Capturing Hybrid Institutional Logics in Higher Education: Qualitative Document Analysis as Methodological Approach

Abstract

As researchers and analysts apply the theory of institutional logics to higher education, they may choose from a variety of methods and analytical techniques by which to proceed. This chapter focuses on qualitative document analysis as one helpful approach to capturing logics–organising principles and underlying theories of action–in colleges and universities. It builds on the recent call to mobilise the institutional logics perspective for higher education research by offering a conceptual framework for qualitative document analysis, and an example of analytical and coding procedures applied to documentary materials on financing and resourcing strategies of US public research universities. The chapter concludes with implications for theory as gleaned from using this method, such as its value in probing emergent combinations of multiple logics in contexts of institutional complexity, and addresses broader methodological considerations to support future work in this arena.

Citation

Warshaw, J.B. and Upton, S. (2018), "Capturing Hybrid Institutional Logics in Higher Education: Qualitative Document Analysis as Methodological Approach", Theory and Method in Higher Education Research (Theory and Method in Higher Education Research, Vol. 4), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 67-84. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2056-375220180000004006