Doing Exemplary Research

Doing Exemplary Research is one of my favorite books because it is one of the most open and least contained books, out of whose intertextuality many other possible books can be written, journeys made, and exemplars established. It is a book that does much more than it says. It is capable of many readings, diverse indexing, and possible trajectories. It works, despite itself on occasion, as a postmodern text, rewritten every time it is read. Stewart Clegg in Contempory Sociology "The pieces by the original authors are very illuminating about the false starts, frustrations, and interpersonal problems in doing research in organizations, as well as difficulties associated with getting material published. In the book′s last two chapters, the editors explore the common themes in the preceding chapters and then speculate about the broader significance of the seven exemplars. These two chapters are excellent and more insightful than most of the commentaries. Frost and Stablein reveal a number of common themes which are well illustrated with examples from the preceding discussions. . . . The book provides an excellent introduction to the nature of the research process as it is lived by researchers . . . as such it will be of immense use to students of research methodology." --Organization Studies "I could scarcely put Doing Exemplary Research down until I had finished it. I found it engrossing and enlightening. . . . Your book is the richest of all the texts and readings on organizational sociology to which I have been exposed. . . . You have made a tremendous contribution to my knowledge of the field and growth as a social scientist!" --Marcia R. Prior-Miller, Iowa State University "This book is an unusual and valuable one on how research in the social sciences is actually carried out. . . . The book′s structure is itself innovative. . . . Frost and Stablein have themselves achieved a piece of exemplary research in this book. I found it engrossing and rewarding reading, and enthusiastically recommend it to anyone interested in how social scientists actually go about the process of doing good research. Its messages are of particular practical value to younger members of the research community who should benefit even more from their second and third...