Researching the World of Work - by George Strauss & Keith Whitfield

About the Book

This book, the first on industrial relations research methods, comes at a time when the field of industrial relations is in flux and research strategy has become more complex and varied. Research that once focused on the relationship between labor and...

Book Synopsis

This book, the first on industrial relations research methods, comes at a time when the field of industrial relations is in flux and research strategy has become more complex and varied. Research that once focused on the relationship between labor and management now involves a wider range of issues. This change has raised a number of key questions about how research should be done.The contributors represent four countries and a range of fields, including economics, sociology, psychology, law, history, and industrial relations. They identify distinctive research strategies and suggest approaches that might be appropriate in the future. Among their concerns are the relative value of qualitative and quantitative methods, of using primary and secondary data, and of single versus multimethod techniques.

Review Quotes

An intriguing look at the once prosperous but now uncertain field of industrial relations.... The volume is of value to IR practitioners... and would work well in any number of undergraduate and graduate-level courses.

Authored by 22 academically well qualified writers, this book presents material that is clear and cogent.... A useful overview and summary of methods and techniques for conducting industrial relations research.

The book provides a useful resource for budding and experienced researchers. Researching the World of Work provides reassurance that industrial relations as a research discipline in neither stagnant not in decline.

This book does considerably more than discuss research methods. It provides a very good snapshot of the field of IR as it is today, and in that sense constitutes a useful introduction to newcomers to the field, and a reminder for those who have been in the field for a long time that IR has evolved in different directions methodologically.... I think it should be required reading for IR students, both undergraduate and graduate.

This is a good book that should be a standard reference for all serious students of employment relations.... The issues are consistently addressed in a sensible and accessible manner. At times, the contributions go beyond the competent to the novel.... Given the neglect in our field over methodological questions, the collection deserves wide attention and it can only be hoped that it stimulates further debate.

About the Author

Keith Whitfield, Senior Research Fellow at Cardiff Business School, University of Wales, is the author, most recently, of The Market for Training. George Strauss, Emeritus Professor at the School of Business Administration at the University of California, Berkeley, and Director Emeritus of its Institute of Industrial Relations, is former president of the Industrial Relations Research Association.