“Methodology”: An Analysis of Its Meaning and Use

Abstract

The purposes of this article are to outline a number of contradictory ways in which the term “methodology” has been used in published works on the management sciences, to highlight the problems which can be caused by using the single word “methodology” to mean many different things, and to suggest that a language for methodology be constructed to clarify its meaning. Ogden and Richards attempted to probe the “meaning of meaning” whereby it would be possible to construct definitions that would achieve general consent. The nearest attempt to apply this to an operational research (OR) or management sciences (MS) area was in a doctoral thesis on internal audit. The attempt was interesting but not entirely successful.

Citation

Lehaney, B.A. and Vinten, G. (1994), "“Methodology”: An Analysis of Its Meaning and Use", Work Study, Vol. 43 No. 3, pp. 5-8. https://doi.org/10.1108/00438029410058268