1. METHODOLOGICAL FIT IN MANAGEMENT
FIELD RESEARCH
AMY C. EDMONDSON - Harvard Business
School
STACY E. MCMANUS - Monitor Executive
Development
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Prepared by/ Nashwa Ghoneim

2. Gap!
 Methodological fit has received little attention in
management literature.
 Guidelines for achieving methodological fit aren’t
available for researchers.
 Conditions under which hybrid methods are useful,
aren’t widely recognized.
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3. What is meant by methodological fit
and why field research?
Methodological fit is the internal consistency among 4
elements of a research project.
Field research studies real people, real problems in real
organizations by collecting original data.
N.B.: Unexpected data collection opportunities may spur
field research then methodological fit is guided by the
state of the relevant theory.
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6. How can researchers understand
methodological fit?
 Reviewing published papers allow researchers to
determine how manuscripts have been evaluated for
having a good methodological fit.
 Developing a toolbox of methods relevant to answering
various types of research questions.
 Deconstructing exemplars as case studies for
understanding tradeoffs in real research settings.
 Developing proposals and discussing them in groups for
experiential education.
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7.  Serendipity in field research, i.e., if data collected for
one reason are used for another reason resulting a poor
methodological fit .. Why!
Because methodological fits complies with particular
research questions/objectives guiding the initial inquiry.
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8. Theory continuum in management
research
1. Mature theory: has well developed constructs and
models studied over time with increasing precision by a
variety of scholars which yields cumulative knowledge.
2. Nascent theory: proposes tentative answers to novel
research questions of how& why suggesting new
connections among various phenomena.
3. Intermediate theory: provides provisional explanations of
phenomena introducing new constructs and proposing
new relationships between them and well established
ones.
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10. Why conduct new field research for
mature theories?
 Topics related to mature theory rely on extensive
literature to identify variables of underlying phenomena.
 New research refines field’s knowledge by discovering
moderators and mediators affecting well established
causal relationships.
Example: understating the organizational and
psychological dynamics that inhibit system’s change even
with failing performance!
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11. When to use/ combine qualitative and
quantitative methods in research projects?
 In a well established body of work, quantitative methods
are valuable.
 In a growing body of work, qualitative methods are
valuable.
 Mixed methods achieve the goal of increasing the
validity of new measures through triangulation (a process
through which the same phenomenon is assessed with
different methods to determine whether congruence
across methods exists or not!).
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12. Similarities among theory studies
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13. Similarities among theory studies
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14. Similarities among theory
studies14

15. Mean tendencies and off-diagonal
opportunities
 The 3 archetypes of theory situate along the
diagonal representing a mean tendency.
 Off-diagonal opportunities exist when the
study focus is reframed from broad to narrow
“examining an area where theory isn’t
mature”.
(B) Represents an intersection of mature theory
and qualitative data .. Field research can be
located conceptually.
(A) Represents an intersection of nascent theory
and quantitative data .. Difficult to justify!
Off-diagonal
points
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16.  Off-diagonal research opportunities exist when researchers
open a new area of inquiry within a familiar topic.
 The area below the diagonal presents creative opportunities
for theoretical contributions.
 The area above the diagonal won’t produce compelling field
research.
 Research project may start in the upper-hand corner
migrating down to intermediate status after surprising
quantitative findings are obtained.
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17. Problems of poor
methodological fit17
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18. The fitting process
 Methodological fit occurs through a cyclic learning process
“backward and forward”.
 Fitting is an iterative process involving continuous feedback
and modifications.
 Considerable time should be spent prior to data collection.
Fitting
Mature theory Nascent theory
Conceptualization is early. Conceptualization is late.
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19. Contributions
1. Provide a contingency framework which relates the stage
of prior theory to research questions, data
collection, analysis, theoretical contributions in a mutually
reinforcing manner.
2. Help new field researchers to develop their ability to align
theory and methods in field research.
3. Help researchers identify opportunities for hybrid methods.
4. Promote methodological fit as an iterative learning
process in which feedback, rethinking and revising are
valuable activities.
5. Methodological fit has roots in organizational research.
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20. Critique!
 There shouldn’t be mutually exclusive and exhaustive
categorization of the links between data and methods
because various combinations are mutually reinforcing
and new insights can suggest the switch to other
combinations.
 They didn’t refer to other theoretical paradigms like the
grounded theory, mid-range theory research and their
methodological fit.
 Statistical analysis of various types of data may satisfy
the needs of the 3 archetypes of theories developed in
the suggested contingency framework.
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