Bocconi University Phd in Business Administration & Management. Qualitative Research Methods Course outline. Fall term, 2013

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Bocconi University

Phd in Business Administration & Management

Qualitative Research Methods

Course outline

Fall term, 2013

Professor Stefania Borghini stefania.borghini@unibocconi.it ph: + 39 02 5836 3736 Room: c1 12, 4th floor Course overview and objectives

This course is intended for doctoral students who want to learn more about the opportunities and the challenges of qualitative research. Through the knowledge of the theory and practice of this approach students will know how discoveries arise, imaginative theorizing can develop and how methodological rigor of research has to be assured.

We will focus on four widely used methods across management and marketing science – case study, ethnography, in‐depth interview, and grounded‐theory building – but students will also have the opportunity to discuss other methods or perspectives (e.g., semiotic analysis, literary analysis, discourse analysis, feminist thought, etc.) following the specific interests of the class.

Thus, the objectives of this course are:

1. developing basic skills in analysing and building theory from qualitative data; 2. understanding how to read and assess the contributions of qualitative research; 3. experimenting in the use of the most popular qualitative methods;

4. exploring generic issues in conducting and publishing qualitative research such as identifying research questions, integrating research with prior literature, demonstrating the quality of the work, etc.

Contents

The course will be based on eight two‐hour sessions. Topics discussed during the sessions will be: a) Ontological and epistemological assumptions of qualitative research

b) Selecting a qualitative research method

c) Designing qualitative research: site selection, sampling, and data collection

d) Data analysis and interpretation: coding procedures, triangulation, case analysis, cross‐case comparison

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2 e) Writing and publishing qualitative research

Assignments and weighting

Examination will be based on the following elements:

 Written hand‐ins of two assignments on data collection (interviewing/observation) and analysis (coding) (30%) [Assignments 1 and 2]

 Review and presentation of one qualitative method not discussed during the course (7‐9 pages + extended bibliography) (20%) or Review and presentation on how qualitative methods are used within in a given research tradition compared to others (e.g., Phenomenology, Symbolic Interactionism, Dramaturgy and dramatism, Hermeneutics, Gidden’s structuration theory, Institutional Theory, Sociomaterial Practice Theories (20%)  Final paper: proposal of a qualitative research project (10 pages max.) (40%)

 In class active participation (10%)

More in details, the requirements are structured as follows:

Assignment 1

Students will have to develop a small project of data collection based on interviews and/or observation.

The assignment entails:

 identifying a research topic that might be addressed drawing on qualitative data analysis;  creating an interview guide and conducting a couple of interviews or a couple of hours of

observations related to the topic;

 developing a preliminary discussion of emerging insights of derived from these interviews and/or observations.

Students have to give me the interview guide, the transcripts of the interviews, the field notes, and the comments of the emerging data.

Assignment 2

Students will have to analyse their data according to the coding procedure of qualitative methods and refine the interview guide and the research focus accordingly. Afterwards they will collect additional data and improve the preliminary insights about the focus.

Thus this assignment entails:

 coding data following the procedures;

 collecting additional data (interviews of maximum three people or data collection of archival materials on the web – facebook, blogs, etc.);

 coding the new data;

 developing a final discussion of insights on the research questions.

Students have to give me the new interview guide, the transcripts of the interviews, the field notes, and the comments of the emerging data, the list of codes.

Review and presentation of one qualitative method

Each student will choose one method not discussed in the course and will provide a review and an extended bibliography. Alternatively students can select one research tradition which privileges qualitative methods and provide a review (supported by an extended bibliography too) about the common practices in the conduct of research, the framing of research questions, the collection of

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data, the analysis of data and the interpretation of data. Moreover they have to show what usually constitutes a theoretical contribution.

Final paper

This assignment is based on Assignments 1 and 2. Students will have to write the frontend of the proposal for their qualitative research project following this structure:

 identifying the final research question addressed in the paper;

 identifying how this research question grows out of and is situated within an existing literature;

 describing the method;

 anticipating the aimed contribution of the paper

Recommended readings

In addition to the required readings listed for each session, I strongly recommend reading at least one book in Qualitative Methods that can provide a general tour of the field:

Belk, R. 2006. Handbook of Qualitative Research Methods in Marketing, Edward Elgar

Denzin, N & Lincoln, Y. Handbook of Qualitative Research (2nd edition), Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.,

McCracken, Grant (1988), The Long Interview, Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.

Prasad, Pushkala (2005) Crafting Qualitative Research: Working in the Postpositivisit Traditions. Armonk, NY: Sharpe.

Required readings

The sessions will be structured on discussing the assigned readings. Students must complete all of the assigned readings before class. In turn each student will lead the discussion on one of the articles. A The presentation of the article will have to include:

‐ key contribution of the method introduced by the paper ‐ how the authors justify its use

‐ how they report data collection ‐ how they have analyzed the data ‐ criteria of validity and generalizability

‐ points of strength and weakness of the method

In class, the discussion leaders should prepare questions, key ideas, and implications of the paper to discuss with the class. I encourage discussion leaders to create slides to support the discussion, which should last maximum 20 minutes.

Other students will select an article based on the method – possibly from their main field of interest – that they find particularly compelling (or particularly weak!), and come to class ready to discuss their assessment. How does it differ from the average piece of quantitative work? Which are its main points of strengths? And weaknesses? What do they consider its main contributions to the field from the academic and practical point of view?

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Session 1 Monday, November 4th 2013, 2.30pm ‐4.00pm

Topic Introduction. The case and rationale for qualitative research

Assignments Read in advance:

 Hudson Anderson L., & Ozanne, J. L. 1988. Alternative ways of seeking knowledge in consumer research, Journal of Consumer Research, 14: 508‐521.  Gephardt, R. 2004. Qualitative research and the Academy of Management

Journal. Academy of Management Journal, 7(4): 454‐462.

 Bansal, P. & Corley, K. 2012. What’s different about qualitative research?

Academy of Management Journal, 55(3): 509‐513.

 Melissa E. Graebner M. E., Martin J. A. and Roundy, P. T. 2012 Qualitative data: Cooking without a recipe, Strategic Organization, Volume 10, Issue 3.

Before the class, please send me the reference of the article that has influenced

your methodological preferences or that you think is going to inspire most your

future research work.

Please let me know about your choice at least a week before, so that I have the time to retrieve and read the articles in advance.

Further

readings (optional)

 Locke, K. 2001. Grounded Theory in Management Research, London: Sage, Ch. 1, pp. 1‐19.

 Strauss, A.L., J.M. Corbin. 1998. Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and

Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. Thousand Oaks: Sage, Ch. 1, pp. 1‐17.

 Morgan, G., & Smircich, L. 1980. The case for qualitative research. Academy of

Management Review, 5: 491–500.

 Lee, Mitchell & Sablynski 1999. Qualitative research in organizational and vocational psychology. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 55: 161‐187.

 Shah, S.K. et Corley, K.G. 2006. Building better theory by bridging the quantitative‐qualitative divide. Journal of Management Studies, 43(8): 1821‐ 1835.

Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. Thousand Oaks: Sage, Ch. 15 – Students Questions & Answers, pp. 313‐331.

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Session 2 Tuesday 12/11/2013, 2.30pm‐4.00pm

Topic Designing qualitative research: Defining a problem, selecting a site, and

sampling informants

 Strauss, A.L., & J.M. Corbin. 1998. Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques

and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. Thousand Oaks: Sage, Ch. 2, pp. 19‐44.

 Locke, Karen D. and Karen Golden‐Biddle 1997. Constructing Opportunities for Contribution. Academy of Management Journal. 40( 5) 1023‐ 1063.

 Alvesson, M. and Sandberg, J. 2011. Generating research questions through problematization. Academy of Management Review 36 (2) 247–271.

Exemplary research (focus on intro, method and data reporting):

 Dutton, J. & Dukerich, J. 1991. Keeping an eye on the mirror: Image and identity in organizational adaptation. Academy of Management Journal, 34: 517‐554

Further

readings

 Miles, M.B. & Huberman A.M. 1994. Qualitative Data Analysis. Thousand Oaks: Sage, Ch. 2, pp. 16‐39.

 Lee, T. W. 1999. Using Qualitative Methods in Organization Research. London: Sage.

 Patton M. Q. 2002. Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods, Newbury Park: Sage.

 Stern, B. ed. 1998. Representing Consumers: Voices, Views, and Visions. NY: Routledge. Sessions 3,4 Wednesday 19/11/2013, 2.30 pm‐5.45 pm Topic Techniques for data collection: Interviewing (i)

 Thompson, C. J., Locander, W. B., and Pollio, H. R. 1989. Putting consumer experience back into consumer research: the philosophy and method of existential‐phenomenology, Journal of Consumer Research, 16:2, 133‐146.  Thomas, R.J. 1993. Interviewing important people in big companies. Journal of

Contemporary Ethnography 22(1) 80‐96.

 Alvesson, M. 2003. Beyond Neo positivists, romantics and localists: A reflexive approach to interview in organizational research . Academy of Management

Review, 28 (1), 13‐33.

Articles useful for improving your data collection efforts

 Rook, D. 2006. Let’s pretend: projective methods reconsidered. Handbook of

Qualitative Research Methods in Marketing. Ed. Russell Belk, pp. 143‐145.  Zaltman, Gerald, (1997), Rethinking Market Research: Putting People Back in,

Journal of Marketing Research, 34, November, 424‐43.

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readings

 McCracken, G. 1988. The long interview. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

 Spradley, J.P. 1979. The ethnographic interview. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York.

Assignment 1 (due 25/11/2013 at 6.00pm, please send your assignment to

stefania.borghini@unibocconi.it):

Students will receive personal feedbacks during my meeting hours. Please fix an appointment with me in advance. Sessions 5,6 Tuesday 26/11/2013, 2.30 pm‐5.45 pm Topic Ethnography

 Arnould, E. J. & Wallendorf, M. 1994. Market‐oriented ethnography: Interpretation building and marketing strategy formulation, Journal of

Marketing Research, 31: 484‐504

 Barley, S. 1990. Images of imaging: Notes of doing longitudinal fieldwork,

Organization Science, 1(3): 220‐247.

 Golden‐Biddle, K. & Locke, K. 1993. Appealing work: An investigation of how ethnographic texts convince. Organization Science, 4(4): 595‐616.

 Van Maanen, J. 1979. The Fact of Fiction in Organizational Ethnography,

Administrative Science Quarterly, 24(4): 539‐550.

Exemplary research (focus on intro, method and data reporting)

 Schouten, J.W. & McAlexander, J.H. 1995. Subcultures of consumption; An ethnography of the new bikers. Journal of Consumer Research, 22: 43‐61.  Sutton, R. & Hargadon, A. 1996. Brainstorming groups in context: Effectiveness

in a product design firm. Administrative Science Quarterly, 41: 685‐718.