Game or Role Playing

This research tactic or approach involves asking individuals to participate in a business or management game by playing out a specific role.

A recent example of a dissertation based on game or role playing considered how managers made different decisions when they were put in different competitive situations. (Dan Remenyi et al.)

In-depth Surveys

The use of in-depth surveys is well illustrated by research conducted into how innovative companies manage to maintain an environment that supports new product development.

Twelve companies were identified and asked to identified and asked to identify three innovative products. The data was analysed through the use of quantitative methods where researchers compared quantifiable data across companies. However, the primary focus of analysis was on the qualitative data in the form of stories. (Danremenyi et al.)

Laboratory Experiments

Sometimes students are used as surrogates for managers and executives in laboratory settings, but this is not often considered convincing. Laboratory experiments are used far more frequently in the USA than in other parts of the world (Tung and Heminger,1993).

A recent example of a dissertation based on this approach was one in which the researcher used a group decision support system to examine how decision making differed depending upon a variety of different variables, including the number of decision makers participating in the meeting.

This experiment provided an insight into how different types of questions are best handled under different circumstances. Laboratory experiments use quantitative techniques of evidence analysis to deliver answers to highly structures research questions. (Dan Remenyi et al.)

Large –scale Surveys

The logic of a traditional survey is strictly positivistic.

The evidence is frequently treated as though it were the result of measurements of a machine used in an entirely physical or life science environment.

Standard statistical techniques used for ordinal numbers are increasingly applied with no recognition of the problems of the subjectivity of the opinions.

Although surveys are still extensively used in business and management research there is an increasing feeling that they are not suitable for the collection of evidence about management issues. (Dan Remenyi et al.)



A recent example of a dissertation based on a large-scale survey was an exploration into the acceptance of an organisation’s computer strategy by its staff, by examining the level of user satisfaction with a management information systems based on end-user computing.

Some 1,500 computer users within the organisation were asked to complete a questionnaire, and approximately 300 completed forms were returned. These were analysed using a number of statistical approaches. As a result of the evidence collected it was possible to suggest ways in which the organisation could improve the implementation of its strategy.(Dan Remenyi et al.)

Participant Observer Approach

A recent example of the participant-observer approach involved research conducted into the management of design and manufacturing processes in small textile companies in central England. The student conducted research in two companies and spent some time working as an employee in these organisations.

Access was negotiated with the owner –manager of the organisations and the researcher participated as a complete participant, or a normal member of the organisation, gathering information on how the design and the production process was managed by working alongside the mainly female workforce.(Dan Remenyi et al)

Scenario Research

A recent example of a dissertation using scenario discussions as part of an evidence collection strategy involved the presentation of a number of viewsa a to how the market for a product might change over the next five years. Each scenario was fully debated by a group of informants and the researcher collected their evidence. Thise was then analysed in the same way as it would be in the case of in-depth interviews or focus groups.

Simulation or Stochastic Modelling

A recent example of a dissertation based on simulation involved in the building of a mathematical model which was used to describe how to optimise the logistics function of a large manufacturing firm.



Dan remenyi, Brina Williams, Arther Money, and Ethne Swartz, Doing Research in Business and Management: An Introduction to Process and Method,