Design Research and Strategy
My column in University Affairs has finally been published. In it, I argue that social scientists have both practical and moral reasons to seek out work in the business world:
Social scientists can improve business outcomes by doing what they’ve been trained to do: examine the social practices around the product or service. We are studying [...]
Categories: Blog · Popular · home · management · organizations · sociology
Copernicus Consulting is pleased to announce that its founder and Principle, Dr. Sam Ladner, will be conducting research with Dr. Catherine Middleton at Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School of Management. Dr. Ladner will lead the research on the social effects of mobile phones and work/life balance.
“I’m thrilled be working with Catherine on this project,” Dr. [...]
Categories: Popular · Research Methods · ethnography · mobile · qualitative research · sociology
Social media today can take some wisdom from past research into social networks. Mark Granovetter’s famous sociological study of how people hear about job opportunities found that “weak ties” to friends and acquaintances are actually more beneficial than “strong ties” to family and close friends. Social media marketers need to consider who has weak ties [...]
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Yesterday, I attended Roger Martin’s presentation of his new book, The Design of Business, hosted at the Ontario College of Art and Design. Roger gave a brief overview of his book and then engaged in a dialogue with the host, Michael Dila, and members of the audience.
Roger explained that some organizations are better able to [...]
Categories: Blog · Popular · anthropology · culture · design · home · innovation · sociology
Roger Martin has a great post on Harvard Business Review that summarizes how ethnographic research differs from quantitative surveys.
Martin writes:
Qualitative, and especially observational or ethnographic, research enables us to delve much more deeply into the relationship between our firm and its product/service and the customer. Because we aren’t obsessed about adding all the responses together [...]
Categories: Blog · Popular · ethnography · home · market research · qualitative research · quantitative research · surveys · time