Beyond Method: Strategies for Social Research

Research is often seen as a neutral, technical process through which researchers simply reveal or discover knowledge. A broader and more self-reflective stance is advocated in Beyond Method, one in which a knowledge of technique needs to be complemented by an appreciation of the nature of research as a distinctively human process, through which researchers make knowledge. Such an appreciation requires a reframing of understanding and debate about research, in a way that goes beyond considerations of method alone.

Beyond Method provides one of the best reviews of social science research currently available. Morgan has forged his way of thinking about social research into a powerful tool that will interest social scientists in a variety of disciplines. The 21 chapters on methodology give valuable insights into the assumptions and mindsets that shape different kinds of research practice and provide excellent starting points for anyone wishing to understand or engage in the research practices that give form to social science today. Morgan's overview chapters cut to the heart of fundamental issues in the philosophy of social science. His evocative and highly readable style of presentation brings the dilemmas of doing social science research to life. He reveals the socially constructed nature of scientific "truth", and shows how we can begin to cope with the dilemmas that arise. The book has established itself as an essential reference for the social scientist's bookshelf, and will provide essential reading for years to come. "A compact catalog of the many ways in which organizations can be studied or conceptualized. . . . Glimpses into the minds of such prominent organizational thinkers as Donald Schon ("Organizational Learning"), Norman Denzin ("Interpretive Interactionism"), Wolf Heydebrand ("Organization and Praxis"), and J. Kenneth Benson ("A Dialectical Method") are especially rewarding." --Administrative Science Quarterly "This interesting collection of essays should be of value to both graduate students beginning their research careers and practicing sociologists interested in the metatheoretical foundation of what they do." --Contemporary Sociology "The most comprehensive collectionto date of major methodological alternatives presented within a relativist framework. It highlights the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches without judging any particular approaches as universally better than others. The range of methods and ideas presented in this volume is an indictment of the narrowness of most current evaluation research practice and an invitation, indeed to challenge, to open our minds and enlarge our repertoire of evaluation approaches." --Michael Quinn Patton, University of Minnesota

Gareth Morgan is well known for his creative contributions to management. He is the author of seven books, including Images of Organization, Creative Organization Theory, Imaginization and Riding the Waves of Change. He acts as consultant and seminar leader to numerous organizations throughout Europe and North America, and is Distinguished Research Professor at York University in Toronto. He has sat on the editorial boards of the Academy of Management, and Organization Studies; and is a Life Fellow of the International Academy of Management. Born in Wales, he now lives in Toronto with his wife, Karen and their children Evan and Heather.