Do Better Research S1 E1: Why we do research

Welcome to Do Better Research, a learning-focused podcast about research methods. My name is Dr Suzanne Albury, and I'll be guiding you through research methods to become a better researcher, both for academic study and professional practice.

In this, episode one, we'll be exploring what we mean by research and why we do it. We'll be talking to some active researchers, Dr Tom Vine and Dr Fran Hyde at the Suffolk Business School, about their research journeys and what they enjoy about engaging with research. We'll also be thinking about where research projects come from, both within our workplace and deciding what to study as part of a dissertation project.

Research is a fundamental part of our lives and we do it all the time whether we realise it or not. We use research to make informed decisions and informed decisions help us to reduce risk, cut costs and stop wasted time, both personally and professionally. Doing better research or better quality research is not all that difficult, but it does require us to think about the process of doing that research rather than just the product.

Planning our research means we get the right information of the best quality to make the best decisions for us and for our businesses. And throughout this series of podcasts, we'll be looking at ways to improve our research practice, to think about different ways of doing research that elicit better results, and to really get to the crux of what it means to do better research.

Businesses grow out of good quality research. Businesses grow out of good quality research, whether that's gathering market data on consumer behaviour, or understanding competitors through analysis, or increasing staff motivation and engagement by surveying their needs and well-being. There are always improvements to be made in business and research to be done.

Thinking about your own workplace, are there any areas that could use a little improvement? And what information would you need before you make a decision about how best to go about that improvement? And just like that, you've got a great first idea.

for a research project. So I'd like to introduce you to two researchers actually in the Suffolk Business School. Dr Tom Vine and Dr Fran Hyde. Tom is our PhD programme leader and is interested in organisational behaviour and change, among many other things, and Fran, the Business School's Deputy Dean, works in marketing practice and education.

I asked these two what it was about doing research that they found so engaging. Okay, so Tom, thank you for joining me today. Can you tell me what you enjoy about doing research? What I enjoy about doing research, crikey. Well, where do I begin? I suppose, for me, it was... I think that I'd always wanted to do...

a PhD and to go into academia. And I guess the appeal was twofold. Firstly, there was, of course, the teaching and lecturing side. But equally, there was this desire... to explore the world, to push boundaries, to perhaps come up with something original, unanticipated, controversial, and academia and academic research, irrespective of level.

gives you that opportunity so the cliche goes it's a venture into the unknown it's an opportunity for you as a student as a scholar as an academic to make what's known as an original contribution to knowledge and of course with that comes an extraordinary sense of privilege i think that you are and doing your research you are in essence

pushing the boundaries, and you're getting to a point where you become that world-renowned expert. Irrespective of how narrow your remit is, you might be doing something as prosaic as exploring. the shopping habits of people in supermarkets in Ipswich but at the close of that research chances are you know more about Ipswich shoppers than anybody else on the planet And so you are in this privileged position. Of course, as your academic portfolio develops, you begin to broaden.

your area of expertise. So I think it's about that sense of creation, that sense of originality, that sense of pushing boundaries. And I think that's an extraordinary privilege. Excellent. Thank you very much.

How do you decide what to research? So how do you make the decision about what you want to research? Okay, yeah, that is definitely a trickier question. I think for me personally, when I was doing my master's degree, I can share my experience here. The way I took that decision and made those decisions is that I had, as most master's degrees do, you study several.

different modules and i got on very well with one of the module leaders and it was a module called i think it was called advanced organization theory and this was on my master's degree and of course

I got chatting to that module leader. I read a lot of his publications and started to think, well, hang on a minute. Perhaps part of the reason I get on well with this particular guy is because we share a similar... outlook on the world and we're interested in similar things and so it was driven by that relationship me getting on well with that tutor and then I suppose following in his footsteps

So that's how I developed a particular field of interest and how I made decisions about what it would be that I would go on to research. But, you know, sometimes you're not obliged to make a decision about what to research. It could be driven by any number of differences. So quite often I encourage students to reflect on current events and to think of research opportunities in terms of serendipity. So it's not necessarily something that's calculated or planned.

but it may be that an opportunity arises. And you can capitalize on that opportunity. So I would very much encourage students to, first of all, reflect on the sorts of modules and the sorts of subject areas that they like. The module leaders that they get on with. Have conversations with their peers. with friends and family engage in current affairs and then think about and then more often than not

a particular research opportunity will present itself. Another way to look at it as well is to think about your own interests and hobbies. because irrespective of what they are, you can normally discern a business management or organization theme from any hobby, be it obsession with football through to cooking, through video games. All of these, what we consider recreational pursuits, they can be configured and understood in terms of business management and organizational themes.

You talked about capitalising on opportunities, and I just wondered if you could give some examples of what opportunities you've capitalised on for your own research. Okay, I think, yeah, really good question. I think I've had two examples I can give you here. Firstly, where I am supervising students. who produce really strong work suddenly i say well hang on a minute i've really enjoyed supervising this project

And the student has done very well. So a recent example was a student at undergraduate level who was studying workplace bullying between women rather randomly on a construction site. and it was a really interesting piece of research, and I felt, you know what, this is not something that I've known an awful lot about historically, but I've really enjoyed supervising this project, and I think there's potential for publication here.

work together to develop her. It was an also ethnographic piece of work. into a paper and I thoroughly enjoyed that so that was an opportunity you know I was paired with the student to supervise her these weren't necessarily themes or areas of research that I was familiar with but I developed the interest there other examples so COVID is classic I think right now there are a number of students saying well we currently find ourselves immersed in this pandemic

What have the challenges been for me? What have the challenges been? for my organization what have the challenges been in terms of working from home so we can reflect on those sorts of things none of us planned for the pandemic none of us wanted the pandemic but we find ourselves in this situation equally we find ourselves in a situation where we are limited in terms of research methods available to us because of social distancing and the inability to meet in person.

So we've, funnily enough, we had a PhD application this morning reflecting on precisely this looking, you know, I think it was specifically in terms of consumer behavior in times of pandemic. reflecting on the circumstances that we find ourselves in today can be a useful cue and help direct and refine your research approach. Thank you very much. And so I've got one final question for you, Tom.

And that is, what has been your favourite research project to date that you've conducted? OK, I think for me, it has to be ethnography. I really enjoy ethnography I like being immersed in the field I like living and working within a particular social or cultural environment. And that, of course, is what ethnography is. So today, I would say it's still my doctoral research where I conducted an ethnography of a New Age community based in Scotland. The community was called the Findhorn Foundation.

still is called the Fintong Foundation it's existed since the 1960s I suppose colloquially it would be understood as a commune so I lived and worked there over the course of a year in 2011-2012 getting to experience how people with a very different outlook on life live, conduct their lives, how they organise work and how they survive. So it was a fascinating insight for somebody such as myself who comes from a more conventional background.

to live and work among people with a very different outlook. And I came away from that experience with my prejudices shattered, with, I hope, a very different outlook on life myself. I learned an awful lot from the experience. I don't just mean intellectually, I mean practically too. So for example, I learned a huge amount about horticulture. So today I can grow my own vegetables with confidence.

I learnt a huge amount about sustainability, ecological sensitivity, resilience, so ecological resilience as well, which I hope to some degree at least has informed and improved and refined the way I live.

own life so yeah today that is I think the research project I've enjoyed most but frankly I think if you have the opportunity and you feel so compelled you're very much encouraged to conduct an ethnography because really by the time you only have a couple of opportunities to immerse yourself in the field and a master's degree.

or a doctoral degree is a terrific opportunity for you to do that because a little later in life, these opportunities for immersive research are much more complicated and difficult logistically to arrange. If you have that opportunity to do an ethnography, you're very much encouraged to do it. The university will provide support as best it can and I dare say you will get a huge amount out of it. Thanks for that, Tom. It's really interesting to hear about how your research...

You know, it wasn't just about the product. It's about the process that you went through and you were learning not just for the sake of the piece of research that you did, but kind of much wider kind of life and personal development skills. No problem at all. No problems at all. You are more than welcome. I think I'd just add, if that's okay, Suzanne, that...

Frankly, irrespective of the sort of research that you do, there will be unanticipated benefits, I believe, to you as an individual. So it's not just about the readings and the scholarly development. the experience itself will help you as an individual to grow in confidence. So those research skills that you develop, those interpersonal skills that you develop, those organisational skills that you develop.

those project management skills that you develop will go on to help you later in life. So it's a terrific opportunity, academic research in a number of respects. And that was Tom Vine from Summit Business School. What I'll do is I'll add some of the links to his research in the show notes so you can follow up on anything that you found particularly interesting about his research journey.

I think what was really interesting as he was talking was the opportunity for growth in areas that you weren't really expecting by doing academic research. And that's absolutely something that I picked up. with Dr Fran Hyde when we talked about her work around difficult marketing.

So this episode is going to be on what research is and why we do it and I thought it would just be really nice for the students to hear a little bit about a couple of researchers who are active researchers and why they do research. So my first... question for you Fran is what is it that you enjoy about doing research? For me what I enjoy about doing research is it gives me an opportunity to engage back in

marketing practice. So for me, doing research keeps me in touch with what is happening in the world of marketing outside the world of academia. So rather than assuming that this is going on. It drives me out to talk to people who are actually undertaking the practice that I'm interested in. And then I can understand some of their current issues, concerns. And so it keeps, I can bring that back and inform my teaching.

And also I can keep a little bit abreast of the things which, you know, by the time they reach a journal article or a textbook might have actually changed. Because you worked in marketing before you became an academic, didn't you? I did. So I worked in, I began my career in industry and in different forms of marketing. So I only really came in full time to academia in 2000. So for the last 19 years, I guess I've been in academia, but before that, so from sort of 1980.

2007 to 2000, I was basically in industry. I took some qualifications alongside being in industry, but I was basically in industry and marketing, I think. for me is a subject or rather my lens, the way I look at marketing is a kind of practical vocational subject. There are important theories and concepts which you need to use in marketing and understand, but it's a subject which you need to.

be connected with those people who are actually doing it. So employers, employees, people in industry couldn't feel happy teaching it if I wasn't also talking to people that were doing it. sort of my personal view, and also trying to offer some contribution to knowledge. So actually moving the conversations that marketing academics and practitioners are having forward about what's going on in the area of marketing.

decide what it is you want to research. So I think perhaps because I came into academia in the sort of second half of my career, I didn't want to look at organisations who were basically driven by making profit because I'd worked in that. So I wanted to do something. and use my time because it is often time you find outside your working hours.

I wanted to use it to forward discussions in non-profit marketing because I think that for me, that's a very interesting side of marketing because it's very difficult because you're not always talking about things that are delightful and happy.

talking about food or products or services which are tangible necessarily very palatable and actually I called it when I was doing my PhD difficult marketing because it's it's conversations that people find difficult to have sometimes and that kind of marketing is challenging. So that was the area that I've been mainly focused in with the projects I've done in the last sort of seven or eight years and the ones I've got planned for the next sort of two to three years.

So out of all of those projects that you've had planned and you've done in the past, what's been your favourite research project? That's a good question. So I think probably the association I've had with the hospice has been... perhaps my favourite one, because it started with somebody coming to talk to my students and it made me think, gosh, this is difficult marketing. It then led me to do my PhD and to work.

in the organisation for three months when I did an ethnographic study and I actually worked as part of the organisation for three months. I wasn't paid, clearly, but I was in amongst them for three months. And then subsequently... And this, I think, is where it can be great. It's led to, I did get a paper published from it, which was obviously fantastic.

That's not always what happens when people do research. I've written several other articles about it. And then for me, the nicest thing is it led to me becoming involved in the organisation and I'm a trustee there now. So it's been a kind of eight year journey.

me it's still an interesting area to look at so it for me it was about a kind of lengthy involvement which which also brings into the question things we discuss in in research about whether you ever get closure, how you leave organisations, how you work.

how you'll move along the insider outsider continuum but that's but those are all interesting questions i think but that's probably been my favorite association but it must be quite difficult because we talk about sort of favorite and favorite research project or enjoying a research project but actually the hospital and that particular research project, as you said, it's quite difficult. It's a really challenging environment to be in day in, day out. So how do you balance that?

understanding that it is difficult and that you know there are challenges emotional and mental challenges associated with being and doing that kind of work and actually still enjoying it. Yeah so one of the things which was really important to me when I first started my PhD and when I first started

researching was actually the support I had from my supervisors so it was a discussion we had about choosing to research a difficult situation and I think that's very important if people are looking at going to

Carrying out research in an organisation where there are challenges or where they have personal connections, that's where the relationship with the supervisor is really important because there needs to be some level of, you know, in brackets or discussion up front about how you're going to manage that relationship. just as if you're researching your own organisation, you need to have that. And that kind of transcends.

what i'd classify as you know ethical approval you do discuss all these things on your ethics application it was a lengthy process for me to get ethical approval for my phd to do the study but it provokes really good discussions about you know dealing with that environment so so it's it's those sort of discussions which are helpful and I guess

So as I began the project, that was really important to me. I think as you continue, then you have to manage that slightly yourself. And, you know, interestingly, on the research journey, I came across some interesting articles about humour in end-of-life care.

quite interesting pieces people have written about how people who work in end-of-life care and hospices deal with the stresses and strains and the humour that they employ, not about their patients clearly, but about keeping each other going, which I found quite interesting to read.

So given that it's obviously quite a challenging environment and you would have come up with some of your own mechanisms and ideas about how to support yourself going through that research process, have you got any advice to students who are perhaps thinking about doing research?

within their own organisations about how they can keep that distance, how they can keep themselves sane, safe, emotionally healthy. I mean, I think, you know, this, I guess, is about the kind of, first of all, the sort of covert, overt discussion.

you know and I would which is whether you know you're actually declaring to people you're doing the research or not and I would really caution people against and I think you know ethically there are some questions about people who don't declare to their fellow colleagues that they're doing research I think that's difficult that's the discussion people would need to have with supervisors so and I think it

it would change your relationship if you were researching within your own organization, even if you're very overt about what you're doing and people know that you're... doing it as part of a study. I think there is an issue and that needs to be fleshed out and discussed with supervisors.

the organization you work for right up front so there's no these things have been thought about before the study begins it slightly depends on the nature of the project because if you're doing something which people feel it is very interesting and actually could benefit the organization then they might have a slightly different slant on it equally, then you might have slightly prejudiced answers because people want the organisation.

or the project to move in a certain direction. So I think on one hand, it's easy to research your own organisation, or that's what we might think at the beginning. I think to actually do it is more complicated than people might think. And so what advice would you give from your experience?

Talk to supervisors, talk to your supervisor and explain you're doing it. And then also simultaneously have an open discussion with your line manager in your organisation. And they might need to have a discussion with their line manager to find out if this.

is they're going to give you approval and you kind of need to do those two simultaneously because you need you will need to have approval from the organisation written approval to say you're doing it in the case of the hospice and I guess some organisations particularly public sector.

health, you may find, as I did, that they have their own internal ethics committee because they are an organisation who may be doing medical research and other research. So I also had to go to the hospice's ethics approval. perhaps limited to specific sectors, but it's something to bear in mind and find out early. So as you just heard, Fran has got some great advice if you're planning to do organisational research within a business of which you are part of.

I'll link some of her research in the show notes as well so you can have a look at what she gets up to. And it's also worth noting that the ethical approval that you will need... to do primary research is something that we'll be covering in later lectures and later podcasts. So don't worry too much about that right now.

When we talk about research from an academic perspective, there are certain expectations about quality, and from this there are particular qualities that we look for in good quality academic research. Those qualities might include being robust and transparent, and verifiable being accountable and repeatable and based on a clear rationale and tied to theory or frameworks addressing some real world problem and hugely importantly

conducting research in an ethical way. These are some of the ideas that we'll be exploring in this podcast series. For now, we just need to understand that the stronger our research design... the better and more applicable our research results.