Do Better Research

In this episode, I get the chance to interview Dr Will Thomas (https://willt486.github.io/), Associate Professor of the Suffolk Business School (https://www.uos.ac.uk/content/suffolk-business-school), about  his reflections on contract research through the methodology of autoethnography. We talk about the process of autoethnography, including what it is and how to do it. We also talk about his experience of contract research, and lessons learned. 

You can read Will & Mirjam's research in: Thomas & Southwell (2017) ‘Hate the Results? Blame the Methods: An Autoethnography of Contract Research’ in Vine, Clark, Richards & Weir (eds.) Ethnographic Research and Analysis: Anxiety, Identity and Self, Palgrave Macmillan UK, London, pp. 233-252.

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Disclaimer: This episode contains an instance of swearing. 

In this episode, I speak to Mike Seal, Professor of Education and Social Mobility at the University of Suffolk (https://www.uos.ac.uk/people/professor-mike-seal). Mike talks about a range of research projects that he has engaged in, and focuses on what he calls a 'maverick methodology', Participatory Action Research (PAR). This methodology is the focus of his book Participatory Pedagogic Impact Research: Co-Production with Community Partners in Action, available from Routledge (https://www.routledge.com/Participatory-Pedagogic-Impact-Research-Co-production-with-Community-Partners/Seal/p/book/9780367590000). 

Mike's latest book is: Seal, M. (ed) (2020) Hopeful Pedagogies in Higher Education: Dancing in the Cracks, Bloomsbury Press, London & New York.

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In this episode, I speak to Professor Mark NK Saunders (https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/business/saunders-mark.aspx) from the Birmingham Business School. Mark has published widely on both research methods and Human resource management, and has authored books such as Research Methods for Business Students and Keeping your Doctorate on Track, and has publishes over 100 journal articles and book chapters. In this interview, we talk favourite research projects, how many interviews are enough in qualitative research, and some tips and tricks for getting research back on track when things start to go wrong.  

Selected publications discussed in this episode:

Townsend K and Saunders MNK (2018, editors) How to keep your research project on track: Insights from when things go wrong Cheltenham: Edward Elgar

Saunders M and Lewis P (2018) Doing Research in Business and Management (2nd ed) Harlow: Pearson

Saunders MNK and Townsend K (2016) ‘Reporting and justifying the number of interviews participants in organisation and workplace research’ British Journal of Management 27.4, 836-852

Saunders MNK, Dietz G and Thornhill A (2014) Trust and distrust: polar opposites, or independent but co-existing? Human Relations 67.6 639-665

In this episode, my guests attempt to teach me (a qualitative researcher) about quantitative research. I speak to Dr Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman (http://globalhealth.port.ac.uk/team_member/dr-mohammad-mahbubur-rahman) about his research and finding the story in quantitative data, and Dr Shahidul Islam (https://www.uos.ac.uk/people/dr-shahidul-islam) helps explain some of the key features of quantitative research. 

The Guests...

Dr Mohammad Rahman is a Visiting Research Fellow in the School of Health and Care Professions at the University of Portsmouth, and Dr Shahidul Islam Lecturer in Accounting at University of Suffolk Business School. 

Dr Mohammad Rahman's work can be found here: 

Rahman MM. (2014) 'Estimating the Average Treatment Effect of Social Safety Net Programmes in Bangladesh' The Journal of Development Studies 50 (11), pp. 1550-1569 (https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2014.887688) 

Show notes...

In this episode, Dr Shahidul Islam talks about a specific research paper of interest:

Jie Chen, Woon Sau Leung, Marc Goergen (2017) 'The impact of board gender composition on dividend payouts' Journal of Corporate Finance, Volume 43, pp. 86-105 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2017.01.001) 

Shahidul also talks about using Google Finance data, which can be explored here: https://www.google.co.uk/finance

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In this episode, I speak Dr Catherine Price (https://warwick.ac.uk/study/csde/gsp/eportfolio/directory/pg/live/u1455901/) about her research using below-the-line comments in online news articles. We’ll be thinking about using secondary data for research purposes, including what kinds of data can be used, where we can find it, and what issues there might be in evaluating it

The Guest...

Dr Catherine Price's work on foodbank use using secondary data collection methods can be found here:  Price, C., Barons, M., Garthwaite, K. and Jolly, A. (2020) ‘The do-gooders and scroungers’: examining narratives of foodbank use in online local press coverage in the West Midlands, UK, Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, vol xx, no xx, 1–20, DOI: 10.1332/175982720X15905998323834

Further Resources...

This is a great text on using secondary data for research: Smith, E. 2008, Using Secondary Data in Educational and Social Research, McGraw-Hill Education, Berkshire

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In this episode, I speak to two fantastic researchers Dr Jan Wilcox (https://www.uos.ac.uk/people/dr-jan-wilcox) and Dr Suzanne Culshaw (https://www.bera.ac.uk/person/suzanne-culshaw) about their use of visual methods in their PhD research. You'll hear how they employed visual components to their methods to enhance their data collection, providing focal points for participant discussions. They'll also be sharing some tips on how to include visual methods in your own research design. 

The Guests...

Dr Jan Wilcox's PhD thesis can be found here: Wilcox, J. (2019) The Incredibles: Investigating what it is like to be a portfolio worker. PhD thesis, University of Essex. (available here: http://repository.essex.ac.uk/24924/)

And Dr Suzanne Culshaw's paper on her research can be found here: Culshaw, S. (2019) ‘The unspoken power of collage? Using an innovative arts-based research method to explore the experience of struggling as a teacher’. London Review of Education, 17 (3): 268–283. (DOI https://doi.org/10.18546/LRE.17.3.03) 

Further Resources...

If you're interested in further exploring the use of creative methods in research, I absolutely recommend Dr Helen Kara's Creative Research Methods in the Social Sciences: A Practical Guide, a preview for which is available from Google Books (shorturl.at/lyKW0) or the newer second edition is available to pre-order now (https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/creative-research-methods). 

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In this episode, we’re be thinking about how we might use social media to gather research data. We’ll also talk briefly about netnography (https://youtu.be/F8axfYomJn4), and in our interview for this week, with Kerry Jordan-Daus (https://twitter.com/KerryJordanDaus), we’ll hear some of the issues with this particular methodology.

Further resources on using online research methods can be found courtesy of the Social and Cultural Geography Research Group (https://scgrg.co.uk/online-research-methods) and the National Centre for Research Methods (https://www.restore.ac.uk/orm/site/home.htm).

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This episode will explore the use of interviews and focus groups as methods for data collection, and some of the nuances and challenges of using online technologies to facilitate them. We’ll be talking to two guests: Dr Sue Hollinrake (https://www.uos.ac.uk/people/dr-susan-hollinrake), Associate Professor in Social Work at the University of Suffolk, and Kat Nudds (https://www.linkedin.com/in/katnudds/), the Career Coach with the mindset of a personal trainer (https://www.thecareerpt.co.uk/) and Talent Development Partner at Derivco Sports.

Dr Sue Hollinrake's research can be found here: Dix, G., Hollinrake, S. and Spencer, S. (2019) Co-producing Community with Disabled Researchers and Citizens: the Challenges and Potential for Successful Collaboration, in Participatory Social Work: Research, Practice, Education, Granosik, M., Gulczynska, A., Krostrzynska, M. and Littlechild, B. (eds), Krakow: Jagiellonian Press.

And here: Hollinrake, S., Spencer, S. and Dix, G. (2019) Disabled citizens as researchers – Challenges and benefits of collaboration for effective action and change. European Journal of Social Work, 22 (5) pp749-762. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691457.2018.1564736

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In this episode, we'll be hearing about the literature review. We'll be thinking about what goes into a good quality literature review, and how to structure our planning for this hugely important section to our research project. We'll be talking to Lizzie Mapplebeck, Director of the Suffolk Alliance Mental Health Transformation Programme and MBA student at the University of Suffolk (https://www.uos.ac.uk/courses/pg/master-business-administration-mba).

Raul Pacheco-Vega, PhD offers some great resources on his blog on the literature review: http://www.raulpacheco.org/resources/literature-reviews/

Pat Thomson also has some great advice on her blog: https://patthomson.net/category/literature-review/page/2/

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In this episode, we will be talking about research ethics. We’ll be speaking Fiona Ellis, co-founder of the Survivors in Transition (https://survivorsintransition.co.uk/), a Suffolk-based charity who support men and women who have experienced sexual abuse in childhood. As you can imagine, Fiona has a range of ethics experience, not only from her role within SITS, but also as a member of the University of Suffolk institutional ethics committee. We also speak to Dr Will Thomas (https://willt486.github.io/), associate professor of the Suffolk Business School, about his research and the importance he places on an embedded approach to ethics.

The Guests...

Dr Will Thomas's latest publication is available now: Thomas W. Hujala A. Laulainen S. And McMurray R. (2018) (eds) The Management of Wicked Problems in Health and Social Care. London: Routledge (https://www.routledge.com/The-Management-of-Wicked-Problems-in-Health-and-Social-Care/Thomas-Hujala-Laulainen-McMurray/p/book/9781138103627) 

His research with the Co-Op is: Hollinrake S. Thomas W. Tocca A. and Cavenagh P. (2016) ‘Food Shopping and Eating Habits in Later Life: Implications for Retailers and Public Health in Contributing to the Well-Being of Older People’ in Baho, S.M. and Katsas G.A. (eds) Making Sense of Food. London: Inter-Disciplinary Press

Show Notes....

Adam D. I. Kramer, Jamie E. Guillory, Jeffrey T. Hancock (2014) 'Emotional contagion through social networks,' Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Jun 2014, 111 (24) 8788-8790; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1320040111 (https://www.pnas.org/content/111/24/8788.full) 

You can find out about the Milgram Experiment here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment

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