Bartjan Pennink

The distinction between affect and cognition

The distinction between affect and cognition was studied in a sample of early breast cancer patients. As assumed by Mckennell (1978) the change experienced led to a level of affect that was lower than the level of cognition and an increased discrepancy between these two components of quality of life within the first year after surgery. Cognition was stable over time, whereas affect improved (p<0.05). The relation between concommitants of disease and treatment and the types of affect-cognition combination were explored.

Modelling a technology push by using hybrid franchising

Introducing a technology push to stimulate entrepreneurship in remote areas in developing countries can be examined in the context of a franchising model (social or commercial franchising). The results of this study (fieldwork in Kalimantan, Indonesia) point to a high feasibility of introducing a technology push by a franchising model. The results indicate that the smallholder rubber farmers (community level) and the head of villages, head of district and the government departments (low, middle and high institutional level) support a technology push and are willing to participate. Furthermore almost all stakeholders prefer a franchising model to introduce a technology push with social franchising elements. Additionally, empirical evidence confirmed the main theoretical argument of this research: a technology push carried out by a franchising model can stimulate (social) entrepreneurship in remote villages. This study thus concluded that in order to stimulate (social) entrepreneurship in local communities and with that local economic development, a hybrid franchising (a combination of both commercial and social franchising) model should be used to carry a technology push.

The Essence of Methodology

This chapter explores the notion of ‘research methodology’. The essence of methodology is structuring one’s actions according to the nature of the question at hand and the desired answer one wishes to generate. Exploration is illustrated by means of a ‘Box of Bricks’ elaborated for closed and open questions. This exploration is structured with the help of the ‘Research Pyramid’ which consists of four levels: research paradigms, research methodology, research method(s) and research techniques. This Pyramid provides the structure for a concise introduction to ‘quantitative’ and ‘qualitative’ research. The chapter concludes with some remarks on research design. Like the introduction, this chapter should be regarded as a mandatory chapter for anyone engaged in setting up a research project.

Elaborating Your Own Research Design

This last chapter summarises the preceding seven chapters by providing questions and checklists that can be used to prepare and conduct (individual) research. Therefore, it does not add any new knowledge or insights that have not been discussed in the previous chapters. Anyone who has limited time available to study the content of this book is advised to read the first and second chapter and depending on the nature of the research either the fourth or fifth chapter. Then, take a quick look at the sixth chapter and this last one. The chapters and interludes in-between mainly serve to consolidate the different perspectives that are being discussed. Chapter seven can be read as a kind of ‘bonus’ and contains a theoretical examination of the relationship between action and methodology within an organisational context.

Coordinating technology introduction and entrepreneurial activities in rural areas

The main purpose of this research is to investigate how technology introduction projects in rural areas should be coordinated in order to achieve local economic development and the role of social capital and entrepreneurial activities. Characteristics of three approaches were considered including topdown conventional coordination, communities of practice (CoP) and social entrepreneurship. Previous literature suggests the last two methods can lead to increased bridging social capital, which generates a relationship between social and commercial entrepreneurship. By qualitatively researching two successful case studies in Indonesia, it was found that for a top-down approach using CoP elements, bridging social capital was developed leading to both profit and nonprofit entrepreneurial activities. However, the reverse was also found, even though it was less obvious. For a top down approach with a local leader functioning as a social entrepreneur, bridging social capital was also developed leading to both profit and non-profit entrepreneurial activities.

Renewable energy in Indonesia: Integrating Human Capital and Money Flows

In developing countries, renewable energy plays an important role. Applying the available natural resources in conjunction with a technology push may help to solve energy sourcing issues and to develop remote areas in such countries. Whereas many large-scale projects have been taking place, small-scale projects that bring a technology push are rare to find. This study investigates the possibilities of implementing renewable energy sources in the form of Mobile Biodiesel. We construct a conceptual model in which local economic development is infused with money flows and group entrepreneurship aspects in order to realise the implementation of this energy source. Our field research was conducted in remote villages in the Pulang Pisau area in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. The results indicate a large shortage of technical, managerial, and financial knowledge and skills in the remote villages, resulting in a lack of human capital. Furthermore, the occurrence of frequent electricity blackouts with long durations disturbs the local communities in their daily activities. To address these problems, this study argues for the integration of community empowerment, social capital, social franchising and especially group entrepreneurship in combination with a transparent financial system on the flow of money while introducing a new technology. Although our model is based on empirical results in a remote Indonesian area and on the Mobile Biodiesel technology, the model is also applicable in developing areas throughout and it can be integrated with other renewable energy technologies.

Assessing Your Research

Thorough research needs to meet certain criteria. We define what these criteria are, what they relate to and what role they play in the different phases of a research. The ensemble of these criteria is outlined in this chapter. After clarifying the nature of these criteria and requirements, a further distinction will be made between qualitative and quantitative research. Finally, the question will be answered as to who uses which criteria when and what this means to the researcher and his project.

Looking at Research

This chapter outlines the structure and topics covered in this book. The central aim is to teach students how to design and conduct proper (applied) research. Research starts by identifying the research question. The questions addressed here, are linked to the ‘reality’ of organisations. This reality is problematic for two reasons – firstly, owing to the nature of organisations itself and secondly, the problems that arise as a result of the processes of organising. Problems in this area need to be broken down into a problem definition leading to a research goal and question. We assume that if you have a clear understanding of the problem, you implicitly also have the solution. Problems in organisations are by definition linked to various stakeholders. Two of them – the client and the researcher – often jointly work out what the problem is. The researcher often has to navigate between the requirements made by the organisation and those representing the community of science – the third important stakeholder. Dealing with the various requirements of these stakeholders creates tension for the researcher and he needs to reflect carefully before taking any action. Subsequently, handling the framed problem properly requires methodology. That is what this book is all about.

Acting and Organising

In the preceding chapters a description was provided of how to proceed in designing and conducting applied research in an organisation. By means of the fundamental distinction ‘observing through the eyes of the researcher’ or ‘observing through the eyes of someone else’ two principally different research paradigms have been set out. These paradigms comprise a huge diversity of research methodologies and methods, as well as techniques, as has been demonstrated. However, the question as to ‘what is methodology’ has only been answered in part. To make up for this deliberate omission so far this chapter contains a theoretical exploration of the notion ‘methodology’. Therefore, we will introduce two additional ‘families’ of methodology namely design- and intervention methodology. Together with the described approaches to research methodology this will offer a more elaborate view. Furthermore, this view will be connected with the notion of ‘acting’ on the one hand and ‘organising’ on the other.