Research Methods for Studying Evolutionary and Ecological Processes in Organizational Communication

Summary: "In a previous MCQ article, Monge et al. overviewed the fundamental concepts and processes of evolutionary theory and their applications to key issues in organizational communication. This article extends that work by providing an overview of research tools for studying organizational ecology and evolution, including (a) the variation-selection-retention sequence,(b) the likelihood of events occurring over a period of time (event history analysis), (c) transition sequence of populations from one state to another (sequence analysis), (d) relationships among nodes in networks over time (network analysis), (e) simulation of complex relationships and interactions (computational modeling), (f) changes in populations' fitness for survival (NKC models), and (g) competitive interdependence among populations over time(predator–prey models). We conclude with a brief review of graphical and qualitative methods."