Abstract
6 and Bellamy’s (2012) Principles of Methodology: Research Design in Social Science is offered as a multi-disciplinary textbook for postgraduate students and early career researchers who are working in the fields of social or business research. The authors’ claim is that the business of drawing inferences is ‘… the whole point and the only point of doing social research, irrespective of what type of data and what style of research we use’ (p. 14, emphasis in original). The book is therefore concerned with how to design research projects in a way that assures confidence in the process of making inferences from empirical data to sets of conclusions.
6 and Bellamy (2012) premise their work by arguing for a tight definition of methodology, which they contrast sharply with both ‘philosophy’, on the one hand, and with ‘research methods’ on the other. Whereas philosophy is concerned with ‘… the status of knowledge claims …’ and methods are understood as ‘… sets of techniques … for the creation, collection, coding, organising and analysis of data’ (p. 9), methodology is about arguments for the development of ‘warranted inferences’ from these data to conclusions. In this respect, their work shares similarities with the body of influential American social science literature that seeks to ‘refocus’ on methodology (Brady and Collier, 2010), and to identify a ‘unified approach’ to research (King et al., 1994), which cuts across traditional distinctions based on type of data. This important ambition is not often addressed in research textbooks, where despite the end of the ‘paradigm wars’ (Bryman, 2006), the traditional qualitative/quantitative divide has remained as the dominant organising principle. It is therefore good to see 6 and Bellamy (2012) anchoring these ideas at the heart of a book developed for teaching and learning.
It is a challenging text, but well pitched for its intended postgraduate audience. The breadth and depth of material covered is ambitious, especially for such a slim volume, and in places, the prose does become a little dense. However, the conversational style and frequent illustrative examples help a great deal to clarify many of the more complex ideas, and a detailed glossary of technical terms is included at the back of the work to clarify any remaining ambiguities. The examples used throughout the text are drawn from a range of disciplines (e.g. organisation studies, social policy, management, politics), and illustrate well the authors’ argument that all social and business research shares a common set of methodological issues. The variety of the examples also offers a comfortable access point to the materials for readers from different disciplinary perspectives, and in the main, these worked well.
Each of the chapters includes numerous teaching and learning exercises designed to reinforce or deepen understanding of the key points raised, and which require the application of the ideas set out in the text. Interestingly, the same research problem (household recycling) is used as the basis for learning exercises in successive chapters. This is a useful innovation that shows how a seemingly straightforward empirical issue can be understood from a variety of perspectives, and how the framing of a question implies differences in research design. Suggestions for further reading at both introductory and advanced levels are offered as departure points at the end of each chapter should the reader wish to investigate a topic in more detail.
The book is broken up into four sections that reflect the structure of the research process. The first, ‘Foundations’, is composed of four chapters that examine key terms and concepts. Chapters 1 and 2 focus on definitions and the notion of inference as the primary activity of research, while Chapters 3 and 4 address ideas about the mechanics of how theory might relate to data, as well as a debate about the philosophical foundations of social and business research. This discussion of research philosophy was particularly engaging. Rather than offering a neutral guide to the various flavours of epistemology, the authors are frank about their commitment to a stance of realism, and take some time to show what they view to be the shortcomings of both positivism on the one hand and what they label as types of ‘relativism’ on the other. While this is a little unorthodox, it makes for an engaging read and evokes a real sense of the debate.
The second part of the book moves onto ‘Designs’. The first four of its five chapters consider different ways to structure observational empirical research, while the final chapter addresses questions of concept formation. Because differences in type of data are not considered to be very relevant to a discussion about methodology, the standard chapters we might expect about quantitative or qualitative techniques are omitted. Instead, the authors distinguish between varieties of research by difference in the inference being drawn (descriptive, explanatory, interpretive), the nature of analytical procedure (within-case and between-case analysis) and the sample size (small N or large N). Chapter 5 sets out this typology of observational research, and the following three chapters each address the three principal varieties of research design this yields.
Chapter 6 discusses ‘Variables-Orientated Research Designs’, or large N research with a stable sample where the analysis takes place between, rather than within, cases. The focus is on how the design of the research is structured. For example, it considers the implications of using proximate or distal variables, as well as suggesting ways to think about the level at which the analysis is undertaken. Similarly, Chapter 7 considers Case-Based research designs, or small N research, where the analysis takes place within a selected case, and grapples with issues of sampling on the dependent variable, and what these mean for achieving warrant in inference. Chapter 8 concludes the discussion of research designs by offering a discussion of how systematic comparisons between case studies, or Case-Orientated Research, might enable researchers to design in ‘controls’ over those factors through to be important for their study through careful case selection. The arguments in this section suggest that research design is best thought of as finding a balance between the virtue that methodologically sound research should exhibit. For example, while researchers should generally strive for ‘goodness of fit with data’, for ‘parsimony’, ‘generality’, and perhaps also ‘causality’, not all of these things can necessarily be achieved together, and so different trade-offs between them will be required for different research questions, or the nature of the inferences being drawn. This discussion is compelling and, again, successfully incorporates insights from a wide range of much more technical texts, and offers them in a style appropriate for a postgraduate textbook.
The final part of this section, Chapter 9, identifies the issue of concept formation as a central concern of research design and, again, offers an insightful discussion of an often ignored methodological issue. After reading this chapter, I wondered why operationalisation was not addressed here. Perhaps the view was that this is a question of methods, or perhaps there was simply not enough space? Either way, Chapter 9 would seem to be the natural home for such a discussion.
The third section of the book is also the largest, and addresses what the authors call the ‘Achievements’ of the research process, that is, the conclusions that are reached on the basis of inferences from data. Chapters 10–14 discuss various aspects of explanation, before quickly progressing to more complex ideas about causation. Arguments about the notion of ‘configurations’ first mentioned in Chapter 6 are returned to here before the debate moves to consider the design implications of the study, the ‘generative mechanisms’ and how these might interact with specific contexts. The contents at this point will start to stretch most Master’s students, but PhD students and professional researchers interested in explanatory research will certainly find something of use in these more advanced sections.
Chapters 15 and 16 examine ‘interpretation’ as the product of the research process. As with the previous chapters, the aim is to offer both definitions and guiding principles to consider when making an attempt to establish warrant for a set of interpretations drawn from data. The source material from which these principles of warrant in interpretation are synthesised is very diverse, and the chapter succeeds in setting out some very original ideas. In this respect, these chapters offer a fantastic resource for postgraduate students looking for some concrete guidance when designing research of this type. Perhaps controversially, the authors also suggest strategies for developing deductive interpretive research designs, on which hypotheses about ‘styles of thought’, for example, might be rendered from explanatory theory. The authors even suggest how we might look to compare rival primary interpretations, and point to some examples where scholars have sought to do just that. While the approach set out in the book might run against the grain for some, it is these sorts of insights and challenges which make Principles of Methodology a rewarding read.
The final section ‘Synthesis’ seeks to develop some of the arguments offered in the book and emphasises the possibilities for combinations of research designs. The full logical set of options is set out for the reader, such as combining interpretation with explanation, and several fully worked examples drawn from classic social science studies are offered to flesh out the discussion.
I think that as a textbook about research methodology, the book provides a thought-provoking and unique contribution to the available sources in this field. It is clear and systematic in its exposition of ideas and offers a number of innovative perspectives on questions of research design. In particular, the emphasis on research design as a question of trade-offs is an extremely useful way to conceptualise the process. It also diverts from the often unhelpful polarisation of the qualitative versus quantitative presentation of empirical research found in many textbooks, and perhaps offers a credible strategy to educators for taking the ‘Q’ out of teaching research courses (Onwuegbuzie and Leech, 2005).
A couple of additional minor points are worth comment, which the authors may wish to consider for a second edition. The purpose of some of the learning exercises is not easy to decipher in places. Similarly, the book offers no clues for the learner about what might constitute a good answer. No doubt space is the issue here, but perhaps a companion website with additional teaching and learning resources could be offered, as is increasingly becoming the norm with this type of book. Because it is so different from other currently available books of this type, I would be hesitant to suggest it as a place to begin one’s reading about the research process. Those looking for a generic ‘do-it-all’ text would do better to look elsewhere. However, it is well suited for Masters students who have reached the dissertation stage of their course and are thinking about design. I also think that for PhD students designing their study, and when seeking to ‘viva proof’ their methodology chapter in the final stages of their work, this book is essential reading. The sometimes controversial but clear-sighted discussion of research design will also be of interest to educators and professionals engaged in teaching or conducting empirical research.