Reviews of recent research literature – 2

Citation

Nazari, M. (2011), "Reviews of recent research literature – 2", Online Information Review, Vol. 35 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/oir.2011.26435faa.003

Reviews of recent research literature – 2

Article Type: Reviews of recent research literature – 2 From: Online Information Review, Volume 35, Issue 6

The literature of research, including theory, method and methodology, has become a substantial subset of the publishing industry in its traditional, electronic and hybrid forms. In this occasional series of reviews we focus on recent titles that address the many issues of research. The intention is to inform both established researchers and students of research. The reviewer’s assessment of each title is indicated by the number of stars (five being the highest recommendation)

In Search of Research Excellence: Exemplars in Entrepreneurship,Edited by Ronald K. Mitchelle and Richard N. Dino,Edward Elgar,Cheltenham,2011,340 pp.,£89.95,Hard cover,ISBN 9781849807623,Assessment * * * *

Integral Research and Innovation: Transforming Enterprise and Society,Ronnie Lessem and Alexander Schieffer,Gower Publishing,Farnham,2010,423 pp.,£50.00,hard cover,ISBN9780566089183,Transformation and Innovation Series,Assessment * * * * *

Publishing from Your PhD: Negotiating a Crowded Jungle,Nicola F. Johnson,Gower Publishing,Farnham,2011,184 pp.,£25.00,Soft cover,ISBN 9780566091629,Assessment * * * *

The first two titles in this set of reviews offer provocative insights into the world of research and its applications. The first, In Search of Research Excellence, is a collection of addresses on best practice in entrepreneurship and social sciences research presented at the Entrepreneurship Research Exemplars Conference at the University of Connecticut in 2009. Mitchell and Dino state that this book uncovers the “tacit and implicit understandings of top-tier researchers” through both product- and people-exemplars which have emerged from a community of keynote contributors and editors/authors of top-tier journals in the field of entrepreneurship.

This collection of narratives is suitable for any researcher or student willing to undertake an exploratory journey to broaden their knowledge of how top-tier research capabilities can be acquired and how to achieve publication in top-tier journals. It is an “exploratory journey” because the task of analysing the narratives has been left partly with the reader In addition to the narrations which form most of the content, the readers are also offered a “Person-Environment (P-E) fit approach” to analysing and interpreting the narrations/quotations into transformative knowledge. Thus, the authors suggest a variety of ways to experience this book: as a workbook to assist with note-taking and idea-generation; as a reference guide to look up specific issues about writing for publication; or to gain insight into top-tier research publishing.

The first three parts of the book provide an introduction to the use of the P-E fit approach and an example of analysed data from the narratives presented in the book. These narratives or talks form the content of the second part (seven chapters), which present keynote addresses by leaders in the top-tier entrepreneurship community. Part 3 (ten chapters) then presents the talks from ten editor/author sessions by people who have successfully published in top entrepreneurship journals. Taken together, Parts 2 and 3 illuminate the specific how-to process of successful publication in top tier journals.

Part 4 consists of four appendices on the conference context in the form of extracts from presentations on four issues which provide access to the context:

1. 1.

   setting the stage;

2. 2.

   building your publishing career;

3. 3.

   worldwide reach; and

4. 4.

   where to from here?

Part 5 deals with conference “housekeeping” matters: information on top-tier journals, conference schedule, individual presenter details, etc.

The narratives compiled in this book provide readers with valuable first-hand information on “how top-tier research capabilities can be acquired”, and useful guidance on the person-environment fit approach to guide researchers in transforming that information to knowledge. However, the book would have benefitted from a concluding section re-addressing the core aims of the book.

The second title differs from In Search of Research Excellence in that it is a more reflective investigation of how research can be transformed into innovation. In Integral Research and Innovation Lessem and Schieffer share their unique knowledge and experience of social research and innovation to answer this question: How can social research be turned into social or indeed “integral” innovation? They take a fourfold route to integral research and innovation, encompassing Southern and Eastern, as well as Northern and Western, paths.

Innovation in universities represents technical and technological innovations appearing in the form of industrial advances. This materialist view of innovation has increased the stresses between wealth and poverty, society and injustice, health and security problems, “as well as the so-called clashes between civilizations”. In contrast to this Lessem and Schieffer focus on social innovation, which they see as a fourfold heritage from North, South, East and West that builds on the four human modes of being, becoming, knowing and doing.

In their view social innovation is equally important to technology innovation, and something in high demand in most sectors of society. However, there is a lack of research methodologies that produce social innovation, and Lessem and Schieffer seek to overcome this in their new approach to social sciences research. In this way they hope that the social sciences will

… regain their rightful place as sources of knowledge creation and social innovation, dealing with burning issues that are particular to their society, rather than delegating that role to corporate research and development (R&D) departments.

To set social scientists and universities on the path of integral research and innovation the authors discuss their ideas in four parts. Part 1 provides an orientation to social innovation, suggesting that integral research requires integral universities as a means of recapturing their role as social innovators.

Part 2 the debate becomes detailed and intriguing. Here the authors explore the four innovation paths to integral research: a Southern relational path (linked to the human mode of being), an Eastern path to renewal (becoming), a Northern path of reason (knowing) and a Western path of realisation (doing). In Chapter 3 the authors demonstrate how the selection of each of these paths will enable researchers to immerse themselves into a Grounding (South), Emerging (Eastern), Navigation (North) and Effecting (West) trajectory and see their research holistically. This engages the researcher in a journey of knowledge and value creation, moving from method (origination) to methodology (foundation) to critique (emancipation) and creation (transformation).

The 14 chapters of Part 3 fully discuss four types of integral methods that are the source for the four research paths. These four methods are:

1. 1.

   descriptive methods;

2. 2.

   narrative methods;

3. 3.

   methods of theorizing; and

4. 4.

   experimental and survey methods.

Describing research method as “a force or origination” which provides “direct experiential access to the origins and originality of a particular culture/personal context”, Lessem and Schieffer discuss how the four modes of human integrity (being, becoming, knowing, doing) are directly linked to these four integral methods. In Chapters 5-16 the authors advance along the four paths (relational, renewal, reason and realisation) of research, illuminating the “organic process” of integral research and innovation as evolving, not necessarily in a linear manner, but more from “original research aligned with research method, to transformative action, aligned with action research”.

In the final part Lessem and Schieffer deliver a summary of their theory of “Integral research-to-innovation”, describing it as a “transformational, transcultural, transdisciplinary and transpersonal” process involving “the development of self, organization and society, each one in an integral direction”. To further illuminate this process in practice, the authors introduce five integral researchers as part of their integral innovation community. They also deliver a real example development of a research-to-innovation community. Finally, two appendices at the end of the book provide the reader with a useful summary of the analytical and transformative trajectories of integral research and innovation.

While the novel approach taken in this book may render it difficult for some readers, the generosity of the authors in illustrating their thoughts and discoveries to a large extent solve this problem and make the learning journey a joyful experience. Integral Research and Innovation is a must-to-read book for social scientists, students and practitioners who want to “become innovators in the social and economic arena to transform enterprise and society”.

Publishing from Your PhD is quite different from the preceding two titles, although it shares with In Search of Research Excellence the aim of helping scholars become published authors. In Publishing from Your PhD Nicola Johnson offers a detailed, self-reflective journal from when she was a new PhD graduate and an academic at University of Wollongong. She shares her developing academic writing experiences during the many ups and downs she has gone through, and the many tips she has learned throughout this journey. Johnson also provides PhD students and new graduates with practical advice on the nuances and intricacies of publishing PhD findings and performing fruitfully as an academic in what she describes as the “crowded jungle” of academia.

The book consists of three main parts. In the first part the author discusses previous “how-to” books on a range of academic writing; these are actually the works that have influenced her own PhD writings. She presents useful reviews of these books and provides readers with a list of her choice of books on writing in academia. Building on this, she develops three detailed checklists that assist authors in evaluating whether their articles are ready for journal submission.

In the second part (Chapters 2-9) Johnson reflects on her personal PhD writing experience and shares her own strategies for dealing with reviewers’ comments and rejections and ultimately achieving publication. Through her honest, reflective discussion Johnson provides the reader with the unwritten rules for successfully playing the game of academic publishing – in her words, to “shed light on the intricacies, fallacies and perceived nepotism and gatekeeping of academia”.

In Part 3 (Chapter 10) Johnson reports her interviews with six academics from the University of Wollongong. This chapter showcases others experiences in navigating the jungle of academic publishing, and suggests how readers might succeed in their own journeys.

The author’s navigation of other books on academic writing, her honest and reflective journal of her publishing experience, and the showcase of others’ experiences provide PhDs with insightful guidance on surviving the complex process of academic publishing. Some will find the chatty, workshop-sounding presentation somewhat unusual, but for the primary audience it is both engaging and informative.

Maryam NazariFaculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, University of Malaya,Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia