Methodological Issues in Labour Economics: Procedures for Procedural Rationality?

An analysis of leading industrial relations journals suggests that there have been substantial changes in IR research, particularly a shift from inductive, qualitative and policy-oriented research to deductive, quantitative and discipline-oriented research. This is seen to reflect a change in the pressures under which IR research is conducted and the increased availability of computer technology and extensive IR data sets. Important differences remain in research methodology among countries, with US-based journals being the most quantitative and deductive. Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd/London School of Economics 2000.

Section: Multi-methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methods Matter: Changes in Industrial Relations Research and their Implications

Whitfield

Strauss

2000

“…At a more fundamental level, crowding out is seen to express a paradigm shift within the field, away from an empirically grounded, inductive methodology aimed at developing middle-range theory and towards a deductive methodology, which emphasizes the development of general theories derived from logical reasoning which are subsequently tested against available empirical data (Kelly 1994;Zappala 1993). This concern echoes that of Kaufman (1993), who identifies an emphasis on science building involving deductive reasoning as a prime cause of the hollowing out of the field in the United States.…”

Section: What Are the Reservations Over The Survey Method?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ironically, labour economics was traditionally regarded as being 'exceptional' in economic science in that the methodological individualism and deductive reasoning of the mathematical models developed elsewhere in the discipline were not seen to be appropriate to the analysis of labour markets, characterized as they were by collective actors and institutions (Baumol 1991). But, as Zappala (1993) notes, over the past thirty years the methodology of neoclassical economics, based on deductive reasoning, the a priori assumption of perfectly competitive markets, individualism and rational, maximizing behaviour, has come to dominate labour economics. At the same time, however, labour economists have remained sensitive to the institutional realities of the labour market.…”

Section: What Are the Reservations Over The Survey Method?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This distinctive industrial relations survey tradition is in contrast with that of modern labour economics (Zappala 1993), where use of the survey is motivated by the testing of logically derived mathematical models of economic behaviour in the labour market against the real world of work. The emphasis is on the secondary analysis of extant (industrial relations) survey data, the relative distance of the researcher from the object of research, the use of econometric methods and a deductive approach to theorizing, aimed at refining a general theory.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Survey Tradition in British Industrial Relations Research: an Assessment of the Contribution of Large‐Scale Workplace and Enterprise Surveys

Marginson

1998

The paper assesses the contribution to industrial relations research of the large-scale workplace and enterprise-based surveys of industrial relations in Britain, paying particular attention to the Workplace Industrial Relations Survey (WIRS) series. It takes issue with recent criticism of survey-based analysis in the field, arguing that industrial relations researchers have developed a distinctive and valuable survey tradition. The use of surveys inindustrial relations contrasts markedly with that in labour economics, stemming from differing methodological preferences in the two fields. Some limitations of the WIRS series to date are reviewed, before considering future directions that survey research might take in order to capture the changing canvass of industrial relations in Britain.

“…Finally, how should research on unions be conducted? Contemporary economics tends to treat unions as intrinsically identical entities and to study them along deductivist and econometric lines; industrial relations tends to view them as entities intrinsically differentiated by organizational, social and political factors, and to investigate them along inductivist and casestudy lines (Stewart 1990;Undy et al 1981;Zappala 1993). This paper draws on both disciplinary traditions, combining the quantifying and statistical tendencies found in economics with the interest in inter-union differences, political factors and unquantifiable influences found in industrial relations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trade Union Policies towards the Youth Training Scheme: Patterns and Causes

Ryan

1995

The Youth Training Scheme presented British unions with a mix of opportunities and threats. Patterns of interest in and policy towards YTS among the 42 largest unions are studied for 1983–8. Most unions showed interest in YTS but they divided sharply on whether or not to oppose it. Statistical analysis indicates a role for both economic and political factors in determining differences between unions in interest and policy. Opposition proved most intense and widespread among unions that represented the lower‐grade occupations in the public sector. Such unions were heavily affected by trainee‐employee substitution and in addition were relatively well placed to enforce its exclusion. Left‐wing political orientation was also associated with opposition to YTS, but at the level of principle rather than action.