Qualitative Research in Business & Management

Citation

Sharma, U. (2009), "Qualitative Research in Business & Management", Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Vol. 6 No. 4, pp. 292-296. https://doi.org/10.1108/11766090910989536

Following the usual approach taken in Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, the dual reviews provided here offer differing perspectives on this book. Umesh Sharma has recently completed a PhD at the University of Waikato, in which he drew on qualitative research methods. Paul Collier is a Professor of Accounting at Monash University and an experienced qualitative researcher.

Review 1

The book by Myers is a useful introductory book for graduate and postgraduate students in business and management intending to conduct a qualitative research project. The book is in seven parts as follows:

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  Part (i) provides a general introduction to qualitative research in business and management.

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  Part (ii) examines an overview of qualitative research's fundamental concepts.

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  Part (iii) addresses research method.

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  Part (iv) discusses data collection techniques.

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  Part (v) outlines analysing and interpreting qualitative data.

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  Part (vi) examines writing and publishing qualitative research.

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  Part (vii) is the concluding section that addresses qualitative research in perspective and is followed by a glossary of commonly used terms in qualitative research.

In part (i), the author acknowledges that qualitative research methods are designed to help researchers understand people and what they say and do. The author notes that qualitative researchers may like to ask questions such as what, why, how and when? Myers posits that important questions that researchers might like to ask are: what is happening here? Why is it happening? How has it come to happen this way? And when did it happen? Myers claims that research questions can be derived from literature. Most importantly, qualitative researchers need to make some kind of theoretical contribution in order to be published in academic journals.

Part (ii) discusses fundamental concepts of research which is addressed in Chapters 3‐5. Chapter 3 describes a research design for qualitative research which provides a road map to the whole research project. Myers emphasises that the chosen topic should be of interest to a researcher. My experience is that the research question should be of personal interest and intrigue to keep researcher at it even if they are not sure why. Literature review helps to identify gaps and generate a list of potential research question. Theoretical framework is the next stage of research design which is little discussed in the book. Chapter 4 discusses research assumption such as the underlying epistemology that guides research in terms of knowledge and how the knowledge can be obtained. The chapter also identifies differences between positivist, interpretive and critical research. Chapter 5 discusses ethics and focuses on moral principles as they apply to qualitative researchers. Ethics involves respect and protection for the people actively consenting to be studied.

The qualitative research method forms part (iii) of the book which is addressed in Chapters 6‐9. Chapter 6 describes action research which aims to create organisational change and studies the process. Chapter 7 discusses case study research and outlines two popular uses of case studies: teaching and research. Myers relies on Yin's (2003) book on case study research, which is a positivist approach. While other perspectives such as interpretive and critical case studies are briefly discussed, some examples from the literature may be helpful. Myers does suggest that case study research is time consuming and only those who are enthusiastic, committed and have necessary people skills should consider doing case research. Chapter 8 describes ethnographic research, which according to Myers is one of the most in‐depth research methods possible. The researcher may be at the research site for a period of time to examine what people do and say. Chapter 9 discusses grounded theory which involves a continuous interplay between data collection and analysis. Although the author has placed grounded theory under research methods, it belongs equally under data analysis.

The data collection techniques form part (iv) of the book which is addressed in Chapters 10‐12. Chapter 10 discusses interview which is the most common way of data collection for qualitative researchers. Interviewing, I believe, is an art and some techniques or ways of asking questions and probing questions needs to be outlined here which may be beneficial to an inexperienced qualitative researcher. Chapter 11 discusses participant observation and fieldwork while Chapter 12 discusses use of documents as a means of data collection. Documents are useful as they can supplement interview data and provide background information for framing interview questions and planning fieldwork.

The qualitative data analysis (QDA) forms part (v) of the book and is addressed in Chapters 13‐16. The author acknowledges that the qualitative researcher ends up with large data sets, and so analysis is essential. The author offers some guidance on data analysis such as series of events, hermeneutics, semiotics, and narrative analysis. QDA software programs such as NVivo are important but are discussed only briefly. A separate chapter could have been devoted to that. Chapter 14 outlines hermeneutics which helps a researcher to understand text and the chapter contains some good case study applications of hermeneutics. Chapter 15 addresses semiotics which is concerned with analysis of signs and symbols while Chapter 16 discusses narrative analysis where one has to tell a story in a coherent manner.

Writing up and publishing forms part (vi) of the book and is addressed in Chapters 17‐18. Chapter 17 discusses the write up of research where the author stipulates that a qualitative researcher is a story teller. Chapter 18 discusses getting published. Myers notes that his motto is that research is not finished until published which ensures that the researcher finishes a research project before getting sidetracked with other things. He offers good suggestions to novice researchers on the journal's review process: “I find that the sooner I am able to take their comments on board, and the sooner I am able to understand their points of view (reviewers), the sooner I am able to revise the paper. And the sooner it is revised, the sooner I am able to resubmit it to another journal” (p. 243).

In summary, I feel the book is comprehensive, well written, and covers a variety of research methods, approaches and is a valuable resource for qualitative researchers. All the examples of qualitative research are chosen from top academic journals. However, the qualitative research may not be as simple as it seems; it involves a huge investment of time and energy. One has to get the philosophical assumptions correct and adhere to those assumptions throughout the project. Understanding the theoretical framework may involve wider reading of books and journal articles that may have used a similar framework. Data collection may result in massive amounts of data which the researcher has to manage in order to report only relevant data after going through the analysis. Qualitative research is about telling a coherent story within a chosen theoretical framework, which may not be easy. However, with some experience, the process may become less daunting for novice researchers. While there may not be much new in the book for experienced qualitative researchers, nevertheless those embarking on qualitative research will find this a useful read. The references (13 pages) at the end of the book offer a wealth of follow up reading material for qualitative researchers. I recommend this book to those wishing to embark on qualitative research.

Review 2

This book is aimed at graduate and postgraduate students who want to understand qualitative research. In the main, it is an easy book to read, the arrangement of material in each chapter is logical, and there are examples and lists that will no doubt be helpful to students.

The book has a number of strengths. First, it contrasts scientific and professional models of research. The first assumes valid and reliable data, peer review and publication in academic journals with the focus on a theoretical contribution. Whilst this is what drives university research, it is often criticised by practitioners as having little relevance to them. Professional research by contrast is relevant to business practice and is more likely to be published in practitioner journals, emphasising the practical contribution of the research. However, this kind of research can be criticised as consultancy offering “quick fixes.” Myers does not see these as mutually exclusive. Whilst Myers argues that scientific research should be more relevant to business problems, it should not be consultancy as the insights from a scientific research approach are likely to be relevant to business over the longer term. Myers emphasises the strength of qualitative research as its ability to study the complexity inherent in real organisations.

Second, Myers provides a good understanding of the quantitative/qualitative debate through an introduction to epistemology. He views qualitative research through positivist, interpretive and critical lenses, whereas many books on qualitative research assume a single, often interpretive epistemology. The positivist takes a natural science approach emphasising prediction based on dependent and independent variables. The interpretive emphasises describing and explaining, focusing on social and behavioural aspects of organisations. The critical challenges the status quo. All of these are valuable approaches, but Myers makes clear that researchers must understand their own underlying philosophical assumptions.

Third, the book provides a sound theoretical treatment of action research, case studies, ethnography and grounded theory as alternative approaches to doing qualitative research. These are explained as different ways of enquiring about the subject of the researcher's interest. These alternative research methods differ as to the role played by theory. In action research, the focus is on solving real business problems, in which the role of theory is often secondary. Case studies use data to explain and contribute to the development of theory. Ethnographies involve long period in the field to obtain rich and deep understandings, typically about organisational culture and context. Grounded theory develops theory by a continual interplay between theory and data to develop new concepts and theories. The choice of research method depends on the researcher's philosophical assumptions and the research question that is being investigated.

Fourth, Myers reviews alternative methods of analysing a large volume of qualitative data: hermeneutics, semiotics, and narrative analysis. Methods of data analysis are often missing from books of this kind. Hermeneutics is concerned with understanding what people say and do, making sense of contradictory pieces of evidence and constructing the whole from (what is often more than) the sum of its parts. Semiotics is concerned not only with words but also with the meaning of signs and symbols, like brands and logos, rituals and culture. Narratives may be organizational history represented in texts, reconstructions of past events, each providing a sequential description. These chapters may present difficult concepts for the new researcher to grasp, but they are worth persevering with as each method provides different insights into the data that the researcher has collected.

However, Myers' book has a number of weaknesses. In particular, there is insufficient depth of coverage of the skills required for qualitative data collection with the chapters on interviewing, participant observation and archival research being fairly brief. For example, the chapter on interviewing has an over‐emphasis on the dramaturgical approach and neglects coverage of different questioning techniques. The section on gaining access, of fundamental importance to qualitative researchers, is also rather sketchy. Consequently, the book is unlikely to be able to be used by a student without reference to other books which give more in‐depth coverage to data collection methods.

A further weakness is the selection of cases that are drawn on as examples of good practice. There is an over‐representation here of the author's own published works and it would have been preferable had a wider net been cast from a wider variety of sources to obtain examples of qualitative research. Whilst the chapter on research design and writing a research proposal offer sound, practical advice, the chapter on writing up could be expanded. There are substantial differences between writing up a thesis and a journal paper, and the author could have elaborated these differences, perhaps with a separate chapter on writing a journal paper. There are several books on qualitative research that are aimed at the graduate and postgraduate student audience but on the whole Myers' book is a valuable addition to that collection. The book will be particularly helpful for students who want to understand the theories and approaches that underlie qualitative research, which is overall the major strength of the book. In taking this approach Myers' book does, in an easy to read and accessible manner, fill a gap in the market that many other books on qualitative research fail to satisfy. However, the book will be less helpful for those who want more practical advice and a detailed explanation of gaining access and collecting data collection.