I would advise Mary conduct such research in a written format, which minimizes opportunities for evasion and maximizes the perception of anonymity.
3. I would suggest to Mary that part of the reason the HR manager is hostile is because part of the intent of the study is to question whether the Human Resources department is "aware of some of the gendered cultural processes at work in their companies." Thus, the research is attempting to show that HR is not doing its job, or not doing it well enough. That the research was not cleared with the HR Director first only exacerbates this problem. Mary's first step before conducting the surveys should have been to discuss the issue with the HR Director and convince her of the value of the research. At this point, the HR Director is being threatened and...
Likewise, Mary should have when confronted by the HR Director been able to explain how the research is objective. The presence of a thesis does not inherently mean that the research is not objective, although to someone such as the HR Director who is unfamiliar with the research process is may seem to be the case. Mary should have explained to the HR Director that the function of research is not to prove a hypothesis but to test it and that while she has an agenda for conducting the research she does not have an agenda with regards to the results.
