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The first generation of Indian sociologists relied on the survey method & intensive fieldwork; since independence in the 1950's, the new generation has been concerned with a more elaborate research methodology, partly because of the need for more standardized procedures & emphasis on teamwork & partly as a result of exposure to American sociology whose distinctive feature is concrete & task-oriented research. Large numbers of Indian sociologists were trained in the US & much assistance in India has been provided by US foundations. Presently the Indian Council of Social Research is responsible for training programs in research methodology & is much preoccupied by research designs, scaling techniques, computerization, etc. The question is raised whether this preoccupation distracts scholars from a pursuit of relevant sociological problems; results following the application of the "scientific machinery" have been meager. In countries like India the new research technology requires abundant funds which are not always as available as they are in the US. J. N. Mayer.

International management research seems to be victim of a identity crisis. It is not clear whatmakes international management different enough to regard it a separate research field. Inthis paper it is argued that this has to do with the tendency in international managementresearch to adopt a methodology akin to the logical-empiricism of the natural sciences (theword 'methodology is used here to refer to the ontological and epistemological assumptionson which research is based). If the challenges formed by the unique character of the field ofinternational management are thought through radically, this leads to a turn away from thelogical-empiricist model, and towards a methodology which does justice to the fundamentalproblems of bridging distance which are typical for international management. This distancecan be of a geographical, social, political, economic, cultural or linguistic nature. The problemof bridging distances exists for practitioners of international management, as well as forresearchers in this field. Hermeneutics, in which the problem of bridging the distance betweenan interpreting subject and the phenomena to be interpreted is given a central position, isdiscussed as a particularly fruitful methodology for international management research. As anexample, a hermeneutic reading of a number of clinical studies of international joint venturesis presented.