Exam 2: Research Methods in Organisational Behaviour

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Cross-cultural research involves theory and empirical studies that concern whether and how national culture affects phenomenon of interest. A good starting point for culture includes the writings of Schein and also Hofstede. We need to be careful in assuming that all people see the world the same as we do and value the same things. For example, autonomy is often valued in countries with high individualism and low power-distance but may not be successfully applied in other countries. Schaffer and Riordan (2003) propose a three-step planning process when planning cultural research, which is elaborated on in your text:
Stage 1 is the development of cross-cultural research questions. The emic approach means 'understanding a phenomenon within a culture from the same perspective as participants in the culture, thereby providing an insider view'. An etic approach means 'explicitly comparing a construct across cultures with an assumption that there is a shared frame of reference' (which your research may support or not).
Stage 2 is the alignment of research contexts: looking at sample equivalents and consistent administration of surveys.
Stage 3 is the validation of research instruments: are they applicable across cultures? The issue of equivalent instruments is important: when measures of a construct developed in one culture mean the same (semantically equivalent), have the same frame of reference (conceptual equivalence) and are interpreted in the same way (scaling equivalence) in another culture.
Ethics is a large topic and vital to OB practitioners. Often you may refer to a written code such as that of the Academy of Management or the Australian Psychological Society's code (and/or applicable to your profession). Your text points out that 'researchers need to reflect continually on the ethics involved to ensure that they are not inadvertently doing harm'. Further, a practitioner who is perceived as unethical is unlikely to succeed in OB/consulting (and it is not for nothing that practitioners carry relevant insurance for professional indemnity and public liability!). Your text highlights ethical conduct in four categories: conducting and reporting, participants, dissemination, and grants and contracts. Bell and Bryman (2007) identified 11 categories of principles: harm to participants, dignity of research participants, informed consent, privacy, confidentiality, anonymity, deception, affiliation, honesty and transparency, reciprocity and misrepresentation.