What is the scientific method in organizational behavior? - Appendix 1

What is the scientific method? 

In OB, researchers apply critical thinking in a very systematic method to find ways to improve organizations. The scientific is an ongoing process and these are phases that are part of the process:

• Make observations 
• Think of interesting questions
• Formulate hypotheses
• Develop testable predictions 
• Gather data to test predictions 
• Refine, alter, expand, or reject hypothese 
• Develop general theories

What are the different types of research?

• Qualitative and quantitative research: Qualitative research involves interviewing people in organizations and gathering detailed information transcriptions of the interviews. Quantitative research involves collecting data through organizational surveys containing measures of OB concepts. 
• Experimental and quasi-experimental studies: Experimental studies are the best way to determine what causes behavior in organizations. There is a control and experimental group, whereby the control group is not the focus of the study. The groups are randomly assigned. Experimental studies can draw conclusions about causality and can maximize study control in laboratory. But, it may nog accurately reflect organizational context. With quasi-experimental studies, the group is not randomly assigned. Here, it is more difficult to justify causality than in true (laboratory) experiments. 
• Correlational field study: Data is gathered through surveys and then the data is analyzed using statistical methods. However, there is less control than experiment and it is difficult to rule out alternative explanations for findings. 
• Case study: It is a description of a situation in an organization. It provides in-depth understanding of real organizational problems, but it is difficult to generalize findings to other organizations. 
• Action research: Action research is the process of problem specification followed by interventions until the researcher understands how the intervention is affecting the organization. This requires a lot of commitment from the organization being studied, so it is generally not accepted by the research community. 
• Mixed methods research: Some researches choose to combine qualitative and quantitative methods. Therefore, you can take advantage of the strengths of qualitative and quantitative research. A downside of this that it is time-consuming. 
• Meta-analysis: It is a quantitative approach to a literature review on a topic. Researches gather numerous studies and therefore they can draw generalizable conclusions. But, there may be a bias because most studies published show significance. Therefore, unpublished research must be find.