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This paper aims to explore the interplay between methods and methodologies in the field of international relations (IR) over the 100 years of its lifetime reflecting on the relationship between the rise of new research methods and the rise of new methodologies.

This paper looks in retrospect into the field’s great debates using a historiography approach. It maps chronologically the interplay of methods and methodology throughout the stages of the development of the study of IR.

This paper argues that inspite of narratives of triumph being common in the field, the coexistence of competing research methods and methodologies is the defining feature of the field. All theories, all methods and all methodologies have undergone a process of criticism, self-criticism and change. New methodologies have not necessarily accompanied the rise of new research methods in the field.

Drawing a map of the field’s methodologies and methods reveals necessarily its dynamism and its plurality. An honest map of the field is one that highlights not only theoretical differences but also ontological, epistemological and methodological differences embedded in the field’s debates.

The purpose of this paper is to explore what the term “methodology” might be taken to mean. It uses an aphorism by Howard Becker as a springboard for examining the nature of methodology, arguing that Becker's view of methodology was misleading.

There are two components. First, “insider” account of research findings concerning the nature of mixed methods research is presented. These findings derive from a content analysis of articles based on mixed methods research and from interviews with mixed methods researchers. Second, the paper examines the paradox that qualitative research is often viewed as generating interesting findings but that qualitative researchers frequently feel that they experience difficulty in placing qualitative articles in mainstream journals.

The findings from the mixed methods study demonstrate that mixed methods research is often rationalized in a different way from how it is actually employed.

The second part of the paper should be extended so that a more comprehensive analysis of publication patterns can be carried out.

There are relatively few examinations of what we mean by “methodology.” The paper tries to move these considerations forward by arguing that methodology is about the examination of “methodic practice.”

This paper aims to present findings from a recent study examining current records management as fit for digital government in Australia.

This paper draws on findings from the first phase of research for a postdoctoral degree. This research was collected through an online quantitative survey of government records management professionals in Australia. The survey’s purpose was to understand whether the profession has kept pace with advances in, and expectations of, digital government. Building on the findings of the survey, this paper explores the concepts of methodology and methods and applies them to current digital records management in the Australian Government. Methodology for Australian Government digital records management is contained in the 2015 Digital Continuity 2020 policy. However, measuring method proved more difficult. The researcher supplemented data published by the National Archives of Australia and the Department of Finance with data from her own research to measure the validity of methods by examining suitability of current requirements.

Australian Government records management professionals overwhelmingly feel requirements, organisational culture and behaviour form a barrier to implementing successful records management programs. This paper finds that the Australian Government is buying ten times more digital storage per year than the sum of all of the digital Australian Government records known. This suggests perhaps not all records are recognised. While there will always be more storage than records, the ratio should not be so inflated. Further problems are found with requirements for records management being seen as mostly paper-based and too resource intensive to be of use. This research, combined with a contemporary literature review, shows that there is an imbalance with the current methodology and methods and asks the question: Has a methodology (Digital Continuity 2020) been created without suitable and known methods being in place?

The method for collecting survey data was based on self-reporting, which can lead to limitations in that the population sample may exaggerate their response or demonstrate bias. However, responses to the survey were common enough to eliminate bias. The study is based on the Australian Government; however, findings may translate to other governments. This paper presents findings from the first phase of research of a postdoctoral degree. Not all findings are presented, only those relevant to the topic.

As the Australian Government moves to become a true digital government, records management is still required to ensure accountability of government actions and decisions. However, while the government transitions to digital, and information stores continue to grow, the question of whether records management has kept up with the rapid pace of digital information flow and expansion does not need to be asked. Instead, the time has come to ask, “What can we do to keep up?”

Provides a critique of method‐ism ‐ the view that methodology is necessary and sufficient for information systems’ development success; method‐ism presupposes also that systems developers understand the value of methodology and will prefer to work with it rather than without it. Argues, against method‐ism, that method flows from understanding, and not the reverse. Hence method cannot be a substitute for understanding. Discusses the way in which humans tend to interact with the world by means of ready‐to‐hand tools, using the ideas of Heidegger and Ihde. Shows that tools are used only if available (ready‐to‐hand) in the world of doing. If a methodology is not ready‐to‐hand, it will break down and be ignored in the pragmatics of getting the job done. Presents a number of arguments why methodologies by design will tend to break down (not be ready‐to‐hand) and hence be discarded.

The purpose of this study is to formulate exploratory scenarios of Operations Research through the critical uncertainty approach and Soft Systems Methodology.

In this study, to formulate plausible scenarios, the discipline of operation research internal and external experts’ opinions of this field have been gathered through Delphi approach and uncertainty questionnaires. After use of the most important uncertainties, plausible scenarios of operations research have been mapped with the help of experts through co-thinking workshops.

Four scenarios are presented in this study. These scenarios include Solar System, Esfandiar's Eye, Rival’s Setraps and Legendary Simurgh. Naturally, the imagination of such a unitary future for all academic communities is an expectation far from reality, and given the conditions of each of these futures or any integration of them is imaginable.

Operations Research models have been faced with variously multiple changes since its emergence until now. Investigation into the future of operations research on the necessity for his planning has not received a reasonable notice in the literature. Sporadic activities that have been carried out are also lacking in the necessary methodology. Also, there has been no research about future study using the soft Operation Research tools (Soft Systems Methodology).

Qualitative information‐gathering techniques are focused on to determine whether they can be adapted or adopted to support strategic goal‐setting. Much of the literature suggests that if planning is based on information gathered and presented in a manner which managers can understand they are more likely to act on it, and, for this reason, qualitative rather than quantitative techniques are stressed here. Factors which are not amenable to numerate analysis but which are useful to the strategic planner, such as experience, judgement and intuition, are also isolated and analysed. An attempt is made to facilitate the use of qualitative data‐gathering methods and suggestions are made as to where particular techniques may prove beneficial, together with their limitations. Research, from a small (n = 20), in‐depth survey of small business owners/ managers in Canada, is included which shows that they do not use quantitative planning processes but that judgemental techniques were most widely used; in general, the less sophisticated the planning process the higher it would be ranked among the survey participants. The research from other surveys also shows that scientific mathematically based models often do not fit with small business organisational reality and that methodologies should be developed that integrate research into the decision‐making process.

The purpose of this paper is to set the scene for this special issue by synthesising the vast array of literature to examine what constitutes mixed methods research, and the associated strengths and risks attributed to this approach.

This paper takes the form of a literature review. The authors draw on extensive methods research from a diverse range of social science disciplines to identify and explore key definitions, opportunities and risks in mixed methods studies. They review a number of accounting studies that adopt mixed methods research approaches. This allows the authors to analyse variance in how mixed methods research is conceptualised across these studies and evaluate the perceived strengths and limitations of specific mixed methods design choices.

The authors identify a range of opportunities and challenges in the conduct of mixed methods research and illustrate these by reference to both published studies and the other contributions to this special issue.

With the exception of Modell's work, there is sparse discussion of the application and potential of mixed methods research in the extant accounting literature.

This paper aims to assess the effectiveness of videotaped learning when used in a university in the UAE, in terms of evaluating the experiences of the students, along with highlighting its benefits along with challenges. The research aims to analyse the challenges and benefits of videotaped story workshop method for university students in the UAE. Experiential learning theory can be the basis of this videotaped method of learning and can be used for further theory and the contribution of this research study to knowledge in international education in business.

The results got by extracting primary data (quantitative and qualitative) from a sample size of 201 students. The paper used an action research methodology within a university degree course and within the teaching profession. The research design is associated with measuring and assessing the challenges and benefits of videotaped story workshop method for university students, along with the perceptions of the students towards its use. The study primarily used participatory action research which is a community-based study, action-based enquiry and action learning. The approach mostly used to improve the conditions and practices in a range of social environments.

The results suggest that most students were in favour of incorporating videotaped story workshop method for the learning experience as this eradicates common linguistic and cultural barriers. Observations indicate the students found it quite challenging to learn new techniques of making videos but later on shown a positive attitude towards the adoption of technology in terms of creating videos and presenting. Technology allowed students to make videos to showcase previous experiences and stories via digital storytelling. Such methods enhance student’s knowledge and academic skills while supporting learning behaviour and inspires them to plan, organise and share their ideas and expertise.

The above methodology has good potential for inclusive learning and teaching at the higher education level which was not attempted due to lack of connecting to the learners with challenges at the university and for the researchers able to connect to such people. This method can be easily extended to inclusive teaching and learning with minor adjustments as required with the disabilities noticed for the learners. Hence, while most students displayed a positive attitude towards learning from creating, sharing and viewing digital stories, it can be argued that a certain proportion of them was not able to benefit entirely from it due to lack of experience and skills in generating videos. Therefore, attention must be emphasised upon factors to minimise these challenges in multiple ways, for example, provision of training to students for easy employment of videotaping or affordable internet access, etc.

The students also stated that initially, they perceived videotape methodology quite challenging; however, with time, they started enjoying this method. Videotaped story workshops, learners easily grasp the idea/knowledge through subtitles, even if the lessons are not delivered in their native language. This aspect results in increasing student’s motivation towards learning new concepts and coordinating with other teams to share knowledge and ideas. The method creates a strong sense of achievement amongst students that serves as a motivational driver for academic performance. The videotaped story workshop method supports student’s learning rate, increases their interest and makes the whole learning process more enjoyable.

The learning experience will improve as students and teachers get comfortable using this videotape learning methodology. The method will be useful in remote learning as in the COVID19 situation and has immense social implications, especially in education. It can extend to most domains and knowledge, teaching scenarios for engineering and business. The research promises to add to the knowledge of blended learning and to the experiential learning approach which is useful to the international business of education and its future.

The classroom activities videotapes stored in platforms, making it convenient for the students and teachers to browse through at their convenience and to improve on in the future. This videotape method applies to any field of learning such as music, cooking, engineering, language study, business studies as it has the advantage to be transcribed and also captions added for the learners and teachers to understand it better. It can be useful in remote learning situations, also like the current one. It promises to be a more efficient way of learning for the future in education and the education business will benefit from it.

Quantitative methods, especially statistical methods, play an increasingly important role in research of library and information science (LIS). For different journals, the uses of statistical methods vary substantially due to different journal scopes and aims. The purpose of this paper is to explore the characteristics of statistical methodology uses in six major scholarly journals in LIS.

Research papers that used statistical methods from the six major journals were selected and investigated. Content analysis method, descriptive statistical analysis method, and temporal analysis method were used to compare and analyze statistical method uses in research papers of the investigated journals.

The findings of this study show that there was a clear growth trend of statistical method uses in five of the investigated journals; statistical methods were used most in The Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology and Information Processing & Management; and the top three most frequently used statistical methods were t-test, ANOVA test, and χ2-test.

The findings can be used to better understand the application areas, patterns, and trends of statistical methods among the investigated journals and their statistical methodology orientations in research studies of LIS.