Research Methods in Human Resource Management (2nd ed.)

Citation

Robson, F. (2010), "Research Methods in Human Resource Management (2nd ed.)", Personnel Review, Vol. 39 No. 1, pp. 155-157. https://doi.org/10.1108/00483481011007922

This recently published book provides students with an introduction to the key issues involved in planning, designing and undertaking research in the field of HR. Using a combination of theoretical frameworks and practical guidance, it provides a comprehensive resource to enable the readers to enhance their knowledge, confidence and skills. This text contains 12 chapters, which take the reader through the journey involved in conducting a management report or dissertation from the preparation stage onwards. As well as flowing quite well, this is the type of book where students could revisit chapters at key points in their timeline. One excellent example of this is chapter 4: Reviewing and evaluating existing knowledge, where students will benefit from the suggested approach to identifying and evaluating literature and then will probably return to it later in the process to structure their chapter appropriately and work on improving its criticality.

Written in an accessible style, this text will be of benefit to both undergraduate and postgraduate students who are studying on HR specialist programmes as the author demonstrates a clear understanding of the key issues. The target market of the book appears to be the wide range of students who enrol on formal HR education programmes which includes part‐time students (many of whom will currently be working in an HR environment) as well as international students who may not have extensive practical work experience. This broad spectrum provides a challenge for the author, but one that seems to have been achieved. In particular, chapter 1 addresses the issues surrounding being a “practitioner‐researcher” and an “insider” which will be welcomed by part‐time students who undertake their research within their own organisation.

A further audience would be the tutors who are responsible for teaching and supervising students in these areas. Potentially, this book could also be used by practitioners who are undertaking research for professional purposes though using it unaided for an independent project would not be using it to its best advantage. A key strength of this text is that it has been written specifically for an HR audience, the use of relevant case studies and examples will enable the readers to understand it much more within their context and consider how they can apply it within their own work. The international examples are also welcomed as being representative of the student population in many institutions.

The concept of the research journey works well throughout the text with the chapter on “First stages in the HR project” working particularly well in supporting students to get started with their project; often a key issue. Readers that work best when following a logical process are also likely to take comfort from Anderson's (2009, p. 66) proposed map of the journey which also demonstrates the links and flow needed between the different stages and chapters.

From a methodological standpoint it is pleasing to see that attention has been drawn to research approaches to enable students to understand more about the implications for their approach to their work. Perhaps it would have been useful to have presented all of this information in a more comprehensive section which addresses the wider implications of how the approach (e.g. positivist) affects design and analysis, as students who read each section independently may miss some of the important links and connections.

A full chapter on “Finding and using documentary and organisational evidence” adds particular value to this book as many of the existing texts in the general business field do not afford this sufficient attention. The inclusion of the highly relevant content in this section should encourage readers to think more broadly about the possibilities that might exist within their organisation; thereby encouraging more innovative approaches.

Four chapters (seven to ten) in this book are dedicated to the collection, recording and analysis of the data, exploring qualitative followed by quantitative issues. The content in these sections are generally easy to follow and facilitate opportunities to reflect on the most appropriate methods and subsequent forms of data analysis for their studies. As with similar textbooks, some questions could be posed about the sequencing of the content, however this is not a critical issue. Whilst references are made to the computer packages, which can be used to analyse both types of data, the length of this book means that detailed instructions and supporting screenshots cannot be provided. A clear benefit of chapter 10 on analysing quantitative data is that it is written “by a non‐statistician for non‐statisticians” (Anderson, 2009, p. 283) and this works well through the explanations of different ways to analyse the data. This would provide a good starting point for students to consider which types of analysis would be most appropriate and then they can investigate these methods in more detail.

Chapter 11 entitled “Communicating your research” provides some useful insights into the broader research process though it feels a bit hidden away at the end of the book and the title of the chapter would not necessarily stimulate readers to look at it. This would be a missed opportunity as sections such as “losing or adding more words” and “describing and analysing” add significant value to this type of resource for both tutors and students.

Whilst this text provides a useful introduction and walk through of some of the key issues, most tutors would be unlikely to use it in isolation when teaching research methods. Specialist texts for quantitative and qualitative analysis would be necessary to enhance their understanding so this can be exhibited within the respective research methods and data analysis chapters. As with any text, the tutor would also have to be clear to the students about how some of the content sits in comparison to the institutional regulations, for example; whether supervisors are permitted to read full drafts of chapters. Depending on the structure of education programmes the supporting activities in the form of review questions could be useful, however when working with part‐time students in particular they generally want to concentrate on completing their individual project.

To conclude, the design and content allows both tutors and students the opportunity to benefit from the author's ability to reflect on issues faced by previous students and less experienced researchers. This is evident when discussing issues such as formulating aims and objectives, filtering materials for the literature review and writing styles. Overall this is an interesting, well‐written and useful text, which would be recommended for use with diverse groups of specialist students (albeit in conjunction with more dedicated texts in relation to data analysis) as a support tool for their final project.