Presentation
On
Critical Issues in Human Resource Development
By
Dr. Jamnean Joungtrakul President and CEO, BLCI GROUP and Senior Industry Fellow, Graduate School of Business, Curtin University of Technology, Australia 3300/71, 11th Floor, Tower B,Elephant Tower Paholyothin Road, Chompol, Chatuchack, BKK 10900 Tel 02-937-3773 Fax 02-937-3770 Email: jamnean@blcigroup.com Website: www.blcigroup.com
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Food for Thought-1
The major objective of doctoral education is to produce professional researchers PhD degree is a research degree and all efforts in studying must concentrate in research Coursework is a process for students preparation for research work and counted for only about 20% of the total course
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Food for Thought-1 (cont)
The final product of a PhD studying is dissertation or doctoral thesis
Whether you will complete your doctoral degree or not depends largely on the quality of your thesis So start work on your thesis now. In fact, by now you should have chosen your research topic and done some literature review or even have your draft of your candidacy already
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Food for Thought-2
...the holder of a doctorate is someone who is recognized as an authority by the appropriate faculty. In modern terms it is useful to think of this as becoming a fully professional researcher in your field. Let us try to spell out what becoming a full professional means: First, at the most basic level it means that you have something to say that your peers want to listen to. Second, in order to do this you must have a command of what is happening in your subject so that you can evaluate the worth of what others are doing. Third, you must have the astuteness to discover where you can make a useful contribution.
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Food for Thought-2 (cont)
Fourth, you must have mastery of appropriate techniques that are currently being used, and also beware of their limitations. Fifth, you must be able to communicate your results effectively in the professional arena. Sixth, all this must be carried out in an international context; your professional peer group is worldwide. (It always was, of course, but the rate of diffusion is infinitely faster than it used to be.) You must be aware of what is being discovered, argued about, written and published by your academic community across the world.
Phillips and Pugh, 1994, p. 19
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Presentation Plan
Part 1: Current Issues in HRD
Part 2: Discussion of Selected Critical Issues Part 3: Discussion Part 4: Q&A
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Part 1: Current Issues in HRD
HRD Theory HRD Theory Application HRD and Competitive Advantage HRD Scope and Status HRD Process and Evaluation HRD and Human Capital Development HRD and Culture HRD and Ethics HRD and Research
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Part 2: Discussion of Selected Critical Issues
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Issue 1: HRD Theories
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Most HRD theories in used are Western theories
Western theories are created and developed to resolve Western problems They are created and developed in response to the needs of the Western society They are created and developed under the frame of references of the Western culture Western culture is different from our culture How we can assure that those theories are applicable to our country?
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Western theories are not universal
It is naive to expect those theories to apply automatically in significantly different cultures. For example, American-made management theories that reflect Americans‟ preoccupation with individualism are out of place in countries such as Mexico, Brazil, and Japan, where individualism is discouraged
Kreitner 1998, pp. 114-115.
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Western theories are not one size fits all
Management cannot implement management [industrial relations] theories wholesale from abroad. Effective leaders cannot choose their styles at will; what is feasible depends to a large extent on the cultural conditioning of the leader‟s subordinates. Culturally „unfitted‟ management theories are of limited use and might do more harm than good
Komin 1990, p. 262.
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Issue 2: HRD Theory Application
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The application of HRD theories
Almost all theories in use now are Western theories Cultural dimensions were totally left out Universal or parochial approach is usually used in most organization The one size fits all concepts are applicable in most organization
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The nature of HRD theories application
Revolution rather than evolution: destroying old things and replacing with new things Incomplete cycle of change management: structure-process-behaviour; mostly concentrating on structural issues Not taking into account the cultural dimensions: not preparing people for change resulting in unsuccessful changes
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The complete change management cycle
Structure
Process
Behaviour
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The Three Tree Model-1
Western 2472 Years
Gap between the Two philosophies Thai 822 Years 2472 Years 822 Years
Western Tree
Thai Tree
The New Thai Tree
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The Three Tree Model-2
A
B
C
A = Western System B = Integrated System C = Thai System
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The Three Tree Model-3
A
B
C
A = Western System B = Integrated System C = Thai System
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The Three Tree Model-4
I&D
C&D
R&D
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Issue 3: HRD and Competitive Advantage
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Competitive advantage
To be competitive in the globalization situation we must have our own competitive edge Adam Smith seminal word of “the wealth of a nation is in its people” is still true today To be competitive we must have competitive people and other management factors are now controllable i.e. material; money; machine; marketing and management We must have our own strength and identity and our own theories and knowledge that can be used as our competitive edge
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Sun Tsu‟s strategy
“Know your enemy, know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles with no danger of defeat. When you are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning and losing are equal. If you don‟t know both your enemy and yourself, you are bound to perish in all battles…know the terrain, know the weather, and your victory will be complete.” (Chen, 1995, p. 42)
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The principles of Sun Tsu‟s strategy
The major principles of strategies; The importance of moral influences; The quality a good general should and should not possess; The role of climate and terrain in determining the situation of the battle; The strategy of enlarging one‟s comparative strengths; The importance of organization and training; The proper usage of discipline which combines severity and benevolence
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The principles of Sun Tsu‟s strategy (cont)
“With careful and detailed planning, one can win, with careless and less detailed planning, one cannot win. How much less chance of victory has one who does not plan at all! From the way planning is done beforehand, one can predict victory or defeat.” (Chen, 1995)
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Application of Sun Tzu‟s theory
At least
We have to choose the battle field We must have our own strategies We must have our own weapons We must have high capable generals We must have well trained armed forces
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Let‟s take a look at our Thai situation
We cannot choose the battle field We use the Western strategies to fight with the Western competitor We use the Western weapons to fight with the Western competitor Our general were trained in Western strategies mostly by the Western Armed Forces Our armed forces were trained by the trainers who were trained in Western strategies and mostly by the Western armed forces I wonder what would the result is likely to be? And what should we do?
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Issue 4: HRD Scope and Status
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The scope of HRD
Training Personnel Development Organisation Development And what else?
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The scope of HRD in practices
It is rather confused in organising HRD functions in an organisation Most HRD function comes under human resource management function The practitioners are confused of their functions i.e. most OD responsibilities are counted as HRM responsibilities Lack of knowledge and skills of practitioners in HRD are clearly evidenced and actions needed to be taken urgently
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The status of HRD practitioner in organisation
Most HRD organisation in a company is a small unit or section under HR Department The title of HRD practitioners are at the supervisory or junior management level The compensation paid to HRD practitioners is comparatively lower than other section head in the HR Department not to mention those in other departments The budget allocated to HRD section is usually limited A lack of qualified competent HRD practitioners is clearly evidenced and actions needed to be taken urgently
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HRD is a discipline or field of study
HRD
IR HRM
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HRD as a profession- Criterion for profession
A defined area of competence an organised and important body of knowledge identified with a career field competence individuals enter the profession by controlled access principles and practices supported by research involvement of working professionals in academic programmes programme of continuing education graduates who exercise independent judgement practice under HRD code of ethics journal for publication of HRD research
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Looking at HRD profession in Thailand
No
1 2
Criterion
A defined area of competence an organised and important body of knowledge
Mark
10 10
Scored
0 6
3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
identified with a career field
competence individuals enter the profession by controlled access principles and practices supported by research involvement of working professionals in academic programmes programme of continuing education graduates who exercise independent judgement practice under HRD code of ethics journal for publication of HRD research Total
10
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 100
6
0 3 3 6 2 2 3 31
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A sample of effort to make HR a well accepted profession in Thailand by PMAT
Establishment of and independent Human Resource Management Institution of Thailand Governed by board of directors comprise of senior HR practitioners both in private and public sectors and academic Annual budget allocated by PMAT base on annual plans and programmes proposed by the IPM
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The IPM Services
Research and networking with education and research institutions Thailand HR Journal and publications HR consulting services Promotion activities for strengthening HR practitioners‟ status i.e. The National Distinguished HR Practitioner Award HR practitioner accreditation
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Issue 5: HRD Process and Evaluation
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HRD process –ADDIE
A = Analysis D = Design D = Develop I = Implementation E = Evaluation
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HRD process in practices
Mostly done without need analysis Programmes are most copied from others or the Western programmes Materials or visual aids are imported from the Western countries Doing quite well in implementation Mostly using Kirkpatrick‟s four level evaluation and very rare in cost benefit evaluation
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HRD cost benefit evaluation enhances HRD credibility
At present it is perceived that budget for HRD activities is considered as an expenses rather than an investment in people To change this mind-set we have to show that HRD contributes to the high performance of the organisation In order to do this we have to show the ROI of HRD More researches are needed badly in this area
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Issue 6: HRD and Human Capital Development
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Quality of Human Capital
A lot of complains about the poor quality of our human capital It was complained that Thai people are now less creative than in the past or than the population of other countries Some complaints even stated that Thai people are now could not think or “Kitt Mai Pen” Some complaints state that Thais are too much “thinking in the box rather than thinking out of the box” It is a big challenge for HRD students, academic and practitioners
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Are we really not thinking out of the box?
No, I don‟t think so. I think that we do thinking out of the box too much The concept of thinking out of the box is the Western concept The Western needs this concept because their people are so well discipline Traditionally the have very strong laws, rules and regulations and the enforcement is very strong and stern But when globalisation comes they have to make a lot of changes to cope with the ever changing situations They have to do the deregulation and encourage people to be more creative and not to continue thinking inside the box
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Our problem is not to have Thai people thinking out of the box -Why
Thai land is the land of free people. We have our proverb “Tarm a rai dai tarm jai kue Thai taeh” We don‟t like being forced. We think that the rule is established in order that people can break We have our own way of interpret things to suit our ways. We always have the way out and bending the rule We have a lot of thinkers but most of the thinking is in the useless manner. We have a lot of “Srithanonchai” and we admire him so much
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Our real problem is to have Thai people thinking in the box-Why
We are not less creative but what we need is to create in a useful way. We need to organise our thought. We need to think systematically-system thinking Unfortunately our culture does not enhance and promote the required qualities for system thinking. We need to adjust or change our culture to suit with the present and future situation How to do this is a big challenge for HRD students, academic and practitioners. We need more researches in cultural development and changes
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Issue 7: HRD and Culture
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The concept of culture
A pattern of shared assumptions/invented discovered and shared by a given group, as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration, that has worked well enough to be valid, and, therefore, is to be taught to new members of the group as the correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problems
Schein 1992, p. 12
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The important of culture
Culture comes from within people and is put together by them to reward the capacities that they have in common. Culture gives continuity and identity to the group. It balances contrasting contributions, and operates as self-steering system which learns form feedbacks. It works as a pattern of information and can greatly facilitate the exchange of understanding. The values within a culture are more or less harmonious
Hampden-Turner 1994, p. 21
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The impact of culture
A fish discover its need for water only when it is no longer in it. Our own culture is like water to a fish. It sustains us. We live and breathe through it. What one culture may regard as essential, a certain level of material wealth for example, may not be so vital to other culture. (Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1998).
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Cultures are both desirable and undesirable
Cultures are changed form time to time and it is necessary to be changed When the culture is too strong and not supporting the new goal of the organisation such organisation will face with the problem Changing culture is changing mind-set of the people so it must be done in a proper and in a complete cycle: Structure-Process-Behaviour If the people are not changing nothing is changed and change management is incomplete Cultural change is a major agenda for Thai HRD students, academic and practitioners
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Rethinking the Thai culture
Some important cultural concepts to be reviewed include The concept of Bunkhun The concept of Kreng Jai The concept of saving face The concept of criticism avoidance
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The concept of Bunkhun
This concept is the concept of gratitude or repaying of favour with favour (Komin 1990). It is instilled in the Thai people deeply and will be quite difficult to change. For example some employers claim that to hire labour was to render „Bunkhun‟ in the form of money income to employees (Piriyarangsan 1989). There are limitations in applying this concept as it may go beyond proper practice.
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The concept of Kreng Jai
Its closest meaning is „to be considerate, to feel reluctant to impose upon another person, to take another person‟s feelings (and „ego‟) into account, or to take every measure not to cause discomfort or inconvenience for another person‟. Kreng jai refers to such attitude predisposing to one‟s resulting behavior towards someone else. Kreng jai behavior is to be observed by all, superior, equals, and inferiors, including intimate relationships like husband-wife, and close friends, with differences in degree...(Komin 1990, pp. 161-162).
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The concept of saving face
Whenever there is any problem to be solved that would directly or indirectly involve persons, the first criterion to consider is saving the „face‟- - the „ego‟ - - of the persons involved. The Thai would usually find indirect ways to soften a negative message. Most important is to avoid public confrontation, regardless of whether it involves an inferior, an equal or worse still, a superior. To make a person lose „face‟, regardless of rank, is to be avoided at all cost (Komin 1990, p. 160).
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The concept of criticism avoidance
This concept reflects that “the Thai are very „ego‟ oriented, to the extent that it is very difficult for the Thai to dissociate one‟s idea and opinion from the „ego‟ self. This is why strong criticism to the expressed idea is often automatically taken as criticism to the person holding those ideas” (Komin 1990, p. 160).
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Thai culture is also called Thai-Buddhist culture
Some Buddhist philosophy and principles to be reviewed include; The principles for helpful integration The principles of success The quality of a good or genuine person The principles of collective responsibility
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The principles for helpful integration
The Buddha‟s four principles for helpful integration or qualities that bind people in unity are also to be practiced by both parties. They are: giving; amicable speech; helpful action; and participation (Payutto 1999). Both parties “are to help through contribution of money, material things, or knowledge; to help through speech; to help through physical action; and to help through participation in facing and resolving problems”(Payutto 1999, p. 21).
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The principles of success
To achieve common goals both parties are to practice the Buddha‟s four conditions that lead to the success of any undertaking. They are: having a hearth of zeal; doing with effort; committing oneself to the task; and using wise investigation (Payutto 1999). When applying to the real work situations “these four conditions may, in short, be remembered as love of work, tenacity, dedication, and circumspection” (Payutto 1999, p. 36).
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The quality of a good or genuine person
Buddha provides seven qualities which can apply to both parties in dealing with each other, performing their duties and conducting their lives. They are: knowing principles, knowing causes; knowing objectives, knowing results; knowing oneself; knowing moderation; knowing occasion; knowing company; and knowing persons (Payutto 1999).
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The principles of collective responsibility
Meeting often and regularly; Meeting together, dispersing together, and doing together what is needed to be done together; Neither instituting laws and regulations not communally agreed upon simply out of convenience or personal preference, nor denigrating or abolishing things already instituted, upholding the main provisions established as the constitution; Honouring and respecting the elders long in experience, giving weight to their words;
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The principles of collective responsibility (cont)
Honouring and respecting the woman-folk, protecting them from abuse and ill-treatment; Honouring and revering the shrines, holy places and national monuments, which are memorials arousing virtue and centres of community spirit, not neglecting to honour the ceremonies required for those places as dictated by tradition; and Organizing rightful protection, support and sanctuary to monks and priests who maintain examples for the people, gladly receiving them and wishing for their comfort
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Issue 8: HRD and Ethics
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The concept of Ethics
Ethics is to do what is right and not to do what is wrong We are facing with ethical problems and will continue to be so for a long time We all need to find some ways to put an end to this problem Culture is one of the major barriers for Thais ethical development Ethics is a major agenda for Thai HRD students, academic and practitioners
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Some researches indicated that:
Almost 50% of the secondary school students believe that there is nothing wrong with paying tea or grease money to government officials More than 50% of them also believe that cheating is acceptable as long as you have explicit performance output
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What would happened in the future if these people complete their study and entrance to labour market
We need to rethink our HRD process to instil ethics in all phase of education We may have to follow and adapted what Harvard has done by using the same question: can ethics be taught? We need to do more research on ethics and apply at the individual, organisation and national levels Begin with oneself first would be an appropriate approach
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Issue 9: HRD and Research
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HRD research in Thailand
Most researches conducted in Thailand is quantitative in nature It is done to test a theory rather than building a theory The major objective of qualitative research is conducted to build theory The major part of times is devoted to the teaching of quantitative The qualitative research is rarely being taught in the Thai universities One of the Thai scholar in a very prestigious Thai university even claimed that “Research without figures or statistics is not research”
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Types of research
Issue Positivist or Quantitative
External-realist
Interpretive or Qualitative
Internal-idealist
Ideological
Pragmatic or Mixed-Method
Either externalrealist or internal-idealist
Objective or subjective
What counts as or constitutes knowledge?
Where is knowledge located? How is knowledge attained?
Either externalrealist or internal-idealist
Subjectiveinteractive
Objective-dualist
Subjectiveinteractive
· More deductively
· In a more decontextualized way
· More inductively · In a more contextualized way
· Either inductively or deductively · Either in a decontextualized or contextualized way · Collaboratively
· Either inductively or deductively · Either in a decontextualized or contextualized way
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Types of research
Issue Positivist or Quantitative
· Standardized language · Impersonal stance
Interpretive or Qualitative
· Language from participants · Personal stance
Ideological
Pragmatic or Mixed-Method
· Language that fits the method · Use conventions within the method · Mixed method studies that triangulate, expand, or lead to instrument development
How dose one describe or write about it ?
· Language from participants · Personal stance
How dose one study it ?
· Experimental studies · Nonexperimental studies such as surveys, correlations, comparisons
· Qualitative approaches such as biographies, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, case studies
For example: · Feminist perspectives · Cultural perspectives · Critical theory · Postmodem perspectives Dickens (1993)
What study illustrates the methodology?
Jungnickel (1990)
Creswell and Brown (1992)
Creswell(1997)
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We need to concentrate more on qualitative research Biography Phenomenology Grounded theory Ethnography Case study
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การวิจยเชิงคุณภาพในมิติต่างๆ ั
Dimensions for Comparing Five Research Traditions in Qualitative Research (Creswell, 1998)
Dimension - Focus Biography Phenomenology Grounded Theory
Exploring the life of an individual Understanding the essence of experiences about a phenomenon Developing a theory grounded in data from the field Describing and interpreting a cultural and social group Developing on in-depth analysis of a single case or multiple cases
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Ethnography
Case Study
การวิจยเชิงคุณภาพในมิติตางๆ (ต่อ) ั ่
Dimensions for Comparing Five Research Traditions in Qualitative Research (Creswell, 1998)
Biography Phenomenology Grounded Theory Ethnography Case Study
Dimension – Discipline origin Anthropology Psychology Literature Sociology History Philosophy, sociology, Psychology
Sociology Cultural anthropology Sociology Political science, sociology, evaluation, urban studies, other social sciences
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การวิจยเชิงคุณภาพในมิติตางๆ (ต่อ) ั ่
Dimensions for Comparing Five Research Traditions in Qualitative Research (Creswell, 1998)
Biography Phenomenology Grounded Theory Ethnography Case Study
Dimension – Data collection Primarily interviews and documents Long interviews with up to 10 people
Interviews with 20-30 individuals to “saturate” categories and detail a theory Primarily observations and interviews with additional artifacts during extended time in the filed (e.g., 6 months to a year) Multiple sources – documents, archival records, interviews, observations, physical artifacts
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การวิจยเชิงคุณภาพในมิติตางๆ (ต่อ) ั ่
Dimensions for Comparing Five Research Traditions in Qualitative Research (Creswell, 1998)
Biography Phenomenology Grounded Theory Ethnography
Case Study
Dimension – Data analysis Stories Historical content Epiphanies Statements Meaning themes Meanings General description of the experience Open coding Selective coding Axial coding Conditional matrix Description Interpretation Analysis Description Themes Assertions
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การวิจยเชิงคุณภาพในมิติตางๆ (ต่อ) ั ่
Dimensions for Comparing Five Research Traditions in Qualitative Research (Creswell, 1998)
Dimension – Narrative form Biography Phenomenology
Grounded Theory
Detailed picture of an individual’s life Description of the “essence” of the experience
Theory or theoretical model
Ethnography
Case Study
Description of the cultural behavior of a group or an individual In-depth study of a “case” or “cases”
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Part 3: Discussion
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Part 4: Q&A
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