1. A Multi-disciplinary Perspective on Decision-making and Creativity:
Using the Diversity of Truth-seeking and Sense-making to Advantage in Organizational Contexts
Wayne Smith, Ph.D.
Department of Management
CSU Northridge
Updated: Thursday, April 04, 2019

2. 7 – Research/Methodological

3. Research/Methodological
Use of Secondary Data is convenient, but potentially less useful
Primary Data collection is definitely less convenient, but potentially very useful

4. Research/Methodological
Survey
quantitative vs. qualitative
Evaluate numbers or examine texts
multiple choice vs. “open ended”
face-to-face vs. non-face-to-face
Direct Observation
Passive
Field Work
“Experimentation” is almost always out of the question

5. Research/Methodological
Perspectives
Positivist
Interpretivist
Critical
Learning to see causal relations
Learning to see what isn’t in the data

6. Differences between Theory & Ideology
Conditional, negotiated understanding
Offers absolute certainty
Incomplete; recognizes uncertainty
Has “all the answers”
Growing, open, unfolding, expanding
Fixed, closed, finished
Welcomes tests, positive and negative evidence
Avoids tests and findings
Changes based on evidence
Blind to opposing evidence
Detached, disconnected, moral stand
Locked into specific moral beliefs
Neutral; considers all sides
Highly partial
Strongly seeks logical consistency, congruity
Has contradictions and inconsistencies
Transcends/crosses social positions
Rooted in specific position

7. How Our Research Models Work
In English,
Predicted value = estimated value + error
In Math,
Ῡ = x + E
E = error—1) systematic error and 2) bias
Use statistical techniques for 1)
Use judgment for 2)
Let’s leave, in general, the characterization of the systematic error (random chance) to professionals.
As managers, let’s try to characterize the unsystematic error (bias), so the professionals (and other managers) don’t miss them.

8. Threats to Internal Validity (especially surveys)
Selection Bias (by far, the biggest issue in practical life)
…is the threat that research participants will not form equivalent groups.
History Bias
…is the threat that an event unrelated to the treatment will occur during the experiment and influence the dependent variable.
Maturation Bias
…is the threat that some biological, psychological, or emotional process within the subjects and separate from the treatment will change over time.
Testing Bias
Sometimes, a pre-test (pilot) influences the actual (real) test.
Instrumentation Bias
…occurs when the instrument changes during the administration of the instrument.

9. Threats to Internal Validity (especially surveys)
Mortality
…arises when some subjects do not continue throughout the experiment.
Diffusion of Treatment (Contamination)
…the threat the research participants in different groups will communicate with each other and learn about the other’s treatment.
Compensatory Behavior
…when some experiments provide something of value to one group, but not to another.
Experimenter Expectancy
…occurs when subtle, inadvertent changes by the interviewer alter the response by one or more respondents.
One last thing—Threats to External Validity
does the survey instrument actually reflect reality (and all of it)?
Are we absolutely sure that the survey doesn’t change the reality?

10. As a manager, what do we want to do with the research findings?
That is, what inferences do we want to make from research?
Let’s say we were giving a test to a job applicant…
Scoring, in which scoring rules are used to generate scores that are most appropriate for performances on each task in the test.
Generalization extends the interpretation from observed scores across all tasks on a particular test to the domain score; the score expected if the examinee were administered the entire universe of potential tasks allowed by the testing procedure.
Extrapolation extends the interpretation to a level of examinee ability in the domain of interest, with implications for expected future performance on domain-relevant tasks that might be beyond the scope of tasks allowed by the testing procedure.
Decision uses estimates of examinee ability to make decisions about examinees, such as whether the examinee is competent to practice a profession, would be appropriate for a particular academic institution, or would benefit from a certain academic course.

11. Sources
Neuman, W. L., (2003), Social Research Methods: Quantitative and Quantitative Approaches, Pearson Education