Research Methodology

SIG Chair
Bill Lee

Welcome

The special interest group was launched in September 2005. Membership of the group is free and currently open to any member of BAM who has an interest in research methodology and the practices affecting research. Our membership reflects the wide diversity of management researchers and includes established academic staff; postdoctoral researchers; and PhD students; from old and new Universities in the UK, plus a growing number from other parts of the world. Members also come from the wide variety of sub-disciplines that combine to create the richness of the business and management fields, for example, from accounting and finance; organizational behaviour; operations management; marketing; and strategy. The SIG also has a large and diverse steering committee that is consistent with its membership. The current steering committee is listed below.


Steering Committee of BAM RM SIG
Steering Committee Member
 Position
Carol Atkinson
(Bradford University)		  
Catherine Cassell
(University of Manchester)		 Founding chair
Murray Clark
(Sheffield Hallam University)		  
Gail Clarkson
(University of Leeds)		 Newsletter Editor
Julie Gore
(University of Surrey)		  
Kathryn Haynes
(University of Newcastle)		 Treasurer
David Higgins
(University of Huddersfield)		  
Janet Kirkham
(University of Hertfordshire)		  
Matthias Klaes
(University of Keele)		 Website co-ordinator
Bill Lee
 (University of Keele)		 Chair
Mark Learmonth
(University of Durham)		  
Sandy Macdonald
(University of Northampton)		  
Stuart Maguire
(University of Sheffield)		  
Stefanie Reissner
(University of Newcastle)		 Secretary
Doug Renwick
(University of Sheffield)		  
Mark Saunders
(University of Surrey)		  

Peter Stokes
(University of Chester)

  
Lynn Thurloway
(Henley Business School)		  

BAM members interested in joining the SIG’s steering committee should contact the Chair, Bill Lee.
 

Aims and Objectives

The SIG has a number of aims and objectives regarding the promotion of research methodology issues within the wider BAM community. Specifically we aim to:

  • Provide a forum where issues concerned with enhancing the quality of research can be discussed;
  • Enable members to keep in touch with the contemporary debates around the nature of management research;
  • Publicize opportunities, events and knowledge about research methodology.
     

SIG Communication

If anyone wants to send an e-mail to all SIG members to publicize details of events and opportunities relating to research methods, please get in touch with the secretary of the SIG, Stefanie Reissner.

If anyone wants to make an announcement or publicize materials via the website, please contact the website coordinator, Matthias Klaes.
 

Annual Events

The SIG organizes a number of activities in pursuit of its objectives. As well as the “Research Methodology” track at the annual BAM conference, the group organizes an annual workshop on “Teaching Research Methods to Business and Management Students” and an annual workshop on “Sharing our Struggles” where people share their expertise of a particular method or approach.

Materials from the most recent “Sharing our Struggles” workshop may be downloaded here:

Workshop Programme | Phill Taylor Slides |  Katrina Pritchard and Gillian Symon Slides | M.N. Ravishankar and Laurie Cohens Slides | Jacky Swan Slides
 

"The Researcher" Newsletter

The SIG also publishes its own newsletter, The Researcher, four times a year. Recent issues of The Researcher may be downloaded from here:
 

Anyone who wishes to write for the newsletter, or wants an event advertised in the newsletter, should contact the editor of The Researcher, Gail Clarkson.
 

SIG Events

The SIG has been successful in organizing a number of different events in the past and publishing and disseminating the outputs from those events in various ways.

For example, the SIG organized a joint workshop on case studies with the Management Control Association which led to a special themed issue of a journal in which papers presented at that workshop were published. See http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=1746-5648&volume=2&issue=3.

Between 2006-2009, the SIG organized a highly successful ESRC-funded seminar on Advancing Research in the Business and Management Field. The slides of the speakers at this series may be found at: http://www.bam.portals.mbs.ac.uk/.

Many of the papers presented as part of that series were subsequently converted into chapters for an edited collections. For details, see http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415472173/.

These are just examples of success to date and the SIG is keen to organize – and support the organization of – innovative events and to find new ways of facilitating discussions about research methods.

If you have an idea of an event or activity for the SIG to pursue to promote debates about research methods, please get in touch with the Chair, Bill Lee.

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