Some unintended consequences of rigorous research.

The proper use of rigorous research designs in experimental or field settings tends to place subjects vis-a-vis the researcher and research assistants vis-a-vis the senior investigator in situations that are similar to those that organizations create for lower level employees. By drawing on organizationa l theory, predictions of S reactions such as dependency upon the researcher, overt and covert withdrawal, aggression toward the researcher, and eventual banding together by Ss to protect their interests are derived and illustrated. Rigorousness is to a researcher what efficiency is to an executive: an ideal state that is always aspired to, never reached, and continually revered. Much literature exists regarding the best ways to approach both rigorousness and efficiency. In the case of efficiency, executives have traditionally assumed that when organizations are not efficient it is usually because the members have not been adhering to an efficient organizational strategy. One of the contributions of organizational behaviorists has been to study how executives and employees actually behave (not limit themselves to how they say they behave). One major result of these studies has been to show that a good deal of in. efficiency may occur precisely when and because the members are following closely the most accepted strategies for efficiency. Recently a new literature has been, and continues to be, developed by scholars studying the research situation (Friedman, 1967; Rosenthal, 1966). They too have not limited themselves to what researchers say they do in conducting research. They have studied research in terms of how it is actually carried out. As a result, they have reported dysfunctions and opened up important new questions. An exploration of this literature from the viewpoint of an organizational theorist suggests that his field may be able to make a modest contribution in terms of a theoretical framework to organize the existing findings and suggest other possible conclusions that