Lecture 1 – Qualitative Research
Research is an original investigation, undertaken in order to contribute to knowledge and understanding
in a particular field. Research is a creative activity leading to the production of new knowledge.
Knowledge = a claim is accepted because of proof of truth or warrant is given.
Belief / faith = a claim is accepted without proof or warrant; yet high strength of conviction.
Opinion = personal point of view, varies in conviction.
Contributions of qualitative research:
- Illuminate meanings: how do humans assign meaning and make sense of their world?
- Study how things work: how do (project) teams, start-ups, boards, organizations, etc. work?
- Study people’s stories, perspectives, and experiences.
- How do systems work and what are the consequences for people’s lives?
- Understand how and why context matters: political, relational, organizational, historical,
societal, etc. developments that influence the case / phenomenon.
- Identify unintended consequences.
- Making case comparisons to discover important patterns and themes across cases.
Qualitative research can be used to build or to test theory. Inductive reasoning (exploratory) is when a
researcher starts bottom-up and after collecting data starts to build theory. Deductive reasoning
(confirmatory) is when a researcher starts top-down; he or she begins with a theory and then collects
data to test it.
Qualitative research design: research problem → research method → data collection technique → data
analysis approach → written record
A research method is a strategy of inquiry, e.g. action research, case study research, ethnography,
grounded theory.
Data collection techniques: interview, participant observation and fieldwork, documents.
Data analysis approach: coding, content analysis, discourse analysis, hermeneutics, semiotics, narrative
analysis.
Written record: thesis, book, conference paper, journal article.
Lecture 2 – Research Methods
Research design involves specifying your research method, which data collection techniques you will
use, your approach to qualitative data analysis, your approach to writing up, and, if applicable, how you
plan to publish your findings. A research design provides a road map for the entire project.
Qualitative research methods:
• Action research: observations, interviews, actions during a change-process
• Archival research: documents, reports, magazines, webpages
• Ethnography: observations (immersion), culture-sharing group, shared pattern of beliefs,
behaviour meanings
• Narrative methods: stories, discourse, conversation, arguments, observations, interviews,
archival research
• Grounded theory: interviews, observations, develop theory about event or process
• Case study: observations and interviews, in-depth understanding of a contextualized
phenomenon
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, Qualitative research Quantitative research
What’s going on? How are “things” related?
• What do “things” mean? – in context • Which associative/causal relationships
• How do “things” work? – in context exist between variables? IV→DV
Goal Goal
• Generalization from sample to theory • Generalization from sample to population
• Understanding • Inferential
• Purposive sampling • Probabilistic / random sampling
• Theory building: creation of new but • Theory testing: of hypothesis (based on
small insights (petite generalization) or theory), confirmation / disconfirmation of
of new theories (grand generalization) hypothesis, verification / falsification of
theory
Tools / Materials Tools / Materials
• Texts and observations to capture • Scales to capture experience
experience • Experience translated into numbers
• Experience translated into text (visuals) • Statistical procedures
• Qualitative procedures
Grounded theory: a research method that seeks to develop theory that is grounded in data
systematically gathered and analysed. There is a continuous interplay between data collection and
analysis. The discovery of theory from data –systematically obtained and analyzed in social research.
The purpose of grounded theory research in business and management is to develop new concepts and
theories of business-related phenomena, where these concepts and theories are firmly grounded in
qualitative data. It allows for the emergence of original and rich findings that are closely tied to the data.
Grounded theory researchers should make sure that they have no preconceived theoretical ideas before
starting the research. Researchers should make sure that they do not impose concepts on the data –
those concepts should emerge from the data.
The steps of grounded theory:
1. Open coding
Summarizing some text by the use of a succinct code
Constant comparison: constantly compare and contrast qualitative data in the search for
similarities and differences
2. Axial coding or selective coding
Refine the conceptual constructs
3. Theoretical coding
The formulation of a theory
Case studies: can be used in teaching and research. A case study can describe a detailed study of a single
social unit or a research method. A case study can be an empirical inquiry that investigates a
contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, especially when the boundaries between
phenomenon and context are not clearly evident.
Teaching cases: written primarily for students; designed to illustrate an existing theory or principle;
published on its own as a teaching case, often with notes for the instructor.
Research cases: written primarily for researchers; designed to contribute to a new theory or
explore/test an existing theory; published as part of a research article in a journal, conference or book.
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Research is an original investigation, undertaken in order to contribute to knowledge and understanding
in a particular field. Research is a creative activity leading to the production of new knowledge.
Knowledge = a claim is accepted because of proof of truth or warrant is given.
Belief / faith = a claim is accepted without proof or warrant; yet high strength of conviction.
Opinion = personal point of view, varies in conviction.
Contributions of qualitative research:
- Illuminate meanings: how do humans assign meaning and make sense of their world?
- Study how things work: how do (project) teams, start-ups, boards, organizations, etc. work?
- Study people’s stories, perspectives, and experiences.
- How do systems work and what are the consequences for people’s lives?
- Understand how and why context matters: political, relational, organizational, historical,
societal, etc. developments that influence the case / phenomenon.
- Identify unintended consequences.
- Making case comparisons to discover important patterns and themes across cases.
Qualitative research can be used to build or to test theory. Inductive reasoning (exploratory) is when a
researcher starts bottom-up and after collecting data starts to build theory. Deductive reasoning
(confirmatory) is when a researcher starts top-down; he or she begins with a theory and then collects
data to test it.
Qualitative research design: research problem → research method → data collection technique → data
analysis approach → written record
A research method is a strategy of inquiry, e.g. action research, case study research, ethnography,
grounded theory.
Data collection techniques: interview, participant observation and fieldwork, documents.
Data analysis approach: coding, content analysis, discourse analysis, hermeneutics, semiotics, narrative
analysis.
Written record: thesis, book, conference paper, journal article.
Lecture 2 – Research Methods
Research design involves specifying your research method, which data collection techniques you will
use, your approach to qualitative data analysis, your approach to writing up, and, if applicable, how you
plan to publish your findings. A research design provides a road map for the entire project.
Qualitative research methods:
• Action research: observations, interviews, actions during a change-process
• Archival research: documents, reports, magazines, webpages
• Ethnography: observations (immersion), culture-sharing group, shared pattern of beliefs,
behaviour meanings
• Narrative methods: stories, discourse, conversation, arguments, observations, interviews,
archival research
• Grounded theory: interviews, observations, develop theory about event or process
• Case study: observations and interviews, in-depth understanding of a contextualized
phenomenon
1
, Qualitative research Quantitative research
What’s going on? How are “things” related?
• What do “things” mean? – in context • Which associative/causal relationships
• How do “things” work? – in context exist between variables? IV→DV
Goal Goal
• Generalization from sample to theory • Generalization from sample to population
• Understanding • Inferential
• Purposive sampling • Probabilistic / random sampling
• Theory building: creation of new but • Theory testing: of hypothesis (based on
small insights (petite generalization) or theory), confirmation / disconfirmation of
of new theories (grand generalization) hypothesis, verification / falsification of
theory
Tools / Materials Tools / Materials
• Texts and observations to capture • Scales to capture experience
experience • Experience translated into numbers
• Experience translated into text (visuals) • Statistical procedures
• Qualitative procedures
Grounded theory: a research method that seeks to develop theory that is grounded in data
systematically gathered and analysed. There is a continuous interplay between data collection and
analysis. The discovery of theory from data –systematically obtained and analyzed in social research.
The purpose of grounded theory research in business and management is to develop new concepts and
theories of business-related phenomena, where these concepts and theories are firmly grounded in
qualitative data. It allows for the emergence of original and rich findings that are closely tied to the data.
Grounded theory researchers should make sure that they have no preconceived theoretical ideas before
starting the research. Researchers should make sure that they do not impose concepts on the data –
those concepts should emerge from the data.
The steps of grounded theory:
1. Open coding
Summarizing some text by the use of a succinct code
Constant comparison: constantly compare and contrast qualitative data in the search for
similarities and differences
2. Axial coding or selective coding
Refine the conceptual constructs
3. Theoretical coding
The formulation of a theory
Case studies: can be used in teaching and research. A case study can describe a detailed study of a single
social unit or a research method. A case study can be an empirical inquiry that investigates a
contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, especially when the boundaries between
phenomenon and context are not clearly evident.
Teaching cases: written primarily for students; designed to illustrate an existing theory or principle;
published on its own as a teaching case, often with notes for the instructor.
Research cases: written primarily for researchers; designed to contribute to a new theory or
explore/test an existing theory; published as part of a research article in a journal, conference or book.
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