the use of statistical methods in management research.docVIP

The use of statistical methods in management research: suggestions from a case study 1 June 2009 Michael Wood michael.wood@port.ac.uk . This is beginning and end of a working paper / preprint. The full version is at: http://userweb.port.ac.uk/~woodm/papers.htm I’d be very grateful for any comments. Introduction The aim of this article is to consider the role which statistical methods can sensibly take in research, and to look at some of the difficulties with typical uses of statistical methods and possible approaches to reducing these difficulties. My approach is to focus on an article published in the Academy of Management Journal (Glebbeek and Bax, 2004), consider the value and limitations of the analysis, and to make some suggestions about alternative approaches to the analysis and presentation of the results. There are obvious problems in generalizing from a single example. However, I argue below that a detailed analysis of a single case is essential for demonstrating and exploring the possibilities. …. Conclusions and recommendations We have looked in detail at just one research article. The conclusions which might be derived from another article would doubtless be slightly different. However, it is possible to formulate the following general suggestions, which are illustrated by Glebbeek and Bax (2004), but which are likely to be of wider applicability. These are described as suggestions, and prefaced by the word “consider”, to emphasise their tentative status. Consider whether any statistical approach is likely to be useful. The advantage of statistical methods is that they enable us to peer through the fog of noise variables to see patterns such as the curve in Figure 1. But for a statistical analysis to be worthwhile it is necessary to check four issues: whether the necessity to focus on easily measurable variables damages the credibility of the results, whether the target population is likely to be of lasting interest, whether the amount of variation e