Business Research Through Argument

This book suggests that business research, in the collection, analysis, and communication of evidence, will benefit from explicit acceptance of research as argumentation. Argumentation is the process of compiling an argument through selection and organization of the relevant evidence.
Recently, business research methods books have placed too much emphasis on the scientific method as brute empiricism, using only large sample statistical testing and demanding prediction through retesting old theories. Especially with regard to the study of human activity, there is now much evidence that there is not one special scientific method.
This book argues that all types of empirical data, including statistics and personal experiences, be accepted as data, but that it is essential that these observations be explained. This book will provide researchers and postgraduate business students with a strategy for conducting research that encourages thought, provides a way of critically perceiving previous research, as well as suggesting a logical structure for communicating their research.

`Metcalfe's book is an excellent reference for those students having difficulty getting their research started. By orientating the researchers' mind to what they really want to say and how they are going to say it, Metcalfe provides them with the confidence to venture into such areas. In terms of recommending a research methods text to new researchers, Business Research Through Argument by Mike Metcalfe represents a very safe choice.'
Prometheus, 17:4 (1999)