Qualitative Researach Methods - Book 1

Qualitative Research Methods
Mik-Meyer and Justesen: Qualitative research methods in
organisation studies.
2022-2023
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Table of Contents
Summary of Mik-Meyer and Justesen: Qualitative research methods in organisation
studies. ....................................................................................................................................... 3
Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................ 3
Chapter 2: Quality criteria .................................................................................................... 4
Chapter 3: Interviews ............................................................................................................ 5
Chapter 5: participant observation ...................................................................................... 6
Chapter 6: Documents .......................................................................................................... 8
Chapter 7: Short summary of the book ............................................................................... 8
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Summary of Mik-Meyer and Justesen: Qualitative research
methods in organisation studies.
Chapter 1: Introduction
The 3 perspectives described in the book (realism, phenomenology and constructivism)
are often used in social research and organisational studies.
Ontology = the study of the nature of being à how we view the subject/object of our
study
Epistemology = theory of knowledge à concerned with our ability to attain knowledge of
a subject area
Quantitative methodology = generates data that forms the basis of numerical analysis
à descriptive or explanatory
à are often based on a realist perspective
Qualitative methodology = uses non-numerical data, such as interviews. Not
measured in terms of quantity, amount, intensity or frequency.
Realist perspective:
Perspective that is based on a fundamental assumption that reality exists in a specific
and in principle unambiguous manner “out there” independently of our knowledge of it.
Research is to capture the phenomena that interest us and to describe them as
accurately, neutrally and clearly as possible.
there is a single reality, it exists in a certain form, independently of our language and
knowledge > it is objective. To attain knowledge, we must minimize subjective and
contextual elements as far as possible à knowledge is objective
- descriptive and explanatory
- sub-categories:
- positivism
- critical rationalism
- critical realism
- post-positivism
- objective descriptions are important!
à but is an ideal, perfect reflection of reality = impossible
- realism seeks to reveal social structures that govern behaviour.
- dual focus on the actors and the underlying mechanisms/structures à object is
partially hidden
- context assumes major significance in realism: how does it interact with the object?
- Discussion on the nature of reality are based on three dimensions: (1) truth à what do
we understand by the concept of true in relation to false? (2) materiality à what do we
understand by the concept of materiality in relation to illusion? (3) essence à what do we
understand by the concept of essence in relation to construction? àDimensions form the
basis on which realists and constructivists discuss what is real and how this reality can
be observed.
Phenomenology perspective
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- represents a break with the ideal of objectivity of realism
- All facts are from the outsets facts selected from a universal context by the activities of
our mind > always interpreted facts. There is no access to reality outside of our
knowledge or interpretation of it
- subjectivity and interpretation are crucial on ontological/epistemological level
- ‘there has to be a subject who experiences the phenomenon, otherwise there would be
no phenomenon.’
- key concept = life-world à everyday world we take for granted (= collective world)
- interested in motives behind action
à in-order motives à future state that the individual seeks to achieve
through the action
à because motives à to past experiences cause an individual to act as
he/she does
- no neutral researcher, focus on unique and specific, other concept of truth.
Constructivist perspective
- our knowledge of the world consists of construction of reality
- phenomena are contingent à historically/socially conditioned
- world is collectively constructed
- anti-essentialists analysis, reality has no essential core/meaning, but is shaped into
something specific via contingent social and historical processes and practices.
- critical of the notion that there is a single independent , unique reality, but also reject
the idea that reality (singular of plural) has an inherent essence or a stable and coherent
meaningfulness. Object of study is never looked at independently of social processes,
and its specific context. à constructed constantly à both ambiguous and unstable.
(different from phenomenology)
Different theoretical perspectives lead to different types of research questions.
Chapter 2: Quality criteria
General quality criteria’s:
- coherence = the extent to which the components part of a study are logically coherent
- consistency = requires that concepts, methodology and theories be applied in a
consequent manner through the project
- precision = concepts must be clearly defined
- transparency = the way of approaching and choices about methods must be clear
- validity = the extent to which the study’s findings actually shed light on the research
question. ‘Do we measure what we say we will measure.’
- reliability = whether the study’s methodology is well defined and if the study could be
repeated
The meaning of validity is dependent on the research perspective. Both concepts are
defined different by the 3 perspectives and sometimes note even used.
Realism and quality criteria
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- most easily uses the validity and reliability criteria
- generalisability = the desire to generalise a study’s findings
- representativeness = those selected for the research must be representative for the
larger group
- triangulation = adopting more than one angle on the same subject (to reduce bias,
increase robustness & validity
à see Yin for the 4 types of triangulation (data, methods, theory and investigator
triangulation)
Phenomenology and quality criteria
- communicative validity = testing the validity claims in dialogue. Subjective to the
experiences of the interviewees (respondent validity)
- quality of craftsmanship = social, intersubjective practice in which a consensus has
been reached about what constitutes good craftsmanship in research
Constructivism and quality criteria
- criteria are highly context dependent
- research must be convincing, relevant or interesting
- reflexivity = requires the researcher to reflect upon the role that their own
position/experiences play in the study
- desire for polyphony = making room for different voices, that are supressed or
marginalised (e.g. official organization discourse)
Chapter 3: Interviews
Concept of interview = ‘an inter change of views between 2 persons conversing about a
theme of mutual interest.’
Concepts, key questions and theory
Unstructured interview =
- interviewee is responsible for structure, leading the conversation
- suited for exploratory studies
- how & what questions
Semi-structured interview =
- interviewer works from a guide
- themes/key issues defined in advance
- exploratory research with how & what questions
Structured interview =
- interview guide designed in advance
- questions and order are already prepared
An interview differs from a normal conversation in:
1. an interview has an underlying purpose
2. an interview is more or less structured through the interview guide
3. in an interview the roles are determined (interviewer vs. interviewee)
Realist studies will be more interest in the interview’s what and see the context as noise.
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Constructivist analysis often have an interest in analysing the interview’s how.
Realism
- mining metaphor of ‘digging out valuable knowledge or meaning’ from the interviewee
- a structured interview will increase reliability & generalisability
- this minimizes the interviewer effect = influence of the interviewer on the interviewee
- assumption that the interviewee possesses knowledge about the issue of the study
Phenomenology
- point is to describe reality as people receive it
- open questions aimed at extracting examples à semi-structured interview
- establish an open-minded space
- concept of inter-subjectivity is central à mutual influencing is seen as inevitable
condition of human interaction
Constructivism
- knowledge is dependent upon perspectives and is constructed in social processes
- context of interviews plays a central role
- constructivists pay attention to how the design/guide/techniques/location etc. affect
the interview itself
- great deal of discussion about influence of behaviour, gender, age on the interview
- open question, but empathy does not help in getting insight (different from
phenomenology, who believe that empathy is an important task for the interviewer)
Chapter 5: participant observation
P.O. enables more informal knowledge about object of study:
- no appointment is needed
- is a time-consuming method
- suited to build up unprocessed knowledge about practice
- provides info about ‘tacit-knowledge’
- option to observe from an ‘outside-looking-in’ viewpoint or observe and participate (=
‘insider’ viewpoint)
Concepts, key question and theory
- unpredictable and creative process
- should be very focused and relatively structured when having limited time
- can choose between:
1. total participant = going native
2. total observer = very distance
3. participant-as-observer
4. observer-as-participant
- detailed notes made in the field are very important
1. brief notes = reminder of event
2. descriptive notes = reproduce an event
3. analytical notes = relate the descriptive notes to each other
4. reflective notes = document the observers feelings/thoughts
Advantages
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- easy method of gaining insider knowledge
- well place to produce ‘holistic’ analysis
Disadvantages
- time-consuming
- not easy to obtain access
- high risk of misunderstanding and misinterpretation
Perspective-implications
- clear phenomenological feature
- emic (inside) and etic (outside)
Realism
- to get ‘behind the façade’ of reality
- avoid errors that are present in majority of qualitative studies
- gain an insight into reality that remains concealed otherwise
In realist inspired studies, there is a tendency to develop methods and techniques to
ensure that the students personal situation (gender, age, educational background..)
plays as small role as possible. > Ideal of capturing an objective reality, the most useful
material in this perspective is collected by means of pure observation methods.
Phenomenology
- gaining insight into the life-world of the actors
- requires sensitivity and empathy (thus observation over longer period)
- emic, insider view
- focus is on participants feelings experiences and motives
- objectively produced descriptions of subjectively produced opinions
Phenomenology inspired studies, the students will try to capture the actor’s life worlds
in a tangible and methodical manner by establishing trusting and empathetic
relationships with them. > Through empathy and sensitivity to get as close as possible to
their everyday lives and experiences > get an insight into the collective work in relation
to which their actions should be understood. > intervene as little as possible in order to
minimize the impact upon the site being studied.
Constructivism
- does emphasize relations between social actors, but has no ambition of understand
reality as understood by participants
- focuses on practices and institutional conditions
- actively relate to the theory in advance
In constructivist inspired studies, the starting point for Participant observation is that
the student will influence the field via her personality, experiences and research focus.
However the assumption is that this effect is an inherent condition of social science
studies that emphasise the importance of human activity. > actively relate to these basic
conditions in her analysis work = not trying to minimize the impact on the actors in the
field.
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Chapter 6: Documents
Documents are an integral part of contemporary organisational reality. Documents can
be and are used as qualitative material in research. Document studies are based on
empirical material, which is created independently of the researcher’s project.
Neo-institutional perspective argues that organizations produce documents for
legitimacy, rationality and accountability à these types of studies focus on production
process or consumption process
Concept of intertextuality is key à texts very often refer to other texts
Genre = relatively, homogeneous group of texts that differ from others in style,
composition and theme. Theoretical and practical questions involved. Practical
questions about documents are about the selection and the access.
Production process studies are about how did the document come about, how was it
written.
Consumption process studies are about how was it received and processed through the
organization and the people who read it.
Realism
- documents are seen as a form of source material that provides insights in reality
- crucial to be critical and select
- content analysis (template method)
- high credibility, representativeness and neutrality are important.
Phenomenology
- will be more interested in ‘everyday texts’
- aim is to study how documents become meaning full in a person’s subjective
experience
- choose texts that are meaningful to the actors à combination of document studies with
interviews and observation
Constructivism
- rejects the idea that representativeness is a critical criterion (just as phenomenology)
- texts must be exemplary à illustrating a particular point
- assumption that texts actively help shape perception and construct concepts
- texts must also be normative or reflective.
Chapter 7: Short summary of the book
Good research question = practical and corresponds with the chosen perspective
A qualitative study starts with curiosity à translated into research problem à into
research question à methodology
Summary of perspectives:
Realism = single reality that exists in a particular way, regardless of the knowledge of it
and the used language
Phenomenology = several different realities only meaningful if we understand it in terms
of subject’s experience and interpretations
Constructivism = understanding of reality is a social construction.
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