Case Studies

Cross-Cultural User Sentiment & Mixed-Methods Field Research in High-Conflict Environments.

The gold and coal mining industries in South Africa saw the rise of a largely black migrant labour force being unionised by the National Union of Mine Workers (NUM). Mining executives and managers lacked insight into the ground-level sentiment and source of operational friction within this multilingual workforce, most of whom were housed in hostels, as well as between this very large workforce and their white supervisors.

At the invitation of particular mining houses and mines, Etsko Schuitema, now Founder and CEO of Schuitema Group, proposed that sound leadership is based on trust, and with contributions from a team of researchers, I designed a robust, unbiased social survey research framework to evaluate internal systems and trust metrics.

Using a mixed-methods approach that not only rated internal processes but also asked why interviewees gave those ratings exposed areas where action could be taken in the short-, medium-, and long-term to improve trust in management. The multilingual context and scale of the operation involved building a research pipeline to recruit participants, train interviewers, and manage the process in collaboration with various on-site stakeholders. Participants included employees at all organisational levels, right up to the mine managers, with a mix of self-administered, administered, and semi-structured interviews. I took full responsibility for overseeing the entire process, training and managing interviewees (as well as interviewing, taking walkabouts in hostels, and going underground to get a feel for the context.

Between 1986 and 1988, an enormous amount of data was gathered and analysed, and comprehensive, actionable data reports were delivered to executive stakeholders that directly influenced their operational strategy and conflict mitigation. In some instances, such as Vaal Reefs West, we could draw comparisons over the years, and in another, midway through the data collection phase, management acted immediately on an observation I made while walking through a hostel. This fieldwork glitch offered the opportunity to explore the before-and-after scenario. The analysis suggested a positive shift in hostel dwellers’ sentiment.   

Academic Research Strategy Mentorship, Methodological Governance, Standardising Research Frameworks

Emerging researchers often struggle to align their tactical execution with overarching strategic goals and face critical review from stakeholders (peers, supervisors, and research committees in an academic context).

I serve as a research strategist and sounding board to pressure-test research designs, eliminate bias, ensure rigorous data validation, and encourage ethical adherence.

Over the past decade, I have coached and been consulted by candidates at the Master’s and PhD levels across many disciplines (humanities, social sciences, medicine, business, finance, and information technology). The tasks involved aiding them with developing a methodology to answer their research questions, auditing their methodological choices, guiding them through data collection and analysis, and casting a critical eye over how they synthesised their findings. It also often involved copyediting their submissions and preparing them to defend their insights before a hypercritical audience.

An excellent success rate across multiple high-level, multi-year projects. My longest-standing client now has an honours degree in psychology, a master’s in narrative therapy, and a master’s in Holocaust studies. She is currently engaged with reading a PhD focused on a particular historical context and the people who lived through it.

How I can add value

To solve a problem, be it reducing anxiety, marketing a new product, or addressing a social issue, we must understand not only what people choose but also why they choose it. To move forward, we must consider how to get there: we must use our understanding to imagine realistic alternative scenarios and identify the steps to get there.  

I specialize in

• Data Synthesis & Pattern Recognition: I distil complex archival data into datasets amenable to statistical analysis and interpretation; I design mixed-methods social surveys; and I distil descriptive statistics in dialogue with thematic patterns from text to create narrative frames.
• Stakeholder Communication: Based on the data, a profound understanding of human consciousness and how it works, and input from stakeholders, I provide options for moving forward with clear, actionable feedback.
• Rigorous Methodology: In some contexts, it is easy to collect data; in others, such as the medical context, ethical constraints limit access to data that would otherwise be very helpful. I figure out strategies for gathering, processing, and interpreting data in a rigorous, methodical, and ethical manner.   

About Me

During adolescence, I systematically went through the philosophy, psychology, sociology, and esoteric stacks at the local library, but formally, the journey started with a major in Psychology and Social Anthropology and a sub-major in Industrial Sociology.

A bursary from the Chamber of Mines led to an immeasurably valuable seven years engaged in research for their Human Resources division. It was an exciting time in the mining industry with the emergence of trade unions, specifically the NUM. Using archival methods, I updated Dr Kent McNamara’s conflict database, prepared it for statistical analysis, and began identifying patterns and trends in addition to constructing, conducting, and analysing mixed-method social surveys focused on employee sentiment to inform executive-level decision-makers.

I continued my independent learning in Philosophy and Science of Religion through UNISA, returned to Rhodes University to complete a master’s thesis in research psychology titled The Meaning of Stress: A Qualitative Approach, and held the position of Junior Lecturer in the Psychology Department. After being selected to train as a clinical psychologist, I graduated with distinction and thereafter held the position of Lecturer in the Psychology Department. I taught critical social psychology and methodology at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels; published a paper and had a review of a social psychology text published; and practised, taught, and supervised candidates in the clinical program.

Reading a PhD, especially in psychology and about a personal question, runs the risk of whipping the carpet out from underneath one’s feet, and whip the carpet that journey did.

Once awarded a Doctor of Social Science in Psychology, my attention shifted toward more metaphysical matters. I initiated and wrote for a magazine called Talking Total Health, distributed free from health shops. I also served on the committee for the Creative Living Festival for four years and was part of a group that initiated and edited a community-based newsletter, the Walmer-Gqebera Network Newsletter, and earned a living by dispatching taxis and teaching English to Asian students who had registered for degrees at Nelson Mandela Bay University.  

In 2005, I was contracted by Language Online, an agency initially contracted to evaluate (grade) essays for Ashford University, and later to review student papers for Smarthinking, a Pearson-based company. Over the next 20 years, in addition to evaluating and reviewing a steady stream of student essays, I edited over 400 dissertations on behalf of the agency. Students were from as far afield as Peru, the USA, and Taiwan. I completed the equivalent of English II for UNISA, where I was awarded a certificate as the most promising student in English Literature, and participated in numerous community courses and initiatives focused on designing and conducting HIV/AIDS workshops.  

In 2021, I spread my wings into freelancing as an editor for academics, postgraduates, and nonfiction writers on Upwork, and wrote blog posts on the differences between blogs, as well as fact-checked and edited others’ psychology blogs and Bjorn Lomborg’s Best Things First, and all the academic papers on which it was based.  

And now, with AI doing a good enough job of correcting people’s English, my focus has returned to what I always did best: gathering and processing data, identifying patterns and trends, and using those insights to inform decision makers about constructive ways forward (and the dangers they need to avoid).

If your problem is how to write a research proposal,

consider making your way to https://disswhizz.com/blog-box/

If you want to know about my formal qualifications, positions, and peer-reviewed publications, click here

You can find me on

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-crowley-26372896

Substack: Michelle L. Crowley | Substack

or contact me right here