Industrial Relations Research and Analysis

The following sections are included:

• DEDICATION
• CONTENTS
• LIST OF TABLES
• LIST OF FIGURES
• PREFACE

The various aspects related to the organizational life and its environment (physical, social, or political) have always aroused a multitude of questions. To formulate answers, there have always been forms of theoretical reflection and reasoned attempts at experimentation. However, men have most often constructed their explanations on the basis of prejudices, religious faith, conjectures, cultural traditions, superstitions, intuitions, or common sense. While these explanations are certainly not irrelevant, there is no reason to estimate whether the claims that flow from them are well founded or not. Also, “scientific” research methods to gather verifiable facts, explain or objectively update concepts have gradually been put in place. These methods have given rise to a remarkable growth of knowledge in different spheres of knowledge. From the 16th century (especially with Francis Bacon) they were organized and framed by a set of norms and rules. Since then, scientific research has become the preferred way of developing knowledge…

The following sections are included:

• THE CONCEPT OF “SCIENCE”
• THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SCIENCE
• AN INTRODUCTION TO SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
• THE MAJOR STEPS OF A SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
• THE CONTEXT OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
• CONCLUSION

The following sections are included:

• THE INTERDEPENDENCE THEORY — RESEARCH
• THE PARADIGM AND THE APPROACH
• TYPES OF RESEARCH
• CONCLUSION

The following sections are included:

• THE CYCLE OF EMPIRICAL RESEARCH IN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
• THE INITIAL QUESTIONING
• THE RESEARCH GOALS
• THE CONCEPTUALIZATION
• ARTIFACTS AND INTERVENTIONS
• MEASURES
• ANALYZES AND CONCLUSIONS
• TRIANGULATION
• CONCLUSION

The following sections are included:

• PRESENTATION AND EXAMPLES
• THE QUANTITATIVE APPROACH
• EXPERIMENTAL METHODS
• STATISTICAL METHODS
• COMPARATIVE CASE STUDIES
• CONCLUSION

The following sections are included:

• PRESENTATION AND EXAMPLES
• THE QUALITATIVE APPROACH
• THE PARTICULARITIES OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
• CONCLUSION

The following sections are included:

• ARTIFICIAL SCIENCES AND THE DESIGN APPROACH
• THE ELEMENTS OF THE DESIGN APPROACH
• THE CATEGORIES OF RESEARCH DESIGN
• PRODUCTS FROM DESIGN RESEARCH
• THE DESIGN PROCESS
• THE GENERAL METHODOLOGY OF RESEARCH FOCUSED ON THE DESIGN APPROACH
• THE METHODOLOGICAL VARIANTS APPLIED IN DESIGN RESEARCH
• CONCLUSION

In a research, the use of data is not limited to the record of observations related to the concepts involved in the research question. Indeed, once the research question has been formulated, the researcher, at various stages of progress in his research, turns to various sources of data to obtain the inspiration he needs to continue the process (literature review, interviews with experts, etc.), or to collect the information on which its analysis will be based (participating observations, interviews, phenomenon measurements, performance measures, etc.). This data is quantitative or qualitative…

There are well-defined and well-documented procedures for the analysis of quantitative data (Barker et al., 2002), each of which applies to the processing of a particular type of data or a particular combination of quantitative data types. In Chapter 4 (see Table 4.3) we have seen the different scales of measures employed by quantitative research: nominal (or categorical, or qualitative), ordinal, interval, or proportional. Each gives rise to data of a different type to which a quantitative treatment will be applied.

When we introduced qualitative research in Chapter. 5, we found that data analysis is a dynamic and iterative process that takes place throughout the research and consists of three major interrelated activities from the perspective developed by Miles and Huberman (1994): data reduction, data visualization, and conclusions/audits…

The following sections are included:

• THE REPORT RESEARCHES
• EVALUATION OF A RESEARCH REPORT
• AN OVERVIEW ON THE MANAGEMENT OF A RESEARCH PROJECT
• CONCLUSION

This book consists in fact of a synthetic presentation of research methodologies in industrial relations adaptable to the specific objects of each research project. It has been established to facilitate the positioning of a researcher or evaluator vis-à-vis the methodological approach. Research is at the service of science. But let the latter be conceived as an institution; as an ideology; as a systematic activity centered on reality and allowing on the one hand to produce a coherent set of knowledge on specific events or conditions, on the other hand to formulate laws based on this knowledge; or as the demonstrative knowledge (or all the information) gained through this activity, there are no definitions that encompass all its dimensions and that reflect the complexity of science. Instead, we recognize the existence of sciences, that is to say disciplines or specific branches of knowledge, structured around the study of a specific object, supported by a specific research practice…

The following sections are included:

• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• APPENDIX 1. THE CHOICE AND DELIMITATION OF A RESEARCH TOPIC^*
• APPENDIX 2. EXAMPLES OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN IMPLEMENTATIONS
• APPENDIX 3. TOOLS FOR IMPLEMENTING A DOCUMENTARY SEARCH^*
• APPENDIX 4. PREPARING AND CONDUCTING AN INTERVIEW WITH A PROFESSIONAL^*
• APPENDIX 5. FLOW DIAGRAM OF STATISTICAL INFERENCE METHODS