MODERN ORGANIZATION THEORY
TERM PROJECT
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS
FROM AN ORGANIZATION MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVE
Ýhsan Ulaþ Kocaoðlu
JANUARY 2006
CONTENTS
Definition of Qualitative Research in Social Sciences
Approaches to Management Research
Positivism versus Phenomenology
Deductive and Inductive
Schools of Thought in Management Research
Major Qualitaitve Research Approaches
Ethnographic Approach
Phenomenology
Field Research
Grounded Theory
Case study
Action Research
Narrative research
Qualitative Data Collection Techniques
Interviews
Workshops / Focus Groups
Literature Review
Participant Observation
Nonparticipant Observation
Data Analysis and Analytic Techniques
Analytic induction
Constant comparison
Coding
Enumaration
Memoing
Integrative diagrams and sessions:
Quality of Qualitative Research
Credibility
Transferability
Dependability
Confirmability
Discussion and Conclusion
References
Definition of Qualitative Research in Social Sciences
The label qualitative methods is an umbrella term covering an array of interpretive 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. It involves the use of a vast array of non-statistical data collection and analysis techniques and rich mixture of inductive theory building practice. Figure 1 gives a good description of what of what type of research is considered qualitative together with what is not from research strategy and pupose to dat ...