Applied Social Research in Industrial Organizations: An Evaluation of Functions, Theory, and Methods

Intervening variables are analyzed for their impact on the transformation of social science intelligence into organization policies. Functions, structures, theories, and methods of applied social research are found to have a direct bearing upon the type and degree of utilization of research results in organizational decisions. Each of the four variables illustrates differences not only in procedures or instruments but also between the values and goals of applied and academic social research. The growing emphasis in academic circles upon methodological perfection and the growing integration of applied social research into organizational policies is bound to widen the discrepancy in values between the two professions, argue the authors. The message for the social researcher who wishes his data to be utilized is implied in the concluding section of this paper, which draws upon the results of a study of applying social science research to organizational change projects in the area of industrial and labor relations in The Netherlands.