Presentation for the HEA-funded workshop ‘Teaching Research Methods in Business and Management’. Drawing on a mixture of practice and evidence, this one-day event provided an opportunity for those interested in the teaching of research methods in Business and Management – including qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods – to share experiences, insights, and good practice, and to discuss challenges and explore potential solutions. This presentation forms part of a blog post reporting on the event which can be accessed via: http://bit.ly/1fcTwna For further details of HEA Social Sciences work relating to teaching research methods in the Social Sciences please see http://bit.ly/15go0mh

1. Teaching research methods: do
tutor conceptions of methodology
matter?
Mark NK Saunders
Frank Bezzina
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The Surrey Business School
www.surrey.ac.uk/sbs

2. Aim and contribution
 Highlight the issue of differing tutor conceptions about the
nature of research and methodology practice and their
implications for learning and teaching
 Contribute by:
 Outlining evidence that academics hold differing conceptions
about the nature of research
 …and about research methodology (practice)
 Raising awareness of the likely implications of these findings
for *designing and planning learning activities (A1)
*developing effective learning environments, particularly re
supporting projects/dissertations (A4)
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The Surrey Business School
www.surrey.ac.uk/sbs
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3. Overview of the argument
 Notion of misconceptions regarding research focuses on
students and in particular use of quantitative methods
 Yet misconceptions depend on epistemological arguments
 Misconceptions tend to privilege a particular epistemological
standpoint rather than adopt relativist position
 Students’ conceptions of research methodology shown to
differ and, dependent upon epistemological viewpoint of
researcher, may be considered misconceptions
 Research argues misconceptions can be corrected in the
classroom
 But do those involved in teaching have different conceptions
and, in effect, privilege different views? (paradigm wars?)
dependent upon their methodological expertise.
 If they do … what are the likely implications?The Surrey Business School
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www.surrey.ac.uk/sbs
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4. The nature of misconceptions…
 framed as views or opinions that are incorrect due to faulty
thinking/misunderstanding
 reflected in the contextulalised beliefs/ideas/understandings
of those researching (Meyer et al., 2005)
 considered deviations from widely accepted norms
 can be grounded in intuition, (unorthodox) assumptions, or
generated by inconsistencies in texts, academics’ classes
(Huck 2009)
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The Surrey Business School
www.surrey.ac.uk/sbs
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5. Misconceptualising research… from the
literature
 Interferes with students’ learning and be unproductive (Smith
et al., 1993)
 -may be overcome by instructional confrontation (Brown &
Clement 1989; Kawulich, 2009)…
 but may not (Mavareck, 1983; Garfield 1995)
 Academics can add support to students’ misconceptions if
they also hold them (Huck, 2009)
but….
 is a ‘deviant’ (or alternative) conception a misconception?
 do academics recognise the legitimacy of alternative
The Surrey Business School
conceptualisiations?
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www.surrey.ac.uk/sbs
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6. Conceptions of research
methodology
 theory of how research should be undertaken
not
 specific techniques used to obtain data
 specific procedures used to analyse data
Research questions…
1. Are differing conceptions regarding the nature of research
prevalent among academics?
2. To what extent do academics in the quantitative, qualitative
and mixed-method traditions hold differing conceptions of
research practice?
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The Surrey Business School
www.surrey.ac.uk/sbs
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7. Conceptions regarding the nature of
research…
 Considerable agreement in text books…
 clear purpose –answering question, solving problem, finding
out…
 systematic –based on logical relationships,
 involve distinct alternative perspectives
 subject to multiple interpretations
 need to be aware of impact own and others’ biases
 Limited research on conceptions
 studies refer to students’ misconceptions
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The Surrey Business School
www.surrey.ac.uk/sbs
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8. Conceptions regarding the
nature of research practice…
more variable…
 methodological plurality v. continued ‘paradigm wars’
 dominance of North American and, in particular,
quantitatively orientated positivistic tradition
 quantitative-qualitative distinction: is it crucial or false?
 superiority of a particular method
 growing recognition of value of mixed method
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The Surrey Business School
www.surrey.ac.uk/sbs
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9. Method
 Purposive sample of critical cases
 documented interest in RM
Questionnaire
 35 randomly ordered Likert style questions
 nature of research (13 statements) -Meyer et al., 2005
 conceptions quantitaitive and qualitative traditions (22
statements) –Harper and Kuh (2007), Eby et al (2009)
 6 closed demographic questions including…
 highest qualification
 expertise in RM
 involvement in RM teaching
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The Surrey Business School
www.surrey.ac.uk/sbs
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10. Procedure
Email
with web
link
540
Responded
after 1
reminder
224
Noncompletion
despite
consent
Complete
response
-34
190
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The Surrey Business School
www.surrey.ac.uk/sbs

11. Tutor conceptions on the nature
of research vary significantly
 Variability in responses particularly regarding focus:
 “research is basically a tool about answering questions”
 “research means finding out more information about what is
already there”
 “research is about finding solutions to problems
 “when academics do research the results are always
unbiased”
 But there are no significant association between these
differences and research traditions
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The Surrey Business School
www.surrey.ac.uk/sbs
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12. Tutor conceptions of research
practice differ significantly between
quantitative and qualitative traditions
+ qualitative research lacks internal validity
+ qualitative research lacks construct validity
+ qualitative research contributes little to the advancement
of knowledge
+ qualitative research lacks methodological rigour
+ qualitative research is only useful when corroborated by
numbers
+ objectivity is the gold standard of research
+ subjectivity compromises accuracy
- there are no universally superior research methods
+ research is the quest for truth
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The Surrey Business School
www.surrey.ac.uk/sbs
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13. Tutor conceptions of research
practice differ significantly between
mixed method and qualitative traditions
M “objectivity is the gold standard of research”
M “subjectivity compromises accuracy”
There are no significant differences between mixed method and
quantitative traditions
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The Surrey Business School
www.surrey.ac.uk/sbs
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14. Discussion: do different
conceptions of the nature of
research matter?
 There are differing conceptions between those with
expressed interest in methodology
 Conceptions of nature of research vary but not according to
tradition.
 Is this a cause for concern in designing and planning
learning?
 Is this a cause for concern in supporting students (e.g.
dissertations/projects)?
 If it is a cause for concern, how might we address it?
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The Surrey Business School
www.surrey.ac.uk/sbs
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15. Discussion: do different
conceptions of research practice
matter?
 Conceptions of research practice differ according to tradition:
 In particular differences in agreement with others’
conceptions persist between quantitative and qualitative
traditions persist but…
 Does finding fault with one, based on the standards of
another promote understanding of methodology?
 What are the implications of this for learning and
teaching?
 Is this a cause for concern, and how might we address
it?
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The Surrey Business School
www.surrey.ac.uk/sbs
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16. My personal view (as a pluralist)
 Academics’ conceptions do differ so, as suggested by Huck
(2009) students (mis)conceptions may be generated by their
tutors
 Such conceptions may interfere with learning of concepts
(Smith et al., 1993)
 As Research Methods teachers we need to:
 adopt a pluralist approach in designing courses exposing
students to various methodologies
 articulate the reasoning behind differing conceptions in the
traditions whilst highlighting the utility of each and…
 …be open about to students about our own preferences
whilst stressing legitimacy of alternatives
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The Surrey Business School
www.surrey.ac.uk/sbs
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