RIBM Doctoral Symposium

14th-15th March 2012

15th Annual
Doctoral Symposium

This symposium is a time to reflect on the success of the Doctoral Programme, its growing reputation and importance as a means of developing new academic colleagues with the necessary research skills and knowledge to develop future generations of scholars. During the past 15 years more than 100 doctorates have been awarded in the domain of Business & Management at this university.  A number of graduates held highly sought after ESRC, RIBM and University studentships, some were sponsored by their own organizations, or national governments and many were self-funded. Many have gone on to become editors of leading research journals, hold positions of authority in scholarly research organizations and publish their work in journals and books. There are some 25 graduates who now hold professorial positions in leading universities. Graduates of the Doctoral Programme hold positions at Trinity College Dublin, Warwick University, Exeter University, Liverpool University, Keele University, Bradford University, Sheffield University, Leeds University, VU University Amsterdam, Bournemouth University, Greenwich University, De Montfort University, Nottingham Trent University, Hull University, Melbourne University and Manchester Metropolitan University.

The Doctoral Symposium has become an integral part of the development process for Doctoral Candidates at the Business School. It is an opportunity for candidates at all stages of the programme to participate in the process of knowledge creation, dissemination and discussion. It forms part of the systematic training that has developed to support and enable Doctoral candidates develop necessary skills in ‘the doing and practice’ of research. It takes considerable time and effort to put together the elements that comprise the Symposium experience for the benefit of Doctoral candidates. There is an expectation that this effort is reciprocated by doctoral researchers and faculty engagement to create the synergies that the Symposium achieves. I look forward to your participation in this year’s Symposium.

I hope the next two days offer participants an opportunity to reflect and engage in scholarly debates that influence, inform and inspire you to develop your research ideas further.

Professor Tony Hines, PhD
Chair of the Doctoral Symposium 2012

RESEARCH DIRECTIONS

Social research has many possibilities. Different traditions: economics, sociology, psychology offer different paths to knowing. When you set out on this road of human inquiry it is important to recognise the many dualisms that have challenged those who made the journey earlier.
Mind/body, subject/object, and individual/society, is there singular truth or are there plausible truths? For example, are we seeking the best explanation? Or may be we do not want to explain at all but rather concern ourselves with the 'thick description' of anthropology. The differences between examining research questions from a macro or micro point of view lead us to decisions about how to conduct the work. Should we focus on the particular, the local and the immediate concerns of individuals or should we focus on the general, global and universal concerns of society? These are choices we all have to make in doing research. There are important considerations about how we know, what we know and the best ways to develop our own contributions to knowledge given the traditions in our disciplines and sub‐disciplines. Is it knowing or understanding? Philosophical questions such as: is to perceive to know or is knowing what, or knowing how, more important? Is it theory or practice that concerns us most.

There are choices of questions, aims and methods. Do we have a preference to develop knowledge from quantitative analysis or through qualitative analysis or through combining methods? Are we monist, dualist, pluralist, relativist, universalist, realist, contructivist, objectivist, or subjectivist? Are the claims we make legitimate or legitimised through the
process of research? Are we concerned with causal inquiry? Do we study the world as scientists (objectively) or do we study the world as participant enquirers (subjectively)? Are we able to transcend these dualisms? Do we accept statistics as fact? Or do we question the notion of facts critically? Do we believe rules determine attitude/behaviour or does behaviour/attitude determine rules? Do we know what we or they mean when we have a conversation with other people? How do you know others know what you mean? Do we set aside our preconceptions to understand? Is there such a thing as 'a priori' or is all knowledge 'a posteriori'? Do we hold assumptions that blind us to what we see or hear? We are all cultural products that influence our views of the world. We must understand who we are before we understand others.

Research directions will discuss briefly some ideas in relation to the possibilities of doing research.

Professor Tony Hines, PhD
Chair of the Doctoral Symposium 2012

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Kim Kershaw, Ann Marie McDonald, Barbara Walters and Mark Fernandes for their help organising materials for the Symposium.
I would like to thank faculty members for taking part in the review process and acting as session Chairs. I would like to thank Doctoral Candidates for their participation.

I am grateful for the support given by Prof. Gill Wright, Director of Research at the Business School and Prof. Ruth Ashford, Dean of the Business School.