This book provides management research students with an in-depth introduction to five key research concepts and to the constellation of ideas in which they are situated. The book is intended as a companion to the research methods text, Research Skills for Management Studies (Routledge, 2003). Unlike that volume, which provides a comprehensive overview of all aspects of the research process, this book does not deal with research techniques. Rather it focuses upon central ideas which it is rarely possible to explore or discuss in any depth in conventional research methods texts. These fundamental ideas or concepts are: Knowledge, Theory, Data, Validity, and Significance. The intention is to improve the student's appreciation of the subtle and dynamic nature of the meanings of these foundational concepts which are often taken much more for granted than they should be. An essential text for all those involved in researching or studying business and management, and for those who teach the subject.

Contents:
1. Research Skills and How to Acquire Them 2. What is Research? 3. Ways of Knowing 4. Problem Fields 5. Problem Identification 6. Research Ethics 7. Research Strategies: The Experiment and Survey 8. Research Strategies: The Case-Study, Ethnography and Action Research 9. Data Construction by Asking Questions 10. Data Construction by Making Observations 11. Data Construction by Using Documents and Records 12. Data Analysis and Interpretation 13. Writing and Publication

Contents:
1. Research Skills and How to Acquire Them 2. What is Research? 3. Ways of Knowing 4. Problem Fields 5. Problem Identification 6. Research Ethics 7. Research Strategies: The Experiment and Survey 8. Research Strategies: The Case-Study, Ethnography and Action Research 9. Data Construction by Asking Questions 10. Data Construction by Making Observations 11. Data Construction by Using Documents and Records 12. Data Analysis and Interpretation 13. Writing and Publication

By its very nature, management is a multidisciplinary enterprise. Despite this, management research has tended to be organized around a number of discrete management disciplines with their own methodological outlooks. As a result, researchers in different fields often find it difficult to appreciate work outside their own area of specialization, so inhibiting much-needed collaboration across disciplinary boundaries. This significant text aims to remedy this situation by relating key methodological debates in social research to specific management fields. It provides a thoughtful examination of five fundamental research concepts that must be taken into account by management researchers whatever the nature of their particular project: science, theory, data, validity and significance. Each concept is considered in depth and its role is examined in each of four major fields of management study: accounting, finance, marketing, and organizational behaviour.