Field Guide to Researching Employment and Industrial Relations

Edited by Jane Parker, Professor of Employment Relations and Human Resource Management, Department of Management, Massey Business School, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand; and Senior Researcher, European Trade Union Institute, Brussels, Belgium, Noelle Donnelly, Associate Professor of Human Resources and Employment Relations, School of Management, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, Susan Ressia, Associate Professor, Department of Management, Griffith Business School, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland and Mihajla Gavin, Senior Lecturer, Management Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia

‘While employment/industrial relations has a rich tradition of empirical research, there are surprisingly few books which focus upon the range of methods used by researchers in the field. This collection is therefore a welcome addition, providing examples of the array of methodological options available, as well as reflections on different approaches from leading international experts.’

• ContentsIntroduction to Researching Employment and Industrial Relations 1PART I THE EVOLUTION OF EMPLOYMENT/INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS RESEARCH METHODS1 The Evolution of Industrial Relations Research Methods:A Review of Key Union Effects Studies from the late 20thto early 21st Century 14Kwon Hee Han, J. Ryan Lamare and Tingting ZhangPART II THE CHANGING FORTUNES OFQUALITATIVE METHODS INEMPLOYMENT/INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS RESEARCH2 Archival Methods 30Chris Forde3 From guinea pigs to agents: the potential of participatoryaction research in union revitalisation and workerparticipation studies 45Pedro Chaves and Sara LafuentePART III TOWARDS MULTI- AND MIXED METHODSIN EMPLOYMENT/INDUSTRIAL RELATIONSRESEARCH4 Using multi- and mixed methods research designs 69Mark N.M.K. Saunders and Fariba Darabi5 Researching unpaid labour within paid employment:a mixed method exploratory sequential approach 86Hyojin Seo, Valeria Pulignano, Bart Meuleman andMarkieta DomeckaPART IV EMPLOYMENT/INDUSTRIAL RELATIONSMETHODS ENCOURAGING A FOCUS ONCERTAIN THEMES AND TOPICS6 Oral history interviewing in employment/industrialrelations research 105Mihajla Gavin7 Autoethnography as a research method 120Clement Sefa-Nyarko, Jane Alver, Kristy Ward andPrimatia Romana WulandariPART V INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ANDTRANSNATIONAL ADVANCEMENTS INEMPLOYMENT/INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS RESEARCH8 Computational annotation and database developments forEuropean works Councils and law 139Rūta Liepiņa, Marcus Meyer-Erdmann, Pedro HernàndezSerrano and Walter Simoncini9 The advantages and disadvantages of important datasets inthe field of Comparative employment relations 159Bernd Brandl10 Researching trade union movements through the lens ofsocial movements and shades of activism: fault lines,industrial guerrilla and spontaneous disruption from below 173Stéphane Le Queux, Anne Ngoc Cox and Ivan SainsaulieuPART VI CO-DESIGN AND TRANSDISCIPLINARY INEMPLOYMENT/INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS RESEARCH11 Feminist approaches to research co-design: evaluatinggender equality initiatives 190Helen Taylor and Sue Williamson12 Transdisciplinary research on equity in the workplace 208Janet Sayers and Jane Parker