1. Researching Female Entrepreneurship and Self-Employment presented to The World Bank - Europe and Central Asia Region Panel 2: Workshop on Sharing the Growth Dividend: Women in the ECA Region by Sammie Robinson, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Management & Marketing ■ College of Business ■ Prairie View A&M University

2. Presentation Agenda  Introduction  Research Perspective & Strategies  Insights from Current Research  Reactions?

3. Introduction  Background  Research Influences and Experiences

4. Research Perspective & Strategies Investigating issues faced by women in Central Europe and Asia Answers depend on questions raised

5. The Appropriate Approach Asking New Questions

6. Approach to research Radical HumanistRadical Structuralist FunctionalistInterpretivist Burrell & Morgan, 1979 The sociology of radical change The sociology of regulation Subjective Objective

7. New questions … Radical Humanist How can the increases in the number of women entrepreneurs take place in society ? Radical Structuralist What kinds of changes would have to take place in society to enhance the status of women as entrepreneurs and business owners? Functionalist How do women compare to men? Interpretivist How do women view entrepreneurship and business ownership (in their own words)

8. New questions … Radical Humanist How can the increases in the number of women entrepreneurs take place in society ? Radical Structuralist What kinds of changes would have to take place in society to enhance the status of women as entrepreneurs and business owners? Functionalist How do women compare to men? Interpretivist How do women view entrepreneurship and business ownership (in their own words)?

9. Research Approach  Raises questions that generate different answers  Privileges “women’s voices”  Takes “context” into account

10. Methodological Landscape  Researching in a social context  Role of theory  Working with an emergent design  Collecting case study data  Generating researchable propositions

11. What did we do?  Broad description of research approach, and actual activities

12. Preparing for First Contact First Contact Getting the Participants The Group Interview Post Interview Wrap-up Setting the Stage Next Study Site or Research Activity Model for Data Collection Step One Step Two Step SixStep Five Step Four Step Three

13. Insights from Current Research  Attributes represent analogues to traditional functionalist criteria Transferability Credibility Confirmability Dependability

14. Preliminary Themes The double minority challenge; Calling and community orientations; The significance of family history and family support; The trade off between passion and growth; The nature of the social networks and social organization; The meaning of success

15. Reactions?