Social Science Research

Barbara Czarniawska is Professor of Management Studies at GRI, School of Business, Economics and Law at University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Doctor honoris causa at Stockholm School of Economics, Copenhagen Business School and Helsinki School of Economics, she is a member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Royal Engineering Academy, the Royal Society of Art and Sciences in Gothenburg and Societas Scientiarum Finnica. Czarniawska takes a feminist and constructionist perspective on organizing, recently exploring the connections between popular culture and practice of management, and the organization of the news production. She is interested in methodology, especially in techniques of fieldwork and in the application of narratology to organization studies.

What, why, and how? Reviewing literature Designing the study Interviewing Observation on the move: Shadowing Following objects and quasi-objects Tools for fieldwork Surviving in the field: Practicalities and personalities Excursions into the cyberspace Analysing field material Text analyses Writing it up Good academic writing: Beauty & credibility When to stop, and what to do next

Written with much wry humor, the book-which is filled with practical advice, from how to treat sources, to why correct referencing is important-will be as enjoyable for an experienced researcher as it is for a neophyte. Read this book. Recommend it to your students, your colleagues, and your professors. Hats off to Barbara Czarniawska. -- Dvora Yanow Social Science Research from Field to Desk is a goldmine of deep yet practical insights into the craft of doing high-quality field research. The book covers all relevant aspects of the research process, from study design over observation and interviewing to good academic writing. Barbara Czarniawska is a particularly trustworthy guide, because she so clearly practices what she preaches, drawing on decades of highly successful social-science field studies of her own. This is a must-read for new and seasoned field researchers alike. -- Bent Flyvbjerg Barbara Czarniawski provides us in this work with a timely and comprehensive look at a wide variety of qualitative methods currently in play across the social sciences. This is no dull and dry normative tome flattening out the field but a lively, reflexive account of a variety of methodological approaches, some tried and true, some quirky and innovative. All are wonderfully illustrated by exemplary work, much of it drawn from Professor Czarniawski's prolific and influential writings. A thoughtful and creative methodological mapping of equal value to the novice and the veteran researcher both in and out of academic communities and a must read for those interested in what is going on at the edges of disciplinary and cross-disciplinary work in social science. -- John Van Maanen Drawing on her vast experience of ethnographic research, Barbara Czarniawska offers a brilliant guide to the beginning researcher -- David Silverman The book shares a lot of her author's personal experience striving to illustrate the expressed ideas and concepts... it presents multi-cultural experience in conducting field studies and writing up academic publications. It will be useful for students, scholars and readers interested in social sciences, humanities, economics, literature, etc. -- Stanislava Stoyanova