This post is a cheat because it’s actually summarising a paper on organisational – not digital development – research.
It’s by the leading organisational theorist – and confutation of nominative determinism – Richard Daft, and I read it just before I started my PhD.
Based on a survey of organisational researchers, its findings feel relevant to digital development. Significant research . . .
– Is an outcome of the researcher’s involvement in the real world
– Is an outcome of the researcher’s own interests, resolve and effort
– Is chosen on the basis of intuition
– Is an outcome of intellectual rigour
– Reaches into an uncertain world to produce something that is clear, tangible and well-understood
– Focuses on real problems
– Is concerned with theory, with a desire for understanding and explanation
Not-so-significant research is the opposite: expedient, quick and easy, lacking personal commitment from the researcher, lacking theoretical thought and effort, and so on.
While planning and clarity mark out the latter stages of significant research, it is the outcome of an organic process of intuition, integration of ideas from different fields or chance meetings, that starts with uncertainty. Precisely planned, tidy, clean and clearly-defined research most likely leads to small results (research funders please take note!).
That all seems to fit equally-well with digital development research but, of course, these criteria come from a researcher perspective, not that of other stakeholders. See what you think.
If you’d like to read the paper, it’s not so easy to find:
– Daft, R. L. (1984). Antecedents of significant and not-so-significant organizational research. In: T.S. Bateman & G.R. Ferris (eds), Method and Analysis in Organizational Research. Reston Publishing, Reston, VA, 3-14.
Or, there’s a firewalled update:
– Daft, R. L., Griffin, R. W., & Yates, V. (1987). Retrospective accounts of research factors associated with significant and not-so-significant research outcomes. Academy of Management Journal, 30(4), 763-785.
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