I have been offering a doctoral course in qualitative research methods (QRM) at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore every year since 2003. It was a 20 hour doctoral elective till 2006 and is now a 30 hour course designated as a "research enabling course" – this implies that all doctoral students have to take three of four such research enabling courses offered in the first year – the three other courses offered are quantitative. Therefore those who plan to do purely quantitative work need not take the QRM course. Typically 80% of incoming students across areas do take the course either in year one or in year two (as an extra course) as they seem to find it useful. Many areas have designated it as a core course. The 58 readings in this course used currently are given below. Evaluation is through class participation, a qualitative paper/book review and a theorization short paper based on a single ethnographic interview of a unique individual or experience.
Ganesh N Prabhu
Indian Institute of Management Bangalore
gprabhu@iimb.ernet.in
Session 1: Speculation
1. Alvesson M & Sandberg J (2011) "Generating research questions through problematization" Academy of Management Review, 36: 2: 247–271.
2. Becker HS (1993) "How I learned what a crock was" Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 22: April: 28-35.
3. Lave CA & March JG (1975) "An introduction to speculation" and "Evaluation of speculation" in An Introduction to Models in the Social Sciences, New York: Harper and Row. p.9-48.
4. Weick KE (1977) "Generalist psychology" in Towards a reconceptualization of research" American Psychological Association Meeting. p. 1-13.
See this video after the session - BBC Video: The Vanished City of the Pharaohs (50 minutes)
Session 2: Theorizing
5. Folger R & Turillo CJ (1999) "Theorizing as the thickness of thin abstraction" Academy of Management Review, 24: 742-758.
6. Maggio PJ (1995) "Comments on 'what theory is not'" Administrative Science Quarterly 40: 391-397.
7. Sandberg J & Tsoukas H (2011) "Grasping the logic of practice: Theorizing through practical rationality" Academy of Management Review, 36: 2: 339–360.
8. Suddaby R (2010) "Construct clarity in theories of management and organization" Academy of Management Review, 35: 3: 346-357.
9. Sutton RI & Staw BM (1995) "What theory is not" Administrative Science Quarterly 40: 371-384.
10. Weick KE (1995) "What theory is not, theorizing is" Administrative Science Quarterly 40: 385-390.
Session 3: Theory Building – I
11. Eisenhardt KM (1989) "Building theory from case study research" Academy of Management Review, 14: 4: 532-550.
12. Hillman A (2011) "Editors' comments: What is the future of theory" Academy of Management Review, 36: 4: 607–609.
13. Mintzberg H (1979) "An emerging strategy of direct research" Administrative Science Quarterly 24: 582-589.
14. Oswick C, Fleming P & Hanlon G (2011) "From borrowing to blending: Rethinking the processes of organizational theory building" Academy of Management Review, 36: 2: 319–337.
15. Poole MS & Van de Ven AH (1989) "Using paradox to build management and organization theories" Academy of Management Review 14: 562-578.
16. Weick KE (1989) "Theory construction as disciplined imagination" Academy of Management Review, 14: 516-531.
Session 4: Theory Building – II
17. Alvesson M & Karreman D (2007) "Constructing mystery: Empirical matters in theory development" Academy of Management Review, 32: 1265-1281.
18. Doty DH & Glick WH (1994) "Typologies as a unique form of theory building: Towards improved understanding and modeling" Academy of Management Review, 19: 2: 230-251.
19. Edmondson AC & McManus SE (2007) "Methodological fit in management field research" Academy of Management Review, 32: 1115-1179.
20. Osigweh C (1989) "Concept fallibility in organization science" Academy of Management Review 14: 579-594.
21. Oswick C, Keenoy T & Grant D (2002) "Metaphor and analogical reasoning in organizational theory: beyond orthodoxy" Academy of Management Review, 27: 2: 294-303.
22. Sheperd DA & Sutcliffe KM (2011) "Inductive top down theorizing: A source of new theories of organizing" Academy of Management Review, 36: 2: 361–380.
Session 5: Theoretical Contribution
23. Boxenbaum E & Rouleau L (2011) "New knowledge products as bricolage: Metaphors and scripts in organizational theory" Academy of Management Review, 36: 2: 272–296.
24. Corley KG & Gioia DA (2011) "Building theory about theory building: What constitutes a theoretical contribution?" Academy of Management Review, 36: 1: 12-32.
25. King AW & Lepak D (2011) "Editors' comments: Myth busting – what we hear and what we've learned about AMR" Academy of Management Review, 36: 2: 207–214.
26. Van de Ven AH (1989) "Nothing is quite so practical as a good theory" Academy of Management Review 14: 486-489
27. Weick KE (1999) "Theory construction as disciplined reflexivity: tradeoffs in the 1990s" Academy of Management Review, 24: 797-806.
28. Whetten DA (1989) "What constitutes a theoretical contribution" Academy of Management Review 14:4: 490-495.
Session 6: Qualitative Research Approaches
29. Kidluff M, Mehra A, Dunn MB (2011) "From blue sky research to problem solving: A philosophy of science theory of new knowledge production" Academy of Management Review, 36: 2: 297–317.
30. LePine JA & King AW (2010) "Editors' comments: Developing novel insight from reviews of existing theory and research" Academy of Management Review, 35: 4: 506–509.
31. Numagami T (1998) "The infeasibility of invariant laws in management studies: a reflective dialogue in defense of case studies" Organization Science: 9: 2-15.
32. Salancik GR (1979) "Field stimulations for organization behavior research" Administrative Science Quarterly, 24: 638-649.
33. Tsang EWK & Ellsaesser F (2011) "How contrastive explanation facilitates theory building" Academy of Management Review, 36: 2: 404–419.
34. Maanen JV (1979) "The fact of fiction in organizational ethnography" Administrative Science Quarterly 24: 539-550.
Session 7: Mixing Methods
35. Bryman A (2006) "Integrating quantitative and qualitative research: how is it done?" Qualitative Research, 6: 1: 97-113.
36. Jick TD (1979) "Mixing qualitative and quantitative methods: triangulation in action" Administrative Science Quarterly: 24: 602-611.
37. Klien KJ, Dansereau F. & Hall RJ (1994) "Level issues in theory development, data collection and analysis" Academy of Management Review, 19: 195-229.
38. Lewis MW & Grimes AJ (1999) "Metatriangulation: building theory from multiple paradigms" Academy of Management Review, 24: 672-690.
39. Okhuysen G & Bonardi J-P (2011) "Editors' comments: The challenges of building theory by combining lenses" Academy of Management Review, 36: 1: 6-11.
Session 8: Analyzing Qualitative Data
40. Golden, B.R. (1997) "Further remarks on retrospective accounts in organizational and strategic management research" Academy of Management Journal 40: 1243-1252.
41. Langley A (1999) "Strategies for theorizing from process data" Academy of Management Review, 24: 691-710.
42. Miles MB (1979) "Qualitative data as an attractive nuisance: the problem of analysis" Administrative Science Quarterly 79: 590-601.
43. Saunders M, Lewis P & Thornbill A (2003) "Analysing qualitative data" in Research Methods for Business Students, 3rd Ed. Pearson. 377-413.
44. Webb EJ & Weick KE (1979) "Unobtrusive measures in organizational theory: A Reminder", Administrative Science Quarterly, 24: 650-659.
Session 9: Evaluating Qualitative Research
45. Bacharach SB (1989) "Organizational theories: some criteria for evaluation" Academy of Management Review 14: 496-515.
46. Barley SR (2006) "When I write my masterpiece: Thoughts on what makes a paper interesting" Academy of Management Journal, 49: 1: 16-20
47. Davis MS (1971) "That's interesting: Towards a phenomenology of sociology and a sociology of phenomenology" Philosophy of Social Science, 1, 309-344.
48. Dyer WG & Wilkins AL (1991) "Better stories, not better constructs, to generate better theory: a rejoinder to Eisenhardt" Academy of Management Review, 16: 3: 613-619
49. Eisenhardt KM (1991) "Better stories and better constructs: the case for rigor and comparative logic" Academy of Management Review, 16: 3: 620-627.
50. Tsoukas H (1989) "The validity of idiographic research explanations" Academy of Management Review 14: 551-561.
Session 10: Crafting Research for Publication
51. Colquitt JA & George G (2011) "Publishing in AMJ – part 1: Topic choice" Academy of Management Journal, 54: 3: 432–435.
52. Bono JE & McNamara G (2011) "Publishing in AMJ – part 2: Research design" Academy of Management Journal, 54: 4: 657–660.
53. Grant AM & Pollock TG (2011) "Publishing in AMJ – part 3: Setting the hook" Academy of Management Journal, 54: 5: 873–879.
54. Sparrowe RT & Mayer KJ (2011) "Publishing in AMJ – part 4: Grounding hypothesis" Academy of Management Journal, 54: 6: 1098–1102.
55. Zhang Y & Shaw JD (2012) "Publishing in AMJ – part 5: Crafting the methods and results" Academy of Management Journal, 55: 1: 8-12.
56. Geletkanycz M & Tepper BJ (2012) "Publishing in AMJ – part 6: Discussing the implications" Academy of Management Journal, 55: 2: 256-260.
57. Bansal P & Corley K (2012) "Publishing in AMJ – part 7: What's different about qualitative research" Academy of Management Journal, 55: 3: 509-513.
58. George G. (2012) "Publishing in AMJ for non-US authors" Academy of Management Journal, 55: 5: 1023-1026.
We are currently exploring the possibility of offering a seminar in qualitative methods for students in management, marketing, and information sciences.
It would be useful to know how other programs are handling qualitative methods. Specifically:
Do your students take a seminar in qualitative methods?
If so: a) is it required or optional; and b) is it offered by your department or college, or is it offered by another department (for example sociology, anthropology, statistics, etc. )
I believe that a while back one of the divisions did a survey of whether programs required a qualitative course, but I haven't been able to locate this information.
I would appreciate your input.
Jean McGuire
Department of Management
E. J. Ourso College of Business
Louisiana State University
(225) 578-5187
mcguire@lsu.edu
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