Alison Dean and John Sharp
in language and culture. What we have dubbed “translation” essentially involves trying to understand what interviewees meant. Likewise, we have pointed to the importance of understanding respondent motivations in interpreting their statements and judging the need for supplementary research. As researchers become more familiar with NNV it is to hoped that they will be seen as potentially beneficial in interpretivist research also.
assistant and for teaching relief for the lead researcher.
6.5 Supervisors’ duties It will not have escaped the notice of PhD supervisors that in our discussion of their role it is considerably expanded beyond what may have been the case in the past. This, in part, reflects the growing importance being attached to quality assurance in doctoral studies. More importantly, however, effective qualitative analysis using NNV requires that supervisors pay even greater attention than in the past to the extent to which their students are developing understanding of their field. The downside of NNV analysis for supervisors is that they must monitor carefully how students develop and analyse their NNV model. And, of course, they need to encourage students not only to develop a good thesis structure and sound argumentation but also to try to ensure that the student reports the NNV analysis in a way that enhances, rather than detracts from, the thesis.
6.4 Specialist research projects A notable feature in the discussions above is the relatively good performance of specialist research projects where an RA is attached. This is because of the close collaboration of RA and lead researcher that is possible (Loxley, 2001). This, of course, is only feasible if the lead researcher has the time to devote to the research. It would seem worth examining the potential for strengthening this type of management research by the provision of relatively modest funds for a research
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