Experimental research and Nvivo

Reports on Luisa Pinto's Erasmus visit to Middlesex University with seminars on experimental research and Nvivo

Early in March 2020 we had the honour of hosting CYGNA member Luísa Pinto on an Erasmus visit. Luísa gave two very interesting seminars that displayed the breadth of her methodological expertise: experimental research (slides here) and Nvivo (slides here).

Setbacks and learnings from doing experimental research

Over the past few years, the use of experimental research has received increasing attention from Management academics and journal editors. However, while experimental research is popular among Social Psychologists, it is still rare in the field of management. The objective of this seminar (slides here) is not to explain how to design experimental research, but instead, present my own experience of using experimental designs to answer a few common questions in the business & management field, such as:

  • (1) Does academic performance (GPA) and the participation in extracurricular activities (ECAs) affect the perceived employability of business graduates?
  • (2) Does the effect of GPA and ECAs vary with the characteristics of the respondents and the cultural context?
  • (3) Does a facultative internship affect the perceived employability of marketing graduates? What about the effect of an international versus a domestic facultative internship?
  • (4) Does the use of a facial piercing influence the perceptions of interpersonal attraction, confidence and job suitability of hospitality receptionists?

Starting from my first published paper (Pinto & Ramalheira, 2017) employing an experimental design, I then illustrate how this method was applied more broadly to examine the perceived employability of business graduates in other cultural contexts (e.g. China, Brazil, Italy) and to advance research in other fields, such as hospitality management, higher education and leadership. The seminar ends with a discussion of the challenges and learnings from employing (quasi) experimental designs.

Qualitative Research & Data Analysis with(out) NVivo

This session (slides here) introduces participants to the challenges and opportunities of Qualitative Research, with or without the use of NVivo. Participants are expected to understand the link between their research strategy/aims and the use of Qualitative Frameworks so they can best decide which data analysis approach (and tools) best fit their needs.

During the session, questions were raised on the advantages and disadvantages of using NVivo to support content data analysis. All participants were invited to follow-up on their research projects: questions and doubts are welcomed (even after the seminar).

Research collaborations

Luísa and I have known each other for about 15 years, but we have never had a chance to talk much. Hence her visit provided us with the wonderful opportunity to spend a whole day together to talk about research projects, Portugal, the UK, academia, and life in general :-). Luísa also managed to meet up and carve out ideas for possible research projects and/or return visits with three of my Middlesex colleagues: Anne Daguerre from the Department of Management, Leadership and Organization, Athina Dilmperi from the Department of Marketing, Branding, and Tourism and Jekaterina Kartasova from the Department of Accounting and Finance. I dare you to find a more productive Erasmus visit!

Luísa Pinto's bio

Assistant Professor at the School of Economics, University of Porto (Portugal). Visiting professor, teaching undergraduate, master and PhD short courses for Middlesex University Business School (2020); Faculty of Economics of University of Ljubljana (2017); INSEEC Business School (2017), ICN Business School (2016) and IESEG School of Management (2015). Consultant to several institutions in the field of International Human Resource Management. Developed her professional activity as a Human Resource Manager, particularly in the international context, at Sonae Indústria and Sonae SGPS (a Portuguese conglomerate).

Presently, she is affiliate of the American Academy of Management (AOM) and the European Academy of Management (EURAM). She has co-authored several publications in peer-reviewed journals, such as the Journal of Vocational Behavior, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, The International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Higher Education, Personnel Review and the book Managing International Assignments (2009). Since 2013, she is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Global Mobility (JGM) published by Emerald, and ad hoc reviewer for several academic publications. Her research interests include expatriation studies and doing experimental research in management.

Related blogposts

Further resources

Journal of International Business Studies articles on methodological issues [From the AIB SIG Research Methods website: https://rmsig.aib.world/resources-2/jibs-methods-editorials/]

Other Middlesex seminars

conferences research focus announcements middlesex networking presentations cygna research methods