TABLE FOUR: TEACHING AND SUPERVISION CURRENT PhDs
4. RESEARCH PHILOSOPHY AND METHODS
The submissions in this work span over twenty years and more than one research design has been used. There is no one single research design that is common to all of the submitted material. However the research designs used for each piece of work were considered the most appropriate at the time of writing. Additionally the author values, and enjoys, working with colleagues which in itself yields different research designs. A detailed description of each research design is available in each of the submissions. Reynolds (2012), my main research colleague argued that:
“There was no dominant methodology because when (he) started researching in this field there was no methodological ‘dominant logic’ in the field of marketing for small business. At the time the researcher chose an appropriate methodology given the nature of the data required, time and budget constraints and issues of likely compliance by firms and individuals . . . In some projects a mixed method approach was used.”
Table Six summarises the research method and samples for each piece of submitted work. That this work has been accepted for publication and is now in the public domain demonstrates that the choice of research design used was considered rational, appropriate and acceptable by the reviewers of conference papers or the editorial boards of journals.
As a comparator, this research design discussion is set against those more commonly used in the broader entrepreneurship / small business literature and the entrepreneurial marketing literature. The former favours more quantitative methods and the latter more qualitative approaches (see, for example, Gilmore, 2012 on entrepreneurial marketing in particular, and, Chell and Karatas-Özkan (2014) on the wider use, or not, of qualitative methods in entrepreneurship research. In respect of ontology the author veers towards being constructivist as they are happy to accept “the notion of multiple reality (accepting) that each individual constructs their own reality as they interpret and their own world” (Hill and McGowan, 1999). Given the author’s work background, it is hardly surprising that they see no reason why the public sector should not be entrepreneurial. One of the outcomes of this thesis is that they have become much more familiar with Gartner’s views on entrepreneurship over and above the seminal ‘Who is the wrong question’. His contemporary story telling approach (2010) fascinates me and is very much at odds with the research philosophy of a positive (undergraduate and post
graduate) economist. Teaching and understanding entrepreneurship through metaphor suggests that this author is happy with multiple realities. Equally as a convert to effectuation theory then they should have an ontological preference consistent with the notion that opportunity is created by entrepreneurs and not found simply by the diligent. But not all opportunity is like that (see, for example, Ramoglou & Zyglidopoulos). Whilst metaphors are individual and constructed, all societies have a core of metaphors that promote a common understanding and interpretation. Lingren and Packendorff (2009), Refai, Klapper and Thompson, (2015) provide a rationale for being a social constructionalist. Given that research methods should at least reflect or be consistent with research philosophy then like many (see, McDonald, Gan, Fraser, Oke and Anderson, 2015) I am somewhat of a positivist but using very small sample sizes and approaches that bring with them interpretation. For example, Papers (222) & (402) asked respondents about their understanding of ‘being entrepreneurial’, this was then coded post interview. Paper (224) for all respondents used a conventional Entrepreneurial Orientation scale but the interviewer in face to face sessions discussed the Likert scaled research instrument with the participant, added interview comments and allowed for boundary positions. Whilst having used an Entrepreneurial Orientation scale (Papers / Exhibits: 311 and 316), the author is often more comfortable with the recent view stated by Miller (2011) that the original ethos and purpose of the scale was more qualitative in nature than contemporary quantitative analyses might want to acknowledge. I value and use case studies. However to some degree, this author is still enticed by the concept of critical realism,
“Critical realists thus retain an ontological realism (there is a real world that exists independently of our perceptions, theories and constructions) while accepting a form of epistemological constructivism and relativism (our understanding of this world is inevitably a construction from our own perspectives and standpoint).” (Maxwell, 2012:5).
But on reflection I am better labelled as a social constructionist. Moving on to methodology, the table below gives details that for all the submissions in this work.
Table Six: Methodology, Sample Description and Respondents for Submitted Work
Piece of work submitted Method Sample Description Respondents
1996 Reviewing and Defining the Marketing / Entrepreneurship Interface: Progress and Developments from the Research at the Marketing / Entrepreneurship Symposia, 1987-1994.
Listing and content analysis of all the so called ‘Blue Book’ Proceedings: 1994 (1993); 1993 (1992); 1992 (1991); 1991(1990). Each book is published the year following the conference.
Research at the Marketing / Entrepreneurship Interface Chicago, IL: Institute for
Entrepreneurial Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago. 1991-1994.
99 papers over four volumes
1997 Considering the Marketing / Entrepreneurship Interface: Approaches and Directions, 1987 to 1995.
Listing and content analysis of all the so called ‘Blue Book’ Proceedings to the paper date: 1994 (1993); 1993 (1992); 1992 (1991); 1991(1990); 1990 (1989); 1989 (1988). No volume in 1988 (1987). Each book is
published the year following the conference.
Research at the Marketing / Entrepreneurship Interface Chicago, IL: Institute for
Entrepreneurial Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago. 1987-1994..
234 papers over eight volumes
1997 Editorial by the Special Editor: Special Issue on the Marketing/Entrepreneurship Interface: Setting the Context.
Literature review and discussion of the articles included in this Special Issue.
1998 Defining the Interface: A Useful Framework. Literature review.
Piece of work submitted Method Sample Description Respondents
2000 Commentary: The Value and Importance of
the Small Firm to the World Economy. Literature review.
Piece of work submitted Method Sample Description Respondents
1995 Chrysalis Group, Case 15. Secondary data; company material;
some discussion with industry experts. Company case study. One
1994 Pricing for Survival - Crisis Pricing in
Small Firms as a Survival Strategy. Telephone interviews and analysis of UK financial database. UK market sectors involved with timber & joinery maximum four detailed representative telephone interviews per sector.
70 sectors
Maximum four detailed representative
completed telephone interviews per sector. SMEs in timber and
joinery drawn from a UK company financial database.
439
1994 The Commercial Health Monitoring of Entrepreneurial Firms Using Process Control Techniques.
Production of cumulative frequency tables for the smoothed error tracking signal by Reynolds (1986) and Reynolds & Greaterox, 1988). Step and ramp (gentler) changes generated.
Simulated data set. Five Secondary dataset for a
UK SME that had demonstrated some variation in financial performance over a ten year period. Turnover used as the variable.
Piece of work submitted Method Sample Description Respondents
2001 Moving towards a control technique to help small firms monitor and control key marketing parameters: A survival aid.
Production of cumulative frequency tables for the smoothed error tracking signal by Reynolds (1986) and Reynolds & Greaterox, 1988). Step and ramp (gentler) changes generated.
Simulated data set. Five Secondary dataset for a
UK SME that had demonstrated some variation in financial performance over a ten year period. Turnover used as the variable.
One
2007 A Bayesian approach to forecasting decisions
in small firms. Reconsideration of one existing dataset (Case Study One) and one new dataset (Case Study Two and Three).
Case Study One: Data collected from SMEs within the Kirklees and Calderdale local authorities.
1200 respondents and some focus groups.
Case Study Two: West
Yorkshire. 170 respondents Case Study Three:
Omsk, Russia. 54 respondents
1995 A Low Cost and Low Risk Scheme For Small Entrepreneurial Firms to Enable Them To Increase Both Sales and Profitability from their Existing Customer Base.
Two qualitative case studies. Family owned
electrical wholesaler. One Regional department
1998 Relationship marketing: Its key role in
entrepreneurship. Postal questionnaire. Local to the University SMEs in a single sector with 10-99 employees and who had been trading for more than three years.
60
In-depth semi-structured interview. Drawn from the
respondents. 20
2006 Entrepreneurship and the small to medium- sized enterprise: A divergent/convergent paradox in thinking patterns between advisers and SME owner managers.
Conceptual but illustrated with a short SME / High Street Bank case study from secondary sources.
SMEs in the local area (the Kirklees district of West Yorkshire England) chosen randomly from a Dunn and Bradstreet listing.
25 A previous conference paper (1995)
had used a conventional divergent thinking test based upon brain storming.
1998 A marketing strategy for public sector organisations compelled to operate in a compulsory competitive tendering environment.
Self-completion postal questionnaire
following a seminar. Architectural / building /design professionals in the South and West Yorkshire Local Authority Training Consortium, 1995.
15
1999 The Marketing of Public Sector Building Services in a changing Regulatory Framework - Does ‘Best Value’ Herald a Visionary Future?
Self-completion postal questionnaire
following a seminar. Architectural / building /design professionals in the South and West Yorkshire Local Authority Training Consortium, 1999.
16
2003 Considering the Role and Impact of Market Orientation and Entrepreneurial Orientation on the Performance of Marketing Information Systems (MkIS) within Large Organisations: A Case Study of UK Financial Services. Second dataset from a wider population of financial service providers.
Taped interviews with primary case
study of one national UK bank. Managerial level. Several Mailed questionnaires with primary
case study of one national UK bank. Employees at managerial level and having responsibility for marketing.
66 (out of 350 sent out)
Shorter recorded one hour interviews. Other financial service providers.
5 Mailed questionnaires. Financial service
providers unconnected to the primary case organisation.
49 (out of 90 sent out)
2011 Public sculpture themed projects as
entrepreneurial marketing. Case studies, Secondary data & limited observation. USA; Macau. 7 cases
2010 Measuring Clustering Benefits and Competitiveness: What Do Players Really Value?
Interviews with Directors/Managers in the Singapore Financial Services cluster.
All had over five year’s experience of working in that financial cluster.
33
6 Directors; 20 Senior Managers; 7Junior Managers.
2005 Fanning the Flames of Family Business: A Case Study of Two Long Surviving West Yorkshire (UK) Small Businesses.
Semi-structured interviews with interviewer guidelines and family first and entrepreneurial and marketing orientation scales also used. Two cases analysed out of 59 respondents (cases).
Huddersfield based SMEs all 59
respondents had been in business for at least three generations.
Two
2012 Growth and Entrepreneurial Orientation Behaviours of SMEs in a Conflict Environment: Swat Valley Pakistan.
Postal questionnaire. Growing and non- growing SMEs in a conflict region – Swat Valley, Pakistan.
80 growing and 30 not growing (ex post classification). Semi-structured face-to-face
interviews. 16
2011 Exploring the marketing - entrepreneurship interface: bringing an understanding of small business marketing into the curriculum.
Reflection upon student authored case studies of actual SMEs and teaching programme by the two teachers (Day and Reynolds).
1999: Final year
undergraduate module. 46 SME case studies 2010: Final year
undergraduate module. 14 SME case studies
2011 The Potential Influence of Entrepreneurial Role Models in the Teaching of
Entrepreneurial Marketing: I Want to be Like …?
421 eligible students drawn from a population of 2000 undergraduates (there were some screening conditions and then students selected at random).
Final year undergraduate students in the Faculty of Economics at Andalas University in Padang, West Sumatra- Indonesia. 291(questionnaire)
52 students invited to attend a face-to-
face interview. 38 (interviews)
2015 Involving the Entrepreneurial Role Model: A Possible Development for Entrepreneurship Education.
421 eligible students drawn from a population of 2000 undergraduates (there were some screening conditions and then students selected at random).
Final year undergraduate students in the Faculty of Economics at Andalas University in Padang, West Sumatra- Indonesia. 291(questionnaire)
52 of respondents invited to attend a
face-to-face interview. 38 (interviews)