Module 18: Researching Organisations

This module is part of the Social Science Research Methods Course programme which is a shared platform for providing research students with a broad range of quantitative and qualitative research

Mphil Students from participating departments taking the Social Science Research Methods Course as part of their research degree

Number of sessions: 3

• Session 1: "Getting In" - Types of organisations, the research process
• Session 2: "Getting on" - ethics, data
• Session 3: "Getting out" - reporting; fulfilling the bargain; maintaining contact

The objective of the course is to introduce students to methodological issues involved in researching organisations.

• To explore practical strategies to overcome problems which are often encountered when undertaking studies of organisations

Presentations only

• Bryman, A. (1988) Doing Research in Organisations. London:Routledge
• Neyland, D. (2008) Organisation Ethnography. London:Sage

• To gain the maximum benefits from the course it is important that students do not see this course in isolation from the other MPhil courses or research training they are taking. Responsibility lies with each student to consider the potential for their own research using methods common in fields of the social sciences that may seem remote. Ideally this task will be facilitated by integration of the SSRMC with discipline-specific courses in their departments and through reading and discussion.

Three sessions of two hours

Three times in Michaelmas term