Reading Module 1 - “Qualitative Research In Business And Management”

Question 1

Characterizing qualitative research in the business and management field

Answer 1

• qualitative research can be now found in many different areas within the discipline of business, management, and organizational research
• differential progress towards the use and acceptance of qualitative research in various geographical communities of qualitative researchers:
  
  • transatlantic gap: different methodological approaches in different geographic locations (e.g. critical, practice-based approaches are more common in Europe)

Question 2

Three trends in qualitative research in business and management

Answer 2

1. Opportunities offered by increasingly sophisticated communication technologies
   a. Development of internet and new forms of social media
   b. Virtual ethnography
2. Advances in the use of visual methods
   a. Photographs, drawings, collages etc.
3. Innovations in how researchers “do” and write up qualitative research
   a. Role of emotions in research
   b. Role of individual researcher
   c. Role and contribution of the researchers reflexivity

Question 3

Benefits of researchers reflexivity

Answer 3

1. Think about your own thinking
2. Questioning the “taken-for-granted”
3. Opening up new possibilities with different types of research questions
4. New ways of theoretical thinking
5. New ways of engaging with participants

Question 4

Key challenges of qualitative research in business and management

Answer 4

1. Quality of research and how quality is defined
2. Factor analytic approaches may limit creativity within qualitative research
3. Diversity should be something to celebrate
4. Restrictive page limits
5. Pressure to publish a defined number of articles leads to lacking longitudinal studies

Question 5

8 flexible “big tent” criteria for quality qualitative research

Answer 5

1. A worthy topic
2. Rich rigor
3. Sincerity
4. Credibility
5. Resonance
6. Significant contribution
7. Ethics
8. Meaningful coherence