Social Science Research

Barbara Czarniawska was 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 was 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 took 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 was interested in methodology, especially in techniques of fieldwork and in the application of narratology to organization studies.

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.

• What, why, and how?Reviewing literatureDesigning the studyInterviewingObservation on the move: ShadowingFollowing objects and quasi-objectsTools for fieldworkSurviving in the field: Practicalities and personalitiesExcursions into the cyberspaceAnalysing field materialText analysesWriting it upGood academic writing: Beauty & credibilityWhen to stop, and what to do next