Publisher's Synopsis
The use of longitudinal field research methods is fundamental to understanding the dynamics of organizational life and to developing and testing theories of organizational adaptation, change, innovation and redesign. This book focuses on both the design and conduct of longitudinal research in the field and on the methods used to analyze and interpret process patterns in longitudinal data. The contributors discuss a wide range of methodological issues including: ethnographic methods; longitudinal and comparative case studies; event history analysis; and real-time tracking of events. They also address various procedures that can be used to tabulate, code and interpret both quantitative and qualitative data collected in the field.