In this episode, we talk with Madeleine Rauch about diary methods, especially unsolicited diaries for research in organization and management. Madeleine tells us about her experience with such an approach, how diaries can be combined with other sources of data, and the questions that they help us answer. Our conversation also features practical insights about how to keep one’s data secure, as well as reflections on the tendency in social sciences to rely on verbal data sources and how focusing on diaries can elicit new ways of approaching existing topics and open up new ones.


Madeleine Rauch is an Associate Professor of Strategy and International Business at the University of Cambridge, Judge Business School. Her research focuses on the strategies and challenges faced by people working and living in challenging contexts, such as undocumented individuals in the U.S., medical professionals during the recent COVID pandemic, and soldiers in war zones like Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, and South Sudan.


Further information:

• Rauch, M, & Ansari, S. (2022). “Waging war from remote cubicles: How workers cope with technologies that disrupt the meaning and morality of their work.” Organization Science 33 (1), 83-104.

• Rauch, M, & Ansari, S. (2022). “Diaries as a methodological innovation for studying grand challenges.” Research in the Sociology of Organizations. Organizing for societal grand challenges. Emerald Publishing Limited, 205-220.