BRM II - Lecture
Business Research Methods II - Lecture Summary
Lecture One: Introduction
- Academic research is systematic, empirical, critical, and iterative.
- Iterative means back and forth; non-linear. Although there are specific stages that qualitative
research follows, it doesn't occur in a linear way. For instance, if we find that our research
question is already studied in our literature review, we go back to research question to redefine
it.
- What is qualitative research?
• "Qualitative research is a situated activity that locates the observer in the world." (Denzin and
Lincoln, 2005)
• "An umbrella term covering an array of interpretative techniques which seek to describe,
decode, translate, and otherwise come to terms with the meaning, not the frequency, of certain
more or less naturally occurring phenomena in the social world." (Van Maanen, 1979)
•"Basically, qualitative researchers are interested in understanding the meaning people have
constructed, that is, how people make sense of their world and the experiences they have in
the world." (Merriam, 2014)
- In qualitative research, the researcher is part of the world that they are studying.
- Frequency is not the point of qualitative research. You do not make frequency statements, such
as, 20 out of the 30 respondents said that they do not like coffee.
- All the definitions of qualitative research are different, but they have similar aspects.
- What do qualitative research do?
• Take an interpretivist approach - they interpret an already interpreted world.
• Gather qualitative data - observe and question the world to find evidence of meaning.
• Build inductive logic - build understanding from interpretations of the evidence.
- How can we know the world?
1. Postpositivist approach
2. Interpretivist appraoch
- Interpretivist approach to the world (qualitative researchers):
• Data is constructed with participants
• Data is expressed in language
• "Subjective"
• Situated
• Seeking evidence of meaning
!1
, BRM II - Lecture
- Postpositivist approach to the world:
• Data is collected from the real world
• Data is expressed in numbers
• "Objective"
• Generalizable
• Seeking evidence of frequency
- Qualitative researchers look for 'meaning'. The methods for gathering interpretations include
things such as:
→ Interviews
→ Ethnography
→ Case studies
→ Document analysis
Note that the focus is on epic perspective (meaning the insider perspective). The researcher's
intuition can be an asset.
- Quantitative researchers look for 'truth'. The methods for measurements include things such as:
→ Surveys
→ Polls
→ Questionnaires
→ Content analysis
Note that they are concerned with eliminating bias. The researcher's influence should be
minimised.
- How do we arrive at new knowledge? Deductive logic versus inductive logic.
- Qualitative research is an effort to understand situations in their uniqueness as a part of a
particular context and the interactions there. This understanding is an end in itself, so that it is
not attempting to predict what may happen in the future necessarily, but to understand the
!2
Business Research Methods II - Lecture Summary
Lecture One: Introduction
- Academic research is systematic, empirical, critical, and iterative.
- Iterative means back and forth; non-linear. Although there are specific stages that qualitative
research follows, it doesn't occur in a linear way. For instance, if we find that our research
question is already studied in our literature review, we go back to research question to redefine
it.
- What is qualitative research?
• "Qualitative research is a situated activity that locates the observer in the world." (Denzin and
Lincoln, 2005)
• "An umbrella term covering an array of interpretative techniques which seek to describe,
decode, translate, and otherwise come to terms with the meaning, not the frequency, of certain
more or less naturally occurring phenomena in the social world." (Van Maanen, 1979)
•"Basically, qualitative researchers are interested in understanding the meaning people have
constructed, that is, how people make sense of their world and the experiences they have in
the world." (Merriam, 2014)
- In qualitative research, the researcher is part of the world that they are studying.
- Frequency is not the point of qualitative research. You do not make frequency statements, such
as, 20 out of the 30 respondents said that they do not like coffee.
- All the definitions of qualitative research are different, but they have similar aspects.
- What do qualitative research do?
• Take an interpretivist approach - they interpret an already interpreted world.
• Gather qualitative data - observe and question the world to find evidence of meaning.
• Build inductive logic - build understanding from interpretations of the evidence.
- How can we know the world?
1. Postpositivist approach
2. Interpretivist appraoch
- Interpretivist approach to the world (qualitative researchers):
• Data is constructed with participants
• Data is expressed in language
• "Subjective"
• Situated
• Seeking evidence of meaning
!1
, BRM II - Lecture
- Postpositivist approach to the world:
• Data is collected from the real world
• Data is expressed in numbers
• "Objective"
• Generalizable
• Seeking evidence of frequency
- Qualitative researchers look for 'meaning'. The methods for gathering interpretations include
things such as:
→ Interviews
→ Ethnography
→ Case studies
→ Document analysis
Note that the focus is on epic perspective (meaning the insider perspective). The researcher's
intuition can be an asset.
- Quantitative researchers look for 'truth'. The methods for measurements include things such as:
→ Surveys
→ Polls
→ Questionnaires
→ Content analysis
Note that they are concerned with eliminating bias. The researcher's influence should be
minimised.
- How do we arrive at new knowledge? Deductive logic versus inductive logic.
- Qualitative research is an effort to understand situations in their uniqueness as a part of a
particular context and the interactions there. This understanding is an end in itself, so that it is
not attempting to predict what may happen in the future necessarily, but to understand the
!2
