Research, passion and bias

Passion in research is a good thing. It is a critical ingredient in making things happen and trying to make a difference in practice. The danger though with passion is that we ignore other possible ways of doing things as we start to believe that the thing we are passionate about is the "only" way of doing things. So rationality is required to be objective in exploring alternative ways, methods and philosophies. Research is continually evolving and we should not be custodians of methods and techniques since these should be allowed to evolve and develop. In a way, these are things that should be messed with since this can lead to new developments and ways of doing things.

What makes a good reviewer?

People have different views on what makes a good reviewer. Some people measure the quality of reviews by the number of words with a longer review being seen as better. For me a good review has balance, it states what is good as well as what needs to be improved or added. A completely negative review is destructive and the good points are lost on the author who will only see criticism. To me a good review stresses a number of things that need to be improved, the key things to get the article published. This does not necessarily mean it has to be several pages. In fact it can be quite succinct and hence more manageable for the author to understand and follow.

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New Centre for Innovative Practice

We have developed a new research centre at ECU. The theme is innovative practice and it is a Faculty wide entity that draws on researchers from accounting and finance, marketing, justice, law, management and information systems. We have have some research projects already underway. One in particular is related to "individual innovation" and examines how organisations can support their employees in being more innovative. We intend to collaborate with international organisations so if you have a proposal to put to us and would like to collaborate on a joint project please contact me about it. Craig Standing