Triangulating philosophies of science to understand complex organizational and managerial problems
Bechara,John Van de Ven,Andrew H.
Bechara,John
Van de Ven,Andrew H.
Abstract
We propose that management scholars can improve their research by triangulating alternative philosophies of science to gain a richer and more holistic understanding of complex managerial problems. We illustrate the proposition by triangulating with three scientific philosophies – positivism, postmodernism, and critical realism – to design a study in response to a request for research proposals from the National Institute of Health. After summarizing and applying positivism, postmodernism and critical realism to reveal their differing research approaches, we discuss how to deal with the convergent, inconsistent, and contradictory information often produced by triangulating philosophies of science. Although common views of triangulation emphasize reliability by focusing on convergent information from different methods, we emphasize validity by discussing how divergent information from different methods reveal important aspects and values of a complex phenomenon that often go unrecognized without triangulation.
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Date
2007
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Research Projects
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Citation
Bechara, J & Van de Ven, A H 2007, 'Triangulating philosophies of science to understand complex organizational and managerial problems'.