Academic Journal
The Fact of Fiction in Organizational Ethnography.
| Title: | The Fact of Fiction in Organizational Ethnography. |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Maanen, John van |
| Source: | Administrative Science Quarterly. Dec79, Vol. 24 Issue 4, p539-550. 12p. |
| Abstract: | The article focuses on the application of ethnographic research methods on organizational theory. The research mandate to generate more facts and beware of premature theorizing, which could negatively effect experimental result objectivity, is reasserted. Various challenges and advantages to ethnographic methods are outlined, describing the differences between first-order and second-order concepts, between presentational and operational data, and misleading aspects such as truth and ignorance within responses. Final conclusions are also provided pointing out unavoidable paradoxes within human-interaction and social constructions in research. |
| Subject Terms: | *Organizational sociology, *Field research, Ethnology methodology, Social science research, Social science methodology, Research evaluation |
| ISSN: | 00018392 |
| DOI: | 10.2307/2392360 |
| Database: | Business Source Complete |