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The information summarized here is mainly drawn from the wisdom of readers on the ISWorld mailing list who were generous enough to share their insight into this process with me. If you would like to be given credit for your response, please let me know and I will add a citation. Also, feel free to contact me if you have additional resources or advice to add to this page.

• This paper has four vignettes where researchers describe in detail their experience with gaining research access. In one case the individual already works for the organization but wants to collect data for his dissertation simultaneously, in another case a doctoral student finds his own research site by cold-calling, the third case discusses access using family connections and the fourth describes how she focused on discussing her research with new people whenever possible in order to generate leads.

Brewerton, P. & Millward, L. (2001). Organizational Research Methods (Chapter 4: Obtaining and Using Access to an Organization), 44-51.

• This chapter briefly summarizes the process of research access by talking about finding leads, putting together a proposal, getting a buy-in and manging the overall process.

Witman, P. (2005). The art and science of non-disclosure agreements. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 16, 260-269. Available online here.

• Helps researchers negotiate the process of NDAs when trying to conduct research in organizations.

Interview with Prof Kevin C Desouza on AOM-OCIS Student Site

• Professor Desouza discusses how he achieves buy-in from organizations to carry out research.

• Ask your adviser and/or committee members for introductions to people they know in industry
• Attend conferences where executives and managers are likely to be in attendance and introduce yourself
• Utilize the connections of alumni groups from colleges you have attended
• Utilize the connections of graduated Masters students from your college who may be in industry now (or former students you may have taught)
• Check your Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. connections for any leads
• Contact local community service groups/clubs (e.g. Rotary, Toastmasters) and offer to give a presentation
• Connect with a professional organization/institution who may be able to grant you access to their member list
• Try and get to the highest person possible in the organizational hierarchy (but not so high up that they don't have time to consider your project and/or are concerned about the reputation of the company)

• Emphasize the direct benefits to the company in terms that they will value and understand
• Explain that they are getting a consultant's evaluation in exchange for their time
• Eliminate any scientific lingo in the proposal
• Emphasize confidentiality of the organization/employee participants
• Discuss the "lessons learned" that your research will provide
• Explain how risks will be mitigated (time involved, potential political problems)
• Don't bring up any questions that will put the company in an awkward or defensive position
• Be sure what you can offer (e.g. a written report) will be given to them soon after data collection, not when the dissertation is complete

• Rejection by one person from the company does not necessarily mean someone else in the company can't be of more help
• Don't send an attachment in your initial e-mail to a lead, people are unlikely to want to open an attachment from a stranger
• Use every opportunity to demonstrate that you are an excellent person to work with

But generically, these folks are all busy and have too much to do and too little time to do it.  So your approach needs to be fairly concise.  If you are working with executive levels of management, you probably need to outline your proposal in one page rather than eight.

Additionally, I always try to ensure that there is a value proposition for the company.  That is, they can expect to receive some appreciable benefit for the investment in time that they do make.

But even with those suggestions, I have found it difficult although not impossible to gain access.

This improvement would also help you to compress your research intent into a digestible and communicable format.

Cut out all the details and focus on the essentials (e.g., drop the literature, methodology, hypotheses/expectations...). Speak in more general terms, eliminating scientific lingo. Be clear on how
your research would benefit a client organization; thus, focus on practical contributions and drop the research implications and considerations in general.

In a word, frame yourself as a consultant rather than researcher (you still are a student-researcher, formally speaking, but you act at a more mature and self-confident level that managers can more easily relate to). Your pitch: you will be providing a free piece of potentially a valuable advise.

Make sure you don't save words in guaranteeing confidentiality of info you'll collect (disguising persons, organization's name; promising to sign a non-disclosure agreement; citing that you are bound by the ethical norms of academic research).

I was able to gain access to two different types of organizations, two electric power companies, and a submarine research and development lab.  I have to confess.  I had major connections with the
submarine research lab and wouldn't have gotten within a hundred miles of the place without them.

With the power companies, it only took a casual acquaintance to get me in the door and high up in the chain of command.  My situation was a bit different than yours.  I was looking to conduct interviews, so I only needed about 10 people from each environment.

In any case, I think the best way in is to have/develop a relationship with someone on the inside.  Schmoozing the right people can be the biggest help.  I hope this helps.  Best of luck with the research.

2) Send your email to someone you know at a prospective company to forward along.  (UT Alumni groups might be able to help here as well.  Also, ask your committee members who they know.  And what about their former undergrad and master's students, where are they working now?  What about your former students?  What about your Facebook lists?)  Internal emails will receive more attention than external emails.  Include a one-paragraph summary in the email.  Make sure the attachment is small in size, or just don't include it in the initial email.  Few people will be interested in opening a document from someone that they don't know.

Also, keep in mind that a Fortune 500 company will have many different people who could potentially help you.  So a rejection by a specific individual does not mean a rejection by the company.  And not hearing from a given person is more likely to reflect that they never read your email than they read it and rejected your proposal.

Finally, ask for funds if you need it, or make it optional.  The higher up the corporate ladder you go, the more the issue is not their money, but how much of their time you will need.

1. Use personal contacts to get to the highest hierarchy. It only works top down, no chance for bottom-up. Personal assistants are excellent contacts.
2. Send VERY short research descriptions, 1-1.5 pages. they don't have time to read 8 pages.
3. In the executive summary you send focus on the following:

• how they will benefit from cooperation
• why it is not risky for their organization to cooperate
• what they are required to invest in the process.

When (a) is high and (b) and (c) are low, plus the assistance of a trusted or close person, you might succeed. The most difficult thing, however, is to
get the attention of a (very) senior manager.

1. Why does this have to be Fortune 500? Sometimes local orgs with ties to your institution are more amenable and just as suitable. Why do you need four sites? Can you change your research appproach to perhaps mine or or two in deeper ways?
2. What's in it for them?  Managers of firms need to justify why they would have staff spend time on YOUR project.  What possible benefit - in immediate terms - will accure to them? In other words, what relevance (in real not fake academic terms) does your proposed research have for them?
3. How much time do you think they have? An 8 page proposal scares them off! Managers are NOT readers the way academics are. An initial one pager covering key issues from their perspective should suffice to gauge interest.

I sincerely hope this is helpful. Good luck with your research.

Ask you PhD supervisor/committee members to help you gain access - they are likely to have better contacts than you.

1. Offer something back to the company.  Be sure that what you offer doesn't impact the independence of your research.  You might offer to write up a short report at the end of the field work that would provide them with insights about all the companies where you conducted field
   work (anonymized).
2. Be willing to open up your research design and reconsider the factors that are limiting you.  For example must you study F500 companies?  Do you have contacts in other companies/sectors that would make just as interesting a study?  Of course you want to make your decision about
   fieldwork on more than just convenience and willingness of the company to participate, but we can often find the rationale for our choices once we have a viable company to work with.
3. Use the prestige of the School to gain access and talk about the value to the company of partnering with the university (they can put this sort of information on their PR material).  Some folks buy into the idea of helping to shape knowledge but others want to know how your study will
   help them.
4. Find the right level of contact person - someone too high up will likely ignore it and worry about how the findings might effect the company's reputation whereas someone too low (line level manager) will not have the authority to authorize the study and will be very busy...so
   your proposal will stay at the bottom of the pile.

Hope these ideas are helpful.  Best of luck.

1. Make your connection with someone relatively senior in the organization.  You want to be in touch with someone who can approve your project and commit the resources to it.  If your contact is too low, then s/he can only say “no”, never “yes.”
2. Use your alumni relations office to identify graduates of your school.  They may be more receptive to your proposals due to institutional affinity.
3. When you make contact, do an excellent job.  E.g., prepare thoroughly for meetings, follow up promptly, prepare excellent deliverables (be they memos, proposals, etc.)  In other words, use every means you can to illustrate that you are going to be a good person for the organization to work with.

Introduction - 1 paragraph that describes the problem you want to address and the goal/objectives of the research.

Organizational benefits of participation - 1 paragraph about how the company will benefit.  A sentence or two followed by 3-4 bullet points followed by a concluding sentence or two is all that's needed.

Study participation requirements - here, you have 2 subsections, job shadowing and employee survey.  Include shadowing requirements (How many people, how long will you follow people? Will you observe or ask questions?)  and for the survey, how many people, how long to complete (I suggest aiming for 20 minutes since that usually doesn't scare people off).  You may find it helpful to include a third element - a timeline (e.g., 1 quarter for the shadowing, 1 quarter for the survey, 1 quarter for data analysis and feedback, and 1 quarter, assess benefits of ongoing research).

Conclusion - statement about absolute confidentiality for individuals and organization, along with contact info.  I suggest including your advisor's info along with yours.

Gaining access can be challenging, but field research is the most rewarding for me.  Best of luck.

Other creative avenues would be building rapport through local organizations: Toastmaster's, Rotary Clubs, Country Clubs, etc. For example, you could volunteer to give a program for a Rotary meeting. Then at the end of your presentation, make a verbal request for participation. Have business cards and a 1-page outline ready to distribute. You are very fortunate -- there are 14 Rotary Clubs in the Austin area. You can make contact with the clubs, explain what you need, and see if they'd be interested. This link shows meeting locations, date/times, and contract numbers for your area.
http://www.rotary.org/en/AboutUs/SiteTools/ClubLocator/Pages/ridefault.aspx?k=ClubKeywords%3AAustin&txtKeywords=Austin&start1=1

My biggest problem was the high turnover of executives in the companies in which I had already gained access. Essentially, I had to start from scratch twice, re-building relationships with those organizations after my dissertation.

In a nutshell, be concise in your explanation of the project, be specific in requesting what you need from them, and communicate what they can hope to gain from helping you. It doesn't hurt to offer to make presentations on your results, perhaps finding a solution to an issue relevant to the executive.

Hope that helps a little. Gaining access to corporations is often difficult. Best of luck,

- One resource you might look at is The Art and Science of Non-Disclosure Agreements. It was intended to look at the legal aspects of these relationships, but there's a lot of good material there about relationships as well.