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Methodological Challenges to Management Research

Tips on Proposal Writing

- Demonstrate how the research will contribute to and close gaps in the body of knowledge.

- Provide strong theory that makes evident that the project is reasonable.

- Review and discuss relevant literature. (The review committee may not have the information or background that you do in the particular area.

- Select the strongest methodological design possible and persuade the group that it is the best approach to studying the issue.

- Specify all of the methodology in advance (not one that may depend on circumstances). Provide contingency plans for unique characteristics that may come up during the study.

- Describe the relevancy to and possible impact on VA.

- Demonstrate your credibility as well as your grounding in science. Junior investigators need to be linked with senior researchers with a track record of experience and publications. Provide evidence of sufficient support and resources backing your study.

External Review Considerations

The previously mentioned challenges confronting management research have important implications for efforts to obtain funding to conduct management research in the VA or elsewhere. In general, study sections or other peer review panels responsible for funding decisions are very focused on factors that threaten a proposed study's internal validity. As such, study sections are likely to have a decided preference for experimental designs since, as noted, these are the gold standard. The proposed use of non-experimental designs, while certainly legitimate and common in social science research, will inevitably lead to heightened concerns among reviewers about the internal validity of the proposed study.

Similarly, proposed management research entailing complex variables and primary data collection will also heighten concerns among study section members no matter how favorable their orientation to management research. The proposed study of complex variables such as culture and coordination raises concerns about possible poor reliability and validity of measures.

Primary data collection raises concerns about the possibility of low response rates to surveys. In addition, because management research is conducted in organizational settings, some logistical issues in conducting a study cannot be fully appreciated and addressed until the study is actually underway. However, this also presents an element of uncertainty when the inclination of study section members is to have all research procedures specified completely in advance as part of the protocol.

To counter these concerns, study designs for management research should include:

  • Strong conceptual or theoretical frameworks for the questions being studied; and
  • A well-specified methodology that anticipates threats to validity and problems in data collection, and details how they will be addressed.

* The official guide to research proposals in the VA system can be found at http://www.research.va.gov/funding/

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