative.) This approach is placed near the bottom of the vertical scale because researchers who take this position believe that reality is socially con- 20 Chapter 0 • Introduction REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 20
- 36. . structed. This means that our understanding of ‘reality’ is not a simple account of what is; rather, it is something that people in societies and groups form from the following: their interpretation of reality, which is influenced by their values and their way of seeing the world; other people’s interpretation; the compromises and agreements that arise out of the negotiations between the first two. Imagine you work in the procurement division of a large multinational and you are invited to an evening at a casino and dinner at a very expen- sive restaurant by a senior manager of an overseas company that wants you to give it a large contract. The casino is real and so are the restaurant and the food and wine, although the wine makes the other things seem a little less real. But there is another level of reality, which is – what do you think is really going on? Is the evening’s entertainment just a friendly ges- ture, is it seen as a social obligation because it is what is expected in the senior manager’s home country, is it a blatant bribe or is it a mixture of all these things and more? An interpretivist researcher would also be inter- ested in the clues and process by which you decided what the ‘reality’ of this situation was. Interpretivist researchers are interested in the particu- larities of a situation, although they will categorise and label the processes for dealing with particulars (‘how can we generalise about how people decide what to do in such situations?’). As researchers cannot claim to be studying an objective reality (which exists but is less interesting than the way people make sense of it), they study the following: the different accounts people give of issues and topics; people’s accounts of the process by which they make sense of the world. Interpretive research has been classified as gnostic in Figure 0.2 because it does not accept the existence of an orthodox or standard interpretation of any particular topic. Rather, it emphasises plurality, relativism and com- plexity. It is an attempt to understand the processes by which we gain knowledge and so it has affinity with the original gnostic search for one’s true self. A feature of interpretive research is that you cannot understand how others may make sense of things unless you have an insightful knowl- edge of your own values and thinking processes. In research terms, this knowledge is known as reflexivity (see p. 299). Interpretive research is not as common as realist research in MBA dis- sertations but it can be the basis of fascinating projects. It is discussed in some detail in this guide. Jargon, ‘isms’ and ‘ologies’ 21 REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 21
- 37. . Action research Action research is a further development of interpretive research that goes further towards the gnostic. I have to be careful with this claim, though, because there are different forms of action research and not all would fit my categorisation. Nevertheless, one major theme of action research is to seek to understand things by changing them, by experimenting with some- thing new, and then by studying the consequences of the action and using them to reflect on one’s values and preconceptions (that is the gnostic bit) before then taking new action. Although there are practical problems in choosing action research as the basis for a project (not least being whether the year that students typically have to complete their dissertation is suffi- cient to have a few cycles of action and reflection), it can lead to very worthwhile projects and is discussed in this guide. Standpoint research In Figure 0.2 standpoint research fits between critical realism and action research and in Figure 0.3 it is placed in the top right-hand quadrant of the framework. Standpoint research starts from the position that there is injustice in the world and that particular groups (the most commonly focused on are women, gays and ethnic minorities) are most likely to be the subjects of such injustice. The point of research is not to understand the injustice but to stop it. This approach to research takes its inspiration from Marx’s (1968: 30) 11th thesis on Feuerbach: ‘The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways: the point, however, is to change it’. Morwenna Griffiths (1998), who is an educational researcher, puts a similar point of view more simply in the title of one of her books, Educational Research for Social Justice: Getting off the Fence. Standpoint research has some of the characteristics of critical realism because researchers seek to identify the deep structural causes of social injustice. It shares with action research the intention of making the world a fairer place by changing it through the process of raising people’s consciousnesses. One feature of standpoint research is that it believes that the standard techniques and approaches to research are part of the problem. The stan- dard methods of research, from a feminist perspective, for example, can be seen as marginalising women, by treating them as a separate category. Mirchandani (1999) studied female entrepreneurs and noted that whether their behaviour was entrepreneurial was defined by comparison with male entrepreneurs. This type of analysis might make female entrepreneurship appear to be a subsidiary, or even odd, form. Some feminist researchers have also rejected many of the traditional forms of research because they do not allow women to speak in their own authentic voice and so re- inforce the injustices that beset them. 22 Chapter 0 • Introduction REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 22
- 38. . Postmodernism The postmodern stance sees nothing in the social and intellectual world as tangible or fixed. At this vantage point fragmentation is accepted as part of the human condition. In Lyotard’s (1988: 46) famous phrase there is ‘incredulity towards metanarratives’. This means that the large ideological schemes, such as capitalism and communism that used to dominate people’s thinking, no longer have credibility. In the postmodern view there are no eternal truths or values. What we think of as objectively true emerges through discourses that are embedded in power and knowledge relationships where some have more influence on the outcomes of the dis- courses than others. But what emerges is in any case uncertain because the language we use is opaque and carries no single, clear messages (Legge, 1995: 306). For this reason postmodernism is shown in Figure 0.2 at the end of the ‘knowledge and reality’ spectrum that represents the belief that our knowledge of reality is uncertain. The words we use to express our values have no fixed meaning. Statements have to be treated as texts and deconstructed. Différance is Derrida’s device for exploring the limitless instability of language. One aspect of différance is that no word has a positive meaning attributed to it; it has meaning only to the extent that it is different from other words. Another aspect is deferral because the meaning of one word is always explained by reference to another and the search for meaning can involve a complex chain of cross-references as one chases a word through a vast thesaurus. Let us take an innocuous statement about public management: The first steps to achieving accountability for performance must be to clarify objectives and develop a recognised approach to measuring and reporting performance. (Dallas, 1996: 13) This is enough to cause a deconstructionist to salivate. Postmodern researchers seek to decode dialogue to show that it can only lead to aporia. This is a term from classical rhetoric that is often used in postmod- ern writing. It means being in a state of bewilderment and confusion as to what it is right and good to say or do. Such a concern for getting under- neath the surface meaning of words is the reason why postmodernism is shown on the gnostic end of the ‘orthodox/gnostic’ scale in Figure 0.2. Most of the words in the sentence do not have an unambiguous or uncontested meaning. Accountability, for example, can only be defined by relating it to other words such as hierarchy, responsiveness, transparency and so on. Accountability may be viewed from different discourses such as political accountability, audit and accounting, consumer rights and inves- tigative journalism. If we had the time to explore this sentence in detail and to plot its webs of signification we would find that the sentence could Jargon, ‘isms’ and ‘ologies’ 23 REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 23
- 39. . mean almost anything. The search for meaning may not be endless; but the end will be terminal confusion rather than clear understanding. The function of deconstruction is to reach a final impasse. Deconstruction is not intended to overcome fragmentation but simply to map the instabilities, paradoxes and aporetic states that define it. From this position there is no hope that the fragmented values can be put back together again. As Harvey (1989) expressed it, disapprovingly, postmodernism swims and even wallows in the fragmentary and chaotic current of change as if that was all there was. (Harvey, 1989: 116) Hermeticism Hermeticism takes its name from Hermes Trismegistus, an apocryphal pre- Christian Egyptian priest whose books were probably actually written in Alexandria in the third century AD. It is often linked with the cabbala (see p. 134) with which it shares a belief that all things in heaven and earth are linked in a harmonious whole but that the knowledge of these connections is secret and esoteric and can only be accessed by a few adepts. Everyday knowledge, by contrast, is seen as fragmented and confused. You do not often find hermeticism in writing on business and management but Gibson Burrell’s (1997) book is an example. Burrell (1997: 101) alludes to his text as a cabbalistic one. In hermetic thought, connections between things are seen as symbolic and spiritual rather than rational and analytical. The idea of overlapping concentric circles replaces the linear form that we associate with rational analysis. The orthodox model of industrial development, for example, sees economic growth as happening in a linear fashion as one stage inevitably leads to a further, and higher, stage. Hermetic thought could see these stages being leapfrogged as, in an actual instance, old cottage-industry forms of work are allied to modern information technology and communi- cation methods to bring products and services to a post-Fordist international market (Burrell 1997: 101–1001). This might be small craft producers using the Internet to sell their products globally. In this process the old and the new are intermingled. The modern does not replace the old. Hermeticism focuses on symbolic relationships between things that seem or look alike (see p. 134). This probably is reflected in the liking of many modern management thinkers for metaphor. A metaphor is a judge- ment that one thing is equivalent to another, which is a symbolic link. It 24 Chapter 0 • Introduction 1 The page numbers are in reverse order because this part of Burrell’s book is to be read from back to front. REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 24
- 40. . follows that if machines are metaphors for organisations, then organisations should be treated in the same way as machines because, in some non- rational way, a machine is a microcosm of the organisational macrocosm. However, in this guide we will ignore the two extremes of positivism and hermeticism and focus on the intermediate approaches to research. The descriptions of the various approaches to research are something of a caricature, and specialists will take exception to many of its claims. It will be necessary in later chapters to take a more sophisticated view of these matters. But understanding has to start somewhere, and an over- generalisation is as good a point as any. This problem is a version of the hermeneutic circle. Hermeneutics is the theory of interpretation concerned with the meaning of texts. The hermeneutic circle is a claim that you cannot understand the entirety of a thing until you understand its details; but you cannot understand the details until you understand the entirety. This is certainly true of research methodology. If it is of any comfort, I have been studying this subject for some time but my understanding of it is still developing! How to use this guide This guide covers all the main areas relevant to doing a dissertation and associated pieces of work. It is divided into six chapters. They are intended to form a sequence but they can be used in any order. There are many themes that appear in several if not all chapters. This guide is only a guide, however, and should not be seen as a set of dogmatic rules that you break at your peril. It is also an informal guide, and so its tone is often relaxed. Good guides often reflect their author’s prejudices. Whether this guide is good is up to others to decide – but it is certainly opinionated. A certain sceptical or ironical tone also creeps into the text. This is normally at places in the guide where the subject matter is one on which there is no consensus. At these points the irony is a signal to the reader. You, the reader, will be unsure whether my text is to be taken seriously or not. You will have to think through the issue and come to your own conclusion. The guide offers many examples of how to tackle problems when doing a dissertation. It also provides many ‘five easy steps’ instructions on how to do things. These illustrations and recipes are mostly designed to stimu- late your own thought processes and are not to be followed slavishly. Try to avoid falling into the trap shown in the box. How to use this guide 25 REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 25
- 41. . The guide is also a collection of materials that were to hand. The post- modernists would call such a collage by the French term bricolage. This is not a problem. Room is left for you to develop your own approach by fol- lowing the leads you find in the research literature. To the extent that the guide is a collage, it will resemble your own project, in which you have to make a convincing assemblage – of the pieces of research you have done, the material from the literature, the stuff you learnt on other courses or at school years ago and the ideas and the bees in bonnets collected over the years – as you write your dissertation. It is possible to take the work seri- ously while also taking a wry sidelong look at its nature. Taking things seriously is often no more than taking oneself too seriously. For these reasons you need to supplement your study of the guide with reading in the literature on research methods in business, management and organisational studies. In particular it will be necessary for you to read further on the specific research techniques you plan to use in your project. 26 Chapter 0 • Introduction Each of the chapters in the guide includes suggestions for further reading in its particular specialist area. There are a number of general textbooks for people researching in managerial, organisational or business topics. The main recommendation is Alan Bryman and Emma Bell, Business Research Methods (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003). It is authoritative and detailed and provides many examples from published research studies. Other useful general textbooks are: Easterby-Smith, M., Thorpe, R. and Lowe, A. (2002) Management Research: An Introduction, 2nd edn, London: Sage. Gill, J. and Johnson, P. (2002) Research Methods for Managers, 3rd edn., London: Paul Chapman. Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2006) Research Methods for Business Students, 4th edn, Harlow: FT Prentice Hall. Suggested reading The role-modelling vicious circle Supervisor: ‘You need to develop a conceptual framework.’ Student: ‘How do I do that?’ Supervisor: ‘Well, a conceptual framework means [etc. …]’ Student: ‘Uh?! Give me an example …’ Supervisor: ‘For example, take this concept and that concept and put them in this 2 × 2 table and …’ Student: ‘That’s good. Can I use it?’ REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 26
- 42. . References 27 Bell, J. (1999) Doing Your Research Project: A Guide for First-time Researchers in Education and Social Science, 3rd edn, Buckingham: Open University Press. Blaxter, L., Hughes, C. and Tight, M. (2002) How to Research, 2nd edn, Buckingham: Open University Press. Jankowicz, A.D. (2000) Business Research Projects, 3rd edn, London: Paul Chapman. Remenyi, D., Williams, B., Money, A. and Swartz, E. (1998) Doing Research in Business and Management: An Introduction to Process and Method, London: Sage. Other recommended books Belbin, R.M. (1981) Management Teams: Why They Succeed or Fail, London: Heinemann. Burrell, G. (1997) Pandemonium: Towards a Retro Organisational Theory, London: Sage. Dallas, M. (1996) ‘Accountability for Performance – Does Audit have a Role?’, in Adding Value? Audit and Accountability in the Public Services, London: Public Finance Foundation and Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA). Griffiths, M. (1998) Educational Research for Social Justice: Getting off the Fence, Buckingham: Open University Press. Harvey, D. (1989) The Condition of Postmodernity, Oxford: Blackwell. Legge, K. (1995) Human Resource Management: Rhetoric and Realities, London: Macmillan. Lyotard, J-F. (1988) Le Postmodernisme Expliqué aux Enfants, Correspondance 1982–85, Paris: Editions Galilée. Marx, K. (1968) ‘Theses on Feuerbach’, in K. Marx and F. Engels, Marx and Engels Selected Works, London: Lawrence Wishart. Mirchandani, K. (1999) ‘Feminist insight on gendered work: new directions in research on women and entrepreneurship’, Gender, Work and Organisation, vol. 6, no. 4: 224–235. Miles, M.B. and Huberman, A.M. (1994) Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook, London: Sage. Pagels, E. (1982) The Gnostic Gospels, Harmondsworth: Penguin. Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) (2001) The Framework for Higher Education Qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Annex 1: Qualification Descriptors. Available online at: http://www.qaa. ac.uk/crntwork/nqf/ewni/2001/annex1.htm#4 (accessed 20 July 2003). Robson, C. (2002) Real World Research, 2nd edn, Oxford: Blackwell. Tilley, N. (1980) ‘Popper, positivism and eth- nomethodology’, British Journal of Sociology, vol. 31, no. 1: 28–45. Wright Mills, C. (2000) The Sociological Imagination, Oxford: Oxford University Press (first published 1959). References REWD_CH00.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 27
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- 44. . Chapter 1 Choosing a topic and designing the project Contents Introduction Choosing a topic Criteria for choosing a topic A six-stage process for choosing your topic Designing your project Methodological stance The researcher’s role Breadth or depth Choice of research methods Ethical considerations Writing the research proposal Summary Suggested reading References REWD_C01.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 29
- 45. . Introduction If a man begins with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties. Francis Bacon (1561–1626), quoted in Schott (2002: 115) This first chapter is designed to get you started on your Master’s research and, if this is needed on your course, to help you write a project proposal. It is divided into three parts: 1. Choosing a topic to research and framing the research questions or objectives. 2. Designing the project. Deciding the style of research you are going to use and making the broad-brush decisions about how the project will be tackled. 3. Writing a proposal document. 30 Chapter 1 • Choosing a topic and designing the project Framing arguments and writing up Finish Interpreting the research material Writing a critical literature review Developing a conceptual framework Researching and analysing Choosing a topic Planning the project Start Confidence Time Finding out Confusion Thinking The processes of researching and writing a Master’s dissertation REWD_C01.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 30
- 46. . Choosing a topic This is a critical stage in doing a Master’s dissertation. If you fail to think about a topic in a systematic manner then you will be frustrated by your indecision and you will risk running out of time to complete the disserta- tion on schedule. If you make a poor choice then it may be difficult to score well against the marking criteria. The suggestions made in this sec- tion are designed to minimise the chance of either of these things happening. As this stage is so critical it is important to discuss your shop- ping list of possible topics with your tutor and to use your tutor as a sounding board to help you formulate your proposal. Some of you, depending on what course you are doing, will have to make choices of two topics – a topic for your conference paper and a topic for the dissertation. Criteria for choosing a topic There are a number of factors you need to take into account when choos- ing the subject of your Master’s project. Interest and relevance You should choose a topic that interests and even possibly excites you, otherwise you will have trouble sustaining the motivation and commit- ment necessary to complete the project. It should also be of interest to some external audience as well. This might be your own department or organisation, it could be a profession or it could be the wider business and Choosing a topic 31 Learning outcomes for the chapter 1 Students will be able to choose and define an appropriate topic for their dissertation. 2 Students will be able to frame practicable and feasible research objectives or questions. 3 Students will be able to make choices appropriate to their research objectives when designing the broad outline of their project and research methods. 4 Students will be able to recognise and respond to ethical issues that may be anticipated in their research project. 5 Students will be able to write a research proposal that defines the research topic clearly and specifies the research plan. REWD_C01.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 31
- 47. . management community. Problems are sometimes met when the student’s boss or organisation wants them to research a topic they can raise no enthusiasm for. Should this happen, you need to discuss the situation with your tutor. Durability Will the project last the length of the course? Organisations are capable of making very rapid changes in direction and policy. It may be that the topic you choose could become obsolete because of a change in organisational strategy, ownership or other events. Try to choose a subject that will still be relevant in a year’s time. Breadth of research questions Is there enough substance to your topic? A primary school head teacher, who was doing a Master’s in education management, told me the following: I have been listening to what you said about choosing a relevant topic. The most important issue in my school, the thing that is limiting the effectiveness of the teaching we do, is the chaos and confusion that is our teaching resources storeroom. Therefore, I am going to do the sorting out of the resources room for my dissertation. Important though it may have been, the issue was simply not broad enough to sustain the work needed for a Master’s dissertation. A more likely problem is that the chosen topic is too broad and you will find yourself flailing around and unable to get a purchase on it. It is important to consider whether the topic is too big for the time and energy available to be spent on the project. Topic adequacy Check the assessment criteria used on your course, against which your work will be marked, and ask yourself whether the topic you have in mind will enable you to do well against the criteria. Access You may have an excellent topic in mind, but unless you can get access to the people who can answer your research questions, whether by question- naire, interview or whatever, then the project will be a non-starter. Even if you think the people to whom you need access will agree in principle, the time and effort necessary to secure the access may be too much. If your research is going to take place in the organisation in which you work, the problem may not be too great. But if you need to research third-party organisations, you should assure yourself that you can get the access. Even if you want to send out questionnaires to a general sample of managers 32 Chapter 1 • Choosing a topic and designing the project REWD_C01.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 32
- 48. . you may have trouble getting a list of names and addresses to which you can send the questionnaire. Mailing lists are valuable and you may have to pay for them. Micro-politics Whenever you research a business issue there is a danger that you may become a partisan in the management debates and politics that surround it. This will be a more important matter if you are studying a topic within your own organisation. You need to be sure that pursuing the project will not get you into political hot water with those in the organisation who can do you harm. Sometimes people choose to do a project that involves organisations other than the one they work for because the political situa- tion in their own organisation (imminent takeover, boardroom battles and so on) is too dangerous. Risk and security Bearing in mind the previous criterion, you cannot avoid all risk. If you choose a topic that is totally safe it will probably be so bland that neither you nor anyone else will be interested in the outcomes. You need to strike a balance between risk and safety that you can live with. Resources Literature – make sure there is enough written about your topic, or about the general academic field in which it is located, for you to be able to do the critical literature review. This should not be a problem. A common dif- ficulty these days is too much literature, not too little. IT, software and skills – your topic may require access to, and skill in, various software packages. These may include NVivo, SPSS, Minitab and Snap for Windows. You may be able to access the software through the computer network of the institution you are studying at. If you do not know how to use the software, make sure you have time to learn. Brief introductions to some of these software packages are given in Chapter 4. A six-stage process for choosing your topic What follows is a six-stage process for you to follow when choosing your topic. Even if you have a topic in mind, it will probably be helpful to lay out your idea using these steps. 1. Identify broad topic and academic discipline(s) The starting point is to decide your broad area of interest. It might be, to give some examples: Choosing a topic 33 REWD_C01.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 33
- 49. . implementation of mission statements and strategy in multinational companies; the problems caused by a lack of cooperation between GPs and other health professionals in primary care; performance-related pay and flexible benefits. It is quite likely that your interest in the topic will be driven by a need to come up with some answers to problems or difficulties that you or others in the organisation are troubled by. These are strategic questions that con- cern what ought to be done in a particular situation. An example would be: ‘What should we do to improve the company’s competitive position in international markets?’ It is important not to confuse such questions with research questions. Strategic questions are not research questions. Research questions can be answered by doing research; strategic questions cannot be answered by doing research. Strategic questions can only be answered by an act of judgement and will. A manager faced with a strategic question has to use all they know to help them make a judgement about what it is best to do. No matter how much research has been done, it will not of itself identify the correct answer. Some issues require no research at all; they simply need someone to take action. These issues make poor subjects for dissertations. It is worth considering in more detail why strategic questions are differ- ent in nature from research questions. Strategic questions concern the future – what should be done? This is why they are not research questions. You cannot research something that has not yet happened. You can only research things that are or have been. (Although you can, of course, research what people think might happen in the future; see p. 160.) The reason this is so can be found in the general philosophical rule that you cannot derive an ought from an is. Put in more practical terms, no matter how much analysis of the current situation you do, it cannot logically tell you what ought to be done next. Peters and Waterman (1982) reported that some companies thought analysis could determine right action and fell into the trap of ‘paralysis by analysis’. However, at this early stage of the topic-identification process, strategic questions are important because they often provide the managerial moti- vation for the project. At the end of the project and the dissertation the student should return to these questions and, on the basis of the new knowledge and understanding they have acquired through their research, exercise their judgement and decide what the best way forward would be in relation to the strategic questions they identified at the start. 2. Determine the scope This is very often a practical matter of where you can get access. You need to decide whether you will be: 34 Chapter 1 • Choosing a topic and designing the project REWD_C01.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 34
- 50. . studying one part of an organisation; making a comparison of several parts of an organisation; studying one organisation; making a comparison of two or more organisations; studying a sector. Clearly the scope of the study will have an impact on the sorts of research questions you can ask and answer. You will not be able to discover whether performance-related pay generally increases organisations’ finan- cial performance if you only study one company. You could, however, explore staff’s response to performance-related pay by studying a single organisation. As a general rule it is sensible to have a comparative element in your study. It makes it easier to find things to write about. Comparing one thing with another trebles the amount of your material. Instead of just dis- cussing one thing, you can describe two things and then discuss their similarities and differences. More importantly, comparison creates con- trasts that make it easier to see things clearly. 3. Brainstorm issues, puzzles and questions Now go into brainstorming mode and list as many different issues, prob- lems and questions that arise from the broad topic area as you possibly can. Do not evaluate them by saying, ‘No, that’s not important.’ Just make the list as long as possible. For reasons that will become obvious in the next section I recommend that you write the issues on Post-its™ – one issue per Post-it (see Exhibit 1.1). At this stage you will find you should be asking research questions rather than strategic questions. Research questions are those to which it is possible, in theory at least, to go out and find answers. Research questions mostly refer to what is happening or what has happened. They are con- cerned with describing and explaining what is, not with proposing what should be done. So, although you cannot research what should be done to improve international competitiveness (to use the example given earlier), you could research: what other companies in similar positions have done to improve their international competitiveness and what the outcomes were; and what the company has tried in the past and how well it worked. However, while you may not be able to research what ought to be done, you could research what people at the present moment think should be done. You can research respondents’ views about the future. Choosing a topic 35 REWD_C01.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 35
- 51. . 4. Map and structure the issues Now you have a pile of issues, they need structuring and organising. Sort and cluster all your research issues and questions in a relevance tree or hierarchical diagram. The relevance tree provides a map of all the issues and questions you could research under your broad area of interest. Note that in Figure 1.1 the question at the top of the tree is a strategic question, whereas all those beneath it are research questions. You can then decide which of the issues you are going to research. The two circled areas in Figure 1.1 represent two of the many possible pro- jects. One would concentrate on how the different regional offices of the organisation (China and the Far East, Central Europe, India and South- East Asia and so on) respond to corporate strategy and research how such differences are handled. The other project would emphasise the different regional management cultures that may exist within the multinational company and study how this can lead to different understandings about what strategy is and what its role is. This form of analysis is particularly useful if you have to choose a topic for a conference paper as well as a topic for a dissertation. Using the tree diagram you can circle the two topics and use the tree to help you define the connections between the two projects. 36 Chapter 1 • Choosing a topic and designing the project Doing it with Post-its I find using Post-its very helpful for the sorting and sifting stage because they can be easily moved around as you decide how best to cluster them. Write all your issues and ques- tions on Post-its, making sure to put only one issue or idea on each. Find a flat surface and stick your Post-its on it in random order. When that is done consider them and begin to move them around so that you can cluster together all those issues that seem similar or related. Then put the clusters in order by showing one cluster as a sub-set of another, for example. You need time and space for this task. In the photograph I was doing the task in a dingy flat in Azerbaijan on a wet weekend while working on a university pro- ject. The lack of distraction made thinking easier. Exhibit 1.1 REWD_C01.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 36
- 52. . 5. Conduct a reconnaissance Having arrived at a clear view about what your research topic is going to be, it is sensible to discuss it with others. Discuss it with tutors, colleagues and other managers to see whether they agree that the issue is important and coherent. You should also do an initial trawl of the literature, if you have not already done so, to see what work others have done on the issues that concern you. 6. Frame your research question(s) The final stage is to ensure that you are clear in what you are doing by framing your research question in plain English. The suspicion is that if you cannot ask your research question without using management jargon, then you are probably not clear what you are asking and you need to think about it some more. If your research ques- tion resembles this – I am addressing the issues relevant to leveraging human resource competency to produce turnaround to world-class status Choosing a topic 37 How do multinational companies balance the need for a worldwide corporate strategy with the demands from the divisions in different countries for variations that meet local circumstances? How should we try to find a balance between the need for a global strategy and the need to respond to local contexts? Do the regional divisions interpret and implement corporate strategy differently? To what extent does corporate strategy making take regional needs into account? Do the managers in the regional divisions have a different view on the role of strategy from that of those in corporate HQ? What examples are there (if any) of regional divisions adapting strategy to what they perceive as particular local conditions? Do the managers in regional divisions have different management cultures and values from those of the corporate HQ? If so, what are they? If such examples lead to conflicts between divisions or between divisions and corporate HQ, how are the tensions managed? Do expatriate and host country managers in regional divisions interpret corporate strategy differently? If so, then how? To other issues and questions Figure 1.1 A relevance tree for a research project REWD_C01.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 37
- 53. . and to diagonally integrate professional functionalities – you probably do not know what you are talking about (see Exhibit 1.2). Once you have found answers to such questions, then you will be in a position to draw conclusions and make recommendations about what should be done in the future. The answers to the research questions cannot dictate what action should be taken but they should provide a firmer basis for judgement and decision making. If you have tried all of the above but are still having trouble choosing the topic for your dissertation, then try morphological analysis. Exhibit 1.3 is a series of lists. The first list can be updated or changed to suit your personal preferences. Just enter a series of current business and management topics that interest you. Then step back, shut your eyes and stick a pin at random in each of the lists. You can then read off a description of a project you 38 Chapter 1 • Choosing a topic and designing the project Framing research questions Express them in plain English as a question. ‘There is clearly a need to investigate how tourists [on escorted cultural tours] develop an understanding of transient destination images.’ They must intrigue and interest you. They must be open. Avoid assumptions – unless you are researching them. Exhibit 1.2 ? This is how not to do it! Your research question Identify a topic for your project and dissertation by working through the six stages recommended above. Within the general topic chosen, identify: a broad ‘what should we do about x?’ strategic type of question that responds to managerial or organisational issues and concerns; and one or more research questions that say what you want to find out; and frame them in language that would be understandable to an interested lay person in a pub who has asked about your research. Exercise 1.1 This is how not to do it! REWD_C01.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 38
- 54. . might do. For example, you could do an ethnographic account of the implementation of BPR in a number of organisations. If you do not like that idea, put the pin in again until you arrive at an acceptable project. Designing your project A research proposal is not just a document in which you identify the pur- pose and focus of your research. It is also a place where you describe the broad nature and style of the project you are going to undertake. You will need to make decisions on the following matters, each of which will be discussed in some detail: methodological stance – understanding, action or both; your role as researcher; breadth or depth – survey or case study; main research methods to be used; ethical considerations. Designing your project 39 Morphological analysis Topic Aim Design Focus Business process Classification Action research Professional or interest re-engineering (BPR) group Globalisation Explanation Ethnographic accounts Single organisation Internal markets Technique development Mathematical models Several organisations Business Forcasting Comparative analysis Industrial sector excellence model Business ethics Evaluation Case study Single project Exhibit 1.3 Construct your own morphological analysis chart. Most of the items in the second, third and fourth columns will probably be reusable. It is the first column that will have to be remade to suit your particular interests and situation. Once the chart is com- plete, choose items at random from each list to identify possible projects. Exercise 1.2 REWD_C01.QXD 9/1/07 11:33 Page 39
- 55. Other documents randomly have different content
- 56. displeased the Lord. In the fearless march of providence we see many a proof of the courage of God. It is God alone that could have the fortitude to place in the Holy Book this foul story of sin and shame. He only could deliberately encounter the scorn which it has drawn down from every generation of ungodly men, the only wise God, who sees the end from the beginning, who can rise high above all the fears and objections of short-sighted men, and who can quiet every feeling of uneasiness on the part of His children with the sublime words, Be still, and know that I am God. The truth is, that though David's reputation would have been brighter had he died at this point of his career, the moral of his life, so to speak, would have been less complete. There was evidently a sensual element in his nature, as there is in so many men of warm, emotional temperament; and he does not appear to have been alive to the danger involved in it. It led him the more readily to avail himself of the toleration of polygamy, and to increase from time to time the number of his wives. Thus provision was made for the gratification of a disorderly lust, which, if he had lived like Abraham or Isaac, would have been kept back from all lawless excesses. And when evil desire has large scope for its exercise, instead of being satisfied it becomes more greedy and more lawless. Now, this painful chapter of David's history is designed to show us what the final effect of this was in his case—what came ultimately of this habit of pampering the lust of the flesh. And verily, if any have ever been inclined to envy David's liberty, and think it hard that such a law of restraint binds them while he was permitted to do as he pleased, let them study in the latter part of his history the effects of this unhallowed indulgence; let them see his home robbed of its peace and joy, his heart lacerated by the misconduct of his children, his throne seized by his son, while he has to fly from his own Jerusalem; let them see him obliged to take the field against Absalom, and hear the air rent by his cries of anguish when Absalom is slain; let them think how even his deathbed was disturbed by the noise of revolt, and how legacies of blood had to be bequeathed to his successor almost with his dying breath,—and surely it will be seen that the
- 57. license which bore such wretched fruits is not to be envied, and that, after all, the way even of royal transgressors is hard. But a fall so violent as that of David does not occur all at once. It is generally preceded by a period of spiritual declension, and in all likelihood there was such an experience on his part. Nor is it very difficult to find the cause. For many years back David had enjoyed a most remarkable run of prosperity. His army had been victorious in every encounter; his power was recognized by many neighbouring states; immense riches flowed from every quarter to his capital; it seemed as if nothing could go wrong with him. When everything prospers to a man's hand, it is a short step to the conclusion that he can do nothing wrong. How many great men in the world have been spoiled by success, and by unlimited, or even very great power! In how many hearts has the fallacy obtained a footing, that ordinary laws were not made for them, and that they did not need to regard them! David was no exception; he came to think of his will as the great directing force within his kingdom, the earthly consideration that should regulate all. Then there was the absence of that very powerful stimulus, the pressure of distress around him, which had driven him formerly so close to God. His enemies had been defeated in every quarter, with the single exception of the Ammonites, a foe that could give him no anxiety; and he ceased to have a vivid sense of his reliance on God as his Shield. The pressure of trouble and anxiety that had made his prayers so earnest was now removed, and probably he had become somewhat remiss and formal in prayer. We little know how much influence our surroundings have on our spiritual life till some great change takes place in them; and then, perhaps, we come to see that the atmosphere of trial and difficulty which oppressed us so greatly was really the occasion to us of our highest strength and our greatest blessings. And further, there was the fact that David was idle, at least without active occupation. Though it was the time for kings to go forth to battle, and though his presence with his army at Rabbah would have
- 58. been a great help and encouragement to his soldiers, he was not there. He seems to have thought it not worth his while. Now that the Syrians had been defeated, there could be no difficulty with the Ammonites. At evening-tide he arose from off his bed and walked on the roof of his house. He was in that idle, listless mood in which one is most readily attracted by temptation, and in which the lust of the flesh has its greatest power. And, as it has been remarked, oft the sight of means to do ill makes ill deeds done. If any scruples arose in his conscience they were not regarded. To brush aside objections to anything on which he had set his heart was a process to which, in his great undertakings, he had been well accustomed; unhappily, he applies this rule when it is not applicable, and with the whole force of his nature rushes into temptation. Never was there a case which showed more emphatically the dreadful chain of guilt to which a first act, apparently insignificant, may give rise. His first sin was allowing himself to be arrested to sinful intents by the beauty of Bathsheba. Had he, like Job, made a covenant with his eyes; had he resolved that when the idea of sin sought entrance into the imagination it should be sternly refused admission; had he, in a word, nipped the temptation in the bud, he would have been saved a world of agony and sin. But instead of repelling the idea he cherishes it. He makes inquiry concerning the woman. He brings her to his house. He uses his royal position and influence to break down the objections which she would have raised. He forgets what is due to the faithful soldier, who, employed in his service, is unable to guard the purity of his home. He forgets the solemn testimony of the law, which denounces death to both parties as the penalty of the sin. This is the first act of the tragedy. Then follow his vain endeavours to conceal his crime, frustrated by the high self-control of Uriah. Yes, though David gets him intoxicated he cannot make a tool of him. Strange that this Hittite, this member of one of the seven nations of Canaan, whose inheritance was not a blessing but a curse, shows himself a paragon in that self-command, the utter absence of which, in the favoured king of Israel, has
- 59. plunged him so deeply in the mire. Thus ends the second act of the tragedy. But the next is far the most awful. Uriah must be got rid of, not, however, openly, but by a cunning stratagem that shall make it seem as if his death were the result of the ordinary fortune of war. And to compass this David must take Joab into his confidence. To Joab, therefore, he writes a letter, indicating what is to be done to get rid of Uriah. Could David have descended to a lower depth? It was bad enough to compass the death of Uriah; it was mean enough to make him the bearer of the letter that gave directions for his death; but surely the climax of meanness and guilt was the writing of that letter. Do you remember, David, how shocked you were when Joab slew Abner? Do you remember your consternation at the thought that you might be held to approve of the murder? Do you remember how often you have wished that Joab were not so rough a man, that he had more gentleness, more piety, more concern for bloodshedding? And here are you making this Joab your confidant in sin, and your partner in murder, justifying all the wild work his sword has ever done, and causing him to believe that, in spite of all his holy pretensions David is just such a man as himself. Surely it was a horrible sin—aggravated, too, in many ways. It was committed by the head of the nation, who was bound not only to discountenance sin in every form, but especially to protect the families and preserve the rights of the brave men who were exposing their lives in his service. And that head of the nation had been signally favoured by God, and had been exalted in room of one whose selfishness and godlessness had caused him to be deposed from his dignity. Then there was the profession made by David of zeal for God's service and His law, his great enthusiasm in bringing up the ark to Jerusalem, his desire to build a temple, the character he had gained as a writer of sacred songs, and indeed as the great champion of religion in the nation. Further, there was the mature age at which he had now arrived, a period of life at which sobriety in the indulgence of the appetites is so justly and reasonably expected.
- 60. And finally, there was the excellent character and the faithful services of Uriah, entitling him to the high rewards of his sovereign, rather than the cruel fate which David measured out to him—his home rifled and his life taken away. How then, it may be asked, can the conduct of David be accounted for? The answer is simple enough—on the ground of original sin. Like the rest of us, he was born with proclivities to evil—to irregular desires craving unlawful indulgence. When divine grace takes possession of the heart it does not annihilate sinful tendencies, but overcomes them. It brings considerations to bear on the understanding, the conscience, and the heart, that incline and enable one to resist the solicitations of evil, and to yield one's self to the law of God. It turns this into a habit of the life. It gives one a sense of great peace and happiness in resisting the motions of sin, and doing the will of God. It makes it the deliberate purpose and desire of one's heart to be holy; it inspires one with the prayer, Oh that my ways were directed to keep Thy statutes! Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all Thy commandments. But, meanwhile, the cravings of the old nature are not wholly destroyed. The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit lusteth against the flesh. It is as if two armies were in collision. The Christian who naturally has a tendency to sensuality may feel the craving for sinful gratification even when the general bent of his nature is in favour of full compliance with the will of God. In some natures, especially strong natures, both the old man and the new possess unusual vehemence; the rebellious energisings of the old are held in check by the still more resolute vigour of the new; but if it so happen that the opposition of the new man to the old is relaxed or abated, then the outbreak of corruption will probably be on a fearful scale. Thus it was in David's nature. The sensual craving, the law of sin in his members, was strong; but the law of grace, inclining him to give himself up to the will of God, was stronger, and usually kept him right. There was an extraordinary activity and energy of character about him; he never did things slowly, tremblingly, timidly;
- 61. the wellsprings of life were full, and gushed out in copious currents; in whatever direction they might flow, they were sure to flow with power. But at this time the energy of the new nature was suffering a sad abatement; the considerations that should have led him to conform to God's law had lost much of their usual power. Fellowship with the Fountain of life was interrupted; the old nature found itself free from its habitual restraint, and its stream came out with the vehemence of a liberated torrent. It would be quite unfair to judge David on this occasion as if he had been one of those feeble creatures who, as they seldom rise to the heights of excellence, seldom sink to the depths of daring sin. We make these remarks simply to account for a fact, and by no means to excuse a crime. Men are liable to ask, when they read of such sins done by good men, Were they really good men? Can that be genuine goodness which leaves a man liable to do such deeds of wickedness? If so, wherein are your so-called good men better than other men? We reply, They are better than other men in this,—and David was better than other men in this,—that the deepest and most deliberate desire of their hearts is to do as God requires, and to be holy as God is holy. This is their habitual aim and desire; and in this they are in the main successful. If this be not one's habitual aim, and if in this he do not habitually succeed, he can have no real claim to be counted a good man. Such is the doctrine of the Apostle in the seventh chapter of the Romans. Any one who reads that chapter in connection with the narrative of David's fall can have little doubt that it is the experience of the new man that the Apostle is describing. The habitual attitude of the heart is given in the striking words, I delight in the law of God after the inward man. I see how good God's law is; how excellent is the stringent restraint it lays on all that is loose and irregular, how beautiful the life which is cast in its mould. But for all that, I feel in me the motions of desire for unlawful gratifications, I feel a craving for the pleasures of sin. I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. But how does the Apostle treat this feeling? Does he say,
- 62. I am a human creature, and, having these desires, I may and I must gratify them? Far from it! He deplores the fact, and he cries for deliverance. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And his only hope of deliverance is in Him whom he calls his Saviour. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. In the case of David, the law of sin in his members prevailed for the time over the new law, the law of his mind, and it plunged him into a state which might well have led him too to say, O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me? And now we begin to understand why this supremely horrible transaction should be given in the Bible, and given at such length. It bears the character of a beacon, warning the mariner against some of the most deceitful and perilous rocks that are to be found in all the sea of life. First of all, it shows the danger of interrupting, however briefly, the duty of watching and praying, lest you enter into temptation. It is at your peril to discontinue earnest daily communion with God, especially when the evils are removed that first drove you to seek His aid. An hour's sleep may leave Samson at the mercy of Delilah, and when he awakes his strength is gone. Further, it affords a sad proof of the danger of dallying with sin even in thought. Admit sin within the precincts of the imagination, and there is the utmost danger of its ultimately mastering the soul. The outposts of the spiritual garrison should be so placed as to protect even the thoughts, and the moment the enemy is discovered there the alarm should be given and the fight begun. It is a serious moment when the young man admits a polluted thought to his heart, and pursues it even in reverie. The door is opened to a dangerous brood. And everything that excites sensual feeling, be it songs, jests, pictures, books of a lascivious character, all tends to enslave and pollute the soul, till at length it is saturated with impurity, and cannot escape the wretched thraldom. And further, this narrative shows us what moral havoc and ruin may be wrought by the toleration and gratification of a single sinful desire. You may contend vigorously against ninety-and-nine forms of sin, but if you yield to the hundredth the consequences will be deadly. You may
- 63. fling away a whole box of matches, but if you retain one it is quite sufficient to set fire to your house. A single soldier finding his way into a garrison may open the gates to the whole besieging army. One sin leads on to another and another, especially if the first be a sin which it is desirable to conceal. Falsehood and cunning, and even treachery, are employed to promote concealment; unprincipled accomplices are called in; the failure of one contrivance leads to other contrivances more sinful and more desperate. If there is a being on earth more to be pitied than another it is the man who has got into this labyrinth. What a contrast his perplexed feverish agitation to the calm peace of the straightforward Christian! He that walketh uprightly walketh surely; but he that perverteth his way shall be known. Never let any one read this chapter of 2 Samuel without paying the profoundest regard to its closing words—But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. In that but lies a whole world of meaning.
- 64. CHAPTER XV. DAVID AND NATHAN. 2 Samuel xii. 1-12; 26-31. It is often the method of the writers of Scripture, when the stream of public history has been broken by a private or personal incident, to complete at once the incident, and then go back to the principal history, resuming it at the point at which it was interrupted. In this way it sometimes happens (as we have already seen) that earlier events are recorded at a later part of the narrative than the natural order would imply. In the course of the narrative of David's war with Ammon, the incident of his sin with Bathsheba presents itself. In accordance with the method referred to, that incident is recorded straight on to its very close, including the birth of Bathsheba's second son, which must have occurred at least two years later. That being concluded, the history of the war with Ammon is resumed at the point at which it was broken off. We are not to suppose, as many have done, that the events recorded in the concluding verses of this chapter (vv. 26-31) happened later than those recorded immediately before. This would imply that the siege of Rabbah lasted for two or three years—a supposition hardly to be entertained; for Joab was besieging it when David first saw Bathsheba, and there is no reason to suppose that a people like the Ammonites would be able to hold the mere outworks of the city for two or three whole years against such an army as David's and such a commander as Joab. It seems far more likely that Joab's first success against Rabbah was gained soon after the death of Uriah, and that his message to David to come and take the citadel in person was sent not long after the message that announced Uriah's death.
- 65. In that case the order of events would be as follows: After the death of Uriah, Joab prepares for an assault on Rabbah. Meanwhile, at Jerusalem, Bathsheba goes through the form of mourning for her husband, and when the usual days of mourning are over David hastily sends for her and makes her his wife. Next comes a message from Joab that he has succeeded in taking the city of waters, and that only the citadel remains to be taken, for which purpose he urges David to come himself with additional forces, and thereby gain the honour of conquering the place. It rather surprises one to find Joab declining an honour for himself, as it also surprises us to find David going to reap what another had sowed. David, however, goes with all the people, and is successful, and after disposing of the Ammonites he returns to Jerusalem. Soon after Bathsheba's child is born; then Nathan goes to David and gives him the message that lays him in the dust. This is not only the most natural order for the events, but it agrees best with the spirit of the narrative. The cruelties practised by David on the Ammonites send a thrill of horror through us as we read them. No doubt they deserved a severe chastisement; the original offence was an outrage on every right feeling, an outrage on the law of nations, a gratuitous and contemptuous insult; and in bringing these vast Syrian armies into the field they had subjected even the victorious Israelites to grievous suffering and loss, in toil, in money, and in lives. Attempts have been made to explain away the severities inflicted on the Ammonites, but it is impossible to explain away a plain historical narrative. It was the manner of victorious warriors in those countries to steel their hearts against all compassion toward captive foes, and David, kind-hearted though he was, did the same. And if it be said that surely his religion, if it were religion of the right kind, ought to have made him more compassionate, we reply that at this period his religion was in a state of collapse. When his religion was in a healthy and active state, it showed itself in the first place by his regard for the honour of God, for whose ark he provided a resting-place, and in whose honour he proposed to build a temple. Love to God was accompanied by love to man, exhibited in his efforts to show
- 66. kindness to the house of Saul for the sake of Jonathan, and to Hanun for the sake of Nahash. But now the picture is reversed; he falls into a cold state of heart toward God, and in connection with that declension we mark a more than usually severe punishment inflicted on his enemies. Just as the leaves first become yellow and finally drop from the tree in autumn, when the juices that fed them begin to fail, so the kindly actions that had marked the better periods of his life first fail, then turn to deeds of cruelty when that Holy Spirit, who is the fountain of all goodness, being resisted and grieved by him, withholds His living power. In the whole transaction at Rabbah David shows poorly. It is not like him to be roused to an enterprise by an appeal to his love of fame; he might have left Joab to complete the conquest and enjoy the honour which his sword had substantially won. It is not like him to go through the ceremony of being crowned with the crown of the king of Ammon, as if it were a great thing to have so precious a diadem on his head. Above all, it is not like him to show so terrible a spirit in disposing of his prisoners of war. But all this is quite likely to have happened if he had not yet come to repentance for his sin. When a man's conscience is ill at ease, his temper is commonly irritable. Unhappy in his inmost soul, he is in the temper that most easily becomes savage when provoked. No one can imagine that David's conscience was at rest. He must have had that restless feeling which every good man experiences after doing a wrong act, before coming to a clear apprehension of it; he must have been eager to escape from himself, and Joab's request to him to come to Rabbah and end the war must have been very opportune. In the excitement of war he would escape for a time the pursuit of his conscience; but he would be restless and irritable, and disposed to drive out of his way, in the most unceremonious manner, whoever or whatever should cross his path. We now return with him to Jerusalem. He had added another to his long list of illustrious victories, and he had carried to the capital another vast store of spoil. The public attention would be thoroughly
- 67. occupied with these brilliant events; and a king entering his capital at the head of his victorious troops, and followed by waggons laden with public treasure, need not fear a harsh construction on his private actions. The fate of Uriah might excite little notice; the affair of Bathsheba would soon blow over. The brilliant victory that had terminated the war seemed at the same time to have extricated the king from a personal scandal. David might flatter himself that all would now be peace and quiet, and that the waters of oblivion would gather over that ugly business of Uriah. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. And the Lord sent Nathan unto David. Slowly, sadly, silently the prophet bends his steps to the palace. Anxiously and painfully he prepares himself for the most distressing task a prophet of the Lord ever had to go through. He has to convey God's reproof to the king; he has to reprove one from whom, doubtless, he has received many an impulse towards all that is high and holy. Very happily he clothes his message in the Eastern garb of parable. He puts his parable in such life-like form that the king has no suspicion of its real character. The rich robber that spared his own flocks and herds to feed the traveller, and stole the poor man's ewe lamb, is a real flesh-and-blood criminal to him. And the deed is so dastardly, its heartlessness is so atrocious, that it is not enough to enforce against such a wretch the ordinary law of fourfold restitution; in the exercise of his high prerogative the king pronounces a sentence of death upon the ruffian, and confirms it with the solemnity of an oath—The man that hath done this thing shall surely die. The flash of indignation is yet in his eye, the flush of resentment is still on his brow, when the prophet with calm voice and piercing eye utters the solemn words, Thou art the man! Thou, great king of Israel, art the robber, the ruffian, condemned by thine own voice to the death of the worst malefactor! Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; and I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the
- 68. house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little I would moreover have given thee such and such things. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. It is not difficult to fancy the look of the king as the prophet delivered his message—how at first when he said, Thou art the man, he would gaze at him eagerly and wistfully, like one at a loss to divine his meaning; and then, as the prophet proceeded to apply his parable, how, conscience-stricken, his expression would change to one of horror and agony; how the deeds of the last twelve months would glare in all their infamous baseness upon him, and outraged Justice, with a hundred glittering swords, would seem all impatient to devour him. It is no mere imagination that, in a moment, the mind may be so quickened as to embrace the actions of a long period; and that with equal suddenness the moral aspect of them may be completely changed. There are moments when the powers of the mind as well as those of the body are so stimulated as to become capable of exertions undreamt of before. The dumb prince, in ancient history, who all his life had never spoken a word, but found the power of speech when he saw a sword raised to cut down his father, showed how danger could stimulate the organs of the body. The sudden change in David's feeling now, like the sudden change in Saul's on the way to Damascus, showed what electric rapidity may be communicated to the operations of the soul. It showed too what unseen and irresistible agencies of conviction and condemnation the great Judge can bring into play when it is His will to do so. As the steam hammer may be so adjusted as either to break a nutshell without injuring the kernel, or crush a block of quartz to powder, so the Spirit of God can range, in His effects on the conscience, between the mildest feeling of uneasiness and the bitterest agony of remorse. When He is come, said our blessed Lord, He shall reprove the world of sin. How helpless men are under His
- 69. operation! How utterly was David prostrated! How were the multitudes brought down on the day of Pentecost! Is there any petition we more need to press than that the Spirit be poured out to convince of sin, whether as it regards ourselves or the world? Is it not true that the great want of the Church the want of is a sense of sin, so that confession and humiliation are become rare, and our very theology is emasculated, because, where there is little sense of sin, there can be little appreciation of redemption? And is not a sense of sin that which would bring a careless world to itself, and make it deal earnestly with God's gracious offers? How striking is the effect ascribed by the prophet Zechariah to that pouring of the spirit of grace and supplication upon the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, when they shall look on Him whom they have pierced, and shall mourn for Him as one mourneth for an only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. Would that our whole hearts went out in those invocations of the Spirit which we often sing, but alas! so very tamely— Come, Holy Spirit, come, Let Thy bright beams arise; Dispel the darkness from our minds, And open all our eyes. Convince us of our sin, Lead us to Jesus' blood, And kindle in our breast the flame Of never-dying love. We cannot pass from this aspect of David's case without marking the terrible power of self-deception. Nothing blinds men so much to the real character of a sin as the fact that it is their own. Let it be presented to them in the light of another man's sin, and they are shocked. It is easy for one's self-love to weave a veil of fair embroidery, and cast it over those deeds about which one is somewhat uncomfortable. It is easy to devise for ourselves this
- 70. excuse and that, and lay stress on one excuse and another that may lessen the appearance of criminality. But nothing is more to be deprecated, nothing more to be deplored, than success in that very process. Happy for you if a Nathan is sent to you in time to tear to rags your elaborate embroidery, and lay bare the essential vileness of your deed! Happy for you if your conscience is made to assert its authority, and cry to you, with its awful voice, Thou art the man! For if you live and die in your fool's paradise, excusing every sin, and saying peace, peace, when there is no peace, there is nothing for you but the rude awakening of the day of judgment, when the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies! After Nathan had exposed the sin of David he proceeded to declare his sentence. It was not a sentence of death, in the ordinary sense of the term, but it was a sentence of death in a sense even more difficult to bear. It consisted of three things—first, the sword should never depart from his house; second, out of his own house evil should be raised against him, and a dishonoured harem should show the nature and extent of the humiliation that would come upon him; and thirdly, a public exposure should thus be made of his sin, so that he would stand in the pillory of Divine rebuke, and in the shame which it entailed, before all Israel, and before the sun. When David confessed his sin, Nathan told him that the Lord had graciously forgiven it, but at the same time a special chastisement was to mark how concerned God was for the fact that by his sin he had caused the enemy to blaspheme—the child born of Bathsheba was to die. Reserving this last part of the sentence and David's bearing in connection with it for future consideration, let us give attention to the first portion of his retribution. The sword shall never depart from thy house. Here we find a great principle in the moral government of God,—correspondence between an offence and its retribution. Of this many instances occur in the Old Testament. Jacob deceived his father; he was deceived by his own sons. Lot made a worldly choice; in the world's ruin he was overwhelmed. So David having slain Uriah with the sword, the sword was never to
- 71. depart from him. He had robbed Uriah of his wife; his neighbours would in like manner rob and dishonour him. He had disturbed the purity of the family relation; his own house was to become a den of pollution. He had mingled deceit and treachery with his actions; deceit and treachery would be practised towards him. What a sad and ominous prospect! Men naturally look for peace in old age; the evening of life is expected to be calm. But for him there was to be no calm; and his trial was to fall on the tenderest part of his nature. He had a strong affection for his children; in that very feeling he was to be wounded, and that, too, all his life long. Oh let not any suppose that, because God's children are saved by His mercy from eternal punishment, it is a light thing for them to despise the commandments of the Lord! Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee; know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that thy fear is not in Me, saith the Lord of hosts. Pre-eminent in its bitterness was that part of David's retribution which made his own house the source from which his bitterest trials and humiliations should arise. For the most part, it is in extreme cases only that parents have to encounter this trial. It is only in the wickedest households, and in households for the most part where the passions are roused to madness by drink, that the hand of the child is raised against his father to wound and dishonour him. It was a terrible humiliation to the king of Israel to have to bear this doom, and especially to that king of Israel who in many ways bore so close a resemblance to the promised Seed, who was indeed to be the progenitor of that Seed, so that when Messiah came He should be called the Son of David. Alas! the glory of this distinction was to be sadly tarnished. Son of David was to be a very equivocal title, according to the character of the individual who should bear it. In one case it would denote the very climax of honour; in another, the depth of humiliation. Yes, that household of David's would reek with foul lusts and unnatural crimes. From the bosom of that home where, under other circumstances, it would have been so natural to look for model children, pure, affectionate, and dutiful, there would
- 72. come forth monsters of lust and monsters of ambition, whose deeds of infamy would hardly find a parallel in the annals of the nation! In the breasts of some of these royal children the devil would find a seat where he might plan and execute the most unnatural crimes. And that city of Jerusalem, which he had rescued from the Jebusites, consecrated as God's dwelling-place, and built and adorned with the spoils which the king had taken in many a well-fought field, would turn against him in his old age, and force him to fly wherever a refuge could be found as homeless, and nearly as destitute, as in the days of his youth when he fled from Saul! And lastly, his retribution was to be public. He had done his part secretly, but God would do His part openly. There was not a man or woman in all Israel but would see these judgments coming on a king who had outraged his royal position and his royal prerogatives. How could he ever go in and out happily among them again? How could he be sure, when he met any of them, that they were not thinking of his crime, and condemning him in their hearts? How could he meet the hardly suppressed scowl of every Hittite, that would recall his treatment of their faithful kinsman? What a burden would he carry ever after, he that used to wear such a frank and honest and kindly look, that was so affable to all that sought his counsel, and so tender-hearted to all that were in trouble! And what outlet could he find out of all this misery? There was but one he could think of. If only God would forgive him; if He, whose mercy was in the heavens, would but receive him again of His infinite condescension into His fellowship, and vouchsafe to him that grace which was not the fruit of man's deserving, but, as its very name implied, of God's unbounded goodness, then might his soul return again to its quiet rest, though life could never be to him what it was before. And this, as we shall presently see, is what he set himself very earnestly to seek, and what of God's mercy he was permitted to find. O sinner, if thou hast strayed like a lost sheep, and plunged into the very depths of sin, know that all is not lost with thee! There is one way yet open to peace, if not to joy. Amid the ten thousand times ten thousand voices that condemn thee, there is one voice of love that comes
- 73. from heaven and says, Return unto Me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord.
- 74. CHAPTER XVI. PENITENCE AND CHASTISEMENT. 2 Samuel xii. 13-25. When Nathan ended his message, plainly and strongly though he had spoken, David indicated no irritation, made no complaint against the prophet, but simply and humbly confessed—I have sinned. It is so common for men to be offended when a servant of God remonstrates with them, and to impute their interference to an unworthy motive, and to the desire of some one to hurt and humiliate them, that it is refreshing to find a great king receiving the rebuke of the Lord's servant in a spirit of profound humility and frank confession. Very different was the experience of John the Baptist when he remonstrated with Herod. Very different was the experience of the famous Chrysostom when he rebuked the emperor and empress for conduct unworthy of Christians. Very different has been the experience of many a faithful minister in a humbler sphere, when, constrained by a sense of duty, he has gone to some man of influence in his flock, and spoken seriously to him of sins which bring a reproach on the name of Christ. Often it has cost the faithful man days and nights of pain; girding himself for the duty has been like preparing for martyrdom; and it has been really martyrdom when he has had to bear the long malignant enmity of the man whom he rebuked. However vile the conduct of David may have been, it is one thing in his favour that he receives his rebuke with perfect humility and submission; he makes no attempt to palliate his conduct either before God or man; but sums up his whole feeling in these expressive words, I have sinned against the Lord.
- 75. To this frank acknowledgment Nathan replied that the Lord had put away his sin, so that he would not undergo the punishment of death. It was his own judgment that the miscreant who had stolen the ewe lamb should die, and as that proved to be himself, it indicated the punishment that was due to him. That punishment, however, the Lord, in the exercise of His clemency, had been pleased to remit. But a palpable proof of His displeasure was to be given in another way—the child of Bathsheba was to die. It was to become, as it were, the scapegoat for its father. In those times father and child were counted so much one that the offence of the one was often visited on both. When Achan stole the spoil at Jericho, not only he himself, but his whole family, shared his sentence of death. In this case of David the father was to escape, but the child was to die. It may seem hard, and barely just. But death to the child, though in form a punishment, might prove to be great gain. It might mean transference to a higher and brighter state of existence. It might mean escape from a life full of sorrows and perils to the world where there is no more pain, nor sorrow, nor death, because the former things are passed away. We cannot pass from the consideration of David's great penitence for his sin without dwelling a little more on some of its features. It is in the fifty-first Psalm that the working of his soul is best unfolded to us. No doubt it has been strongly urged by certain modern critics that that psalm is not David's at all; that it belongs to some other period, as the last verse but one indicates, when the walls of Jerusalem were in ruins;—most likely the period of the Captivity. But even if we should have to say of the last two verses that they must have been added at another time, we cannot but hold the psalm to be the outpouring of David's soul, and not the expression of the penitence of the nation at large. If ever psalm was the expression of the feelings of an individual it is this one. And if ever psalm was appropriate to King David it is this one. For the one thing which is uppermost in the soul of the writer is his personal relation to God. The one thing that he values, and for which all other things are counted but dung, is friendly intercourse with God. This sin no doubt
- 76. has had many other atrocious effects, but the terrible thing is that it has broken the link that bound him to God, it has cut off all the blessed things that come by that channel, it has made him an outcast from Him whose lovingkindness is better than life. Without God's favour life is but misery. He can do no good to man; he can do no service to God. It is a rare thing even for good men to have such a profound sense of the blessedness of God's favour. David was one of those who had it in the profoundest degree; and as the fifty-first Psalm is full of it, as it forms the very soul of its pleadings, we cannot doubt that it was a psalm of David. The humiliation of the Psalmist before God is very profound, very thorough. His case is one for simple mercy; he has not the shadow of a plea in self-defence. His sin is in every aspect atrocious. It is the product of one so vile that he may be said to have been shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin. The aspect of it as sin against God is so overwhelming that it absorbs the other aspect—the sin against man. Not but that he has sinned against man too, but it is the sin against God that is so awful, so overwhelming. Yet, if his sin abounds, the Psalmist feels that God's grace abounds much more. He has the highest sense of the excellence and the multitude of God's lovingkindnesses. Man can never make himself so odious as to be beyond the Divine compassion. He can never become so guilty as to be beyond the Divine forgiveness. Blot out my transgressions, sobs David, knowing that it can be done. Purge me with hyssop, he cries, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than the snow. Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me. But this is not all; it is far from all. He pleads most plaintively for the restoration of God's friendship. Cast me not away from Thy presence, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me,—for that would be hell; Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and uphold me with Thy free Spirit,—for that is heaven. And, with the renewed sense of God's love and grace, there would come a renewed power to serve God and be useful to men. Then will I teach transgressors Thy
- 77. ways; and sinners shall be converted unto Thee. O Lord, open Thou my lips; and my mouth shall show forth Thy praise. Deprive me not for ever of Thy friendship, for then life would be but darkness and anguish; depose me not for ever from Thy ministry, continue to me yet the honour and the privilege of converting sinners unto Thee. Of the sacrifices of the law it was needless to think, as if they were adequate to purge away so overwhelming a sin. Thou desirest not sacrifice, else I would give it: Thou delightest not in burnt-offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise. With all his consciousness of sin, David has yet a profound faith in God's mercy, and he is forgiven. But as we have seen, the Divine displeasure against him is to be openly manifested in another form, because, in addition to his personal sin, he has given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. This is an aggravation of guilt which only God's children can commit. And it is an aggravation of a most distressing kind, enough surely to warn off every Christian from vile self-indulgence. The blasphemy to which David had given occasion was that which denies the reality of God's work in the souls of His people. It denies that they are better than others. They only make more pretence, but that pretence is hollow, if not hypocritical. There is no such thing as a special work of the Holy Ghost in them, and therefore there is no reason why any one should seek to be converted, or why he should implore the special grace of the Spirit of God. Alas! how true it is that when any one who occupies a conspicuous place in the Church of God breaks down, such sneers are sure to be discharged on every side! What a keen eye the world has for the inconsistencies of Christians! With what remorseless severity does it come down on them when they fall into these inconsistencies! Sins that would hardly be thought of if committed by others,—what a serious aspect they assume when committed by them! Had it been Nebuchadnezzar, for example, that treated Uriah as David did, who would have thought of it a second time? What else could you expect of Nebuchadnezzar? Let a
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