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| Author: | Numagami, T. |
| Title: | The infeasibility of invariant laws in management studies: A reflective dialogue in defense of case studies |
| Journal: | Organization Science
1998 : JAN-FEB, VOL. 9:1, p. 2-15 |
| Index terms: | MANAGEMENT RESEARCH SOCIAL RESEARCH CASE STUDIES CASE LAW |
| Freeterms: | NOMOTHETIC APPROACH REFLECTIVE DIALOGUE |
| Language: | eng |
| Abstract: | The paper questions the possibility of establishing invariant laws for social pehnomena and presents an argument for the case study method. Various concepts and techniques have been developed to make the case study method rigorous enough to meet the stringent criteria of nomothetical social science but it often fails to meet two them: reliability and replicability, and external validity. Those can be met only when social researchers find an invariant law. The study examines whether the two criteria are really necessary and attempts to clarify the conditions under which an invariant law can be discovered. The study suggests that serious consideration must be given to whether the objective of management studies should be changed from a search for invariant laws of practical use to the encouragement of reflective dialogue in society. |
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