essential-guide-to-qualitative-in-organizational-research

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– CRITICAL INCIDENT TECHNIQUE –––––––––– 51MethodThe CIT was conducted at the family home where the business owner also located hisbusiness. Both the business owner and his wife were present and both responded to theinterviewer’s questions.Background to the case studyPrior to setting up his present micro-business ‘Bernard’ owned three other small businessesin the service sector. The events, which unfolded, were dramatic and critical both to thedemise of those businesses and the establishment, structure and size of the emergent microbusiness.Although this is a complex case in which much of the detail has had to be omitted,it illustrates how the critical incident technique may be used to reveal the particularconstruction placed on events, how incidents were handled and what the consequences were:that is, the context of action, the tactics, strategies and coping mechanisms adopted, and theoutcomes, results or consequences of actions, and the new situation with which they arefaced. 4 The discussion is presented from the business owner’s perspective of a series ofnegative incidents that impacted upon his business activities (and indeed his domestic andpersonal life).The critical incidents which ‘Bernard’ identified were(a) bringing in a business partner;(b) taking up a leasehold property;(c) fraudulent behaviour of seven staff; and(d) the asset stripping and loss of the business at the hands of a less than honest solicitor.In describing these incidents Bernard also highlighted other associated problems.Focusing the interview initiallyThe interviewer briefly explained the purpose of the interview and then asked theinterviewees if they would give an account of the development of the business over thepreceding five years, focusing upon anything that had happened, which they believed hadchanged its fortunes for either good or ill. To aid this process, the interviewer presented anA4 card containing a double arrow-headed line running centrally along its length. She thenasked the interviewees to mark chronologically along its length the significant events that hadoccurred. The events were labelled on the card, and a brief account of what took place wasgiven. This is an important first stage because the interviewer must be absolutely clear in hermind what in general terms has happened, and in what sequence. Thus the interviewer soughtclarification of the respondents until she was clear, and then asked them to select and namethree of the incidents for more detailed discussion.Controlling the interview thereafterThe speech of the interviewees was recorded in detail and punctuated occasionally by probesthat refocused attention. For example,