Kistruck Geoffrey M, Slade Shantz Angelique
York University, Canada.
University of Alberta, Canada.
Organ Stud. 2022 Sep;43(9):1479-1505. doi: 10.1177/01708406211044886. Epub 2021 Sep 27.
There has been a growing interest among management scholars in conducting research on grand challenges. Despite recognizing that studying such highly complex and uncertain phenomena likely requires more unconventional approaches, there has been very little methodological guidance provided to interested scholars. Drawing upon our own grand challenge projects undertaken over the past decade, we put forward a methodological approach we term 'abductive experimentation'. Such an approach is an action-oriented process of inquiry that cycles between generating 'doubt' and generating 'belief'. More specifically, abductive experimentation iterates between induction, abduction, and deduction to both generate and reconcile 'surprising' findings and causal mechanisms. While we submit abductive experimentation as a methodological approach particularly well suited to the study of grand challenges, we believe that the process depicted also provides a general roadmap for scholars seeking to dismantle the artificial dualism between theory and practice.
管理学者对重大挑战进行研究的兴趣日益浓厚。尽管认识到研究此类高度复杂和不确定的现象可能需要更非常规的方法，但对于感兴趣的学者，所提供的方法论指导却非常少。基于我们在过去十年中开展的重大挑战项目，我们提出了一种我们称之为“溯因实验”的方法论方法。这种方法是一个以行动为导向的探究过程，在产生“怀疑”和产生“信念”之间循环。更具体地说，溯因实验在归纳、溯因和演绎之间迭代，以生成并协调“惊人”的发现和因果机制。虽然我们将溯因实验作为一种特别适合重大挑战研究的方法论方法提出，但我们认为所描述的过程也为寻求消除理论与实践之间人为二元论的学者提供了一个总体路线图。
