- CALL FOR PAPERS - The future of the European Social Model – New perspectives for industrial relations, social and employment policy in Europe? 10-12/09/2014, Dublin, Ireland
Theme 5: Methodology: Which theory, theories and methods do we need and want in comparative IR?
The academic field of industrial relations is traditionally pluralistic and covers theoretical and empirical work which is rooted in very different epistemological understandings of the subject as well as on the methodology. Industrial relations phenomena are explained by a variety of different theories ranging from middle range theories to general theories of different kinds. Empirically, in the field of industrial relations both qualitative and quantitative methods, as well as mixed methods, are applied in order to generate and/or test hypotheses and theories.
Looking at the field of industrial relations research as such, there is no dominant theoretical paradigm and no common methodological approaches or rules. Some authors even argue that the 'discipline of IR' is in constant decline. According to Paul Feyerabend, we could expect that industrial relations research should benefit from this 'methodological anarchism' allowing freedom for researchers, not constraint by specific prescriptive methods or theories. Given that since the new millennium the academic field of industrial relations has frequently been seen to be in crisis, this perspective of the advantages of the pluralistic field of industrial relations might be too optimistic.
However, against the background that the field of industrial research is pluralistic, we would like to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the methodological heterogeneity further, and not only for academics but even for understanding better what is happening at company and national levels among the social partners and social actors. In particular we would like to discuss the following tentative questions and themes:
Sub-theme 5A: Paradigms in industrial relations research
- Is industrial relations research indeed pluralistic or are there predominant paradigms?
- Where do we come from, where are we, and perhaps more interesting where is the field/discipline heading to? Is it time and is there a need for a 'scientific revolution' in the sense of Thomas Kuhn?
We are particularly interested in critical submissions which reflect not only the advantages and disadvantages of past and current research approaches but also of the heterogeneity of the field of research.
Sub-theme 5B: The 'impact' of industrial relations research
- What is the 'impact' of industrial relations research on the society and economy?
- Does industrial relations research matter, i.e. does our research make any difference?
- What is the role of industrial relations researchers for public policy making?
- What industrial relations research can contribute to re-address current political and socio-economic issues and academic debates?
We are particularly interested in on the role of industrial relations research in times of the economic crisis is and what the contribution of industrial research for the socio-economic development ever was.
Sub-theme 5C: Prospective future methodological developments in the field
- What are the main challenges and tasks for research in the academic field of industrial relations?
- Are we able to keep up with the changing world and the development of methodologies from other fields?
- How can we link and mix different methods and methodologies?
- How can we cope with the increasing complexity of economic and social relations?
We are particularly interested in good (and bad) examples of innovative methods applied to the field of industrial relations (e.g. experiments, simulation techniques, analyses of 'big data', new ways of content analysis).
Sub-theme 5D: Studying industrial relations in Europe
- Are national industrial relations comparable across countries?
- What empirical data do we need and how can we get it? What are the methodological and practical challenges for something like a 'Comparative European Dataset'?
- How can we cope and analyse the increasing complexity of the industrial relations systems in Europe?
- How can we understand and analyse the interrelationships between the high number of different industrial relations actors on different levels and in different countries as well as sectors?
- What are the most promising theoretical and empirical approaches needed to tackle the current European problems?
We are particularly interested in good (and bad) examples of methodologies to analyse and understand the complex system of industrial relations in Europe.