Discusses the processes involved in a field study of technological change in radiology and how researchers can design a qualitative study and then collect data in a systematic and explicit manner. Illustrates the social and human problems of gaining entry into a research site, constructing a research role, and managing relationships. (63…

Discusses problems in carrying out time-series research in organizational settings that include issues of site selection; choices about data collection and degrees of involvement; the importance of clarifying research outputs, audience, and presentation; handling problems of complexity and simplicity; ethical issues; and managing a community or…

Describes a case study methodology that combines a three-year longitudinal study with nine retrospective studies about the same phenomenon. Explains how specific strengths in each method compensate for some particular weakness in the other. Suggests circumstances for which dual methodology is especially appropriate. (35 references) (MLF)

Focuses on the international industry of merchant shipping to explore strategies used to promote organizational change over the past 20 years. This case study emphasizes the advantages of melding knowledge and action in participatory action. Points out the importance of the design and management of industry-level forums in assuring the success.…

Patterns of problem-solving activity in one middle-class urban high school are examined and a problem solving model rooted in a conceptual framework of contingency theory is presented. Contingency theory stresses that as political, economic, and social conditions in an organization's environment become problematic, the internal structures of the…

The emergence of interest in the quantitative, structural, and administrative aspects of higher education as a field of study is chronicled, and comparisons are made in the ways the institutional research field developed in the United States and Western Europe. (MSE)

While most comparative higher education research focuses on the transition from elite to mass education, two other aspects deserve study: substantive academic growth, with roots in the research imperative and the dynamics of disciplines; and innovative university organization, a concern among practitioners as universities seek greater capacity for…