Volume 10, Issue 1 January 2012
Editorial
The range of methods that can be applied for empirical research work in business has developed at a fast pace over the last decade. A surprising range of epistomological debates around the nature and quality of the type of results obtained from these methods has developed in parallel?
Although we get a large number of submissions, there are surprisingly few that we can accept due to the lack of fit to this journal’s subject focus. They may be well written but they are not on the subject that this journal was founded to address. The Journal has the objective of publishing papers that offer new insights or practical help in the application of research methods in business research. Papers are accepted that for example ‑ present new methods, offer the experience of researchers in applying controversial or complex methods, offer practical help on the research process or debate the various philosophical issues that are so critical to application and evaluation. We look for a high standard in scholarship writing. But of key importance is that each paper includes discussion on the research process.
The four papers chosen for this issue deal with widely differing subjects. The paper by Noy and Luski addresses the problem posed for the researcher by the lack of a unified philosophical paradigm for business strategy. The authors produce a fascinating solution for finding a path through the maze of competing models, theories available from a wide range of disciplines. The paper by Armitage and Thornton assesses the effect of using personal narrative exchanges to investigate organizational issues. The paper by Muskat, Blackman and Muskat gives an excellent introduction to the use of Mixed Methods ‑ one of the relatively new types of empirical method. It does this through the development of a specific example. The paper by Roy and Tarafdar is very specific to the use of the technique of SEM (structural equation modeling) in Operations and Manufacturing Management. The paper carries out an interesting assessment of the likely impact of a poor or inappropriate application of this technique.
Ann Brown
Editor