Business Research Method -

1
Qualitative Research
Ambuj Anand
ambuj@iimranchi.ac.in
 An introductory exercise

You wanted to understand the changing meanings and uses of

the greeting cards among young single adults aged 18–30 - a 1. Survey research administered online
culturally diverse population. 2. Focus group discussions
3. Observational research
You know that e-cards are increasingly popular, but wonder 4. Individual depth interviews
whether both e-cards and traditional paper cards are likely to
5. A study of online material in forums
be seen as old fashioned by this target group.
6. Discussion groups, and social media
The answer is likely to differ over various card-giving occasions 7. Archives of the records of a
and non-occasions as well as over different types of relationships. subscription service offering online
greeting cards and gifts
How might you go about answering your question? See if you can
think of at least one study using each of the following methods:
Getting started with
qualitative research
Few initial choices

1. What research questions to answer drawing on what empirical phenomena

2. What qualitative research traditions will underpin the work

3. What kinds of data to be certain to collect

Choosing research question

Original, Important and Interesting

1. Look for some characteristic or dynamic that is particularly salient in that context.
2. If you are going to invest in studying a context or set of behaviours, you want to be able to argue that while
yours may be an extreme case, the dynamics or properties you are focusing on can indeed be found
elsewhere and are therefore worth explaining.

3. Look for concepts or constructs that are ‘taken for granted’ but that have not been examined systematically.

4. Look for assumptions that are routinely made, but not applicable in every setting.

5. Look for processes that have been ignored or incompletely understood.

A few terms

Ontology - The core knowledge

Epistemology - How is knowledge created? The right way

of doing research.

Axiology - Deals with ethics and value

A few research traditions
1. Existential phenomenology

2. Hermeneutics

3. Postmodernism

4. Critical

5. Semiotics

6. Neopositivism
Existential phenomenology
The appropriate focus of research is on the life- Given these assumptions, the kinds of research
questions that are appropriate to the existential
world of individuals and that the meanings of
phenomenological tradition tend to ask about the
people’s experiences are always situated in their nature of people’s lived experience.
current experiential context and coherently related
to their ongoing life projects

We are not seeking some universal understanding A typical ‘answer’ to such a question is a description of
thematic patterns (e.g., automobile as freedom;
of a phenomenon like consumers’ first
automobile as extended self; automobile as sexual
automobiles, but instead are seeking a deep
symbol)
understanding of what your first automobile
means to you, with the ‘you’ here being a specific
focal consumer.
Hermeneutics
All understanding is based on language. The kinds of research questions that are appropriate
to the hermeneutic tradition ask how cultural
We, as researchers, belong to a cultural world notions are shaping specific kinds of experiences
and actions.
entailing an accumulation of beliefs, theories,
codes, metaphors, myths, practices, institutions,
and ideologies.
Typically, theoretical contributions within this tradition
This cultural world shapes our understandings and entail analyses of cultural elements that are influential in
those of the people or authors of texts that we seek shaping thought or behaviour.
to understand.
Postmodernism
It is distinguished by tenets such as the following:
‘meta-narratives’ (widely shared cultural accounts
that offer explanations for how societies work, such
as the notion of the free market and the law of
supply and demand) are unwarranted
universalisms; these universalisms masquerade as
scientific or value-neutral systems of thought and
are oversimplifications that need to be unsettled,
The kinds of research questions that are appropriate to
the postmodern tradition ask how taken-for-granted
understandings of phenomena can be challenged.
Answers to such questions may offer alternative (albeit
not authoritative or universal) accounts for the
phenomena of interest.

but not replaced with competing meta-narratives;

why brands and the practices of branded goods
all knowledge, including our sense of ourselves, is a marketers ‘cause trouble’ in society.
socially constructed product of language and is
contestable.
Critical
Those working within critical traditions tend to ask what
Studies in critical traditions, like those in
factors contribute to the oppression or
postmodern traditions, are committed to critique
marginalisation of some group of actors and/or how
of that which is taken for granted. One of the key these conditions could be alleviated.
differences between work in these two genres,
however, is that work explicitly positioned within a
critical tradition is committed to examining taken-
For example, in Rob’s ethnography of Burning Man, he
for-granted assumptions and practices that sustain
framed research questions about the extent of consumer
the oppression of marginalised groups within
emancipation that can be achieved and the types of
society, and also to identifying possibilities for social practices that can be used to enable consumers
change. to escape from aspects of contemporary markets they
find oppressive.
Semiotics
Semiotic analysis focus on the structures of The kinds of questions raised in semiotic analysis
meaning-producing events, both verbal and non- tend to ask how specific words, phrases, gestures,
verbal, and investigate the sign systems or codes myths, images, products or practices within a
that facilitate the production and interpretation of symbol system acquire meaning.
signs or symbols. They make the assumption that
there is an intimate connection between human
sense making and language; that signs are
arbitrarily associated with the things they signify
within any language system; and that different
language systems divide conceptual categories in
distinct ways.
Neopositivism
Qualitative work within neopositivist traditions is Work within this tradition will typically ask questions
grounded in assumptions such as the following: regarding the factors that help to explain a particular
phenomenon, or the consequences that may arise
while mechanistic, causal, predictive accounts of
when a particular phenomenon occurs.
social phenomena are untenable, relational and
probabilistic explanations of patterned regularities
in social phenomena are possible and desirable;
the pursuit of such explanations requires that
constructs that help to explain, or that are in need
of explanation, be clearly specified; the goal of
research will often be to identify both the likely
relationships among a set of constructs, and the
contingent conditions under which those
relationships might occur.
Few thoughts on research traditions
It is extremely common for work to span two or sometimes even three research traditions, emphasising
some but not all elements of each.

Research traditions are not set in stone. They evolve over time; practices that originated within one
tradition may be adapted to suit the purposes of another.

The majority of these traditions have historically focused primarily on the spoken or written word – on what
people say rather than what they do. Yet observational methods begin with the assumption that what
people say is very often discrepant with what they do.
Data collection within a research tradition
Qualitative data can be collected via interviews,
projective techniques, archival sources,
ethnography, netnography, or observations (on- or
off-line). And neither research questions nor
research traditions strictly prescribe or proscribe
the use of particular types of data. However, it is
worth briefly noting that the research traditions in
which your questions are situated may make it
desirable for you to plan to collect certain kinds of
data.
Since phenomenology is focused on the life-worlds
of individuals, it would be difficult if not impossible
to get insight into these without carefully crafted,
non-directive interviews. Introspection can also be
a source of data for a phenomenological approach
(Giorgi 1985). As supplements, diaries or letters
might be useful. Observational data, for example,
simply cannot provide the kinds of access to
reflective thought that is the main target of analysis
in phenomenological work, though it can be a
useful complement to interviews and introspection
Data collection within a research tradition
Work situated in a hermeneutic tradition can draw
on interviews, texts produced by relevant people
or groups, and on ethnography or netnography.
Note, however, that the kind of interviews
appropriate for work in the hermeneutic tradition
are different from those situated in the
phenomenological tradition. As Moisander et al.
(2009) argue, psychologically oriented interviews
are appropriate for phenomenological research,
but hermeneutic research requires interviews that
do more to explore the cultural categories and
discourses that inform people’s views and actions.
Observations alone would rarely be sufficient for
projects rooted in a hermeneutic tradition since
they require access to understandings as
articulated by informants. However, observations
can be extremely useful supplements to interview
data as they can help researchers to appreciate
understandings that are taken-for-granted but not
articulated by those being studied.
Data collection within a research tradition
Postmodern tradition, it is likely that texts will be a
primary source of data.
The meta-narratives that are the typical target of
postmodern analysis will be enshrined in texts of
varying kinds, ranging from advertisements to the
writings of other scholars. Interview data may be
supplementary to textual data, as the things people
say are inevitably influenced by metanarratives and
taken-for-granted understandings that can be
deconstructed in order to reveal these influences
and their logics.
Work within critical traditions will often draw upon
interview and ethnographic data to help to
understand the experiences of marginalisation or
powerlessness that people experience, and their
efforts to understand and alleviate that which they
find objectionable.
Archival data that sheds light on the conditions
giving rise to patterns of power and control will
often be useful, as will relevant historical,
sociological and cultural analyses of the context
under consideration.
Data collection within a research tradition
Those working in semiotic traditions will typically
study archival texts (verbal or visual) that have
been deliberately created for some communicative
purpose, such as advertisements. However, texts
that are created in response to questions, such as
interview data, have also been deployed within the
semiotic tradition.
Work within neopositivist traditions may draw on
virtually any and every kind of data. It would be
rare for work in these traditions to rely on
interview data alone, but it is common for
interview data to be included in the set of data
collected for such a project. Work in these
traditions will often seek triangulation across data
sources, so comparing insights from one data
source (e.g., interviews) with insights from another
source (e.g., archival media data) is common.