Interviews as a qualitative research method in management and economics sciences

Transcription

1 Interviews as a qualitative research method in management and economics sciences Małgorzata Styśko-Kunkowska The textbook is co-financed by the European Union from the European Social Fund

2 Interviews as a qualitative research method in management and economics sciences

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4 Małgorzata Styśko-Kunkowska Interviews as a qualitative research method in management and economics sciences Warsaw 2014

5 This textbook was prepared for the purposes of International Doctoral Programme in Management and Economics organized within the Collegium of World Economy at Warsaw School of Economics. The textbook is co-financed by the European Union from the European Social Fund. This textbook is distributed free of charge.

6 Table of Contents CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION The growing interest in qualitative methods Interviews as a qualitative method Aim of the handbook and background The flow of the book CHAPTER 2. FIRST STEPS IN RESEARCH PLANNING How to begin the research process Expectations of academic environment A problem well-defined is half solved CHAPTER 3. METHOD CHOICE Consideration set of methods and method choice Main characteristics of interviews as a qualitative method Advantages of interviews as a qualitative method Limitations, myths about limitations and dealing with them Interviews in a mixed-method design Interviews in multi-method approaches Interviews in a case study method Typology of qualitative interviews Individual interviews Focus group interviews e-interviews Tele-interviewing Rules of method choice CHAPTER 4. SAMPLING AND RECRUITMENT The strategies of sampling and selection Number of cases and participants The particular criteria for selection From criteria to recruitment how to find a participant? Additional remarks: What about anonymity?

7 Table of Contents CHAPTER 5. HOW TO DEVELOP A TOPIC GUIDE The main characteristics of topic guide From research guiding questions and objectives, theoretical and epistemological approach into fieldwork Facilitation of natural process through group dynamic management Better insight into the phenomena via questioning and supporting techniques From topic guide to interviewing CHAPTER 6. HOW TO ANALYZE QUALITATIVE DATA General assumptions of qualitative approach to data analysis Main strategies of analysis Main stages of generic process of analysis Transcripts, recordings and field notes as bases of formal analysis The systematic data analysis via coding and displaying data Establishing the shared vision of reality via triangulation Understanding differences between participants Data verification Additional remarks CHAPTER 7. HOW TO REPORT QUALITATIVE DATA The role of the report The style of results reporting Structure of the report Content of the report and ways of presenting results CHAPTER 8. BRIEF CONCLUSIONS REFERENCES

8 CHAPTER 1 Introduction The purpose of this chapter is to explain the background of this handbook and to provide an introduction to the further chapters. In particular, the current status of qualitative research involving interviews, definition of interviewing, aims of the book and its flow will be presented The growing interest in qualitative methods Qualitative insight has a long history in management and economics due to its contribution to knowledge development and its practical meaning (Denyer & Tranfield, 2006). However, for many years qualitative research as a primary source of data has been discouraged by academic journals, by academic environment and was limited in the course of MA and Ph.D. education (Cassell, Buehring, Symon, & Johnson, 2006). Undoubtedly, the current academic literature in management and economic sciences is dominated by quantitative research and positivist approach (Burton, 2007; Cassell, Symon, Buehring, & Johnson, 2006). Also, the academic environment still indicates a number of barriers toward qualitative methodology. In 2006 some British academics (Cassell et al., 2006) conducted the qualitative research to understand the current status of qualitative research in the management field. The project involved 45 in-depth individual interviews with four international stakeholders groups including qualitative researchers, academic disseminators (such as journal editors and funders), Doctoral Programme Leaders and practitioners. Researchers revealed the diversity of interpretations of the concept of qualitative research and a number of barriers including credibility, difficulties in assessing the qualitative research quality and problems with result presentation in academic articles. The results also suggest the need for more systematic training during graduate and postgraduate education. The distance toward qualitative research is not limited to academic environment in management and economic sciences. Bent Flyvbjerg (2006) described also misconceptions about qualitative methods among academics in social sciences. 7

9 Introduction Nevertheless, over the last two decades one may observe the renaissance of qualitative methodology (Burton, 2007; Denyer & Tranfield, 2006). The empirical articles involving qualitative methods have started to be published in prestigious journals such as Journal of Management Studies and Organization studies (Cassell et al., 2006), and Journal of Financial Economics (Burton, 2007). Journals in this field published special issues on qualitative research in finances and management with Management Decision in 2006 as one of the prominent examples. Additionally, the Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: International Journal was set up in 2006 to publish excellent works in this field (Cassell & Symon, 2012). Moreover, the systematic approaches to synthesis of qualitative research results have been developed (Denyer & Tranfield, 2006). Last but not least, qualitative methods (although not only interviews) have been applied to study many different topics including organizational analysis, information systems, finances and accounting (Burton, 2007; Cassell et al., 2006; Cohen & Ravishankar, 2012; Merrilees, 2007; Runyan, Huddleeston, & Swinney, 2007). One may observe many reasons of the coming back of qualitative methods. First, demand on the link between academic research and practice is growing and need for a better insight into various processes in a fast changing and complex social-economic environment is increasing; and both requirements are considered to be better achieved by qualitative than quantitative research (Cassell et al., 2006; Denyer & Tranfield, 2006; Gummesson, 2006). Second, some issues about qualitative methods have started to be clarified. Conventional misconceptions about some qualitative methods have been addressed in the literature as being false or too general (Buchanan, 2012; Flyvbjerg, 2006; T. W. Lee, 1999); this topic will be discussed thoroughly in Chapter 3. Moreover, the number of publications including books on qualitative methods has been increasing: on specific applications (e.g. in information systems in business and organizational setting and on designing and conducting qualitative research projects regarding a variety of methods (one may find information about them throughout the whole script). Finally, computer programs supporting qualitative analysis are rapidly being developed and completed by friendly handbooks and web-trainings (see section Additional remarks in Chapter 6). Although many authors repeat that applying qualitative methods is a way of thinking and there is lack of rigor procedure, in the last decade one may observe a movement toward the description and establishing of key procedures of conducting, analyzing and evaluation of qualitative research to enable publishing of valuable research results (Symon & Cassell, 2012a; Yin, 2003). 8 KEY POINTS The qualitative research has played the growing role over the recent years for many reasons. There are opportunities to reduce the distance in academic environment (dominated by quantitative researchers) toward this methodology; however, still some misconceptions need to be addressed.

10 1.2. Interviews as a qualitative method 1.2. Interviews as a qualitative method The variety of qualitative methods is huge (see Frame 1) with qualitative interviews as one of the leading methods of gathering qualitative primary data (Thorpe & Holt, 2008). Interviews may be conducted both as an independent method, as a part of mixed-method projects including both qualitative and quantitative methods (Venkatesh, Brown, & Bala, 2013), and multi-method projects including various qualitative methods such as case studies (Buchanan, 2012) and ethnography (Pritchard, 2012; Yanow, Ybema, & van Hulst, 2012). Frame 1.1. Examples of qualitative methods applied in management research Individual and group interviews (and variety of their types) Observation Participatory visual methods Other methods and techniques, e.g. diaries, analysis of documents Multi-methods: case study, ethnography Others: e.g. electronic interviews Source: Own elaboration, based on: Cassell & Symon (2004), Symon & Cassell (2012b). The term interview has many meanings. The method of interviewing is not exclusively a qualitative method. Interviews are the basis of at least three main quantitative methods, such as Paper and Pen Personal Interview (PAPI), Computer-Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI), Computer-Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI). In a quantitative research the term of interviewing is being used also to name some self-reporting methods with or without the presence of an interviewer, such as Computer-Assisted Web Interview (CAWI) or Computer- Assisted Self-Administered Personal Interviewing (CASI) in which respondents complete the questionnaire available in the Internet (CAWI) or in computer in the presence of an interviewer (CASI), or Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Administered Interviewing (ACASI) when a respondent answers questions that are played back by a software. So, what distinguishes a qualitative method of interviewing from quantitative interviewing? Intuitively every person who frequented any course on social or marketing research methods has his/her own overall idea what is qualitative research and qualitative interviewing, or at least has some selected associations in mind such as subjectivity, focus groups, etc. As some authors notice (Cassell et al., 2006), it is not easy to define qualitative research as a whole given that it includes many different methods, many different paradigmatic approaches (positivism, qualitative neo-positivism, interpretivism, critical theory or phenomenology, 9

11 Introduction constructivism, realism, postmodernism 1 ), many different analytical strategies (e.g. grounded theory, template analysis, pattern matching) and individual approaches of authors. The broadest, the most generic and most conventionally used (also in management field) definition recognized qualitative methods as those techniques of data collection and analysis that rely on non-numerical data (Cassell et al., 2006). Although simplified and potentially controversial, this definition is most helpful to understand the core idea of qualitative interviewing as a starting point as well. However, to enable the gathering and analysis of non-numerical data, the whole research process has also specific characteristics, beginning from the problem definition and type of main research questions via the level of standardization, number of research units and methods of sample selection, data collection and analysis till the way of reporting data and possibility of generalization. Many authors even emphasize that qualitative research is the way of thinking, thus that application of procedures is not sufficient without good understanding of the core idea (Kvale, 1996). Also, it is not easy to define interviewing because the qualitative interview itself is not uniform, not only because it shares characteristics of differences within the qualitative approach. Without any doubt, the qualitative interviewing is a type of interaction between a person who conducts the interview and a participant(s) of the study; interaction which is based on a conversation (Thorpe & Holt, 2008). This interaction may be direct (complete) or indirect (limited) mediated by a phone or Internet. One participant or a small group of participants may take part in this interaction. As a research method, qualitative interviews have a structure and purpose directed on achieving research goals; however, this structure is lower than in case of quantitative interviewing. The conversation is focused on understanding and identifying meaningful parts of phenomena. To achieve it, the process of qualitative interviewing is flexible with domination of open questioning and a huge role of active listening on the part of the researcher to obtain this goal; in each interview the researcher may ask questions differently and the interview may have different flow. The tool (that is called topic guide) assumes the flexibility during the interviewing and is flexibly applied during the conversation. Interviews are often recorded and then transcribed what may be completed by some field notes. The process of analysis is based on coding, although a wide range of analytic strategies may be applied. Reports include a description of results and may be completed with quotations, tables, figures, but rarely numbers of answers. The statistical generalization is not possible mostly due to non-standardized and flexible procedures at all stages of the research process as well as due to a small number of research 1 In literature authors use different categorizations of approaches. For instance, Piotr Zaborek distinguishes positivist and phenomenological approach including critical theory, realism and constructivism; Nigel King (2004) make a distinction of positivist, phenomenological and constructivist approach, Orlikowski and Baroudi (2007 in Myers and Avison, 2007) positivist, interpretive and critical theory approach. 10

12 1.3. Aim of the handbook and background units and non-probabilistic methods of sampling. However, other type of generalization is possible and is named analytical or theoretical generalization, although generalization is sometimes considered not necessary at all. These characteristics predispose this method similarly as other qualitative methods to achieve different aims than aims of quantitative research. They enable to explore, descript or explain some phenomena, or to generate some ideas by obtaining better insight into participant s perspective and/or phenomena under consideration. They are best whenever the researcher expects the answer for questions such as How/which way? Why/what for? As one may see, this definition is extensive. Its aim is to bring closer the method of interviewing. I will come back to these characteristics in further chapters. KEY POINTS In short, interviewing as a qualitative academic method in management and economic sciences may be described as the method of data collection based on interaction between one interviewer and one or more participants. Moreover, it shares characteristics of a qualitative research as a whole group of methods including, among others, analyses that rely on non-numerical data, mainly gathered from small samples in a more or less flexible manner Aim of the handbook and background Many current practical handbooks on qualitative research including interviewing refer to social sciences in general (Kvale, 1996; Miles & Huberman, 1994; Silverman, 2001; Yin, 2003) or are targeted to practitioners in market research (Maison, 2010; Mariampolski, 2006). They do not refer to management and economics sciences and they omit examples specific for this field of study. The textbooks on qualitative research in organizational settings (Cassell & Symon, 2004; Gummesson, 2000; T. W. Lee, 1999; Symon & Cassell, 2012b) are very extensive and very detailed, sometimes too detailed for beginning researchers at the start of academic adventure with qualitative interviewing. Moreover, they rarely focus on the method of interviewing itself (with short texts of Alvesson (2012), King (2004) and Perry (1998) as exceptions). Thus, the concise handbook with a short overview of the method of interviewing, some practical guidelines and references for further reading for academic research involving the qualitative interviewing method in management and economic sciences is still lacking. This book is trying to fill this gap. In particular it is addressed to students in any educational programs in management and economics sciences. Its objective is to make interest in conducting interviews in organizational and economic setting, or at least to limit negative attitudes toward this methodology through introduction with its 11

13 Introduction key ideas and procedures including explanation of some detailed issues that may raise some doubts. The choice of content and structure has several bases including my academic, teaching and practical experience. Since 1998 I has been a consultant in social and market qualitative research cooperating with various research agencies in Poland. This part of my experience includes projects with professionals and on management and organization issues as well as a broad scope of marketing topics and a wide range of research problems. During my teaching career I have run courses for international postgraduate students of Warsaw School of Economics (Doctoral Programme in Management and Economics), graduate courses on application of qualitative market research (specialty Economic Psychology, Faculty of Psychology at University of Warsaw) and other courses helpful in my methodological progress (on unstructured methods including interviewing in psychological diagnosis, on experimental psychology and on trainings). In my academic development, I have participated in single and multistage projects including qualitative interviewing methods (Hodgkins et al., 2012) as well as quantitative and experimental methods (Koenigstorfer, Wąsowicz- Kiryło, Styśko-Kunkowska, & Groeppel-Klein, 2013; Stysko-Kunkowska & Borecka, 2010; Wąsowicz & Styśko-Kunkowska, 2011). Invaluable contribution to my understanding of the application of the case study method in management and economics sciences have made publications of Piotr Zaborek from Warsaw School of Economics (Zaborek, 2007, 2009a, 2009b) as they are based on his academic experience in conducting case study research for his doctoral dissertation on information systems management in organizations (defended with honors!), his broad experience in teaching graduate and postgraduate students at Warsaw School of Economic and in leading business projects. Due to my psychological background, the book is slightly biased into the direction of soft aspects of qualitative research application in management and economics sciences, in which the investigation of interview participant perspective is of key interest. KEY POINTS The handbook is addressed mainly to students in any educational programs in management and economics sciences. Its aim is to introduce the qualitative method of interviewing, reduce potential distances toward it and make interest in broader application of this methodology in this field of study The fl ow of the book In this first introductory chapter I have presented the background for the rest of the book including the increasing interest and application of qualitative 12

14 1.4. The fl ow of the book methods in a field of management and economic sciences field of study and the general description of qualitative interviewing. The aim, recipients and background of the author were also explained. In the second chapter the process of qualitative research will be explained and its preliminary stages will be discussed. Special emphasis will be put on general expectations toward student papers, MA thesis and Ph.D. thesis as the important starting point for any research. Next, issues related with problem definition and formulation of key and detailed research questions will be discussed with highlighting specific topics by examples. The order of succeeding chapters is directed by the flow of research stages. The third chapter introduces the issue of method choice. It presents the establishment of method consideration set, the advantages of interviews as a qualitative method including the area of applications, and limitations of qualitative methods. Special emphasis is put on controversial characteristics of qualitative methodology in academic environment and ways to deal with them. Further on, particular methods will be described. First, issues related with application of interviews in mixed designs involving also quantitative research and in a multi-method designs with particular emphasis put on the case study method as compared with ethnography method. Next, typology of interviews will be presented completed with the description of individual indepth interviews, focus group interviews and methods of indirect interviewing with those, which use the recent technological achievements. The fourth chapter presents guidelines to designing the recruitment criteria and choosing participants. It is completed by some pieces of advice how to find participants. In the fifth chapter the main rules of designing a research tool (topic guide) will be discussed including underlying psychological processes and guidelines how to use the topic guide during interviewing. The sixth chapter is dedicated to issues of analysis. It discusses general assumptions of qualitative analysis; then main analytic strategies are presented (template analysis, pattern matching and the grounded theory approach as a background) and main stages of analysis. Further, it describes the detailed analysis process via coding and displaying data. Some issues related with relying on general patterns and ways of dealing with outstanding participants will be also highlighted as well as issues of data verification. In the final seventh chapter I present selected issues related to reporting results of qualitative interviews in academic papers with special emphasis on Ph.D. thesis and manuscripts for publication as indicating key directions of reporting qualitative data. Each chapter begins with a short summary and is completed with examples of research in management and economic sciences whenever possible. Each section ends with key notes containing practical conclusions for academic researches when applicable. In the end of most sections I present the literature references that I consider most valuable to deepen the knowledge for a given topic. 13

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16 CHAPTER 2 First steps in research planning This chapter presents the process of research and highlights first steps in research planning the understanding of academic environment formal and informal requirements and issues related with problem and guiding research question definition. Specific issues related to qualitative research planning will be emphasized, e.g. dealing with not uniform attitudes toward the qualitative research, wording related to qualitative research questions, examples of unique contribution of the qualitative research involving interviews How to begin the research process When some researchers start thinking about a new research project, they begin with a general topic idea and start thinking about methods. For instance, they had observed very interesting phenomena in practice and they want to examine it. Some others start with the detailed review of literature that becomes the basis for the problem formulation and method choice. Whatever is the starting point, the researcher should thoroughly understand the whole process of planning, conducting, analyzing and reporting before taking the final decision about the research scheme and before the start of gathering data. The whole research process involving qualitative interviews alone, or as a part of mixed-method approach or multi-methods, has certain main stages (Sinkovics & Alfoldi, 2012; Yin, 2003), which are presented in Figure 2.1. In practice, one may meet also different approaches. Buchanan (2012) presents the case study, in which data collection is a starting point. Also in grounded theory approach (described later in details) fieldwork is a starting point. However, it is worth noticing that researchers who conduct such type of research have often great experience or at least knowledge both in their own field of study and in methodology. Thus, they know well the flow of the research process. For graduates and postgraduate students as academic researchers, the scientific environment as a whole and specific institutions have specific requirements and it is good to recognize them as a starting point. Defining the audience and its expectations sets the general 15

17 First steps in research planning direction of thinking about the level of self-reflection during research process as the researcher should be able to justify almost any decision that was taken. Main stages are strictly related; they occur more or less simultaneously, and the researcher may come back to the previous stages. All the steps will be discussed in further sections and chapters of this book. Figure 2.1. Main stages of research process including qualitative interviews Research planning First steps in research planning Defining the audience and its requirements Research problem and guiding question definition Method choice Consideration set Reasons underlying a choice Preparation for fieldwork Design and sampling Topic guide development Fieldwork including interviewing or Interviewing completed with other methods Data analysis and interpretation Results reporting Source: own elaboration based on: Maison (2010), Malhotra & Birks (2007), Sinkovics & Alfoldi (2012), Stewart, Shamdasani, & Rook (2007), Yin (2003) Expectations of academic environment As mentioned, academic community and particular institutions have specific formal (and informal) requirements about the graduate and postgraduate students work, which may be applied also to other student papers. These requirements are independent of the chosen method; however, they direct attention to what has a key role when qualitative research is applied. I will present an example of Ph.D. thesis, but in my opinion it sets a general direction of academic expectations, even though they may be slightly lighter in case of seminar papers or diploma thesis. According to the formal guidelines for Ph.D. students in Poland (Dz. U. z 2011 r. Nr 84, poz. 455), the doctoral dissertation should meet three main criteria: (1) deliver original solution of the scientific problem, (2) convince that candidate has overall theoretical knowledge about a given field of science and (3) confirm that candidate has the skills to conduct an academic work alone. As underlines Robert Yin (2003), the author of Ph.D. thesis is supposed to convince academics about the significance of the problem and the results, the good knowledge in the theory and methodology as far as skills to conduct 16

18 2.2. Expectations of academic environment scientific research of good quality. Academics may be also interested in the relationships between the current research and previous theoretical models and research findings (Yin, 2003). If a student is planning to publish the work as an article, a chapter in a textbook, a book or text in conference proceedings (what is an obligation for Ph.D. students according to Dz. U. z 2011 r. Nr 84, poz. 455), he or she should think about it also in advance and have particular concern about requirements of journals or book editors in the field. Good quality of the whole research process, convincing knowledge in the field and in methodology and valuable contribution are again particularly worth being underlined as important for reviewers. The last one may be evaluated in various ways but with general conclusion that research should give original insight and widen the current knowledge in a field (Cassell et al., 2006). Buchanan (2012) advises also to follow the guidelines of the Harvard Business Reviews that recommends to contributors to search for the compelling insight (p. 361) that is expressed as so what and aha effects. Even if someone is not planning to publish research at the beginning, it is worth acting as if it was planned, than later wish that something was being neglected. Some students may say, What about practice? with tacit assumption that academic research is far from it. First, currently in the field of management and economy the close relation between academic research and practice is expected (Cassell et al., 2006; Denyer & Tranfield, 2006; Gummesson, 2006) and even the action research methodology was developed as a separate approach (Heller, 2004; Malhotra & Birks, 2007). Second, if a student wants to focus on issues rooted mainly in practice, even then the research should have academic bias in the whole research process for successful academic results. Defining the audience and its requirements is particularly important in qualitative research due to inconsistent, often distant or negative, attitudes in academic environment. Thus, not only formal but also informal beliefs within academic community are important. To deal with potential critics, any research author which work is reviewed should be able to justify any decision that was undertaken in a research process. Some other ways of dealing with possible critics are highlighted in the section about limitations in Chapter 3. Expectations of the academic community in the field one may identify by reading the most valuable journals in a given field. Formal and informal requirements of academics within a given institution, one may examine by talks with a supervisor and other academic workers, other students and by reading the most successful papers of other students. KEY POINTS In graduate and postgraduate student work, understanding of the academic formal and informal requirements is important to achieve success- 17

19 First steps in research planning ful results in writing any paper, thesis, etc. These requirements are particularly important in research involving qualitative methods due to its still unclear status as a valid method in management and economics sciences. The main expectations include: (a) original and valuable contribution, (b) convincing presentation of knowledge in a field and in methodology, (c) good quality of research, (d) reasons underlying any decision in a research process. More about expectations of journal editors toward qualitative research process one may find in a publication of Catherine Cassel et al. (2006) that conducted qualitative research on the current role and status of this methodology in the management field (some issues from this research were highlighted in the introductory chapter of this handbook) A problem well-defi ned is half solved The statement in the title of this chapter in this or similar form has been attributed to many authors including John Dewey (an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer), Charles Kettering (an American inventor and social philosopher), or to Albert Einstein, and was repeated many times in many different contexts, as one may see in Google search. Most of handbooks on qualitative research (and other research methods as well) also emphasize the research problem identification having a key role for any further steps of research process. After the preliminary choice of a topic and identification of rationale of the study, the researcher should conduct a thorough, critical and rigorous review of literature including theoretical models and research and establishment of practice needs. This is important for at least two reasons. First, it helps to determine the potential contribution of the research because the topic could have been investigated by other researchers. Second, the gaps existing in the literature may be identified, so the research has a better chance for valuable and unique contribution. Further, the theoretical and conceptual foundations may be developed. The literature reviewing process should end with a preliminary problem statement and identification of a guiding research question. From technical point of view, at least two issues are important in a problem definition. First, to identify when qualitative methods involving interviews are the most appropriate solution. Second, to understand how to formulate the problem statement so that it fits for qualitative research. In this section I highlight only the latter one formal issues of this process. The remaining topics will be developed in the section about method choice. 18

20 2.3. A problem well-defi ned is half solved In qualitative research the problem formulation includes most often such terms as to explore, to recognize, to investigate, to determine 2 with the most qualitative terms to thoroughly, deeply, in-depth understand, to extensively and in-depth describe, to gain deep insight. In turn, research questions may include such terms as how and why or questions about specific role of some variables within a given phenomena. Frame 2.1. presents some examples of research questions in qualitative research involving interviews. The way of the formulation of the research problem and the guiding research question may help researcher to understand which type of methodology to use in the given occasion and will help to avoid the gross misfits (Yin, 2003) meaning that another method may be more beneficial than the chosen one. Frame 2.1. Examples of key research questions in qualitative research involving interviews How is relationship marketing implemented in a modern accounting practice? (Perry, 1998, p. 788) How does the marketing infrastructure of a foreign country impact on its own internationalization process? (Perry, 1998, p. 788) How do Australian high value-added manufacturing companies develop their market entry modes into China? (Perry, 1998, p. 788) Do the resources of brand identity and social capital mitigate a hostile local environment for small retailers (Runyan et. al., 2007, p. 392) How do factors such as gender and race play into participant accounts of their works and professional identity (Ashcraft, 2005, 2007 and Ashcraft and Mumby, 2004; see Alvesson & Ashcraft, 2012) In this introductory stage the researcher aim is also to refine the guiding research question by explicating a few (not too many) objectives (in a form of issues or questions). If they are too many, it may be unrealistic to investigate them within a given time framework. If deductive approach to theory development is applied (see Chapter 5), specific issues/questions are followed by theoretical model presentation (e.g. as a figure) and set of hypothesis. It is worth underlining that neither the guiding research question, nor detailed questions or issues, should be identified as questions to be asked directly during interviews. They work more as a research goal and research objectives. The researcher will return to the literature review, problem and guiding question formulation many times during the research process, to develop them further and to establish the consistent design. After the establishing the problem and guiding research question, and after the next stage of method 2 Although these terms are not exclusively qualitative, because most of methods including surveys may play explorative, explanative and descriptive aim. 19

21 First steps in research planning choice it is also worth thinking about the predicted contribution to the science development and to the practice. It is helpful to establish if a given problem is important enough to be investigated. Some examples of the contribution of qualitative research involving interviews are presented in Frame 2.2. I will develop this topic while discussing qualitative research advantages. Frame 2.2. Examples of an innovative contribution of qualitative methods involving interviewing, which were presented in papers published in the field of management and organization field Theoretical value, e.g. the development of coherent conceptual framework; lack of investigation of some variables as mitigators of some outcomes Filling empirical gaps, e.g. lack of research in a given field, or small number of published research on a given topic, or application of a given theory to a given target group, methodological rigor beyond those identified within previous studies Overpassing of limitations of quantitative methods, e.g. unfeasible with quantitative methods, qualitative insight into practitioners decisions such as perception of some aspects of the phenomena; emphasizing the important role of studying phenomena within its natural real-life context as complex relationships At this preliminary stage, the researcher should also make preliminary decision about the title that is evolving but gives some boundaries of the area under consideration (Sinkovics & Alfoldi, 2012). KEY POINTS Researcher tasks in this preliminary stage include: preliminary choice of a topic, a thorough, critical and rigorous literature review including potential contribution of the research and identification of the gaps existing in the existing literature, research problem definition, development of theoretical and conceptual foundations, identifying a guiding research question, articulation of research objectives/specific questions (not too many) in some approaches hypothesis; if they are too many and defining priorities, initial decisions about further steps. Nevertheless, the process of problem defining is evolving till closing the stage of planning. 20

22 2.3. A problem well-defi ned is half solved The perfect example of the research planning one may find in the publication of Piotr Zaborek (2009b) that describes the process of planning the study involving qualitative research for his Ph.D. dissertation. For better understanding of the planning process in academic student work, one may also read the article of Chad Perry (1998). Worth reading is also a more general paper of Rudolf Sinkovic and Eva Alfoldi (2012) about the usage of computerassisted qualitative data analysis software in all the stages of the qualitative research process beginning with literature review, problem definition title management, etc. 21

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24 CHAPTER 3 Method choice In this chapter the issues related with the choice of interviews will be presented. In a beginning section the broader context of choice will be discussed. Next, main characteristics, advantages and limitations of qualitative methods will be completed with propositions how to deal with limitations, particularly with potential criticism in the academic environment. The final sections present different types of interviews. First, interviews as part of mixed-method and multi- -method approaches will be discussed. Next, both face-to-face (Individual In-depth Interview, Focus group interview) and indirect (interviews via internet and telephone) will be presented Consideration set of methods and method choice When the reader understands the main idea of qualitative research involving interviews, it is time to establish which type of method or group of methods to apply. Sometimes, the method choice is obvious from the research problem and research question; however, sometimes the borders in the application of some methods are not so apparent. Additionally, the qualitative method is not leading methodological solution in the field of management and economic sciences and its choice requires supporting arguments (which may be either explicitly presented in the final report, or at least ready to be presented for reviewers). Thus, the researcher should ascertain that a given method is the most appropriate for a given research question, or at least to avoid gross misfits (Yin, 2003). The researcher should start with initial consideration of wide range of methods, including qualitative methods of gathering primary data, quantitative methods, mixed methods, and analysis of secondary data, not to omit any method that may be best applied for a given aim. Next, the researcher should undertake the following steps: to establish a preliminary consideration set of core methods or sets of methods (e.g. qualitative, quantitative or mixed approach; if qualitative 23

25 Method choice case study, ethnography or just interviews) and then specific method types within a given method (e.g. if case study interviews, observation, etc.; if interviews individual or group interviews, standard interviews or variants), to identify their advantages and limitations regarding research problem and guiding research question, to chose the method definition, because in literature one may find many of them, to determine the underlying epistemological approach, to justify the choice regarding research problem and guiding research question, to check possible gross misfits, to check if the problem and guiding research question is formulated in an appropriate manner for a chosen method and reformulate it if necessary. In management and economics sciences literature, one may find at least four types of interviews applications in relation to other methods: interviews as a separate method 3, interviews as the only method in case-study research, interviews as a part of multi-method design 4 (part of case-study or ethnography method) and as a part of mixed-design approach including both qualitative and quantitative methods. The possible paths of decision are presented by the Figure 3.1. Figure 3.1. Path of possible choices in a preliminary consideration set Preliminary consideration set Qualitative multimethod design Qualitative Interviews Mixed method design Quantitative Secondary data, archives etc. Case studies Ethnography Source: own elaboration. 3 In the current publications in the field, whenever separate research including only interviews is presented, it is described mainly as explorative, or as a part of case-study approach. 4 The terms multi-method and mixed-method designs is being used interchangeably in literature; however, some authors distinguish them for better understanding of each concept (Venkatesh et al., 2013). I will use the term multi-method to name the set of one type of methods, e.g. only qualitative or only quantitative, while the term mixed-method include both types of methods: qualitative and quantitative. 24

26 3.2. Main characteristics of interviews as a qualitative method KEY POINTS After the problem definition, the researcher s task is to consider a wide variety of methodological designs to choose the one which fits problem the best. If a qualitative method is considered, one may consider qualitative interviews as a separate method, the only method in the case study method, a variety of mixed-method designs, or multi-method designs. The aim is to establish the preliminary consideration set of methods and underlying rationale Main characteristics of interviews as a qualitative method Taking into account that readers of this handbook are probably most familiar with quantitative methods and that the quantitative methods are the most widespread in academic environment in management and economics field of studying, but also the tradition in literature on qualitative methods, as well as the definition of qualitative methods given at the beginning of the chapter, the qualitative methods are best characterized by opposition to quantitative methods. Various authors underline different aspects in this comparison (T. W. Lee, 1999), but jointly and independently of the approach, they create the consistent pattern. The main differences between the qualitative and quantitative approaches and then differences between interviews in both approaches are presented in Tables 3.1. and 3.2. They are discussed and completed thoroughly in further two sections in which the strengths and limitations of qualitative approach as a whole and interviews in particular are discussed as well as in next chapters of this book regarding the subsequent stages of the research process. I presented the comparison of qualitative methods with quantitative methods as a whole; nevertheless the researcher should also remember that some specific quantitative methods may be relevant to the project problem as well. For example, Robert Yin (2003) notices that experimental and quasi experimental methods may achieve similar research aims to some extent because they are designed to explain a phenomenon (identify its causes and answer questions such as how and why ) and under some circumstances they may include small samples. However, experimental and quasi-experimental procedures of data collection and analysis share characteristics of quantitative methods such as the rigid procedure of data collection, structured questionnaire with mostly closed questions, analysis based on statistical inferences, and as a consequence the opportunities of statistical generalization and finally, presenting numbers, percentages and tables and results of statistical analysis. However, differently than qualitative and quantitative methods they require behavioral control over 25

27 Method choice events. Another quantitative method relevant to establish complex relationships within results is the structure equation modeling. Table 3.1. Main characteristics of qualitative and quantitative methods Research problem Research questions Level of standardization Number of research units Method of selection Data collection Data analysis Generalization Reporting Qualitative methods Need for understanding and identification of meaningful parts of phenomena with the aim of exploration, description or explanation plus ideas generating, see also further sections How/which way? Why/what for? Low General rules as a basis Some rules for systematization Relatively small samples: several a dozen or so interviews (20-50 persons) or one to several cases Non-probability sampling, mainly purposive Flexibility in research procedure; focus on understanding and identification of meaningful parts of phenomena Looking for repetitive patterns of results, analysis of meaning, analysis of similarities and differences, rarely counting of answers and statistics, sometimes counting what is countable Analytical or possibility of transferability of results (generalization to theory) Description, figures, tables, rarely numbers of answers Quantitative methods Exploration, description or explanation by: - assessment of a scale of a phenomena; focus on predicting outcomes - explanation by searching of causes and effects between a small number of variables Who? What? Where? How many? How often? How much? High Precisely defined uniform procedures Relatively large samples: units of analysis Random Rigidity, standardization of all the actions Statistical analyses Statistical, based on statistical representativeness of sample Generalization to general population Numbers, percentages and tables, results of statistics Source: Own elaboration, based on: Buchanan (2012), Cassell & Symon (2012), T. W. Lee (1999), Malhotra & Birks (2007), Noga-Bogomilski (2007), Saunders (2012), Yin (2003), Zaborek (2009a). Table 3.2. presents the comparison of more specific issues related with interviewing in qualitative and quantitative approaches. 26

28 3.2. Main characteristics of interviews as a qualitativemethod Table 3.2. Main characteristics of interviews as the qualitative method as compared with characteristics of quantitative methods Level of interaction Interviewee The person that conducts the research Level of standardization Tool Qualitative interviewing Two levels of interaction between the researcher and participant(s): complete (face-to-face) or limited (via phone, via Internet) Called participant or in some types of case studies informant Researcher, interviewer, moderator in case of group interviews; researcher itself, experienced or well-trained representative of researcher Non-standardized Flexible, but documented, structure at all the stages of the process Topic guide with different levels of generality: general including main topics or detailed including specific question and procedures Quantitative interviewing Three levels of interaction between the researcher (or his representative) and respondent from complete by limited to lack of interactions Called respondent Interviewer being representative of researcher, rarely researcher itself Standardization of all the actions including recruitment, place of fieldwork and the tool Structured questionnaire including uniform content, order and way of questioning Questions Mostly open questions Mostly closed questions Tool application Flexible, fitted to the research objectives, the participants and flow of the talk Question included in a topic guide should not be read by interviewer The huge role of active listening, going beyond guidelines in a topic guide Precise uniform instructions that enable to conduct the interview according the same procedures Process of analysis The interviewer goal Reporting It is based mostly on transcripts completed by field notes The process of analysis is directed by epistemological approach, with template analysis, pattern matching, grounded theory as some of examples Generic approach to analysis include coding To achieve answers to research objectives; To understand and identify the meaningful parts of phenomena Compare Table 3.1. Description may include quotations Based on statistical inferences To gather respondent s answers and conduct the interview according to the same precise uniform procedures Compare Table 3.1. Source: Own elaboration, based on: Maison (2010), Malhotra & Birks (2007), Noga- Bogomilski (2007), Stewart et al. (2007). 27

29 Method choice To conclude, qualitative methods including interviews are worth being applied whenever problem and research question require qualitative approach. However, the boarders are not clearly established both types of research may achieve explorative, descriptive and explanative aims. Good understating of the problem and typical features of qualitative methods and specific types of interviews, as far as their benefits and limitations (presented in the next sections) should help to choose the method of interviewing appropriately. KEY POINTS After the problem definition, the researcher task is to consider a wide variety of methodological designs that fit problem the best. If a qualitative method is considered, one may consider qualitative interviews as a separate method, the only method in the case study method, a variety of mixed-method designs or multi-method designs. The aim is to establish the preliminary consideration set of methods and underlying rationale. For further reading about main characteristics of qualitative approach in organization and management research, one may see publication of Thomas Lee (1999), Evert Gummesson (2000), and the dictionary edited by Richard Thorpe and Robin Holt (2008) Advantages of interviews as a qualitative method As a qualitative method, interviews share some of the benefits of this methodological approach. The key advantages of qualitative methods including interviews one may attribute to two main categories that are presented by the Figure 3.2. Functional advantages include the unique contribution of qualitative research into theory testing and development. Procedural advantages contain the features that are the mean to achieve research goals such as appropriate understanding of the phenomena or preparing the list of statements for the questionnaire. Some further advantages refer to concrete methods and will be presented in further sections. Although some opponents may perceive the open frame and flexibility as a risky feature of qualitative approach, the open frame is being perceived also as the biggest advantage as it enables to go beyond the knowledge that the researcher already has, or that is difficult to be captured with structured questions. Nevertheless, flexibility at different stages of the research project should be controlled, justified and in case of gross changes in the research design well documented (the topic of flexibility will come back in further chapters). The controlled open frame enables to capture the holistic dimension of the phenomena and understand its essential characteristics. An example one may find in Frame

30 3.3. Advantages of interviews as a qualitative method Figure 3.2. Advantages of qualitative methods including interviews as a method applied independently, or in combination with other methods (qualitative or quantitative) ADVANTAGES OF QUALITATIVE METHODS FUNCTIONS The holistic dimension: comprehensive and complete picture of the phenomena Examining complex phenomena: description of what is difficult to capture with structured questions Insight & understanding of peoples perspectives, mechanisms and outcomes of the phenomena Subconscious, implicit, difficult to verbalize, sensitive reasons, beliefs and emotions, styles, values, behaviors Exploration of unknown phenomena Development of a new theory Testing and completing of an existing theory PROCEDURES Natural, real-life context Controlled open frame and flexibility Application of supportive techniques that enable to understand better people beliefs, emotions and behaviors, explain discrepancies For every type of participant, including children, low-educated, professionals Usage of everyday language, definition of notions Interviews: More convenient, accessible and economical compared to other qualitative methods, e.g. participant observation Source: Own elaboration, based on: Flyvbjerg (2006); Malhotra & Birks (2007). Frame 3.1. Example of multi-method approach including qualitative interviews The aim of June Worley and Toni Dolin exploratory research was to examine the role of management support and communication in facilitating lean manufacturing implementation. They conducted a case study with the usage of a variety of qualitative methods such as participant observation and structured and unstructured interviews in an electronics manufacturing company in the USA. Non-supervisory employees and executive or managerial personnel participated in the structured interviews. In unstructured interviews and observations took part all the executives and managers, majority of department leads and minority of production employees. They represented various departments of the firm. Interviews lasted approximately one hour and were transcribed for analysis. 29

31 Method choice The flexible frame may lead also to unexpected results, what in turn may enable to develop a new theory or new elements of an existing theory (Flyvbjerg, 2013; Malhotra & Birks, 2007), with this second situation being more common in academic literature. For instance, David Douglas (2006) investigated complexity of management processes (see Frame 6.2. in Chapter 6 about data analysis for detailed description of this study). In turn, in the research of Abimbola and Kocak (2007) theoretical aim was to develop a resource-based view model by determining a key role of some factors (brand, organization identity and reputation) in small and medium-size enterprises (see Frame 4.4. in Chapter 4 for detailed description of this study). Qualitative research including interviews may also deliver deep insight into people perspectives and beliefs, and if necessary for research aims emotions and mainly when complemented by other methods such as observation in their behaviors. Researcher may observe people behaviors and their non-verbal communication (gestures, smiles, etc.) and may use many techniques that will help to, with techniques of questioning, active listening and wide range of supporting and projective techniques as examples (I will develop this topic in a chapter about topic guide). For example, Erna Szabo (2006) conducted qualitative individual interviews with middle managers in five European countries to understand the meaning, performance and context of participation in managerial decision making (see also Frame 4.2. in Chapter 4 for more detailed description). Moreover, the perspective of one group of participants may be well completed with perspectives of other parties (as in example of Douglas s study in the previous paragraph). Finally, during qualitative interviews, the participants use their own language to describe a given phenomena (opinion, emotion, behavior) and also a researcher may ask additional questions that will help him or her to understand how people define notions, what are differences between notions. It is helpful to understand the participants point of view or the issue under consideration but also it becomes very useful when one plans a questionnaire. Slight differences in the understanding of notions (e.g. their evaluative meaning) may lead to a wide range of different reactions toward the statements in the questionnaire. Thus, qualitative research before the quantitative one may help to avoid an additional source of error and false understanding of the phenomena in quantitative research. Last but not least, thanks to the flexible structure of interviewing, it is possible to conduct the research with people who may have difficulties in completing questionnaires, including children and low educated persons or people who may have opinions too complex to capture with closed questions as it happens in case of professionals in many organizational studies. An example one may find in research of Calum Middleton, Suzanne Fifield and David Power (2007) who investigated the perception of opportunities to undertake investments in 30

32 3.4. Limitations, myths about limitations and dealing with them Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) among institutional investors (see Frame 4.1. in Chapter 4 for more detailed description). In Chapter 5 about topic guides more details about functions and procedural advantages of various interviews will be discussed. KEY POINTS Qualitative interviews as a qualitative method give some theoretical advantages both in building, development and testing theories. They are particularly valuable whenever a researcher is going to catch the holistic picture of the phenomenon, to understand complex phenomena, or to describe or understand issues difficult to capture with structured questions. For further reading about functions of the qualitative approach and chosen methods, one may see publications on a given method in further sections. They mostly describe both advantages of a qualitative method as a whole and advantages of particular methods Limitations, myths about limitations and dealing with them The most important but also obvious limitation in applying qualitative research is related with areas of its application. They are not the universal solution, they are more appropriate in case of some research questions, but not the others (e.g. they do not enable to predict the frequency of phenomena in population). Qualitative researchers both representing management and organization research and social sciences often describe criticism that they met in practice in academic environment from quantitative researchers. The objections include mostly the area in which the qualitative research may deviate most explicitly from quantitative research including different assumptions, quality of research (credibility, validity and reliability), generalization, subjectivity and other pragmatic issues. However, the current approach toward qualitative methods claims that most of the differences are rather a myth, misconception, or conventional stereotypical beliefs than the description of real differences between two approaches, or at least are too simplifying (Buchanan, 2012; Flyvbjerg, 2006; T. W. Lee, 1999). The reservations and some ways of dealing with them are summarized by Figure 3.3. and are discussed in next paragraphs. Some other limitations refer to concrete methods and will be presented in further sections. 31

33 Method choice Figure 3.3. Limitations of qualitative research LIMITATIONS HOW TO DEAL WITH THEM Not following positivist, quantitative approach Not uniform approach to qualitative research including neo-positivist / realism approach Doubts about qualitity of research in quantitative terms Lack of uniform specific criteria of evaluation Following positivist criteria Results can t be generalized statisitcally Findings can be generalized analythically Not always accepted among scholars of economics and management as a valid research method The growing interest, knowledge and publications on qualitative research (see Chapter 1) Good understanding of requirements and following good practices Difficulties in consice reporting Following good practices in published papers (see Chapter 6) Time consuming analysis and interpretation Appropriate preparatory stage Usage of computer-aided qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) to organize sources and data Change of the reserach problem and method if someone is not ready for time requiring tasks Source: Own elaboration. Different assumptions. Creswell s model summarized here based on Thomas Lee publication (T. W. Lee, 1999) describes five main differences between quantitative and qualitative research. Regarding ontological differences, among quantitative researchers there is a typical assumption about existence of objective reality. Qualitative researchers rather assume coexistence of multiple subjective realities. Considering an epistemological distinction, quantitative research is considered as independent from the phenomena under study, whilst qualitative researchers assume the need for interaction with the phenomena. An axiological dissimilarity refers to the beliefs about influence of researchers values: with the claim of being unbiased and value-free in case of quantitative methods, and a value-laden and biased approach in case of qualitative research. A rhetorical difference regards the more impersonal, formal and rule-based language style of quantitative researchers and more personalized, informal and context-based way of reporting in case of qualitative researchers. A methodological assumption includes the deductive (testing theory), context-free and limited causal inferences in quantitative methods and inductive inferences (theory based on data), complex relationships and context-specific qualitative methods. However, Lee who reviews this model underlines that beliefs about inductive, subjective, non-positivist, only theory-generating process in qualitative interviewing are too simplistic and rather stereotypic. 32

34 3.4. Limitations, myths about limitations and dealing with them First, qualitative research is not a uniform methodology. One may distinguish at least two main traditions (Lee, Collier & Cullen, 2007; Malhotra & Birks, 2007): positivist tradition that dominates in the USA and non-positivist tradition that is more wide-spread in UK. The first is represented among others by Yin (2009), the author of one of the leading books about case-study research. 5 The other is presented in publications by Lee (e.g., Lee, Collier & Cullen, 2007) in a field of organizational research or by Flyvbjerg in more general field of social sciences. A short summary of these two approaches one may find in Table 3.3. that gather descriptions present in works by many authors (e.g., Duberley, Johnson, & Cassell, 2012; Malhotra & Birks, 2007; Perry, 1998). However, even this simplistic categorization does not exhaust the variability of approaches. For instance, Joanne Duberley, Phil Johnson and Catherine Cassell (2012) mention eight different approaches having some shared and some different characteristics with positivism, qualitative neo-positivism, interpretivism, critical theory and others (rarely mentioned in publications by other authors on qualitative research in management and economics) such as post-modernism and poststructuralism, postcolonialism and indigenous epistemologies, with most of them consisting of a variety of philosophical approaches. Thus, Creswell s model is far too simplistic. Specifically, neo-positivist approach and realism deny the assumption about only deductive approach to theory development (theory testing) while they share the belief about objective status of reality and commensurability. Moreover, mix of induction and deduction in current approach to qualitative research is preferred, except followers of classic ground theory (see Chapter 6). Qualitative researchers counteract to the criticism that qualitative research is more susceptible to biases related with subjectivity of researcher including the tendency to confirm the researchers preexisting views, assumptions, concepts and hypothesis (Flyvbjerg, 2006). This way of thinking is correct in the sense that philosophers, sociologists and psychologist argue that subjectivity is a fundamental human characteristic. However, all the methods are susceptible for researcher s subjectivism. For example, also in case of quantitative methods a researcher to some point arbitrarily chooses the method of sampling, variables, the way of their operationalization and structure of the questionnaire what may become the source of biases. Bent Flyvbjerg (2004) argues that (a) verification bias may be reduced, (b) qualitative methods have its own rigor although it is different than in quantitative methodology, (c) there is more tendency to falsification than verification of pre-existing concepts and theories, (d) the close contact with reality in qualitative methods requires continuous verification of preexisting views. Thus, in case of any method the great role of self-consciousness 5 Buchanan (2012) notice that this book is well welcome by reviewers of Ph.D. thesis, while Lee, Collier & Cullen (2009) emphasize that this approach defines a narrow range of case study applications at least in accounting, management and organizational disciplines although they appreciate his merits for case study development. 33

35 Method choice and experience of the researcher as far as proper research design and following best practices may help to reduce at least some of the unwanted biases. Table 3.3. Two main traditions in qualitative research Non-positivist Positivist (wide range of philosophical and epistemological approaches: phenomenological, interpretative, critical, constructivist, grounded theory) Neo-positivist, realism Inductive approach Deductive approach Theory building Theory testing Generating theory based on data To confirm, challenge, or extend the existing theory Reality is subjective and relative (critical theory, constructivism) or objective (realism) Research on non-observable and observable phenomena Results possible to evaluate commensurable (critical theory, realism) or difficult to evaluate incommensurable (constructivism) Qualitative research o Origin in psychology, sociology and anthropology o Aim: exploration and going in-depth o Less structured, analysis taking place during a group o Emphasis on understanding More idiographic Phenomenological richness Threats: More difficult comparisons between cases due to different flow of interviews The risk of discovering existing theories (Perry, 1998, p. 790) British tradition of qualitative research Source: own elaboration. 34 Reality is objective; Fixed rules underlie the social and natural phenomena; facts and reliable information are the basis for science Research on non-observable and observable phenomena Commensurability Quantitative methodology as a crucial method of gathering data Qualitative research o Origin in quantitative research o Aim: Looking for objective truth, establishing facts, preliminary to quantitative research o More structured procedure o Emphasis on external validation More nomothetic, developing normative decision models Analytical reduction Threats: The risk of biases toward existing theory and hypothesis USA tradition of qualitative research Quality of qualitative research. There is a wide discussion in literature how to evaluate a quality of qualitative research. Some criteria are considered as shared by both type of research qualitative and quantitative (Symon & Cassell, 2012a) such as:

36 3.4. Limitations, myths about limitations and dealing with them application of criteria for good practices in any scientific project such as embedding the current research in an understanding of previous research (Symon & Cassell, 2012a, p. 220), convincing justification of method choice (Symon & Cassell, 2012a), presentation of all the stages of the process in the report in a credible way (Symon & Cassell, 2012a) and other indications of credibility (Thorpe & Holt, 2008), following a chosen philosophical by (Duberley et al., 2012): determining own philosophical approach that influence the research inquiry, the congruence of philosophical approach, methodology, methods of data collection and analysis, strategies of research evaluation, which are in accordance with the enquiry, determining epistemological and ontological assumptions for strategies of analysis. In the positivist or neo-positivist approach, researchers share also common criteria such as objectivity, validity (construct validity, internal validity, external validity) and reliability. Figure 3.4. presents how to reach positivist criteria of quality in qualitative methods such as case studies indicated by Yin (2009). 6 Researchers of non-positivist approaches try to follow these criteria to be in line with dominant positivist perspective; however, many authors conclude that they are not always applicable. The consistent set of criteria is still lacking, or if they exist they are rarely applied or are under elaboration (Symon & Cassell, 2012a). Any time, to convince others about good quality of work, the researcher should present and check the set of criteria. Taking into account the positivist bias in academic environment, to reduce criticism, in student work it is best to apply positivist criteria. Moreover, among criteria of good qualitative research, Thorpe and Holt (2008), p. 40, indicate: presentation of research process that enables the reader to follow it, adequate access, contribution, a dynamic research process, the satisfactory personal qualities of the researcher. Dominika Maison (2010) in case of marketing qualitative research adds that good analysis should be systematic, focused on research objectives and in-depth, what means including both description and interpretation. 6 Some authors use different definitions of external and internal validation. For instance, internal generalization may mean that results revealed in interviewing situation represent their typical words and behaviors in other situations (Flick, 2007) and internal validity may mean that two persons make the same conclusions based on data (Maison, 2010), while external validation may mean that conclusions can t give false vision of reality (Maison, 2010). 35

37 Method choice Figure 3.4. Tactics of reaching validity and reliability in case study research according to Yin (2009) Construct validiy usage of appropriate concepts and operational measures multiple sources of evidence establishment of chain of evidence review of draft report by informants Internal validity establishing a causal relationship in explanatory and causal research or excluding the rival infrecens in case of inferences based on unobservable events conducting analytical strategies such as pattern matching, explanation building, logic model addressing rival explanations (see Chapter 5) External validity determining the transferaiblity of findings to other settings via analytic generalization to the broader theory (next subsection) usage of theory in single-case studies usage of replication logic in multiple case studies (see Chapter 3) Reliability achieving the same results and conclusions via following the same procedures usage of case study protocol (see Chapter 4) developement of database (see Chapter 5 data assambly) Source: based on Yin (2009). Generalization. Some opponents of qualitative approach underline the lack of generalizability of qualitative findings. Qualitative researchers call it a myth (Buchanan, 2012) or misconception (Flyvbjerg, 2006). The problem is that in conventional wisdom, generalization is identified with statistical generalization ( formal generalization in terms of Flyvbjerg (2006)). As mentioned in the first section of this chapter, indeed statistical generalization (involving statistical analysis) is not allowed. It results from non-randomized sampling, small numbers of units of analysis and flexible way of data collection. However, another type of generalization refers to many qualitative studies. It is called analytical generalization ( analytical refinement in terms of Buchanan (2012), transferability of findings, theoretical or logic generalization in terms of Saunders (2012)). This type of generalization means that empirical findings may be generalized to theory, what enables to draw conclusions of what may happen in other cases, situations or settings (Buchanan, 2012; Kvale, 1996; Yin, 2003). Yin (2009) even says that previously developed theory is used as a template, with which to compare the empirical results of the case study (p. 36). In turn Perry (1998) claims that if particular results are generalized to theory, that means that they provide some evidence that supports a theory but not necessarily proves it definitely (p. 790). Analytic generalization requires explicit course of reasoning and presentation of supporting evidences, which may help the reader of the report judge the correctness of generalization. 36

38 3.4. Limitations, myths about limitations and dealing with them The inferences are stronger when one may notice the repeated pattern of results in projects involving more than one unit of analysis (Maison, 2010; Yin, 2009). The key characteristics of two main types of generalizations are summarized in Figure If one understands the idea of analytical generalization, one may took it as the characteristic, but not weakness of qualitative research. Figure 3.5. Two main types of generalization Statistical generlization Analytical (theoretical, logical) generalization/analytical/refinement transferability of findings Based on the sample (that is chosen randomly from the given population) via statistical analysis, one may formulate inferences about population (with some probability). This type of reasoning is formal and explicit. (Kvale, 1996) Results are not generalized to a population but to theoretical proposition. In this way, one have indications what may happen in other settings. It requires supporting evidences and explicit course of reasoning Quantitative research Qualitative research Source: own elaboration, based on propositions of many authors. Time requirements. One must admit that qualitative research leaves a researcher with a huge amount of data as to which analysis is time-consuming. As Bent Flyvbjerg (2004) argues, the complexity of data in case of qualitative methods is often related with diversity of real life. In his opinion complexity of results shows that the issue is highly problematic and thus, researcher should focus on description of all discovered nuances than trial of its simplifying and summarizing in brief. Steiner Kvale (2004) raised another argument. According to him, whenever the researcher notices the problem with analysis of 1000 pages of transcripts of qualitative data after the fieldwork, it means that the researcher conducted the research process not correctly, because similarly as in case of quantitative methods, the method of analysis should be planned before the data are gathered. First, the proper research problem and questions indicate the scope of answers and direct the process of analysis. Second, the way the research scheme is planned indicates the ways of further analysis. If not enough data for particular analysis are available, some analysis can t be done. 7 In literature one may find more types of generalizations that are applicable to some qualitative research (internal generalization, Flick, 2006; moderatum generalization and isomorphic learning, Buchanan, 2012) or which are typical for everyday life functioning (naturalistic generalization, Kvale, 1996, Buchanan, 2012). Flyvbjerg (2006) presents also the invaluable contribution of inferences based on knowledge on single cases in human development. 37

39 Method choice If too many data are gathered (too big sample, too many variables), some of them may be unnecessary or lost in the process of analysis, implying wasting time and money and inappropriate choice of a research method or research scheme (e.g. less interviews could have been conducted to reach the aim or other techniques could have been applied). Moreover, as Steiner Kvale (2004) claims, to some extent analysis and interpretation should be included into the process of gathering data. It means that researcher should think about research questions and possible hypothesis all the time and verify possible interpretations by gathering additional data (e.g. asking additional questions leading to check the adequacy of interpretation) or conducting the research in the way, that analysis will be coherent, consistent and creative (Kvale, 1996, p. 182). Furthermore, some general rules of analysis are available, that may be helpful in analysis of data and will be described in the section about analysis process. More advanced proposition is presented by Yin (2009) who advocates for the usage of pattern matching analytic approach as a helpful tool to simplify the complexity of data (see Chapter 6, section 6.2.). Anyway, indeed the process of analysis of qualitative results is very demanding, especially in case of academic research and Ph.D. research in particular (Zaborek, 2009a) and even in case of properly defined research designs, even for the experienced researcher and in case of computer assistance. If there is only one researcher who conducts the whole process from the beginning to the end, as it happens in many Ph.D. research, the workload of the researcher is much bigger than in case of quantitative methods (when the fieldwork is quicker, may be cheaply outsourced to the hired assistants as far as data entering, and the process of analysis is quicker due to application of highly developed statistical techniques that are supported by computer packages) (Zaborek, 2009a). In this and previous section I presented the pros and cons for qualitative research with specific reference to advantages and limitations for Ph.D. thesis in economics and management. They clearly state that qualitative methods are more appropriate for some research questions, although the boundaries are not always clear. The proper understanding of limitations may help to design the research properly and to deal against criticism of reviewers. The main general rules of designing the research scheme I will present in further chapters. However, if the researcher is not ready for such an effortful task as qualitative research process or for assertive dealing with reviewers comments, it is better to find or reformulate research problems and research questions to conduct quantitative research that is less demanding and less controversial in academic environment. 38 KEY POINTS The qualitative research including interviews is not the universal solution: they are not appropriate method whenever the statistical inferences about populations are required. Other limitations include the area in which the qualitative research may

40 3.5. Interviews in a mixed-method design deviate most explicitly from quantitative research, but arguments against this one may find in literature. Dealing with critics and with high time-requirements are a challenge for any researchers, both beginners and experienced ones; however, one may deal with them via good quality of research, arguments from literature and appropriate planning including analytic strategies. Good understanding of limitations among recipients of the final report and addressing them in a student paper or thesis may increase the probability of success. For further reading about dealing with limitations of qualitative methods in the field of management and organization one may see many publications such as Buchanan (2012), B. Lee, Collier, & Cullen (2007), T. W. Lee (1999), Symon & Cassell (2012a), Yin (2003) Interviews in a mixed-method design Out of four possibilities the mixed-method design including usage of both qualitative and quantitative methods is the most approved in an academic research in the field. As noticed by Venkatesh et al. (2013), there is a need for wider usage of mixed-method approach in information system field. In this set, qualitative methods including interviews may play four different roles (Creswell and Clark, 2007 in Venkatesh et al., 2013; for slightly different typology one may see Lee, 1999): 1) triangulation: the application of two methods serves the better problem understanding, 2) embedded: in a overall study dominates one type of method (either quantitative or qualitative) and data gathered by other method constitute only small component designed to answer only some part of research questions, 3) explanatory: qualitative research serve to explain or better understand the findings of preceding quantitative research, 4) exploratory: qualitative research is followed by a quantitative research; the former serves to recognize the phenomena, whereas the latter is designed to test and explain the nature of relationships. To understand better the joint usage of methods, Venkatesh et al. (2013) distinguished seven specific purposes of the mixed-method approach: complementarity, completeness of a phenomenon picture, development of research questions or hypothesis, expansion upon the understanding based on one of the method, corroboration/confirmation of the credibility of inferences, compensation for weakness of a one approach, and diversity of perspectives on a given phenomenon. As the main advantage of the mixed method approach they emphasized the development of deep understanding of phenomena of interest. Among strengths they mention also: answering exploratory and confirmatory research aims, stronger inferences than derived only from one type of method, contradictory or complementary conclusions 39

41 Method choice may encourage more thorough examination of the theoretical framework and methodological assumptions. In the literature review of research on information systems in involving mixed-method designs, those authors also found out the domination of individual interviews and positivist approach over group interviews and other methods, and interpretive approach. An example of implementation of mixed-method approach one may find in Frame 3.2. Frame 3.2. Example of mixed method approach including exploratoryexplanatory qualitative interviews Yuliya Strizhakova, Robin Coulter and Linda Price (2008) conducted a cross-cultural research in the United States, Ukraine, Romania and Russia. Their aim was to test hypotheses on the mediating role of the belief in global citizenship thanks to global brands in influence of consumer ethnocentrism and cultural openness on branded product importance. In the first stage, qualitative research was involved to investigate the concept of belief in global citizenship across countries under consideration and to develop measures of this independent variable and branded product importance as dependent variable. Four men and four women in youth s segment (20 29 years old) took part in individual interviews. Research of duration between 45 and 70 minutes was carried out at participant s home. All the interviews were audiotaped, translated and transcribed for the further analysis. Findings complemented with literature examination resulted in a decision about the questionnaire content and a preliminary version of the questionnaire was developed. In the main part of the research authors conducted survey with a convenience sample of 1261 students in four countries in on-line or paper-and-pencil version. While presenting results of quantitative research, researchers described qualitative data that supported the obtained pattern of differences between countries. KEY POINTS While considering the mixed-method design, the researcher should decide what function of the qualitative research including interviewing is intended (triangulation, embedded, explanatory, exploratory) and the overall purpose of such a mixed study, e.g., complementarities, completeness of a phenomenon picture, development of research questions or hypothesis, what will be very helpful in the development of topic guide and fieldwork. 40

42 3.6. Interviews in multi-method approaches For further study about mixed method designs, examples of its implementation in information systems and guidelines for application, one may read publication of Venkatesh, Brown, and Bala (2013) Interviews in multi-method approaches Both case study method and ethnographic approaches are presented among core methods in organizational setting (Cassell & Symon, 2012); however, in journal publications in the field one may find rather case studies than ethnography (although ethnography may be implemented in many organizational contexts (Yanow et al., 2012). Both case study and ethnography may be based on one method (e.g. interviews in case study (Buchanan, 2012; Perry, 1998) or observation in ethnography (Malhotra & Birks, 2007), or include multi-method designs (e.g., Yin, 2009 or Yanov et al., 2012). Neither case study method nor ethnography has a uniform definition (Thorpe & Holt, 2008). Mostly, the definition depends on a given research context (e.g., phenomenological approach or article goal). For instance, in Yin s (2009) definition the case study is an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon in depth within its real-life context especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident (p. 15), what is completed by second part of definition about (a) coping with situation in which more variables are under consideration than data points, (b) relying on multiple sources of data which need to be triangulated, and (c) drawing advantages from prior development of theoretical propositions to guide data collection and analysis (p. 16). In the article about case studies for Ph.D. thesis in marketing, Perry (1998) defines case study research methodology as based on interviews that is used in a postgraduates thesis involving body of knowledge (Perry, 1998, p. 786) and accepts the scope of applications presented in the first part of Yin s definition. However, some authors (Buchanan, 2012; B. Lee et al., 2007) find Yin s definition as far too narrow and not including many case studies. Slightly different definition than this of Yin is presented by Jean Hartley (2004). According to her case study research consists of a detailed investigation, often with data collected over a period of time, of phenomena, within their context. The aim is to provide an analysis of context and processes which illuminate the theoretical issues being studied (p. 323). In turn, Naresh Malhotra and David Birks (2007) by case study in the market research context understand a detailed study based upon the observation of the intrinsic details of individuals, groups of individuals and organizations (p. 159). Thus, their definition underlines different aspects of the method under consideration. Similarly, definitions of ethnography also refer to many different aspects of this method. Among repeating features are methods of data gathering, 41

43 Method choice people or their behaviors as unit of analysis and process of meaning making. Dvora Yanow et al. (2012) who is implementing ethnography in organizational setting defines it as a research process involving fieldwork methods engaging the extraordinary-in-the-ordinary with a particular sensibility towards often more hidden or concealed meaning making processes, reported in a particular form of writing that places both author and reader at the scene, in the thick of things, through actor-centered and context-sensitive analysis and theorizing grounded in layered data (p. 332). Peter Brewer (2004) also in organizational context describes ethnography as a style of research that is the study of people in natural settings or fields by means of methods which capture their social meanings and ordinary activities, involving the researcher participating directly in the setting, if not also the activities, in order to collect data in a systematic manner but without meaning being imposed on them externally (p. 312). The narrower definition is proposed by Naresh Malhotra and David Birks (2007) who define ethnography as a research approach based upon the observation of the customs, habits and differences between people in everyday life (p. 161) in the context of marketing research. The main characteristics of case study and ethnography are presented in Table 3.4 with omitting different origin of both methods. As one may see, the list of sources in both techniques is rather similar. In both methods interviews are one of the implemented methods of gathering data. However, in the case study method interviews are considered as the leading method of gathering data or even the only implemented method, while core method of ethnography is observation. Moreover, case study may also be part of the mixed-method design by including some quantitative elements (despite that case studies are considered as mainly qualitative approach) (Thorpe & Holt, 2008). Also both of multi-method inquiries are devoted to examining the phenomena in its natural setting. One of key differences lies in a subject of analysis. In the case study method a phenomenon is the subject of analysis and probably any issue can be turned into a case (Thorpe & Holt, 2008, p. 38) including industry, company within industry, one of departments, any process or individuals, whereas in ethnography the social world and its meaning for people is the main issue under consideration. Nevertheless, some units of analysis may be similar, e.g., organizational culture, values. There are also differences in epistemological approach, a way of analysis and reporting. In the case study method, one may find both deductive and inductive approaches to theory building, while in ethnography theory is driven from data. Among variety of analytical strategies to case study, one may find both inductive and deductive strategies tending to define the real state of phenomena and more subjective as well, while in ethnography context sensitive and actor centered approach is dominant. Finally, in the case study method, results are reported in the more objective way (e.g., within neo-positivist or realistic approach), whereas more subjective approach in ethnography is applied. Thus, these inquiries overlap to some extent without sharp boundaries between them in some aspects. 42

44 3.6. Interviews in multi-method approaches Table 3.4. Characteristics of multi-method inquiries involving interviews Design Methods/ sources Case study Multi-method (one method/source or diversity of one type methods, e.g. only qualitative) or mixed method (both types of methods, i.e. qualitative and quantitative) design Interviews (both individual and focus groups), documents, archival records, direct observation, participant observation,* physical artifacts and others (ethnography, films, photographs, videotapes, street ethnography, psychological testing, life histories etc.**) Ethnography Multiple design (one or diversity of qualitative methods) Observation or participant observation (covert/overt, structured/ unstructured), interview, diaries, studying of material artifacts such as organizational documents (annual reports, correspondence, internal memos, cartoons /jokes/ photos on the office doors, bulletin boards, WebPages) or personal documents (e.g., albums, trash), registration of behaviors (photo, video), assisted work If one method, mainly observation or participant observation If one method, mainly interviews or secondary data Definition A variety of definitions A variety of definitions Subject of analysis Case An orientation towards the social world actors, (inter-) actions, settings (Yanow et al., 2012, p. 331), with central focus on hidden and concealed meaning and meaning making processes and understanding people s interpretation of events Social world, social groups, organization culture and its meaning for phenomena participants In the setting of everyday life Phenomenon within its real-life context Epistemological Primarily deductive or inductive; Mostly theory is based on data examination of particular theoretical (the grounded theory approach) approach proposition or theory driven from data Analysis Wide range of strategies Actor-centered and contextsensitive More or less objective, analysis intersubjective or subjective Reporting Mostly objective approach Mostly both author and reader are visible Source: own elaboration based on: Buchanan (2012), Hartley ( 2004), B. Lee et al.(2007), Thorpe & Holt (2008), Yanow et al. (2012), Yin (2003). * More about participant observation one may find in Brannan and Oultram (2012). ** For longer list of methods (in case study research often called sources ) see Buchanan (2012). 43

45 Method choice Due to prevalent role of the case study method over ethnography in literature on the qualitative methods in management and economics sciences, this inquiry is more recommended for papers and MA and Ph.D. thesis in management and economics sciences. That is why in further part of this chapter I develop only the implementation of interviews in the case study method. KEY POINTS Interviews are implemented in two multi-method inquiries: case-study and ethnography, with the former being more respected in academic environment due to its more objective and more positivist bias Interviews in a case study method Although the case-study as a method is difficult to define, one may recognize consistent pattern of successful applications of this multi-method design (Buchanan, 2012; B. Lee et al., 2007; Thorpe & Holt, 2008; Yin, 2003), including: understanding the complexity of interrelationships between many elements within a given phenomena, examining: o phenomena that are little understood (ambiguous, fuzzy, even chaotic), o dynamic processes, o phenomena including large number of variables, o phenomena difficult to predict, getting a deep understanding of a given phenomena, situation when quantitative approach is not appropriate, explanation of mechanisms and outcomes, situation when answers to research questions are contained in multiple sources, investigating a contemporary phenomenon in dept and within its real-life context when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident (Yin, 2003, p. 13). In this context only the last feature derived from Yin s (2003) definition makes this methodology clearly distinctive compared to other qualitative methods. Robert Lee et al. (2007) names the following main advantages of case-studies: capacity to draw from different sources, several levels of simultaneous analysis of the dynamic in a single setting and potential for a richer understanding of organizational phenomena. The case study is not a uniform method due to both variety of designs and different understanding of its essential idea between researchers working in accordance with positivist approach and non-positivist approach. 44

46 3.7. Interviews in a case study method Despite the recently growing number of publications including non-positivist phenomenological approach, graduate and postgraduate students as well as beginning researchers are recommended to focus on a positivist approach (Zaborek, 2007; Zaborek, 2009b). The best publication for beginning academic researchers is the book Case study research: Design and methods by Robert Yin (2003). This publication presents positivist approach and many useful detailed guidelines for adepts in case study methods. However, it is worth having in mind that this publication is being criticized by non-positivist European academics including editors of some recent journals publishing qualitative research in the field of management and economics sciences (B. Lee et al., 2007). Thus, some Ph.D. students who consider to publish the research in international journals should very thoroughly examine the expectations of own academic environment as far as opportunities for academic publication in international journals in the area of their research and in journals publishing qualitative research. Nevertheless, the researcher should chose which phenomenological paradigm intends to implement in own project and be consistent with it. One may find two types of applications of interviews in case study method: interviews as one of methods/sources of information, interviews as the only method/source of information. Reading articles including research with only interviews sometimes it is difficult to notice the difference between implementation and description of interviews results as a separate method and interviews as the only method in case-study research. The multi-method case study design including interviews may have many different compositions. For instance, Piotr Zaborek (Zaborek, 2007; Zaborek, 2009b) has started with observation and analysis of the company s information system. A series of qualitative interviews was next conducted, followed by internal documentation analysis, till additional questions that were sent to interviews participants by . More examples of multi-method approach involving interviews one may find in the section 2.2. about advantages of interviewing as a qualitative method. Persons who are interested in interviews as part of case studies may read the publication by David Buchanan (2013) on the case study method in organization research as an example of non-positivist approach; then as an example of more positivist approach the publication by Chad Perry (1998) on the case study method in Ph.D. thesis in marketing, and the book by Robert Yin (2003) on case study in social sciences. To extend the knowledge about ethnography as an approach applied to research organizations, one may read the text of Dvora Yanow, Sierk Ybema and Merlijn van Hulst (2012), and as applied to market research, Hy Mariampolski (2006). 45

47 Method choice In turn, publications by Michael Humphreys and Mark Learmonth (2012) and Suzanne Tietze (2012) are a valuable source of information on ethnography and on issues regarding researching own organization Typology of qualitative interviews Qualitative interviews vary in number of participants (individual or group, groups consisted of different number of participants), length, and the range of applications (wide, universal vs. narrow and specific). They may be conducted directly (face-to-face) or indirectly (mediated by Internet or phone). They may differ also in the level of structure and style of interviewing, what some authors (King, 2004; Malhotra & Birks, 2007) ascribe to differences in philosophical (positivism vs. non-positivism) and epistemological approach (realism, phenomenology, constructivism). Figure 3.6. presents typology of interviews according to methodological features. It will be elaborated in the further part of this chapter with exception of issues related to structure and style of interviewing and that I discuss in the chapter on topic guide development. Figure 3.6. Typology of interviews according to methodological features Interviews Individual or group How Where How long How many participants in a group Structure and style of interviewing Face to face Online Telephone Source: own elaboration. Among core methods implemented in organizational setting one may find face-to-face individual interviews and focus groups (Cassell & Symon, 2012). However, the latter method is reported in publications on the matter more rarely (e.g., Venkatesh et al., 2013) Individual interviews Individual interviews involve one person who conducts the research (a researcher or his representative) and one participant. In literature one may 46

48 3.9. Individual interviews meet at least two terms to name a standard type of individual interviews: having psychological background, wide-spread in market research term of Individual in-depth Interviews (IDI) and rooted in sociology term of semistructured interviews (as compared to unstructured and structured interviews). In marketing research setting Naresh Malhotra and David F. Birks (2007) define IDI as an unstructured, direct, personal interview in which a single participant is propped by an experienced interviewer to uncover underlying motivations, beliefs, attitudes and feelings on a topic (p. 207), while Steiner Kvale (1996) defines a semi-structured interview as an interview which purpose is to obtain descriptions of the interviewee with respect to interpreting the meaning of the described phenomena (p. 6). So both definitions underline the need for in-deep understanding. It happens also that authors use only the term interviews or one may meet also specific types of interviews as open-ended interviews or focus interviews (Yin, 2003). In this book the term of in-depth interview or its short version (IDI) is used as it highlights the most important idea of qualitative interviewing thorough understanding of participant s perspective or a phenomena under investigation and is more general (includes interviews with different level of structure). The main idea of IDI is to identify and understand the pattern of thoughts, emotions and behaviors of an individual participant. Thus, this type of methodology is perceived as best fitted for identification of individual decision processes. As in any qualitative methods, the issues to be discussed during an interview and techniques of gathering data should be preplanned based on the research problem and research questions. The preplanned course of interview is described in a research tool that is called a topic guide (or topic guideline or research schedule). The topic guide contains issues to be discussed and in detailed version questions, but also allows for a flexibility of the course of interview (I will come back to this issue in the section about tools). For the observer, the IDI seems to be like a casual talk, very fluent, although asymmetric. However, questions have their aim and are well suited within preplanned framework of the research problem, guided research question and research objectives. As the name In-depth interview indicates, the goal of the researcher is to go beyond the superfluous and rational opinions and understand the participant perspective or the phenomena under study. Thus, the interviewer may ask many additional questions and apply psychological techniques of active listening to understand properly what a participant has in mind. This implies that the interviewer should be trained both in psychological process of interviewing and in research objectives as well (this issue will be discussed in the section about interviewing). Non-verbal communication may be treated as an additional source of information facilitating the further talk and becoming data itself. To assure the fluent course of IDI and have reliable source of information in the process of data analysis, the interviews are usually audio-recorded (and 47

49 Method choice video recorded if non-verbal communication or some behaviors are going to be analyzed). Next, the recording is transcribed (I will say more about transcripts in the section about data-analysis) and transcripts become the basis for further analysis. The length of IDI may differ from one hour to three hours, with interviews of hour as being involved the most often. The longer interviews are involved when there is a need to cover more issues, in more explorative research (when more topics are included due to less known nature of the phenomena) but also when the level of structure is lower. To make the interviews more efficient, one may use supporting techniques as a shortcut to faster obtain some results (see the following chapter on topic guide development). Application of supporting techniques helps to maintain the interest, attention and involvement of the participant. It is worth mentioning that also the duration of interview should be predicted in advance it determines the scope of topics that may be discussed during research and is part of a contract with the interviewee. The summary of the advantages and disadvantages of IDIs is presented in Table 3.5. Some of them were discussed in the previous chapter. Here only the pragmatic components will be emphasized. The wide-spread of application of individual interviews as compared to other qualitative methods of gathering primary data (e.g., participant observation or even focus group interviews) may result from perception of this method as more convenient, accessible and economical (Alvesson & Ashcraft, 2012). Moreover, compared to observation and participant observation, which is usually covert, interviewing is an overt method and thus less raises ethical issues (Chell, 2004). Some beginning researchers perceive individual interviewing method also as easy to implement, however as one may notice in further sections its proper application requires specific skills, knowledge, self-awareness that are developing through experience. Considering disadvantages, when all the costs of planning, fieldwork and analysis are accounted (as it has place in commercial market research setting), they generate a higher cost per participant as compared with group interviews. For academic purposes, IDIs may be cheaper than group interviews due to lower facility requirements, lack of costs of incentives and most of the work like planning, fieldwork, analysis being done by a student. IDIs are also the leading method in researching professionals (Malhotra & Birks, 2007). Professional topics and professional language are often complex, thus it requires time to express them fully without limits (during FGIs other participants may take over the voice). The main typology of IDIs includes a place of fieldwork. Interviews may be conducted either in the professional facility with technical recording equipment, in natural setting of participant s work or living, or in other accidentally chosen places. Any solution has some advantages and disadvantages. 48

50 3.9. Individual interviews Table 3.5. Advantages and disadvantages of Individual in-depth Interviews as compared to other interviewing methods, mainly focus group interviews Advantages Disadvantages Detailed, in-depth data (especially as High influence of an interviewer compared to group interviews) on a flow of an interview more information from one person Fast tiredness of the interviewer more in-depth info from one person Limited possibility of observation more time for one person (to express and explain opinions) by an external researcher Less info in the same time (as opinions are attributed directly to one person compared with group interviews) Detailed analysis is more time opinions isolated from influence of other discussion members consuming Mostly fewer participants (due Observation of non-verbal communication to costs and time) may increase richness of information Difficult to analysis and Sense of privacy and confidentiality interpretation due to a hidden More difficult criteria of participant recruitment may be applied (compared with group interviews) message Easy to be organized More direct, overt purpose (as compared with observation and participant observation, thus less raises ethical issues) Source: own elaboration, based on Maison (2010), Malhotra & Birks (2007). The new place such as professional facility draws participant away from his/her work and enables to focus on the topic under study. Also, the researcher doesn t have to think about technical equipment. If one can t afford renting such a facility, what is typical in academic student research, one may arrange such a facility e.g., at a university campus. If one invites the participant to any facility, it is worth preparing something to drink (water, juice, sometimes tea or coffee) and some snacks (e.g., cakes) it makes the atmosphere nicer and may be functional. In a professional facility, the setting supports cooperation via sitting diagonally (as compared with sitting positions opposite that may be more confrontational). A market research practice and my academic research experience shows that if the respondent is invited to any facility, some incentive (most often money, sometimes another gift) to recompense for the time of interview and transport are motivating. Doing research outside the workplace may also enhance the feeling of anonymity (if it is assumed) and thus encourage openness (Chell, 2004). Some may criticize, however, that the participant is out of natural context. Interviews may also be arranged in a place of participant s work or living or in other place, sometimes due to practical reasons, sometimes due to research objectives. Such a solution has two main advantages. First, in academic research it is cheaper than renting a facility. Second, it is practical regarding respondents 49

51 Method choice time accessibility. In case of some participants (e.g., higher level managers and business topic), meeting in a place of work is much more convenient for a participant. The choice of a given space may have also substantive rationale. First, in some circumstances the choice of an interview place may help to answer some research questions. For example, if a researcher wants to recognize the influence of office space structure on management, the interview with systematical observation of the office space may be very advantageous. Second, a participant may have access to some documents that may help to answer questions. Eventually, some followers of humanistic approach consider such natural environment as safer for participants and thus more favorable for spontaneity. Moreover, meeting in a place of work may serve better understanding of participant perspective or phenomena under study. Finally, it may happen that the researcher will choose any possible place available (e.g., room at the hotel) or any place convenient for a participant (e.g., cafeteria) with the latter one as being the most risky. The main problem in case of interviews outside the professional research facility is low level of researcher s control over situation, while the participant exists in his/her own natural environment or while the interview takes place in other setting (e.g., cafeteria). For example, a telephone may ring, other staff members may disturb, music may be loud. From the psychological point of view, the process of interviewing (building comfort, structure of talk) may be disrupted in this way. To conclude this point, it is worth emphasizing that any choice of interviewing place should be carefully considered with its advantages and disadvantages. Then it is worth anticipating many uncontrolled issues and informing the participant of our needs (of a calm silent place with no disruption). But even then the researcher must be prepared to react with flexibility. The IDIs may also differ in the level of structure, what will be discussed in details in the chapter about topic guide development. I would like only to emphasize that some interviews may be conducted in a very structured way with standardized procedures and questions (each participant answers the same form of question in the established order). The questionnaire of this type includes closed and in main part open questions. Answers to open questions are written down immediately without any tape-recording and mostly analyzed quantitatively. The great advantage of such approach is a possibility to have answers from a bigger sample, easiness of ordering data for analysis and if costs are taken into account lower price of the interview. This type of standardized interviews should not be called Individual In-depth Interviews as this approach doesn t enable to go so deep as IDIs. In practice, only first answers are thoroughly noted. Notes may be biased via shortage in making notes. Finally, when making thorough notes, it is difficult to listen actively. However, the name structured and semi structured is also misleading given definitions in the beginning of this section. 50

52 3.10. Focus group interviews KEY POINTS Individual In-depth Interviews (IDIs) are the most popular qualitative methods of gathering primary data in management and economic setting because of difficult recruitment, need for individual data and often exploration of decision processes, motivations etc. While planning IDIs, the researcher should consider carefully the place of interviewing (outside facility, office, home, others) and level of structure (what will be discussed in one of further chapters). For further readings about interviews in organization setting, one may read texts by Alvesson & Ashcraft (2012) and King (2004) Focus group interviews The leading method in qualitative group interviewing is a focus group interview (FGI), also called a focus group or focus group discussion or just group interview. Some authors try to differentiate them (Thorpe & Holt, 2008), but mostly they designate the same type of discussion conducted by a professional moderator (a person experienced in facilitation of group processes) with a small group of participants. Usually FGIs are video-recorded (with some very rare exceptions of interviews in which the identity of participants should be extremely protected); transcripts and audio- and video-recordings together with field-notes from observation are the bases of analysis. In a standard version, a focus group interview involves 6 8 persons. The interview is focused on a specific topic. Its duration starts from 1.5 to 2 hours. Time of duration may be different from given above when some variants of this method are applied. In classic positivist approach the number of participants increased to even 12 persons but positivist interviews were focused rather on counting votes than understanding opinions in depth manner (Malhotra & Birks, 2007). In market research practice, the current tendency is to lower the number of participants and make group interviews even longer than 2 hours, what is related with needs of deeper investigation of phenomena under study. Formally, it means the tendency to apply variants of FGIs such as a mini-group (4 6 participants) and extended groups (duration of 2.5 hour and longer) with usage of more supporting, often individual, techniques to support an interest of participants and gain more individual data (Maison, 2010). As one may see in Table 3.6., the three types don t exhaust the whole range of group interviewing methods. Other methods have specific areas of applications, may differ in procedures, duration, type and number of participants. 51

53 Method choice Table 3.6. Types of focus group interviews Interviews with wide range of applications STANDARD FGI: 6 8 persons, hours MINI-GROUPS: 4 6 persons, hours More individual data, participants that need more time to talk: experts, children EXTENDED GROUPS: hours or longer More supporting techniques Interviews particular applications CREATIVE GROUPS: Creative techniques, creative participants looking for creative results WORKSHOP/PROJECT GROUP generation of ideas (theory, outcomes) DYNAMIC GROUPS (concept labs): Change of subject from one to another group Looking for creative results and their evaluation CONFRONTATIONAL GROUPS/DIADS: One differing criterion of recruitment Confrontation of opinions, involving topics, better insight RECONVENED GROUP (PANEL): Meeting twice with the same participants with a manipulation in-between To examine change of opinions after a manipulation in practice AFFINITY GROUPS: Pairs of friends, coworkers To support comfort of participants, e.g., some sensitive topics SHORT GROUPS: Less than 1 hour Less goals to reach TRIADA: Three participants, e.g., three members of decision process (parents and kid, three employers from different departments more complete pattern, complementation of perspectives, natural setting HOMOGENOUS DIAD: The same recruitment criteria for both participants To deliver more info than IDIs in the same time, more individual and in-depth data than FGIs Source: own elaboration, based on Maison (2010), Malhotra & Birks (2007). FGIs are mainly conducted in professional facilities or other facilities adapted to this aim. In market research with consumers one may also find interviews at home of one of participants (Maison, 2010; Malhotra & Birks, 2007). In professional venue one may find the room for discussion with oval or round table (to facilitate discussion), audio- and video-recording equipment, flipchart and double-side mirror. There are also a room for direct observation and waiting room for participants. Currently, one may order also video-streaming. During FGIs, obtaining results are powered by group dynamic, that is considered both as one of main advantages and disadvantages of this method. In literature one may find them as 5S of advantages and 4I of disadvantages from the first letters of a given feature (Malhotra & Birks, 2007; Stewart et al., 2007). Thanks to group dynamic one may gather more information than from single persons (synergy effect). When something was said during discussion, the further opinions stick to it without unnecessary repetition (snowballing effect). When talking in a group, people are implicitly encouraged to talk (stimulation effect). The group is also a source of atmosphere of safety e.g., 52

54 3.10. Focus group interviews while hearing that others are opening themselves, the readiness to own talking activity is arising (safety effect). Finally, while discussing in a group vividly, people do not have time for too much reflection what may foster the spontaneity of opinions (spontaneity effect). However, the group is also the source of influence at least in four aspects ( 4I ). Discussion delivers new information and insights into some topics not only to a researcher but also to participants who may change their opinions given a new knowledge (social informational influence). Group members have a tendency to conform to expectations of other group members, what may increase their interpersonal attractiveness (social normative influence). The group setting may also cause the dependability of own answer from others opinion (influence of others opinions) and some respondents (e.g., dominant person) may influence the course of the discussion (influence of respondents types). The proper group dynamic management facilitates natural group processes that may reflect the natural diffusion of opinions in reality. The role of a moderator and researcher is to enhance advantages related with group presence and reduce disadvantages or at least to understand the group influences. Thus, understanding of the group influence is part of analysis. The most spectacular example of the role of a group one may find in the example in Frame 3.3. Frame 3.3. Example of group role in understanding natural processes In the 1980s the concern of Coca-cola entered the market with the new reformulated flavor of the product that was going to replace the existing classic version. After initial positive reaction of consumers and good sale results, some loyal users of old Coke rebelled and encouraged to boycott the new Coke, and information about protesting angry consumers were reported by media. Their influence extended as much on other consumers reaction, and consumer acceptance of the new Coke over the old Coke decreased (what was monitored by a tracking survey). It was surprising given that the preceeding extended research including qualitative methods (both IDIs, FGIs) and quantitative methods (with blind tests among of them) suggested the acceptance of this flavor replacement. According to dominant interpretation, researchers had been asking inappropriate questions. Robert Schindler (1992) describes the reanalysis of the research and added an alternative interpretation. He revealed that during focus group discussions, part of participants rejected the new idea and influenced others opinions. Further quantitative research found this as an opinion of minority what led the Coca-cola company to the decision about taste reformulation. While social factor was absent, IDIs showed positive opinions. It turns out, however, that the real life repeated similar pattern of social interaction role as observed during focus groups. 53

55 Method choice The list of advantages and disadvantages of focus groups is much longer. Naresh Malhotra and David Birks (2007) summarize them as additional 4Ss of strengths (with 5th S found in literature and practice) and 5Ms of weakness. The summary of all mentioned strong and weak points is presented in Figure 3.7., with the rest of the findings discussed below. Figure 3.7. Advantages and disadvantages of Focus Group Interviews Spontaneity Synergy Snowballing Meeting Misjudgment Misrepresentation Security Serendipity Speed Advantages of FGIs Structure Stimulation Scientific scrutiny Specialization Messiness Dis -advantages of FGIs Influence of others opinions Influence of respondent types Social normative influence Moderation Social infomational influence Source: own elaboration based on Malhotra & Birks (2007). Pros include serendipity meaning a higher probability of unexpected results compared to IDIs, specialization of experienced moderator (this topic is developed in the further part of this section), scientific scrutiny related to a possibility of control (observation by double-side mirror), structure that refers to following a language and a logical flow and depth of topics resulting from discussion among participants. Among the strong points there is also speed as the research process involving FGIs is usually faster than IDIs (quicker fieldwork, fewer transcripts), and a broader view on results with lower costs by a participant but with less individual data (the unit of analysis is a group, not a participant). Negative aspects include misjudgment related with susceptibility of moderator bias and misinterpretation of findings, moderation (see next paragraph), messiness meaning the difficulty in coding, analysis and interpretation due to a flexible flow of discussion, misrepresentation as the group of respondents is not representative and purposively selected (see also next chapter about sampling), and finally some problems related with participation in the meeting at the same time. The last problem may occur especially in the management and economic sciences field of study when a sample includes managers, experts or other specialists who are very busy. Even if they get incentives to get involved (the common practice in commercial research, useful also in academic research), getting them together at the same time may turn out difficult. Anyhow, the 54

56 3.10. Focus group interviews choice of the right time or place (e.g., conference) or usage of e-fgi (described later) may be a solution. In organizational setting people may also be afraid to talk openly in the presence of others. Moderating the group requires a more experienced and skilled researcher who deals not only with a more flexible course of interview but also with a group dynamic processes and has to understand properly the role of a group both in the course of planning, interviewing, analyzing and interpreting data. However, moderation is also a challenge as the quality of results highly depends on moderator s skills. Nevertheless, it is worth underlining that it would be a mistake to accept the thesis that an interviewer of IDIs may be not qualified: his task is even more demanding because he or she attracts the participants attention even more, may reveal his or her emotions and opinions more easily and have more fundamental influence on the flow of the interview. What is more, IDIs with professionals require specific skills to deal with professional knowledge. Thus, any qualitative interviewing requires unique skills (Alvesson & Ashcraft, 2012; Maison, 2010; Malhotra & Birks, 2007; Stewart et al., 2007; Yin, 2003). Summary of the interviewer s role in IDIs and FGIs is presented in Table 3.7. Table 3.7. Comparison of the role of interviewer of IDI and moderator of FGI Researcher/Interviewer of IDI Less advanced skills in qualitative interviewing usually required (unfortunately) More exposed to participant s attention Real feelings more easy to be revealed Stronger influence on the course of the interview More easiness in following topic guide Moderator of FGI More advanced skills, rarely beginning researchers Necessity to control the group Possible failures as less vivid for participants More indirect influence on a course of interview More flexibility in applying topic guide Source: own elaboration. At the end of this section, the short summary of applications will be presented. Taking into account all of the group interviews features, advantages and disadvantages, group methods are best fitted whenever social context is important characteristic of a given phenomena or juxtaposition of opinions may be helpful to understand better the phenomena under consideration. Involving a group that at the same place at the same time may express a variety of opinions helps also to gain a wide picture of the phenomena, thus focus groups interviews in management and information systems are used in exploratory research or in the mixed method approaches (Thorpe & Holt, 2008; Venkatesh et al., 2013). From practical point of view, this method is best 55

57 Method choice applied when participants are easy to recruit (may easily meet at a given time at a given place) and when one has less time for fieldwork and analysis (compared with conducting IDIs, but systematic analysis is time consuming and difficult anyway, (Malhotra & Birks, 2007)). However, if the researcher is not an experienced moderator, if one can t hire a professional moderator, when the social context is not a key issue of a research problem, when fast picture of results is not of key interest or when participants are difficult to recruit, it may be more effective to switch to individual interviews. An example of application one may find in Frame 3.4. Frame 3.4. Example of focus group interviews application in management Rodney Runyan, Patricia Huddleeston, and Jane Swinney (2007) conducted four focus group interviews with downtown small business owners within four communities in the USA. Their theoretical aim was to test the resource-based view to the small enterprises. The exploratory research was designed to reveal perception of small firms resources which may constitute competitive advantage and develop actions. Given limitations related with need to control over group and group influence, group interviews are less accepted in academic research than individual interviews. The context (professional facility, experienced moderator, recruitment of many persons, incentives) also hinders the broad scope of applications. KEY POINTS Focus group interviewing characteristics together with advantages (summarized as 5S + 5S ) and disadvantages ( 5M + 4I ) predispose this method to be used successfully whenever social context is an important characteristic of the given phenomena or juxtaposition of opinions may be helpful to understand better the phenomena under consideration, in exploratory research or in the mixed method approaches to gain a wide picture of the phenomena, when participants are easy to recruit and when one has less time for fieldwork and analysis. Relative difficulty of organization (professional facility, experienced moderator, recruitment of many persons, incentives) and risk of low control over group limit the breadth of applications in academic setting. For further readings about focus group interviews in social science one may read the books by Rosaline Barbour (2007) and David Stewart et al. (2007), and in organization setting the text of Binna Kandola (2012). 56

58 3.11. e-interviews e-interviews Technological improvement and increasing access and usage of Internet communication influenced the development of new solutions also in qualitative interviewing (Boush & Kahle, 2005; Malhotra & Birks, 2007; Morgan & Symon, 2004). In literature and in market research practice one may meet at least four types of interviewing that involve Internet as a mean of communication: study (Morgan & Symon, 2004), Bulletin Board Discussion (Boush & Kahle, 2005), and e-idis and e-fgis ( The main features of all four methods are shortly described in Table 3.8. As one may see, two of them are conducted not in the real time. In these types of interviews, the time from one session to another may vary and the participant(s) may choose time of responding, without or within some time constraints. Thus, the participants have more time for reflection, what may be perceived both as an advantage and as a disadvantage depending on research goals. Also, excellent typing skills of both participants and researcher exert less influence upon their involvement in non-real time methods. Table 3.8. Types of e-interviews and their main features Non-real time Real time Individual Group study/electronic interview: a series of exchanges between the researcher and participant or group of participants; researcher asks questions but also clarifies answers of participants; answers are delayed; the communication may not have any time constraints; closer relationship may develop Bulletin Board Discussion/non-real time focus groups: type of forum, moderator presents instructions, tasks and asks questions on a common board dedicated for this aim, one issue in a given time, e.g., once a day to be done at a given time, participants see all answers of others and exchange opinions within given time constraints (e.g., one day for answers, two weeks for the whole study; if necessary, the moderator asks additional questions or helps if necessary; interaction is minimal; a relatively large group of participants (up to even 40) is earlier recruited e-idi Individual in-depth Interview, but in a written form instead of face-to-face interaction e-fgi focus group discussion in a written form, participants answers may be in part visible for others, partially hidden, depending on the task Source: own elaboration based on Boush & Kahle (2005), ww.iibr.pl; Malhotra & Birks (2007), Morgan & Symon (2004), Thorpe & Holt (2008). 57

59 Method choice Two other methods: e-idi and e-fgi share some characteristics of its face-toface versions. They are also a form of the Internet chat, in which moderator asks questions and participant(s) answer it in a written form. The participant(s) and moderator are meeting virtually at the same time. The moderator may ask questions spontaneously but the core questions may also be paste from a special panel. Thanks to it answers may be more spontaneous than reflexive, in particular when e-fgis are implemented among fast typing participants. The time constraints of the interviews are predefined. In e-fgis computer literacy play a huge role in the active participation in the discussion. Till now I approached only study in the field of management and economic sciences publications (see Frame 3.5. for two examples). study has some advantages that are invaluable in student and any academic work: it is convenient, rather available, cheap, and it enables to reach wide-spread group of participants. Other e-interviews methods I have met as successfully implemented in market, social or psychological research with fieldwork done by professional research agencies that used software applicable for such aims. Frame 3.5. Examples of method of gathering data in management and economic sciences Stephanie Morgan and Gillian Symon (2004) implemented this method to gather information from international staff spread around the Europe and sometimes having difficulty in spoken English. Piotr Zaborek (2009b) applied this method to gather additional data from informants after the in-depth interviewing in case study research. Above some distinctive characteristics of each of these methods, they share some characteristics, advantages and limitations (Boush & Kahle, 2005; Malhotra & Birks, 2007; Morgan & Symon, 2004). Similarly as in face-to-face interviews, in any of these methods the researcher uses a topic guide to establish the scope of the study and may clarify answers and ask additional questions. The core of analysis method is similar as in case of other qualitative methods. Among advantages one may mention: opportunities to broad application: both the substitutive and complementing role for existing methods, access to broad scope of participants including geographical spread and other participants difficult to recruit for face-to-face methods (because of time-constraints or unwillingness to talk face-to-face about some topics), no need for transcripts: the transcripts are ready at once, thus nothing is lost or biased in a transcription process, lower financial and behavioral cost: the Internet connection eliminates some costs (e.g., travelling expenses, costs of transcripts), 58

60 3.11. e-interviews reduced some status differences. Some information about someone s race, religion, and also job position are not visible, what may reduce some potential barriers in developing relationship, wide range of techniques. Audio and visual stimuli materials may be presented to the participants, as well as the participants may attach their own materials. However, there are still many challenges to implement e-interviews: recruitment process. This concerns the access to personal data such as the address as the authenticity of participants may evoke some doubts, particularly in academic environment, Internet access and quality of connections. Although the Internet access is easier and the quality of connections is higher, there are still some groups unavailable for this methodology, literacy among potential participants. Some groups and individuals may be more familiar with computer (younger, higher educated, office-workers), while others may be less computer-skilled. The choice of e-interviews among the latter ones may imply a huge bias in data due to the involvement of a particular sub-group of participants, lack of non-verbal communication. In face-to-face interviews non-verbal signals play a huge role in building and enhancing trust and openness and may be additional source of information. Thus, other methods of developing trust, mostly explicit, have to be applied. The additional source of information can be emoticons, if necessary, special skills of moderators. Particularly real time e-interviews require not only good computer literacy (from both researcher and participants; some e-fgi are very involving and fast going) but also the familiarity with internet etiquette and language. KEY POINTS E-Interviews (both individual and group methods) are still rarely described in the literature despite many advantages for their usage by scholars: they are convenient, rather available and cheap, they help reach a wide group of participants. The biggest limitation in academic research is probably related with low control over recruitment process. Limited access and low literacy of participants, lack of verbal communication and special skills of moderator/ interviewer may also limit the scope of applications. Persons who are interested in reading more about e-interviews and their procedures in organization research may read the text by Stephanie Morgan and Gillian Symon (2004). About bulletin board discussion see Boush and Kahle (2005). 59

61 3.12. Tele-interviewing Method choice In case of some participants who are extremely difficult to be recruited for face-to-face interviewing some researchers implement the telephone interviewing. For instance, while conducting the research involving 45 in-depth interviews with experts from four stakeholders groups, some British researchers (Cassel et al., 2006) found difficulties to reach some potential participants for face-to-face interviewing in their workplace. To achieve a desirable number of participants within each of stakeholders panels, they decided to complement methodology with telephone interviewing as well as with interviews during one of conferences in the field. Interviews lasted 1 2 hours, they were audiorecorded and considered confidential. A particular advantage of this method is greater easiness in getting access to some participants. However, the researcher has low level of control over situation. For instance, in my practice, the participant preferred talking while driving, thus his focus on the interview was lowered. In tele-interviewing it is also impossible to use some stimuli materials. In some research, mainly international, costs of telephone connections may be high given that interviews last about one hour. Moreover, good recording equipment is necessary. KEY POINTS Tele-interviewing is an opportunity in case of huge difficulties to meet face-to-face Rules of method choice At the end of this section, a short summary of criteria for interviewing method choice in student work will be presented: the problem under study, guiding research question and research objectives and theoretical background, implying the role of individual experiences and social context among others, pragmatic factors: o acceptance by academic environment in a given field of study or readiness to challenge the dominating academics opinions, implying very high selfreflexitivity in each step of high reflexitivity, o preferences, beliefs and skills of the researcher, o time constraints, o potential participants characteristics including their time accessibility, o additionally: budget constraints. Whatever method the researcher chooses, the unique reasons of this choice should be underlined, because the boundaries between methods are not clear 60

62 3.13. Rules of method choice and the range of possible methods may be applied for the same problem and guiding research question. Additionally, the researcher should reformulate the research question to best match the chosen method (for similar reasoning see Yin (2009). The need for considering potential participants characteristics in the selection of method implies that method choice should be reconsidered once again after the definition of criteria for participation, what will be the topic of the next chapter. KEY POINTS Whenever the researcher chooses between the whole spectrum of qualitative methods, two groups of criteria are worth being taken into account: substantive (information needs) and pragmatic (including preferences of researcher and recipients, potential participants characteristics, time and cost constraints). 61

63

64 CHAPTER 4 Sampling and recruitment In this chapter, some more general and detailed issues related to sampling and recruitment will be presented. The first section discusses the main idea of non-probability sampling and strategies for selection. Next section presents the number of cases and participants and is completed with some indications about case and participant characteristics. The final section provides practical pieces of advice regarding recruitment. At the end of the chapter one may find recommendations of further references, common for all the sections about selection. The question about sampling and in particular about number of participants is one of key issues that researchers are worried about in case of qualitative interviewing. As one could have seen in previous chapters, the method of sampling and number of cases/participants is one of differences between qualitative and quantitative research. Many authors note that the rules of sampling choice are poorly described in the literature due to their flexibility and dependence on research aim. However, in recent years, the general guidelines based on practice have been set down. A sample helps collect data appropriate for research objectives (Saunders, 2012). In case of unsuitable strategy and criteria definition and inappropriate process of recruitment, the participants may have not enough or too much knowledge about the topic, or may be not enough or too much active during interviews (what is particularly important in focus group interviews). It may also happen that they would generate data that are biased or limited by inappropriate participant s characteristics. Thus, the appropriate case and participants selection is one of the key issues to achieve research goals, conduct interviews smoothly and in general to make reliable research. An appropriate design may also save time and money in researching a given problem. No matter which strategy of case and participant selection would be applied, the researcher is expected to have convincing rationale that accounts 63

65 Sampling and recruitment for participants selection. The justification should be convincing for scholars in a given field, who are mostly quantitative academics more familiar with big representative samples. Thus, they may tend to criticize the small number of interviews or have difficulty to understand sampling different than in quantitative research The strategies of sampling and selection In quantitative methods, the researcher uses probability sampling that is based on the assumption of representativeness of a sample for a given population. The statistical analyses enable inference about the probability of phenomena occurrence in this population with an assumed level of error (statistical generalization). In turn, in qualitative research involving interviews the non-probability sampling is employed (Saunders, 2012) and to say it explicit: probability sampling (representative, random) is not an appropriate method of case and participants selection for qualitative research (Perry, 1998; Yin, 2003). The main recommended strategy for qualitative research is the purposive sampling: cases or participants 8 are selected to serve a very specific need or purpose and they do not constitute a subset of some larger population (sometimes it is even not possible to specify the population). The researcher chooses participants based on own judgment, knowledge about research phenomena and practical experiences, which cases and particular individuals may deliver best insight for an issue of interest and provide as much information as possible to achieve the research objectives, both in terms of relevance and depth (Patton (1990), in Perry (1998) calls it information rich cases). The research problem, key aims and objectives are a starting point (Saunders, 2012), although saying that sampling strategy and number of participant results directly from them would be too simplified (Alvesson & Ashcraft, 2012). Illustrative example of the relationships between research aims and criteria of participant selection one may find in Frame 4.1. (other examples one may also find within this and other chapters). 8 Depending on a method, different terms are used to name individuals taking part in a research project: participants in the literature on qualitative interviews (Saunders, 2012), participants or informants (to name experts who deliver information about the field during repeated interviews) to name in the literature on case studies (Alvesson & Ashcraft, 2012; Yin, 2003), respondents in the literature on surveys (Noga-Bogomilski, 2007) and subjects in the literature on experiments (www. apastyle.org). For all type of research, psychological academic publication standards ( org) recommend to use terms that are consistent with the traditions of the given field with emphasis on terms that acknowledge participation (e.g., participants, individuals, respondents or more concise terms as managers, employees). 64

66 4.1. The strategies of sampling and selection Frame 4.1. Example of purposive sampling for interviewing in finances field Calum Middleton, Suzanne Fifield and David Power (2007) investigated the perception of opportunities to undertake investments in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) among institutional investors. Their objectives included investigation of the practitioners opinion on three main issues regarding investments in CEE: reasons, structure of the process and barriers, completed by the prediction of the CEE development. They conducted semi-structured individual interviews with two types of participants in the USA and UK. Seven interviews involved managers and analysts from two types of CEE funds (emerging and GEM), each having extensive knowledge and experience in investing in the CEE region and across the globe. Three interviews were attended by private equity fund managers. The interviews took place in the workplace of interviewees and lasted approx. 40 minutes. They were audiorecorded. However, the purposive sampling based on assumed criteria is not always possible. As Saunders (2012) noticed, some compromises are required and the access is constraint by what is applicable (p. 35), particularly in organization setting. Thus, additional circumstances such as gaining access to organizations and participants, being granted permission to collect data, resources that may limit the amount of data (time, budget, number of researchers), willingness and capacity of individuals to take part in the research, may influence the decision. Table 4.1 presents the list of sampling strategies for participant choice for qualitative interviewing. The list of strategies and their characteristics is based on reflections of many authors. The distinction of purposive and non-purposive strategies of sampling is derived from the work by Mark Saunders (2012). As one may see, various strategies serve different aims. In practice of management and economy sciences, most useful are strategies such as typical, critical, extreme, heterogeneous and homogenous. These strategies may co-occur, which means that for instance for criterion effectiveness of organization the extreme cases are chosen, but they represent different branches (heterogeneity) and participants represents similar job positions (homogeneity). Additionally, the selection based on most accessible cases (with an easy access to a large number of rich data sources) or opportunistic approach via acquaintances in organizations (Saunders, 2012; Yin, 2003; Zaborek, 2009b) and convenience sampling for focus group interviews are applied (Stewart et al., 2007). The convenience sampling may carry some risk if it was without any control (Saunders, 2012), but may be also beneficial when one remembers that even the convenient sample needs to match criteria which result from research objectives (Stewart et al., 2007). 65

67 Sampling and recruitment Table 4.1. Strategies of non-probability sampling for qualitative interviewing Strategy Description Appropriateness of application Purposive sampling strategies Typical case Participants considered to be average representatives of a given group, the most characteristic of phenomena of interest For illustrative purpose, to deliver representative picture of the phenomena To capture the circumstances and conditions of ordinary phenomena Critical case Extreme case Heterogeneous (maximizing differences) Homogeneous A rare/unique case Having strategic importance in relation to general problem (Flyvbjerg, 2006, p. 425) Participants having unusual characteristics Participants representing diversity of characteristics (different departments or levels of hierarchy) Participant sharing similar characteristics (e.g. same occupation, level of hierarchy) The case is very rare but reveals important /new aspects of the issue Revelatory case The case that was not examined previously although was visible for other researchers Self-selection sampling, volunteers, snow balling procedures To test (confirm, challenge, or extend) an existing theory, to determine the relevance of theory s propositions and of alternative set of explanations (Yin, 2003) To verify or falsify the proposition (to obtain information to validate the reasoning that if this occurs (does not occur) in this particular case, then this is valid for all or many cases (any or only a few) cases) (Flyvbjerg, 2006, p. 425) To enlighten unusual To achieve information on particularly problematic or good examples of a given phenomena, getting a point across in an especially dramatic way (Flyvbjerg, 2006, p. 425) Providing maximum variation in the data Revealing of key themes and patterns of common understanding shared by the majority of the members of the wider population. (Szabo, 2006, p. 279) Going in-depth To document or analyze rare phenomena Mostly in a single case design To investigate a phenomenon previously inaccessible to scientific examination even though the problems were widespread Other non-probability sampling strategies Participants who are willing to take part in a research Participants who give access to next participants When access is difficult When criteria of choice are difficult to identify 66

68 4.2. Number of cases and participants Convenient samples Opportunistic approach Theoretical sampling Paradigmatic case Longitudinal case Pilot interviews The choice is haphazard, based on convenience Friends working in organization Participants are selected based on ideas relevant for the story line in a grounded theory approach Choice is based on what we should focus our attention in order to develop our understanding of this phenomena (Buchanan, 2012, p. 361) Other types of case selection The case that draw attention to the most prominent features of the phenomena The case that would be examined in different points of time Characteristics depending on goals, mainly similar to those employed in a main study When the researcher is ready to have limited control over participants selection Useful in developing grounded theory To develop a school for the field that the case concerns To examine the same single case at different points of time (the points of time were selected on a base of theory To test method To prepare the design for a multiple case study Source: own elaboration, based on: Buchanan (2012), Flyvbjerg (2006), Miles & Huberman (1994), Perry (1998), Yin (2003), Zaborek (2009b). KEY POINTS In qualitative research non-probability sampling with domination of purposive sampling is employed. The researcher has various possibilities of strategies for sampling and selection with typical, critical, extreme, heterogeneous and homogenous, the selection based on most accessible cases (with an easy access to a large number of rich data sources), opportunistic approach via acquaintances in organizations and convenience sampling Number of cases and participants In case study research in academic practice a multiple-case study is recommended (Yin, 2003; Zaborek, 2009b), compared to a single case study. In multiple-case study designs the researcher gather evidences for the same objectives and variables for each individual case. Having more than one case, 67

69 Sampling and recruitment the analytical conclusions are more robust and external generalizability of conclusions arises, and it is easier to deal with criticism (Yin, 2003). Any strict rules for sample size are defined in the literature. The number depends on the research problem, goals and target group specificity, sampling technique (typical case, critical case, etc.,), expected credibility and available resources including participants availability most of all and researchers time and budget constraints additionally (Saunders, 2012). However, some general guidelines are accessible. More cases the researcher should include in a study, when (particular topics will be developed in further paragraphs): the greater certainty the researcher demands to confirm the theory and to reject alternative explanations (Yin, 2003), the more complex is the reality of interest and the more subtle differences exist between rival theories (Yin, 2003), the larger amount of information is needed to reach a point of redundancy or saturation (Zaborek, 2009b), the more between-cases/subgroups of participants criteria are involved (Perry, 1998), the less complex analysis and the fewer data sources are planned (Zaborek, 2009b), the larger time and budget constraints (King, 2004; Yin, 2003; Zaborek, 2009b), the more accessible are cases and participants, and the easier it is to obtain access to sources (Zaborek, 2009b). Most often, the main cue is to continue gathering data till saturation is achieved which means the point at which no new information or themes are observed in the data (Saunders, 2012). The cumulative researchers experience within both organization and marketing research area deliver useful concrete guidelines when saturation in interviewing is being achieved. Saunders (2012) based on own experience and review of literature recommends 4 12 interviews in case of homogenous samples, and participants when samples are very heterogeneous and when the field of research is diffuse or vague (see Saunders, 2012 for more details). Marketing research practice (Maison, 2010) suggests 4 6 individual interviews and 2 3 group interviews as sufficient in the simplest designs, however to assure more credible data the design of minimum 8 individual interviews, 6 dyads or 4 group interviews is rather applied (Maison, 2010). For academic purposes of postgraduate students in marketing, Perry (2003) used samples of 4 participants per each subgroup with total number of 12 participants in the design with three variables (country, the company size, company effectiveness). For Ph. D. students, he recommends conducting between 2 4 and interviews. If interviews are the main method or the only method of generating data, more interviews may be required, compared to 68

70 4.2. Number of cases and participants multi-method case study, when many different sources of data are involved. In multi-method designs, saturation is easier to be obtained due to completing pattern resulting from different sources, but also more time for gathering data and their analysis is required. Thus, for instance Zaborek (2009b) proposes 4 8 cases for Ph.D. student thesis, when mostly only one person conducts all the research stages. Frame 4.2. presents an example how a researcher established the saturation point and number of participants. Frame 4.2. Example of participants selection In the study (mentioned in Chapter 3 of Advantages of interviewing as a qualitative method), Erna Szabo (2006) conducted qualitative individual interviews with middle managers in five European countries to understand the meaning, performance and context of participation in managerial decision making. Interviews lasted between one and two hours. They were audio-recorded and transcribed for purpose of analysis. During pilot test in one of the countries, Szabo established that interviews with five managers deliver enough rich, stable and country specific patterns of results, but in the main study she decided to conduct 6 interviews per each of 5 countries to follow more rigid guidelines. Anticipating that some participants may dismiss the meeting, more persons were recruited to the study. As a result of good response from invited persons, she conducted from 6 till 8 interviews per country. Szabo (2006) used maximizing difference strategy within a given subgroup (e.g., a country). The differences included age, gender and functional area. In preliminary steps of recruitment, contact persons (mostly colleagues from other academic institutions) facilitated access to potential participants. The research objectives regarding the comparison between subgroups (e.g., small and medium enterprises) are an important cue to establish the number of interviews. If a researcher is interested in comparisons between cases or subgroups of participants (e.g., small and medium enterprises; employees with longer and shorter job seniority), the design should involve enough interviews to make such comparisons in each segment. The practice shows that replication 4 6 in-depth interviews and 2 focus group interviews in each segment helps establish the key pattern of results for a given subgroup (Maison, 2010; Perry, 1998; Szabo, 2006). It means that the next interviews reply similar pattern of key results. However, this assumption holds only if subgroups under study are homogenous on key criteria (see Frame 4.2. and Table 4.1. in previous section). Homogeneity may refer to diverse characteristics of enterprises and individuals 69

71 Sampling and recruitment (or industry, etc.), including hard, tangible criteria (e.g., small vs. medium enterprises, presidents vs. accountants, longer vs. shorter seniority, managers vs. subordinates, women vs. men, age of participants) and softer even intangible criteria such as the type of level of expertise in the topic, experiences (e.g., usage of some services or not) or preferences (e.g., positive vs. negative opinion about the idea of CSR practices). However, some heterogeneity meaning diversity of participants is important to observe a wide range of opinions and establish a key pattern of results. In marketing research it may include variety of occupations of participants, unfamiliarity of participants and diversity of locations, in management research diversity of departments, gender, seniority. In some research, to understand the phenomena, a researcher may include all parties participating in events under study (Douglas, 2006); however, mostly it is enough to choose some subgroups that may deliver the most insightful information to establish the dominant pattern within phenomena or to deliver complementary perspectives. Altogether, homogeneity of the subgroup complemented with diversity of participants and replication of interviews lead to a more reliable analysis. In case of focus group interviews, the homogeneity on particular dimensions may play important role in group dynamic and obtained results (Maison, 2010; Stewart et al., 2007). For instance, while talking about some topics in one group, men may be dominated by women (or vice versa) or subordinates may tend to express opinions that are desirable (in their opinion) by supervisors or supervisors may withdraw from discussion to give more space to subordinates. However, some differences expire when homogeneity on more important shared characteristics is achieved (Maison, 2010). For instance, while talking about gender role neutral topic. Every time, the researcher role is to consider diversity of possibilities, advantages and disadvantages of each solution and choose the least evil or even to switch to individual interviews. Otherwise, the research design would be unmanageable. Additional perspective on strategies of selection is presented by Robert Yin (2005) who proposes two procedures of replication which logic is similar to planning a series of experiments, for multi-method multi-case studies. A few cases would be planned as literal replications with an assumption that they meet criteria under which a given phenomenon is likely to be found. Further a few cases (4 to 6) would be developed as theoretical replications to verify if a pattern of results continues revealing despite of changes in some conditions, or whether it disappears in conditions when it is not likely to be found. Similar reasoning is underlined in the maximum variation case strategy of selection (see Table 4.2.) aimed to understand the importance of some factors for outcomes. Yin suggests that the number of replications of each type may start with 2 and finish with 6, rarely more (e.g., 2 6 literal replications and 2 6 theoretical replications in a project). He recommends having two individual cases for any particular condition. For example, if a researcher wants to check if a phenomenon that was established for 70

72 4.2. Number of cases and participants big enterprises holds for small enterprises, at least two cases of small and two cases of big organizations should be included in a project. Cases that constitute literal replication may establish a separate project or first step of a project that would be followed by theoretical replication. The preceding theoretical proposition is crucial to define the conditions of occurring and not occurring of the phenomena. If a set of cases gives contradictory results, the initial theory should be revised and again retested with a new research design in the same or next project. The replication logic was applied by Piotr Zaborek (2009a) in the doctoral thesis. Table 4.2. Types of replication for multiple-case design Research goal or appropriateness of application To obtain similar findings (Yin, 2003; Zaborek, 2009a) To reveal contrasting findings for reasons predicted by theory (Yin, 2003; Zaborek, 2009a) To understand the importance of some factors for outcomes (Flyvbjerg, 2006), when one may predefine the major causes of variability Type of replication Similar conditions with expectation of literal replication (duplication of results) Different conditions with expectation of theoretical replication (contrasting results) Maximum variation cases (a few cases that are extremely different on one dimension or more dimensions) Source: own elaboration based on Flyvbjerg (2006), Yin (2003), Zaborek (2009b). The number of interviews may be also related to a researcher intention to triangulate data. Some researchers propose to establish facts regarding one organization by interviews with more than one interviewee from the same organization, with individuals from the context (e.g., consultants, government advisors, industry organization people (Perry, 1998) or even all parties participating in the event under study (Woodside, 2010). Last but not least, the pragmatic constraints also influence the number of participants. The important limitations are cognitive, time and financial resources required conducting a large number of case studies (Yin, 2003; Zaborek, 2009b). Beginning researchers often underestimate the time needed for the whole qualitative project, in particular the process of analysis (King, 2004). Researcher may also encounter a problem with accessibility of data in organizations of interest (Perry, 1998; Zaborek, 2009b). To have reliable outcomes for research objectives, all the planned data sources (e.g., employees, documents, artifacts) should be analyzed for each individual case. However, some managers may be not willing to share all the information, e.g., because of fear of disclosing sensitive information (Zaborek, 2009b), what may influence the final number of cases or participants. Thus, the final decision should take into account also these constraints. Finally, it is worth adding that although the most recommended for student work is the multiple case design, in recent literature one may find examples 71

73 Sampling and recruitment of one case designs, mainly involving at least several interviews completed with analysis of other sources (an example can be found in research of Douglas 2006, mentioned in the section 3.2. and presented by Frame 6.2 in Chapter 6). Believers of the single case study approach, such as Bent Flyvbjerg (2006), emphasize that crucial ideas are often based on single cases with Freud s Wolf-Man, Foucault s Panopticon and even Galileo s rejection of Aristotle s law of gravity as some of examples. He highlights a unique role of atypical or extreme cases compared to typical or average cases. According to him the atypical or the extreme case activates more actors and more basic mechanisms in the phenomena under consideration and clarify deeper causes behind a given problem and its consequences. Thus it may deliver the greatest possible amount of information on a given phenomenon and may give a deeper insight into a problem. To understand better the role of atypical cases, some authors including Flyvbjerg (2006) mention Black Swan example of Karl Popper that claimed that just one black swan is enough to falsify the proposition that all swans are white. Nevertheless, the single case design has the strongest opponents among followers of the quantitative and positivist approach. As one could see, the choice of cases in multiple case designs is not easy, thus to answer how to choose a single case is even more difficult. Bent Flyvbjerg (2006) underlines the role of intuition and experience. Robert Yin (5) recommends the careful examination of any potential case to ensure the relevance for issues and questions under considerations, and to beginners he suggests to use rather multiple-cases designs. KEY POINTS There are no strict rules of the number of cases or participants. This number depends on many circumstances including informational needs, complexity of phenomena and participants characteristics, and time, budget and person constraints. The number of cases/participants depends also on the design and number of sources. In multi-method case study for Ph.D. student research 4 8 cases is recommended with two replications per case sharing joint characteristics. In research involving only interviews 4 6 IDIs and 2 3 FGIs per subgroup sharing common characteristics is recommended, thus if one differentiating criterion is applied the number should be twice like that The particular criteria for selection The researcher may apply at least four types of criteria to choose participants: the type of the target to whom characteristics are applied, a centrality of features (key features vs. additional features), types of features, location. They may be used simultaneously or singly, depending on the research needs. 72

74 4.3. The particular criteria for selection The target to which characteristics are applied. In the case study method including interviews, researcher considers features of cases, saying about interviews says about participant. For instance, he or she may say that in the design involved four cases, two represented small enterprises (effective enterprises, developed countries, organizations with management change experience, etc.) and two represented medium enterprises, (non-effective enterprises, developing countries, organizations without management change experience, etc.), which represented different branches and in each organization six interviews were organized. If only interviews are conducted sometimes researchers says about cases or only about participants. Most often three targets are worth of consideration: organization (e.g., application of some solutions of information system), individual (e.g., seniority), external circumstances (e.g., location, time period). Usually it is a level outside the particular participant it is organizational level or external one. The centrality of features (key features vs. additional features). The key features are related directly with the main research question and with research objectives, e.g., a researcher interested in how decision processes look like in SME, establishes SME characteristics as crucial for selection, a researcher interested in between country comparisons in decision processes in SME, establishes SME and country as key features. If for research aim it is crucial to compare results between participants who experienced organization change and who did not, experience of organization change would be the key feature. Additional characteristics may maximize the probability that participant deliver enough insight for a particular phenomena or to minimize the biases. This group of features may include characteristics dependent on research aims e.g., that guarantee heterogeneity of participants (e.g., various industries, departments, occupations, but also in some research size of the organization or country of origin or of seat), enough level of knowledge (e.g., particular level of hierarchy or job position, department, involvement in some organization process, years of experience) as far as characteristics which are less dependent on research aims. In case of focus group interviews the last type of criteria includes the participants features that may influence group dynamic and thus influence the results. Their choice depends on research topic (see previous chapter). Examples are socio-demography (sex, age, socio-economical status), job position, level of expertise (see also the previous section). In marketing and social research three additional independent criteria are taken into account. First, participants should not be related with some industries or occupations because their knowledge may bias results, with exception of situation when these characteristics are of key importance for research aim. It includes (1) individuals who are related with some industries or occupations as they may have more professional knowledge and untypical experience, (2) persons who work in social and market research, marketing, advertising, sociologists, psychologist, because they may not involve 73

75 Sampling and recruitment enough in a process of interviewing due to familiarity of methodology, they may have competitive aims or they may want to reveal some results (e.g., publication). Depending on the research it may include own occupation or include also anyone of their close family or friends. Second, individuals with some experiences in participations in group or individual interviews are excluded from the research, because of the risk of untypical involvement in the current research (e.g., trial of replication of the flow of the previous interviews, preparation for a topic, etc.). The time limit and scope of exclusion may differ depending on a project. It may be 6 or 3 months, and any topic or only a given topic with more liberal criteria in case of more complex recruitment (e.g., experts). Finally, to guarantee the variety of opinions and in case of focus group interviews unfamiliarity of participants is desired. In organization research, the additional criteria similar to those applied in marketing research are not always relevant. Additionally, when access to participants may be difficult anyway, a researcher should thoroughly consider how many additional criteria of exclusion to include. An example of the usage of the key and additional criteria can be found in Frame 4.3. Frame 4.3. Example of the usage of key and additional criteria 74 Melanie Bryant implemented constructivist framework to explore the dynamics of organizational change. She conducted qualitative interviews with 14 Australian employees. All of them experienced organizational change. Additionally, they represented variety of industries (working experience of at least 5 years in one of the specified industries and working there in the past five years) and represented diverse job positions. Types of features, e.g., (in)tangibility, simplicity/complexity, overt/implicit. The criteria may include both hard, tangible features (such as size of organization) and soft, intangible ones (e.g., knowledge of the issue, experiencing a change in organization), both simple and overt variables (e.g., industry) and complex and hidden (such as efficiency of organization as measured by a complex index of size, number of products and number of countries exported to (Perry, 1998). Location. Following marketing research guidelines (Maison, 2010) the researcher may use one of three main strategies to decide about location: (1) one location when participants from one town seems to appropriately represent the segment beyond potential location differences; (2) two locations to rule out the location bias (e.g., the role of some experiences specific for one town or country); (3) two or more locations when differences related to different locations are expected and when the target group is dispersed, e.g., different consumption styles in big and small towns are expected or different attitudes toward a topic are predicted due to different political inclinations in different regions of Poland, etc. Any time the researcher should consider thoroughly a rationale for the choice. This decision may also be helpful for better

76 4.3. The particular criteria for selection understanding of research problem as a researcher may find out whether one location (e.g., Poland) is treated as an example for a broader class of locations (e.g., EU members, CEE country, developing country) or it is a specific case with some particular characteristics. Whatever criteria are chosen, the researcher is obliged to be as much specific as possible in defining criteria, what enables to avoid problems in further phases of research project (e.g., during recruitment), what enlarge reliability of a study and help to make analytical generalizations and transferability of results. Features should be defined at both theoretical and operational level. A researcher may start with a theoretical definition that is relevant to research objectives. An example is presented by Frame 4.4. In a more simplistic example, a researcher may use only the number of employees criterion to define small and medium organization. But even then, the definition differs between countries (e.g., according to definition in Germany SME has a limit of 255 employees, while in Belgium 100). In case of international research it may be worth deciding if local definition, definition of a researcher s country or a unified definition should be used. Going further with this example, if the researcher is interested in processes related to corporate banking, a researcher should also establish the minimal number of employees as some SME definitions include also microenterprises (that has no access to corporate banking). For some research objectives, however, the definition of SME in terms of employees number may be not enough and the criterion of income may be added what is followed by further questions such as what type of income should be taken into account. Frame 4.4. An example of criteria definition Temi Abimbola and Akin Kocak (2007) conducted an exploratory qualitative research involving ten interviews with entrepreneurs or managing directors within three types of firms in UK: founder/ entrepreneurs (4), small business (4) and medium-sized firms (2), following definition of SME of Storey (1994) and Stokes and Wilson (2006) and definition of entrepreneur of Penrose (1995). Additionally, participants have had more than three years of business experience and represented various fields: component manufactures, management consultancy, communication, specialty software inventory, autorepair, paper firm, forensic-science firms. Interviews were conducted on the premises of the company, were recorded and then transcribed. The theoretical research aim was to develop a resource-based view model by determining a key role of some factors (brand, organization identity and reputation) in small and medium-sized enterprises. The research objective was to identify non-sector-specific brand, organization identity and reputation-based resources that are specific for successful entrepreneurs and small to medium-sized companies. 75

77 Sampling and recruitment All the mentioned groups of criteria led to the decision how many interviews should be conducted in a project. The problem is that if the researcher applied all the differentiating criteria planned at the beginning, the cost would exceed benefits of the study and the amount of data would be unmanageable to analysis. Moreover, if the criteria are over defined, it may be difficult to find participants (Mariampolski, 2006). Thus, after an ideal plan, the researcher should prepare an optimal plan driven by the decision what criteria are of key importance and what is possible with given cognitive, time and financial resources, however, without lost in methodological correctness. The changes in the list of criteria of participants selection may lead to changes in research objectives. As a simple example, imagine that the researcher planned to find support for hypotheses about differences among individuals with shorter and longer seniority among other more important hypotheses regarding the size of enterprise and type of responsibility related with bank services (decision maker vs. service personnel). Taking into account the budget constraints and theoretical importance for a research problem, this researcher planned the research scheme without the criterion of seniority. Thus, this researcher should give up verifying the hypotheses about differences of seniority. It is because it may happen that the spread of seniority will be unequal in other segments and it will be impossible to conclude about differences. Last but not least, as in case of the whole research project, one perfect solution doesn t exist. The researcher should avoid gross failures and know how to justify the choices. If the researcher discovers that something went wrong, the research design may be modified with enough explanation or the next research should be conducted (Yin, 2003). KEY POINTS While defining selection criteria, the researcher may consider at least criteria belonging to the following groups: the type of the target to whom characteristics are applied (case or participants; organization, individual, external circumstances), a centrality of features (key features vs. additional features), types of features ((in)tangibility, simplicity/complexity, overt/implicit), location (one, two or more) and use the simultaneously or singly, depending on the research needs. The criteria should be defined theoretically (e.g., a developing country, SME) and then in operational terms (e.g., Ukraine, employees) From criteria to recruitment how to fi nd a participant? Up to now, I presented that the researcher task it to define many criteria including organization and individual characteristics on a theoretical and operational level, depending of what is appropriate for particular problem. Some 76

78 4.4. From criteria to recruitment how to fi nd a participant? procedures of recruitment were also presented such as a strategy of self-selection including recruitment of volunteers and snow-balling, convenient samples and opportunistic approach (Saunders, 2012, see also Table 4.1. in section The strategies of non-probability sampling). The further question arises how to find participants who meet the criteria and how to check if they meet the criteria. In opinion and research agencies, professional recruiters are employed to find individuals who meet the criteria, although in recruitment of some groups of experts also researchers themselves are involved. In academic practice, the researcher or assistants may conduct this process. This process is rarely presented in academic books in details, with partial exception of Yin s (2003) book on case studies research and Saunders (2012) publication on recruitment in organizational setting, thus this section is completed by knowledge and experience from marketing and opinion research practice. To facilitate the process of recruitment and assure its appropriateness, some procedures may be employed: (1) Negotiation with management in case of organization research (2) Screening questionnaire at the beginning of recruitment (2) Control and reminder (3) Second (shorter) screening questionnaire (4) Control during interview. The easier is access to participants, the more thorough control is reasonable. When access is difficult, the researcher should be more flexible and ready for compromises, employing the opportunistic approach (Saunders, 2012, see also Table 4.1.). In case of organization research, the decision about the involvement in a study is mostly taken by a management and is related with internal politics or personal opinion of management about sharing information. Thus, the recruitment process should be preceded by (1) thorough examination of organization politics regarding confidentiality and information sensitiveness via publicly accessible sources (e.g., website), (2) preliminary talks. To gain an access to organization and obtain the permission, it is worth preparing a letter containing key pieces of information about a study, its methodology and requirements (see Frame 4.5., an example one may find also in a book by Robert Yin (2003; 2009). Frame 4.5. Information in consent letter for organization The main information in a consent letter: the introduction (name of a researcher and institution), the aim of the study (enough specific to obtain informed consent, but in general terms not to bias the way of answering), the requirements including type of sources, characteristics of participants, the information about the type of required information, the information about the level of confidentiality, other information following ethical guidelines in a given field of studies or institution, the way of usage (e.g., academic purpose). 77

79 Sampling and recruitment Sometimes some negotiations may be necessary to establish the cooperation (Saunders, 2012). The written consent form may be useful to obtain informed consent to participate. Sometimes it is also required by ethical guidelines. The letter or from management or HR about the research may sometimes be helpful to facilitate contact with potential participants. The screening questionnaires ( screener in short) consist of a list of questions that checks if a person (a case) meets the criteria. To some extent it is similar in construction to typical questionnaires used in personal interviews in quantitative research. The main parts of the screener are presented in Frame 4.6. Frame 4.6. Topics in screening questionnaire 78 The screener consists of following parts: the introduction (name of a researcher and institution, the overall aim of the study confidence of results), question being major disqualifiers (Mariampolski, 1996, p. 93), e.g., questions about attributes for all participants beginning with the simplest about facts (characteristics of enterprise, then characteristics of individuals such as participation in opinion and market research, occupation), questions about attributes qualifying to segments, sensitive questions (e.g., income) closer to the end of questionnaire, questions about additional attributes such as talkativeness, behaviors in a group, invitation to a proper interview (question about possibility to participate in the interview at a given time, explanation of the aim and process of interviewing with information about confidence, recording, incentives if applicable, the time and place of interviewing), questions about contact data (the contact phone and sometimes address). Two rules of screening questionnaire development are crucial: to build a trust and to avoid a bias. The trust building encourages a potential participant to a further participation. That s why the proper introduction and order of questions are important. Second, the questions should not reveal which answer is correct. If a participant knows which criteria should be met, he/she may answer in a biased way (if a researcher wants a participant to prepare himself or herself for a topic, it is better to prepare an assignment identical for each respondent). For this reason, the question should be open (not yes/no answers), cafeteria should include not only issues of interest, but also control questions, and the order of qualifying and disqualifying response categories should be differentiated (in one question in the beginning, another in the middle or in the end of cafeteria) (Mariampolski, 2006). Third, the clear instruction for a recruiter should be given

80 4.4. From criteria to recruitment how to fi nd a participant? when to continue and when to end screening. That s why the respondent should not self-complete the screener (to self-completion the questionnaire should be reconstructed). The screener should end with information about the study what enables participant to make informed choice. The good screener is as brief as possible (without any nice to have ), it consists of short, simple questions that ask about only one thing at a time, in natural language, not in scientific terms, otherwise it may be discouraging participant from further participation in the study (Mariampolski, 2006; Stewart et al., 2007). Good practice is to give or send a written invitation with information about the institution, the overall aim of the study, the procedure (e.g., group discussion, confidentiality), time and place of interviewing, incentive if applicable and contact data (telephone, ) to the recruiter or researcher. It may help to build trust (some respondents may check if the institution really employs someone or conducts such a study) and it works as a reminder when and where the interview takes place. Sometimes two types of materials may be required: one for a decision maker and another for potential participants. Finally, it may be helpful in negotiations about the scope of the study with some organizations and to respect the established rules of cooperation on both sides. Before the meeting (two or one day before or even in the morning the same day or even twice with the last one about 24 hours before the meeting) good marketing research practice is to call the respondent (Mariampolski, 2006). This telephone contact may have two functions. First, to remind about the interview, its time and place. Second, the researcher may check once again the key criteria with a new set of questions about the same criteria as previously. It may seem strange, but it happens that this control reveals new or replaces proceeding answers. For example, an individual could have checked some information about the enterprise size and discovered that it is not as big as he or she thought. In organizational studies, the researcher may ask the participant to check some pieces of information in the end of the recruitment (e.g., what is the exact size of a given organization). Third control may be done just before interviewing. Once again the invited person is asked to answer some questions in a shorter form than previously. It can be a self-completing questionnaire or a set of questions asked by an assistant or a researcher (the same for each potential participant). However, this practice is not always necessary. Next, to follow ethical guidelines of some academic field or institution, participants may be obliged to sign a written consent form. Saunders (2012) emphasizes the increasing role of such materials in achieving an acceptance and trust of participants working in organizations. This three step procedure decreases the risk that the potential participant does not meet the appropriate criteria. However, the key control has a place during interviewing when the atmosphere of trust and focus on a topic may reveal new thoughts and facts. In case of group interviewing it is particularly difficult to deal with such a situation, thus it is 79

81 Sampling and recruitment better to prevent any misunderstandings before the group. One way to prevent cancelling of the interview is to invite more potential participants. For instance, if a researcher plans to conduct an interview with 8 persons, 10 or even 12 may be invited. Before starting the group in the waiting room participants complete questionnaire ( third control described above) and then the researcher invites to the group only those who meet the criteria or invite all (it rarely happens that all the invited participants come to the group anyway due to a variety of unexpected circumstances). If an incentive was promised, each person should get an incentive even if he or she does not participate in a meeting. In case of IDIs with professionals the better solution is to plan more meetings and cancel them in advance, or just conduct more interviews. In case of a bulletin board discussion (see section in Chapter 3) it is recommended not only to invite but also to start with a larger group, as some persons may give up during this long-standing research (Englis, Solomon, & Danskin, 2005). As a final remark, it is worth adding that the researcher should be flexible and open to redefine the tactic for the selection as during gathering data the type of case may turn out different than it was thought to be. For example, a critical case may appear an extreme case (Flyvbjerg, 2006; Yin, 2003), or research questions change during the course of the study (Yin, 2003). Whenever any shift is justifiable, the researcher should consider what change is indispensable: change of case, change of type of selection or change in theoretical proposition and research objectives. Next, researcher should explicitly redefine the design and start over with a new tactic for design selection (Yin, 2003). KEY POINTS To make successful recruitment, the researcher has several tasks: to define the strategy of recruitment, to define criteria at a theoretical and operational level, to decide which criteria are key for obtaining research aims apply to all participants and which criteria will apply to differentiate subgroups of participants, given into account objectives, methodology and pragmatic (time and budget) constraints, to determine additional criteria of selection, to establish the number of cases/subgroups and participants, to prepare materials to obtain consent from organization and participants, to develop a screening questionnaire, to find participants, to control the recruitment process. All of the decisions should follow the research objectives and constraints of a chosen method. The researcher should know how to justify any decision. 80

82 4.5. Additional remarks: What about anonymity? 4.5. Additional remarks: What about anonymity? In the literature one may find two different suggestions about the identification of a case and participants in qualitative research. Academic publications prefer the tendency to make cases and participants anonymous, while Robert Yin (2003), the author of the book on case studies, recommends the identification of cases. However, there are some compromises the researcher may consider. For instance, organization may be identified and the participants remain anonymous (for some compromises see Yin, 2003). Each procedure has some advantages and disadvantages that are presented in Table 4.3. As one may see, advantages of non-anonymous research include mostly benefits for readers and the writer of the report; however, they may have some serious negative outcomes (Yin, 2005). Advantages of anonymity regard mostly issues of validity as the confidentiality may decrease the risk of rejection and encourage openness during interviewing process, thus facilitating uncovering the reality as it is. Assuring anonymity follows the marketing and psychological research tradition and ethics. If anonymity or at least confidentiality is guaranteed, the researcher task is to assure it and predict any difficulties. If pictures are taken, the researcher should avoid any signs that may enable identification of the organization (Vince & Warren, 2012). If participants are employees, the researcher has to ascertain that individual results will not be available for other staff members (Morgan & Symon, 2004). Table 4.3. Advantages and disadvantages of identification and anonymity of case and participants in qualitative research Anonymity Identification by real name Advantages Disadvantages Advantages Disadvantages Developing trust at the stage of recruitment and interviewing Participants and organization protection, particularly in case of controversial topics In accordance with marketing and psychological research tradition and ethics Elimination of background information Difficulty in systematic disguising the real identity in a final report Source: own elaboration, based on Yin (2003). Possibility of integration of current and previous knowledge about the case Results and interpretation of case study is more easily reviewed due to references to direct sources Easier to name the organization and person by name in the report Not always relevant for research aim Risk for organization and person reputation in case of some topics Risk of influence on subsequent actions 81

83 Sampling and recruitment Nevertheless, the participant should be informed in advance about the way of dealing with organization and participant s real identity in a final report and the level of confidentiality. In case of organization identification, it is worth obtaining a written consent. KEY POINTS Although both anonymity and identification of cases have some advantages and disadvantages, one may find more pros concerning anonymity as it serves the protection of participants. Persons who are interested in reading more about the selection of cases and participants may read the text of Mark Saunders (2012) pertaining to an organizational research with detailed examples of selection strategies, selected chapters in the book by Robert Yin (2003) and the text by Chad Perry (1998). About ethical issues related to organizational research one may read the text by Holt (2012). Some issues regarding the development of screener and selection focus group interviews can be found in the book by David Stewart et al. (2007). 82

84 CHAPTER 5 How to develop a topic guide This chapter focuses on issues related to the development of a research tool for interviews. It starts with general characteristics and then presents three main rules of topic guide development: transfer of research objectives and researcher approach, the relationship between group dynamic and information revealing, and rules of questioning and application of supporting techniques to gain more insight into the phenomena under consideration. The final section discusses the role of topic guide implementation during fieldwork The main characteristics of topic guide In the literature and in practice one may find a variety of notions to name a qualitative research instrument. In the literature on a qualitative interviewing and marketing research practice, one may meet such notions as topic/discussion guide, interview schedule or interview outline, while in the Polish market research tradition a notion of a scenario of an interview is usually used. In the case study literature, a notion of a protocol is used; however, this notion refers to the instrument for a whole case study including a variety of sources and enables to complete information (Yin, 2003). To emphasize the qualitative flexible formula of the tool for interviewing the notion of a topic guide will be used in this handbook. In research practice one may meet two approaches to topic guide development. Some researchers prefer the general topic guide while others the detailed topic guide. The general topic guide is very short and includes only general issues to be discussed during the interview. It may look like an example on the left side of Table 5.1. with a market research example of advertising test. It assumes much flexibility during interviewing and following the participant(s) perspective. In turn, the detailed topic guide includes many specific questions and may have even several pages. It may have content more like the one on the right side of Table 5.1. that presents part of topic guide. 83

85 How to develop a topic guide Table 5.1. Examples of general and detailed topic guide General topic guide (1) Introduction (2) Warm-up. The familiarity of advertising in the area under consideration (3) The advertising test: a. Presentation of the initial version of the advertising b. The general reaction c. Likes and dislikes d. The reaction toward the main message e. The reaction toward the main character f. The category and brand image g. The directions of modifications (4) The same procedure for two other advertisings (5) The final ranking Source: own elaboration. Detailed topic guide (1) Introduction (10 minutes) The aim of this section: To build the psychological safety and establish rules The introduction of the researcher and the institution. The general aim: to identify opinions about usage, attitudes and experiences Organizing information: confidentiality, recording, no good and wrong answers, all commentaries are important, time frames Introduction of the participant (name without surname to make it confidential, the job, etc.) The specific aim: The experiences and opinions about some ideas (2) Warm-up. The familiarity of advertising in the area under consideration (10 minutes) The aims of this section: To increase the psychological safety. To understand the background for the reaction toward the tested advertising (the bank experience, familiarity and general opinions, main remembered elements and messages, the role of the characters) When do you think about bank advertising, what are your first associations? Which bank advertising do you like? Why? Which bank advertising do you dislike? Why? What in bank advertisings is the most convincing for you? o Probe: Which characters are the most convincing for you? Etc. Both solutions have the advantages and disadvantages. The general approach to the topic guide building enables the more unstructured interviewing thus it opens the possibility to reveal more unexpected answers. It is beneficial particularly whenever one intends to explore new and unknown fields. It may be advantageous in case of an experienced interviewer, who knows how to direct the interview to achieve desirable information. However, there is some risk of this approach, too. First, gathering answers in unstructured way may be time consuming: the interview and the following process of analysis including making transcripts and separating important from unimportant information may be much 84

86 5.1. The main characteristics of topic guide longer. Also the interview may go in the undesired direction a participant may unintentionally or intentionally talk about issues not related with a main topic or talk about known processes without discovering any new aspects. In turn, the detailed topic guide may bear the risk of excessive rigidity during conducting the interview as the interviewer may try to ask all the questions in the topic guide in a similar way as during quantitative research (what was the original intention of the positivist American approach to qualitative interviewing). As a result, spontaneity of the interviewee will be blocked and nothing new will be discovered. However, this approach to the topic guide development may reduce some threats of the general topic guide. The detailed topic guide facilitates achieving all the objectives, discussion about all the important issues and it enables doing it under planned time constraints. In practice, the detailed topic guide and more structured interviewing is particularly useful not only for a beginning researcher, but also whenever other person(s) than researcher or two or more interviewers are going to conduct interviews, in international research or in any research which assume the detailed comparisons between segments or individuals (Maison, 2010). Table 5.2. The main characteristics of a topic guide (research tool for interviewing) The aim To show the possible direction of the discussion Main functions To reach all the objectives To discuss all the important issues to a sufficient extent To gather information that are: relevant to the problem, spontaneous and in-depth To finish on time Content Topics to be discussed Aims of a given part of interview Examples of questions Probes (what to ask if not arisen spontaneously by a participant) Instructions for an interviewer An order of topics Time for each topic Main attributes of the content It assumes flexibility in answering It is clear and simple It should help to conduct an interview, not to disturb Source: own elaboration. In my personal opinion (both as an experienced qualitative researcher and as a teacher of beginning researchers), it is the best to develop general topic guide first and then develop it as the detailed topic guide in such a way that it has 85

87 How to develop a topic guide all the advantages of general topic guide as well. The main characteristics of such a topic guide are presented in Table 5.2. As one may see, the topic guide should show the possible way of the interview, enable the researcher gathering all the important information and to do it under time constraints. Such a topic guide facilitates achieving all the objectives and reaching answers about all the important issues, facilitates a smooth interview and enables achieving later more spontaneous and less biased answers. During the topic guide development, the researcher has the unique opportunity to think thoroughly about the way of questioning and the order of the questioning. In this way, the researcher have a good training how to formulate and reformulate questions in a proper qualitative open and non suggesting way. It is especially important in case of beginning qualitative researchers, because in common talks rather closed questions are used (King, 2004) (more about questioning in the section 5.3). In case of academic student or doctoral research such a detailed topic guide may also help the supervisor to control the content, similarly as in practice of marketing research it is helpful in communication with a client who ordered the research. In all those cases the detailed questions help to understand the main intention of the researcher, to complete or correct it. Moreover, planning specific questions is helpful in a time management (what is discussed in Frame 5.1.). Frame 5.1. Time Management during Interviewing 86 Such a practical issue as the proper time management both during planning and interviewing is very important both for ethic and substantive reasons. First, if a researcher established an appointment for the duration of one hour, it would be non-fair to break this rule. Second, after the fixed time, both the interviewee and interviewer may start being nervous and less concentrated, some topics may be less discussed or even the interview may end suddenly because of other tasks, meetings, etc. As a result, time pressure may cause that the researcher will not gather sufficient information. To counteract such a pitfall, the researcher should predict (realistically!) and write down in a topic guide the time predicted for each topic and for the whole interview. However, such a time plan is only a cue during the process of interviewing and the researcher is not obliged to follow it strictly. The interviewer should be flexible to some extent and devote more or less time to the topic depending on research goals and discussion flow. Therefore, the researcher should remember that longer time devoted to one issue means less time and less detailed discussion of other issues. If the researcher notices during topic guide development that the whole interview takes longer than time requirements (e.g., one hour of interviewing), the researcher may apply one of the solutions:

88 5.2. From research guiding questions and objectives SOLUTION 1. Change the flow in a topic guide: To rethink whether the given topic should be discussed with so many details (some topics are more while others are less important depending on research questions) and reconsider whether the appropriate technique of gathering data was chosen (for more info about techniques in further sections). SOLUTION 2. Change a research design. To plan longer interviews, or reduce research objectives. In the development of the topic guide, three main rules may be especially helpful. They are presented in Table 5.3. Following these rules, the controlled flexibility during interviewing is necessary. Table 5.2. Three main rules of topic guide development Source: own elaboration. (1) From research guiding questions and objectives, theoretical and epistemological approach into fieldwork (2) Facilitation of natural process (3) Better insight into the phenomena KEY POINTS Two types of topic guides for interviewing can be found in research practice. For beginning researchers more advantages are offered by a detailed interview. It should expose the main issues to be discussed (visible without reading details), the aims of each section, specific questions and time devoted for each issue. Some issues regarding the two types of topic guides can be found in the book by Malhotra & Birks (2007) and in the Polish book by Maison (2010) From research guiding questions and objectives, theoretical and epistemological approach to the fi eldwork Although it may happen that researcher conducts interview without any problem and plans formulation (Buchanan, 2012), the majority of research is planned to gather data that solve a particular problem, to answer guiding research question and to achieve some objectives or even to test particular hypothesis. These issues are also a starting point for the topic guide development 87

89 How to develop a topic guide as they establish the substantive frame of interview implying the main issues to be covered during interviewing. Figure 5.1. presents this process. Figure 5.1. The process of topic guide development Problem Reserarch main question Research objectives/ specific research quesitons Topic guide developement Topics to be discussed during interviews Techniques of gathering data Topic guide application during interviewing In the literature one may find two main approaches to the theory development: inductive and deductive. In short, pure induction means lack of any theory and hypothesis and generating theory only from data (what is emphasized in the grounded theory approach as the most prominent example), whereas deduction means systematic test of existing theory or theories (what is the most visible in positivist approach). The merging of both these strategies in qualitative research (both academic and applied) is widely applied and even preferred in the literature (Malhotra & Birks, 2007; Zaborek, 2007) due to some reasons. First, in practice it is almost impossible to separate processes of induction and deduction (Zaborek, 2009a). Second, it is useful to use theory and prior knowledge at every stage of research process. The theory and the knowledge about the current state of empirical findings in a field may help to narrow research problem, to define research objectives and research design with focus on the most important issues. The prior theory gives a frame of interviewing by showing which issues should be discussed, to choose the most appropriate techniques and next enables analyzing data (see Chapter 6), what helps to avoid useless data and time wasting (both of the researcher and interviewee). For instance, theoretical assumptions about the role of individuals (in)consciousness as behavior s drivers may help to choose the proper technique to uncover the motives of behaviors (direct questions vs. supporting techniques, see in one of further sections). Third, the rigid employment of one approach may pose some threats. The induction make more difficult comparisons between cases due to different flow of interviews and the risk of discovering existing theories (Perry, 1998, p. 790), while deduction may result in biases toward existing theory and hypothesis. Thus, the good topic guide and interviews should enable both induction and deduction and enable discovering unexpected outcomes and checking presuppositions derived from existing theories. However, depending on the research question, the level of deduction and induction may vary. Interviews focused on theory development based on data will have more open structure, while interviews directed to theory testing will be more structured and will include more probes. 88

90 5.2. From research guiding questions and objectives How to use a theory for topic guide development? Let s see a simple example of marketing research on brand image of FMCG products presented by Matt Wójcik (2007). According to Noel Kapferer s model, brand identity have six components brand presence, brand personality, brand culture, brand user image, brand self-image and brand relationship. It means that the interviewee should deliver information about each of these issues to determine how the brand is perceived by him. So, during an interview the interviewer should get answers about the brand product features, the unique brand product characteristics as compared with category, what is their real meaning for consumer. The researcher should also gather information about brand personality, brand user image, emotional benefits. Because all of them refer to a symbolic level, one may use projective techniques that help to better reach this implicit level of beliefs (see one of next sections about supporting techniques). Finally, the researcher should establish the type of relationship with the brand (positive-negative, what type of emotions the brand evokes, formal-informal, active-responsive, functionalvalue laden, always asked in an open way, e.g., via an associations test). It may happen that some participants mention the given issue spontaneously and then the researcher may pull the topic. But it may happen that the participant (or none in a group of participants) does not mention them at all. The researcher may presume at least three reasons why a participant does not say something spontaneously. First, it is not important for the participant personally. Second, the issue is so obvious that nobody says about it spontaneously. Third, the process is implicit and inaccessible consciously. Thus, the role of the researcher is to probe about a given issue. In this way, the researcher may reach the main objective to a sufficient extent, having all the important and spontaneous data from all the participants. Some authors have noticed also the relationship between the structure of an interview (including the style of topic guide and the style of interviewing) and epistemological approach. As mentioned earlier, in the literature one may find two main approaches: positivist and non-positivist. The philosophical approach underlying the positivist position is quite clear. Although some may argue that qualitative research is not positivist at all (see Chapter 3), some authors notice the influence of this distinction on style of interviewing (Malhotra & Birks, 2007). In particular, the general topic guide (described in the previous section) follows non-positivist interpretative approach to qualitative research, mostly represented in the UK. It assumes much flexibility during interviewing. Flow of interview is mostly based on participants words. The researcher s aim is exploring, understanding and gaining insight into the phenomena. Thus, the topic guide and interview flow are less structured. In turn, the detailed topic arises from positivist North American style of interviewing. In this tradition, the style of qualitative interviewing arises from quantitative research and is directed on gathering information necessary to develop a questionnaire. This instrument 89

91 How to develop a topic guide has its origin in quantitative questionnaires. However, as one may see in Table 5.4. the areas of application, advantages and threats of each approach toward the topic go beyond these differences. Table 5.4. The circumstances of different styles of interviewing Less structure More inductive approach (theory building, generating theory based on data) Non-positivist approach (including phenomenological, interpretative, critical, constructivist, grounded theory) Origin in psychology, sociology and anthropology British tradition of qualitative research Exploration and going in-depth Emphasis on understanding Need to recognize the holistic participant s perspective Advantages More likelihood to reveal unexpected Threats: More difficult comparisons between cases due to different flow of interviews The risk of discovering existing theories Perry, 1998, p. 790) The risk of not intended researcher bias Flexibility enables obtaining better research questions Source: Own elaboration. More structure More deductive approach (theory testing, confirmation, challenging, or extending of an existing theory) More positivist approach or non-positivist realism Origin in quantitative research USA tradition of qualitative research Looking for objective truth, establishing facts, preliminary to quantitative research Emphasis on external validation Need for some detailed information while the key issues within phenomena are already understood Advantages Focus on issues which are the most important for research objectives Better performance and comfort of interviewer in interviews with uncommunicative interviewees Threats: The risk of biases toward existing theory and hypothesis The risk of constraints in interviewee(s) spontaneity However, as presented in Chapter 3, the non-positivist approach is not a uniform one. It includes a wide range of epistemological approaches: phenomenological, interpretative, critical, constructivist, realist, grounded theory with different characteristics, e.g., realism, critical theory, constructivism. In the research practice the distinctions between these approaches are not always clear cut. The specific approach implies different approaches to interviewing and mainly to data analysis. For the issue of structure of interviewing the differences between realism and other approaches seems to be of key importance. Nigel King (2004) has noticed slight differences in the level of structure between 90

92 5.3. Facilitation of natural process through group dynamic management interviews conducted in the realism (more structure) and phenomenological approach (less structure). Less structure and involving interpretation into interviewing process is also ascribed to the interpretative approach (Malhotra & Birks, 2007) and phenomenology (Kvale, 1996), but mainly as compared with positivist approach. KEY POINTS While planning issues to be discussed during interview, the researcher should obtain answers of key importance for the theoretical model. The answers should be gathered in an open way to enable spontaneous reactions. If some issues are not covered spontaneously by the participant, the topic guide should indicate what to probe. The level of structure depends on many circumstances including the approach of the researcher and the level of knowledge in a given matter, the respondent type. One may recognize the pros and cons in case of both unstructured and structured interviews. The interviewer may be rigorous in the approach (e.g., more structure in the positivist approach) or may react flexibly to obtain answers for all objectives. More about relation between the philosophical and epistemological approach and structure of interviewing can be found in the text by Alvesson & Ashcraft (2012) and in the book by Malhotra & Birks (2007) Facilitation of natural process through group dynamic management To develop topic guide and then to conduct the interview smoothly it is very important to understand the cognitive, emotional and social processes that may took place in a interviewee s mind. Both in the literature on group processes, on qualitative interviewing and in research practice, one may observe that the process of revealing information is related with group dynamic (Goodyear, 1998; Schneider-Corey & Corey, 1997; Stewart et al., 2007; Styśko-Kunkowska & Grzesiak-Feldman, 2012) and that the flow of interviewing should fit to the stage of group development (Goodyear, 1998). Although the issue of group processes is mostly arisen in the literature on focus group interviewing one may observe similar processes in practice of one-on-one interviewing (according to some group theories even two persons constitute a group if they meet additional criteria as common aim, norms, structure and feeling of individuality (Mika, 1984). To understand the participant s perspective, imagine that it was you who was invited to participate in the interview on the participation in decision processes 91

93 How to develop a topic guide in the organization you work at. Among other things, the recruiter said something about the confidentiality and recording, but you don t remember exactly what. It is a new situation for you. You are wondering how to behave in these new circumstances, what type of questions will be asked and what type of information you may reveal. You are entering the research room. You feel a little tense and nervous, but you try to behave as a self-confident person. You listen to the words of the researcher very carefully to understand what is going on and how the best you may present yourself and your company. Your first statements are very concrete or in contrary you try to say as much as possible to show yourself as a cooperative person. You are ready to reveal information that is easy and publicly accessible. Such a state of mind is typical for the beginning stage of group dynamic. People feel tense and uncertain because of new circumstances. Participants may express these feelings by many different ways: some of them don t talk too much, while others are very talkative and willing to ask many questions to the interviewer, some may try to emphasize their superiority in a topic. Mostly, participant(s) do not show externally the tension (although the attentive observer may notice signs of it). At this stage the interviewer seems to participant(s) someone in a better position, who has control and knows more about the flow of the talk and similarly as a teacher at school who will ask questions. But they also need to understand the rules of this new situation. That s why one of group dynamic models calls this stage as orientation and dependability stage (Jedliński et al., 2008). To conduct the interview fluently, the interviewer should lower the level of uncertainty, focus on building the atmosphere of security, to accustom participant with a new situation and to equalize the positions. The good interviewer also understands that at this stage people will not share their in-depth feelings or beliefs, and they need some time to build up a rapport. For this reasons, a typical approach to start is a short introduction of the rules of interviewing: who is conducting a study, what for, how data are going to be used, about confidentiality (or the level of confidentiality) and recording, the unstructured flow of the talk and appreciating all types of comments (no good and bad answers). Even if the interviewer repeats the same information as during the recruitment stage, it is worth building up a good relationship. Additional benefit of this procedure is that it helps participant to take root in a new situation and stop thinking about other everyday tasks. Then, a typical approach is to gather narrowly defined factual individual information with direct questioning a name, current position, main tasks on this position or tasks related to the topic (relevant to the research aims). Saying something easy and unthreatening about themselves may help to conquer one s fears and focus on own experiences in the given field. Additionally, the interviewer has an opportunity to ensure the appropriateness of recruitment and understands better the background of further participant s statements. 92

94 5.3. Facilitation of natural process through group dynamic management After these narrowly defined questions in the introductory part of the interview, the interviewer starts the main part of interviewing with direct broad and open-ended questions about experiences referring to issues under consideration (Perry, 1998). The topic should be easy for participant and the best if it refers to experiences, e.g., what is the story of your experiences in management or aspects of knowledge that are easy to retrieve, e.g., what are your first associations when I say European Union funds? Most people feel safe and positive with their experiences, thus it should be the comfortable base to facilitate their openness. Focus on experiences may also help participant to refresh the memory about the issues related to a topic. The open and rather broad question may also enhance the safety giving the participant a feeling of control over the information being revealed. In the same time the interviewer has not only important data but also win a very good starting point for further questioning: during further talk the researcher may refer to what was already said. As some participant s experience may be more important for the research objectives, whereas other topics may be not important, the research should include in a topic guide which issues should be explored more and what exact information about each of them are being looked for. Topic guide also should include instruction which issues should be explored even if they did not reveal spontaneously. Anyway, referring to the previous words of the participants is one of the techniques of active listening and of building up the rapport, as it makes the participant have a feeling of being truly listened to. As a whole, the presented order of issues should shorten the time that participants need to open themselves. If again you identify with the interviewee, imagine this further part of the interview. If the group dynamic was managed properly, in the beginning part of the interview the researcher dispelled your doubts about the idea of interview, he or she enables you to feel more comfortable than at the beginning and seemed really interested in your professional tasks and your experiences. Thanks to that you may feel comfortable to talk openly about your personal attitudes. According to the group dynamic literature, when participants feel relatively comfortable with a situation of the interview and with a topic, they go to the middle stage of group dynamic people start to be ready to express their deeper thoughts without much caring about psychological and social risk, they are ready to reveal their true self. That s why this phase of group process is being called differentiation (Jedliński et al., 2008). This is time for more demanding tasks and more expansive aspects of interviewing (Goodyear, 1998), for instance for supporting techniques (see next section) or questions that go deeper into experiences of the participant. It is good to remember that improper management in the first and second stage of the process may close the participant in a psychological sense, may cause his anger, impatience and even the rebellion against the interviewer. As research 93

95 How to develop a topic guide on dynamic group process shows this type of conflict reaction is normal if group process is unstructured and may be fruitful for some psychoeducational aims (e.g., self-development) (Jedliński et al., 2008; Schneider-Corey & Corey, 1997). But during the interview such a reaction is totally useless and rarely happens because good researchers focus the energy of participants on the intensive work and deepening of their experiences. Thus, during the topic guide development, to avoid negative aspects of group dynamic the researcher should predict that in the middle phase more demanding and more expansive tasks should be proposed to the participants. How would you feel as a participant after that? You would probably be very involved with an interview; you would talk willingly and with a true understanding of your own points of view. In case of interviewing, the specificity of the third stage is best descript by a notion stage of intensive work or working stage (similarly as in case of psychoeducational trainings, Styśko-Kunkowska & Grzesiak-Feldman, 2012). Participants are really involved in the interview, they fully understand their role and at the same time after refreshing and deepening of their experiences in the previous stages of the interview they are able to integrate the rational and emotional, overt and covert level of their experiences and opinions and they are ready to make truly constructive evaluation of issues under consideration. Thus, it is time for evaluation of existing and new ideas and processes (the opinions will be more insightful than at previous stages) and if needed ideas of new proposition. Both second and third stages of the process give the best opportunity to gather the most important data. At the end of interviews, participants may be too tired to reveal key information, so some time may be devoted for gathering information of less importance, e.g., contextual data (Maison, 2010). Finally to end the interview smoothly the researcher may ask for conclusions with overall evaluative comments, summary and if necessary reconciliation of inconsistencies (Goodyear, 1998). One may ask how much time one should plan for each stage. In my experience, during one hour individual interviews with professionals, the introductory section together with warm-up section takes about 15 minutes. The proportions may vary depending on the topic and objectives, and on individual differences. However, the most insightful opinions and the greatest involvement one may observe after minutes with a properly designed topic guide. The whole process of parallel flow of group dynamic process and information is summarized in Table

96 5.3. Facilitation of natural process through group dynamic management Table 5.5. Coexistence of group and informational level during flow of the interview Group dynamic stage Orientation Differentiation Intensive work Final stage Issues to be discussed Introduction (aims and rules) Narrow factual information Broad questions about experiences or easy to retrieve knowledge More demanding tasks and more expansive aspects of interviewing Evaluation of existing and new ideas and processes and if needed ideas of new proposition. Gathering information of less importance, e.g., contextual data overall evaluative comments, summary and if necessary reconciliation of inconsistencies Source: own elaboration. KEY POINTS During the development of the topic guide the researcher should remember not only about substantive goals but also about psychological goals related to group dynamic. The time for individual and group interviews is very short, so the researcher has to perfectly manage the group process by facilitating natural processes. On the psychological level, the researcher s task is to accelerate the transition from one group dynamic phase to another. The plan of the interview should start with an introductory section, then go to narrowly-defined factual information and continue with warm up section about real but easy to talk experiences of the participant. In the middle stage of the interview the researcher should plan more demanding tasks and more expansive aspects of interviewing. In the intensive work stage the topics such as the evaluation of the existing and new ideas and processes, creation of new ideas. Finally, it is time for gathering less important information and for overall summary and comments. When these general guidelines are replaced with concrete substantive issues, the general topic guide is ready. However, as mentioned before, such a general outline should be completed with specific questions for which the researcher wants to find answers and techniques. Some issues related to group dynamics in an interviewing process can be found in the book by David Stewart et al. (2007). 95

97 How to develop a topic guide 5.4. Better insight into the phenomena via questioning and supporting techniques To obtain better insight into the phenomena under consideration, to limit the risks of biased answers and to facilitate spontaneous answering with the usage of own language and concept, a good interviewer in IDIs and a good moderator of FGIs apply some rules regarding the order of questioning and type of questions, and use supporting techniques which should be anticipated in the topic guide. Next to the rule of facilitation of natural processes, the issues and questions should have logical order (Maison, 2010). In practice it means that after one topic, the participant naturally goes to another topic, even without questioning, or at least each issue is a logical continuation of the previous issue. Very helpful for implementing the appropriate order of questioning is a funnel metaphor (see Figure 5.2.). In case of interviewing it means starting with general questions and going to detailed and supporting questions and finally to probing. Figure 5.2. Funnel rule of questioning during interview Types of main questions, their role in qualitative interviews and examples are presented in Table 5.6. General questions should be broad enough to encourage openness and spontaneity and free talk, but also enough focused on the issue under consideration to avoid excessive answers about issues not important for the topic of interview. Detailed, supporting questions serve most of all to better understanding issues under consideration and participant s perspective. Probing enables the interviewer to ask about issues not mentioned what helps to test ideas driven from theory and about possible explanations of participant s statements. Open questioning is one of key features and advantages of qualitative interviewing and without any doubt should dominate 96

98 5.4. Better insight into the phenomena via questioning and supporting techniques the process of interviewing, whatever other type of question is asked (general, supporting or probing). Open questions encourage interviewee to talk freely with the usage of own concepts and facilitate answers relatively unbiased by the interviewer perspective. Seemingly easy, in practice open questioning may appear difficult because in the real life talks this type of questions is rarely applied compared to closed questions. Closed questions during interviewing carry the risk of very short, simplified answers or unintentional bias. That s why some training via preparing questions for the topic guide is so important. The training may also help formulate questions in neutral way, what is an additional key for obtaining unbiased answers. Again, it may seem easy, but in practice avoidance of suggestive questions (that in content or intonation carry the message about the attitude of an interviewer) or threatening questions (e.g., why you haven t done this? despite of less threatening please tell me more details about your decision ) may appear quite difficult. Table 5.6. Types of questions dominating in qualitative interview Type of question General/ basic questions Open questions Function Facilitating an openness of participant, a spontaneous conceptualization of the issues under consideration Examples What are your experiences with.? How the process of looks like in your company? Detailed/ supporting/ follow up questions Probing Gaining better insight into issue under consideration and participant perspective Gaining answers about issues not mentioned spontaneously by a participant; testing hypothesis derived from theory and checking explanations and interpretation of some statements or data (e.g., for triangulation) Why this process looks like this? Who else was involved in this process? Tell me more details about this part of the process What example of this issue would you present? What was the role of HR department in this decision process? I can imagine one more reason of this situation: lack of employees motivation. What do you think about this explanation? Neutral Facilitate unbiased answers What do you think about this issue Source: Own elaboration, based on Maison (2010), Stewart et al. (2007). Beside the main types of questions, the researcher has a wide range of supporting techniques of interviewing. They may be applied as a small or 97

99 How to develop a topic guide large part of interview or with some exceptions as a technique for the whole interview. In general, supporting techniques are shortcuts to achieve some goals in shorter time than via direct questioning or/and to facilitate an access to information difficult or impossible to obtain via direct questioning as they may help refresh memory or open access to implicit level of thinking. Moreover, in case of group interviewing, applying individual techniques may reduce some biases related with group influence. The taken for granted assumption that participant include all the most important information in their words may be misleading. The situation of interview itself may limit the amount of verbalized information (e.g., due to individual differences, time constraints, beliefs about interviewer s expectations, presence of others). Moreover, current psychology findings reveal that people are only partially conscious of their attitudes, needs and behaviors, some of them are implicit (Bargh, 2002; Maison, 2010; Woodside, 2010). The participants answers depend on accessibility of information from long-term memory and skills to verbalize it. Some answers may seem to participants so obvious or even irrelevant that they are not verbalized during interviews (e.g., that there is very hierarchical managerial structure in their organization) or may be outside their focal attention (the topic of the interview is one of many different tasks that they have during a day). Some of attitudes and processes may be difficult to explicate (e.g., corporate values, informal ways of communication in a team) or may refer to intuitions and emotions, not to rationality (e.g., reasons why subordinates do not accept new informatics solutions). Finally, people may not be willing to verbalize some beliefs explicitly or directly, because of the risk of social approval. The assumption about implicit level of people functioning has at least two consequences for qualitative research. First, direct questioning is not always the most effective way of gathering data (what is extremely important particularly in interviews with very busy individuals). Second, indirect techniques may help to triangulate data, however they may also reveal information complementary or discrepant with the conscious level of interview (this issue will be discussed more thoroughly in Chapter 6). Assumptions about a hidden nature of some phenomena differ depending on the theoretical approach, but it is worth at least considering this level of people s functioning during qualitative interviews and understand that it is possible to deal with them by application of supporting techniques. Table 5.7. presents some techniques of questioning that has been applied in academic research regarding the management, organizational and consumer behavior field, the exemplar function and generic procedure. This list does not exhaust the procedures applied in qualitative interviews; however, it illustrates the variety of techniques of gathering data. 98

100 5.4. Better insight into the phenomena via questioning and supporting techniques Table 5.7. Supporting techniques Type of question Sorting/ mapping Critical incident analysis (CIT) Repertory grid Laddering Projective techniques Scaled closed question Example of Generic procedure function Insight into causal relationships Identifying key criteria of perception Recognition of perception of some objects (brands, products, notions) as compared with others To gain better understanding of peoples perspective behaviors, context and outcomes To identify the key features in people s perception of some phenomena To identify the values underlying consumer choices To understand implicit beliefs and emotions To facilitate talking or discussion To omit rationalizations To summarize the overall perceptions of a given issue To facilitate talking To facilitate analysis Participant sorts cards with e.g., notions, names, logo, photos according to spontaneous or/and aided criteria, describes and explains relationships Participant reconstructs an incident or set of incidents (events, processes, issues) of particular meaning for him and delivers information about the personal meaning, beliefs, emotions, Participant first selects the evoked set of elements within a given phenomena. Next to elicit a list of important features (constructs) participant describes similarities and differences within this set of elements. As a result, a matrix of elements and constructs is generated Participant describes reasons of some behavior, then explains reasons why these features/issues are important and again explains importance of the identified features and so on till end values are identified (or from values go to features) Participants project their beliefs and feelings to stimuli material (e.g.,. imagine that a brand is a person, animal, car; use photos) or answer indirectly (e.g., via associations, finishing uncompleted sentences) Participant answers a closed question with a numeric scale, e.g., semantic differential Likert type, hierarchy of importance, etc. Source: Own elaboration. Sorting. One of multifunctional techniques is sorting (McDonald, Daniels & Harris, 2004; Rugg & McGeorge, 2005), called also mapping, perceptual map, segmentation, grouping. This technique, as many other ones, has a variety of 99

101 How to develop a topic guide versions and many underlying conceptualizations. In its generic idea participants sort something and identify reasons of sorting. Depending on the particular aim, they may sort a wide range of materials both created during interview and earlier prepared. They may sort cards with their own main statements or in market research names of brands that they know or they use or used. They may sort written materials (names of concepts of many kinds, of categories, of brand names), visual materials (photos, logos, labels) or objects (e.g., products or mock ups). The researcher may ask a participant to use own criteria of sorting, to sort according the aided criteria or both, then starting with spontaneous sorting. The variety of aided criteria is huge; an example of sorting in organizational setting to recognize the perception of causality is presented in Frame 5.2. In market research, the technique of sorting is typically applied for identifying criteria of brand perception, the brand and user s image of particular brands as compared with competitive brands, and participants sort cards with brand names, logos, real products, or in photo sorting pictures of persons (Maison, 2010). Frame 5.2. An example of sorting in organizational research 100 For instance, McDonald et al. (2004) applied a card sorting technique to elicit mental model of issues under consideration during interview with resultant maps that show causal reasoning. After each part of interview, the researcher noted on post-it cards the main concepts driven from participants statements, asked to check them for accuracy, to sort them according to causal relationships and explain the nature of connection. This technique may be implemented both during IDIs and FGIs (Maison, 2010). The results of sorting may be analyzed by hand or with using the statistical software (Hodgkins et al., 2012). Critical incident technique (CIT). As most qualitative supporting technique, CIT also has many variations. It may be interpreted in both the positivist and phenomenological or interpretative approach (Chell, 2004). In Chell s (2004) phenomenological development of this method, during an interview the researcher gathers information about the personal meaning, beliefs, emotions, behaviors, context and outcomes, related with an incident or set of incidents (events, processes, issues) of particular meaning for a participant. As such, CIT enables achieving better understanding of peoples (entrepreneurs, managers, employees) perspective and is dedicated for emotionally laden critical events (Chell, 2004, p. 45). For the concept, procedures and example of research in organization, one may read the text by Elizabeth Chell (2004) and the text by Binna Kandola (2012) on its application during focus group interviews. Repertory grid. This technique may be applied both in the positivist and non-positivist (e.g., interpretative) approaches and, as many other techniques,

102 5.4. Better insight into the phenomena via questioning and supporting techniques this interviewing procedure has many variations including a mixed-method procedure and analysis (Cassell & Walsh, 2004; Malhotra & Birks, 2007). Its aim is to identify the key features in people s perception of some phenomena. In generic approach, participant s first task is to select the evoked set of elements within a given phenomena. Next, to elicit list of important features (constructs), a participant describes similarities and differences within this set of elements. As a result, a matrix of elements and constructs is generated. This technique is flexible to many areas of applications, also within organizational context including job analysis, employment selection, introduction of new manufacturing practices (Cassell & Walsh, 2004) and during focus group interviews (Kandola, 2012). Laddering. The main aim of this technique is to identify the values behind consumer s choices, starting with the description of the phenomena through its consequences or to identify attributes of the phenomena driven from values. In generic form of this technique, a researcher may start with questions about reasons of some behaviors (e.g., of choosing a given product), then he or she asks why these features/issues are important and again asks about the importance of the identified features. The aim is to establish the chain: attribute consequences values. This technique is based on means-end chain theory developed by Gutman (Bagozzi, Gürhan-Canli & Priester, 2002; Malhotra & Birks, 2007). Seemingly easy, this technique carries some threats, e.g., it requires much comfort of a participant, it is less appropriate for group interviewing, although some elements of laddering may be used to understand better the meaning of some issues and perception of its consequences or values. Projective techniques. The term projective techniques is derived from psychology; however, it was popularized in market research with meaning of any type of indirect questioning or form of questioning that encourages participants to project their beliefs to stimuli material (Maison, 2010). For instance, in the technique of associations, the researcher asks about first or the key associations with something (e.g., with organization, brand, category such as bank, notions such as corporate values) with an assumption that the first associations are the top of mind notions, or that the key associations constitute the core of notion (e.g., positive vs. negative, rich or poor, their content). This technique is also useful as a starting point to any topic as it liberates broad scope of spontaneous beliefs. The wide range of applications has also collage. In this technique a participant chooses pictures (non-standardized or standardized) to fit to some concept. Then the pictures and meaning for a concept are described and completed with reasons of choice. In turn, in the uncompleted sentences technique, participants are asked to complete one to several (not too many) sentences, that are earlier prepared by the researcher. In techniques such as personification, animalization or Chinese portrait, the participant s task is to imagine and describe a brand, product, etc. as a person, animal or any other object (e.g., car, doors, town, planet), respectively. The aim of revealing 101

103 How to develop a topic guide relationships between objects is served by projective techniques such as brand party (participant s task is to imagine some objects as people who joined a (private or business) party and to describe these persons in terms of their group role and their attitudes toward others), family game (objects become family members and a participant describes their family roles and relationships), or photo sorting (a participant matches pre-chosen photos (of persons, objects, symbols, etc.) with some categories (e.g., to 2 4 brands or concepts). In the consumer behavior research, projective techniques serve mainly to investigate participants beliefs, emotions, motives and meaning of some phenomena, and to reveal implicit attitudes including brand image and category image (Maison, 2010). However, the value of projective techniques including metaphors and the usage of visual data is appreciated also by researchers of organization. As a field for their application, one may find the picturesque metaphorical presentation of beliefs as a support for more insightful discussion and insight in the situation of limited data and difficulty in generating ideas and topics such as organizational culture, reactions to changes and spread of informational technology (Thorpe & Holt, 2008). Frame 5.3. presents two examples of academic research involving projective, e-techniques one from marketing research field and one from the study of organization. Frame 5.4. Two examples of usage of projective techniques in academic research Marzena Feldy (2012) conducted 20 individual in-depth interviews to identify the image of the Internet shop. Interviews involved users of Internet shops (buying in an Internet shop at least twice during last 12 months), inhabitants of the capital of Poland differing in sex and age (18 24 years old and years old). To have insight into content, benefits and emotions regarding Internet shopping, the author applied three projective techniques: spontaneous associations, animalization, technique Planet (creative description of the world of the Internet shop ). Oswick and Montgomery (1999) conducted a case study research to understand the perception of organizational change and corporate strategy. The study involved employees drawn from the four main manufacturing sites of a UK subsidiary of a large USA multinational including managers, supervisors and team leaders. Researchers applied two techniques to gain insight into participants beliefs about organization: animalization and Chinese portrait (comparison of organization to the part of the car). To obtain answers they used paper-and-pencil technique including questions about a metaphor and reasons. 102

104 5.4. Better insight into the phenomena via questioning and supporting techniques The description of projective techniques sounds fascinating and rather simple, but their application during interview (not even saying about analysis and interpretation) requires much skills. To obtain the desirable effect of gaining implicit attitudes, an interviewer has to be convinced about the chosen technique, introduces it, conducts and discusses it appropriately to enable in-depth insight (Maison, 2010). Simple questioning without mentioned background may serve rather as a metaphor than deep insight into attitudes. Despite the undoubted value, the application of projective techniques evokes some doubts among academics also in consumer research field (Perkins, Forehand, Greenwald, & Maison, 2008). Scaled questions. Some researchers use also scaled questions during qualitative interviewing. This type of questions may serve to summarize the overall perceptions of a given issue (Perry, 1998; Yin, 2003) or to facilitate further discussion about the topic. They may include concepts spontaneously used by a participant as well as added ones. For instance, the researcher may ask how the employees evaluation process is carried out with a scale anchoring from 1 that means informal to 5 meaning formal. It is worth supplementing the Likert scaled closed question with the question about the way of understanding of each anchor, e.g., and what do you mean by formal / informal employees evaluation process?, what may be very helpful to understand differences between participants. As a concluding point, it is worth emphasizing that the success of the projective and supportive techniques depends on some factors, such as the proper choice for a given research goals, comfort of participants and interviewers with the application of the given technique, the skills of the interviewer/moderator in introducing a technique to participants. KEY POINTS During the development of topic guide and interviewing the researcher should remember to put questions in the logical order, start from general questions and then go to more detailed supporting issues, questions and to probing (funnel rule), use mainly open questions and ask them neutrally. To have a better insight into the phenomena, particularly in participant s perspective, the researcher may choose among wide range of supporting techniques, which may facilitate access to implicit reasoning. 103

105 How to develop a topic guide More about sorting techniques can be read in the publications by Seonaidh McDonald et al. (2004) and Rugg & McGeorge (2005). More about supporting and projective techniques applied in market research context can be found in Malhotra & Birks (2007) or in Polish literature such as the book by Dominika Maison (2010), texts by Iwona Wyrzykowska (2007) and Matt Wójcik (2007). More about projective techniques in management setting including references can be found in the dictionary by Richard Thorpe and Robin Holt (2008). Persons who are interested in concept, procedures and examples of critical incident technique may read the text by Elisabeth Chell (2004) and the text by Binna Kandola (2012) pertaining to its application during focus group interviews. Catherine Cassell and Suzanne Walsh (2004) describe the qualitative approach to data generating and analysis of repertory grid technique together with examples from organizational research; Binna Kandola (2012) presents its application during focus group interviews, while Naresh Malhotra and David Birks (2007) describe a mixed-method procedure from marketing research field From topic guide to interviewing As mentioned earlier in this chapter, a researcher dealing with positivist and realist approaches may tend to implement more structured interviewing with more emphasis put on obtaining concrete answers, while researchers of other non-positivist approaches may accentuate understanding rather than structured interviewing. Nevertheless, based on the literature on interviewing three main rules of conducting interviews seem appropriate. They are presented in Table 5.8., and discussed in this chapter, followed by some additional issues related to recordings and dealing with difficult interviewees. Table 5.8. Main rules of conducting of interviews The main rules of topic guide application during interviewing Controlled flexibility during interviewing Gaining answers without reading questions Usage of psychological skills of active listening through verbal and non-verbal communication Source: Own elaboration. Controlled flexibility during interviewing. During the interview a good interviewer or moderator goes through the process of intensive data analysis (Yin, 2003). 104

106 5.5. From topic guide to interviewing His or her task is to obtain answers to research questions but also to follow topics that are involving for a participant or for a group (but only to the moment it helps to achieve research objectives) and if necessary begin a new issue. The topic guide may remind the interviewer to keep in line with research objectives. Gaining answers without reading questions. A good interviewer understands that his or her role is not to focus on asking questions, but to gather answers (Yin, 2003). In practice it means that the researcher should NOT read questions from a topic guide. The interviewer understands the aim of each question in a topic guide and its role for the research objectives and he or she asks question in a way fitted to a given situation, listens carefully and reacts relevantly to the words uttered by participants and treats participants words as a starting point for further questioning. The topic guide may remind the interviewer if all key answers were obtained. Active listening. For fluent and effective interviewing, a good interviewer should have cognitive skills that enable dealing with a large amount of information such as penetrating (detective role), flexibility, good memory, fast learning, concentration on a task, global perspective, lack of bias (Maison, 2010; Yin, 2003) and skills to listen objectively and openly. In qualitative research, objectivity does not mean controlling the variables. Rather it means the openness, a willingness to listen and to give voice to participants, be they individuals and organizations. Though this may seem odd, listening is not necessarily a quality that some researchers possess (Malhotra & Birks, 2007, p. 168). Table 5.9a. Examples of verbal techniques of active listening during interviewing Technique Role Example To understand unclear parts of participant statement To explain inconsistencies Clarification: gaining the main massage of participant statement Paraphrase: short repetition of participant s statement in own words Short paraphrase: repetition of chosen words of a participant, relevant to the topic that the interviewer wants to be elaborated To gather more information or details Checking if the statement was understood properly Focus on particular issues Signal of attentive listening and of interest Basis for the further talk Basis for the further talk Focus on particular issues Indirect: Asking follow-up questions and probing Direct: Could you tell me about this once again/using other words? As far as I understood, you said that So it seems to me that the main message is that What I heard you say, was Interviewee: Employees refused to participate in training. Interviewer: Employees? (or Refused?) Source: own elaboration. 105

107 How to develop a topic guide Table 5.9.b Examples of non-verbal techniques of active listening during interviewing Technique Sitting in open position Looking at the eyes Nodding a head positively Raising eyebrows Saying Uhm, Yep Smiling Proper intonation Clothing appropriate for situation (e.g., more or less formal) Role Showing interest and positive attitude toward the participant or specific parts of his/her statements, if are applied adequately to the situation and not excessive. Building the sense of similarity Signal of respect Source: own elaboration, based on Maison (2010). Psychological skills of active listening, meaning listening openly with interest and understanding, turn out very helpful in interviewing. These skills enable enhancing good relationship with the interviewee, encourage talking (if properly applied) and help interviewer to better understand the participants statements. The term of active listening is driven from psychology and includes many techniques of verbal and non-verbal communication. Tables 5.9.a and 5.9.b present some of them. A good interviewer understands that an excessive, scant or inadequate usage of techniques may have contrary results than intended. For instance, too many uhms repeated too often may irritate the interviewee instead of encouraging him to talk (Maison, 2010). During interviewing, the important role is played by not only verbal communication but also non-verbal communication. The good interviewers have skills not only to read non-verbal signals sent by the participant and use them for further talk and analysis (more about it in the next chapter), but also to control own non-verbal communication, including intonation, nodding a head, mimics, looking, way of sitting and paralinguistic s (mum, yep) and even the proper choice of clothing. All of them may signal either interest or lack of interest, and may influence the flow of the interview and introduce interviewer bias on the implicit level. Thus, the interviewer who nods affirmatively the head, raise eyebrows, look in the eyes of an interviewee, sits in open position and says mum may encourage further talk (till this behaviors are non excessive or inadequate), while behaviors such as nodding negatively the head, avoiding looking in the eyes of an interviewee, sitting with crossed hands may be interpreted as signals of lack of interest. Looking in the eyes may encourage talking, but constant looking in the participant s eyes may be tiring for both sides and hinder self-concentration during individual interviews. Another aspect of non-verbal communication that 106

108 5.5. From topic guide to interviewing is of key importance for interviewing is intonation. A general tone of questions and accent on chosen words may carry the message about interviewer s attitude or point of interest, thus encouraging or discouraging the interviewee, being neutral or biasing the answers. All this shows the important role of self-awareness and control of both verbal and non-verbal aspects of communication to avoid unintentional biases. Active listening is important during both individual and group interviews. During the latter ones, however, the moderator should also facilitate group dynamic and control that all (or at least most) of participants are active during discussion (Maison, 2010; Stewart et al., 2007). The control may be obtained via both non-verbal and verbal communication including such techniques as: reaction to non-verbal signals of participants (e.g., when someone is looking at the moderator and opens his/her mouth but does not speak, it may mean that this person wants to say something), the use of names and asking questions directly to particular persons, eye- contact to encourage to talk, the use of statements of one person to encourage others to talk (e.g., Tom said Does anyone have similar (different) perspective?, limiting talks in subgroups (e.g., please, say your comments aloud ) and at the same time ( please, repeat what you said once again separately ). Recordings. Some literature on interviews recommends field-notes as the main basis of analysis and if recording is done it is treated only as a part of triangulation process (Perry, 1998) or not used at all (Kenealy, 2012). For many others recordings are common procedure, notes serves mainly as a support for a talk while substantive notes are done after the fieldwork to gain the key observations. For example, an interviewer may note the main issues in interviewee s statements, because he or she intends to ask about them or use them in further part of the interview (e.g., in the sorting technique described in one of previous sections). Besides the benefits and limitations related to the analysis process (that will be presented in the next chapter in section 6.4.), the decision about recording has some advantages and limitations for interviewing process. Some of them will be presented in the next paragraph. The main advantage of recordings for the flow of interview is that the interviewee may focus the whole attention on the process of interviewing, not on the remembering or making thorough notes. Thus, the researcher has the field to listen actively (e.g., look in the eyes) what results in the smoother flow of interviewing and higher level of involvement on both sides. Thanks to that, the interview may go more in-depth of participants statements and results in better understanding of the phenomena. During making notes there is also a risk of biased processing a researcher may choose the most colorful statements, the information that confirm but not disconfirm hypotheses or 107

109 How to develop a topic guide beliefs of the researcher or omit the irrelevant information that may appear important later on. Although in some countries, e.g., in Asia, recordings may be rarely approved (Perry, 1998), the limitations are mostly related to some negative beliefs of the interviewer toward this procedure. Beginning researchers may be afraid of refusal of participation when recording is mentioned or of intensified control on the part of a participant. They may also be afraid of having a tangible evidence of possible errors. To deal with this limitation, it is worth knowing some issues based on experience. With some exceptions (mostly among kids), the interview with recordings becomes so involving for the participant(s) that they seem to forget about the equipment. In most cases, the researcher who really appreciates the recording at the stage of interviewing and analyzing data is capable to introduce the idea of recording convincingly. Preceding information about this procedure, its aims and ways of dealing with recordings in the future may prepare participants for recording, and the interviewer may cope with potential objections before the interview itself. The researcher may include this information in the inviting letter, during the recruitment or/and in the consent form. Last but not least, listening and analyzing own (and other experienced researchers) recordings is good for training in interviewing. Dealing with difficult participants. Average participants are cooperative, nice, answer exhaustively and not deviate from the topic, react adequately to verbal and non-verbal behaviors of an interviewer, know what they are talking about, are truthful and consistent. Most interviews go smoothly, are nice and involving for both sides. Nevertheless, while conducting many interviews one may also meet a wide variety of behaviors: aggressive, nonattentive, undecided, passive, impatient, prudent, self-confident, etc. Most typically two types of interviewees are mentioned as difficult: persons who are not enough talkative or too much talkative. Some researchers may also find some problems while interviewing the high-status interviewees, with the would-be interviewees or conducting interviews on emotionally charged topics (Alvesson & Ashcraft, 2012). To find the proper technique to deal with difficult situation, the researcher should start with identification of underlying reasons. For instance, the uncommunicative person may be shy, may just need more time for consideration, may be defensive about the topic, may try to go to the end of the interview very fast, may think that an interviewer expects short answers, or may have laconic style of communication. In the first situation (shyness), more time for building trust and active listening may encourage to talk, while in the second case (need for more time), giving more air to the participant may be more effective. Sometimes emphasis on anonymity and explanation of expectations (e.g., understanding the perspective) may be helpful. In case of over-talkative persons reasons of their behaviors may include lack of comfort (then building more safety may be satisfactory) or individual inclination to 108

110 5.5. From topic guide to interviewing digressions (then the interviewer may use clarification and ask about the direct relationship of some statements with an issue under consideration or come back to earlier statements and ask about them). To conclude issues related with interviewing. As one may notice, conducting interviews is much more demanding than it may seem at the first sight. In case of group interviewing, the skills of group dynamic management are also necessary. Even the best research design may turn out a failure by poor interviewing. Omitting the fact of poor interviewing in a process of analysis, some may consider unethical. Thus, if one doesn t feel comfortable with interviewing or see lack of desirable skills, one may have three solutions: (a) if some financial resources are available, one may involve the professional interviewer (via research agency or free-lancer), (b) check own skills and develop them, (c) if a is not realistic and b reveal negative outcomes, it may be better to give up the idea of involving qualitative interviews as a research method for Ph.D. thesis. How to check and develop skills before the research? The best idea is to experience (Maison, 2010) through formal and informal trainings. For instance, one may prepare (to choose any problem, identify research goals, develop a topic guide and conduct and record an interview with a colleague or a friend, then to listen to it and identify own advantages and disadvantages. Next, one may observe own behaviors during everyday talks the way of asking questions, the nonverbal communication and even train skills of active listening (anyway, it is also a very useful tool for developing interpersonal relationships both in private and professional life). KEY POINTS The topic guide should be implemented flexibly. The interviewer should not read questions, but ask them in the way fitted to the flow and language of the participant with focus on obtaining answers, not on asking questions. The appropriate implementation of psychological techniques of active listening, which include both verbal and non-verbal signals of interest, and understanding are important part of interviewing process. About the interviewing process including examples of techniques of interviewing read more in the texts by Alvesson & Aschcraft (2012), King (2004), and about moderation of focus group interviews in Stewart at al. (2007), Barbour (2007), or in Polish literature: in the book by Maison (2010). 109

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112 CHAPTER 6 How to analyze qualitative data This chapter presents the process of analysis. It begins with a review of main analytical strategies and puts particular emphasis on the systematic approach to analysis. Further on advantages and disadvantages of various sources of data (transcripts, recordings and field-notes) are discussed followed by procedures of coding and displaying data. Then the topic of the establishment of the shared vision of reality/facts is discussed, and so are the issues related to the interpretation of differences between participants. The final section discusses issues of data verification General assumptions of qualitative approach to data analysis For some academics, including beginning researchers, it may seem that there is nothing easier than describing the results of some talks with people and that it could be done by any person without any training (as compared with professional skills in analyzing statistics). In turn, in handbooks on qualitative research, the authors underline the role of experience and skills, and exceptional difficulty in analyzing and reporting qualitative data (Malhotra & Birks, 2007; Yin, 2003). They emphasize the specific type of data, applying general rules with lack of rigid procedures and inadequacy of application of the same method of analysis to different qualitative research. First, qualitative analysis involves the process of making sense of data that are not expressed in numbers (Malhotra & Birks, 2007, p. 235). Thus, statistical analysis and statistical generalization is not applied. 9 Second, although one may describe general rules and the generic process of data analysis, different analysis strategies and highly differentiated data in each project, make the process of analysis not recurrent and time 9 Although it happens that researchers conduct some simple statistics for nominal data to confirm differences between participants/cases, these statistics have only a supporting role and do not constitute the major line of analysis. 111

113 How to analyze qualitative data consuming even in case of experienced researchers. Moreover, time of analysis is usually longer than expected (Yin, 2009); particularly complex and difficult in multi-method approaches such as case studies (Buchanan, 2012). The computer software to qualitative data analysis may be support for researchers (if they have enough advanced knowledge about its proper application) but it can t replace a contribution of the researcher as it does not analyze data itself. Additionally, experienced qualitative researchers, in particular those representing the nonpositivist approach, emphasize that analysis and interpretation of qualitative data is more an issue of a way of thinking than an appropriate application of procedures. Third, the process of qualitative analysis is perceived as more subjective what some researchers underline as an advantage (valuable input of experienced researchers), neutral characteristics or as a limitation (this issue was discussed in Chapter 3). All these features cause that qualitative data analysis is highly different than the analysis of quantitative data, what is summarized in Figure 6.1. Figure 6.1. Qualitative analysis characteristics compared to quantitative analysis Source: Own elaboration, based on Malhotra & Birks (2007); Kvale (2004); Maison (2010). 112

114 6.2. Main strategies of analysis KEY POINTS The qualitative analysis is extremely different from the quantitative one including the basis, methods of analysis, type of generalization, level of objectivity, recurrence, role of computer software assistance and time requirements Main strategies of analysis Before starting the analysis process and even at the stage of planning, the researcher should consider not only the epistemological approach (compare Chapters 3 and 5) but also which particular strategy of analysis to choose. This decision influence the way of planning and conducting interviews (e.g., more or less structure, techniques), enables avoiding gathering unnecessary data or lack of data. 10 However, it is the most important for the process of analysis itself. In the literature one may find a diversity of analytical strategies. For instance, Larry Dooley (2002) distinguishes reflective and structural analysis. A researcher who apply reflective analysis, intentionally rely on his or her own intuition and personal judgment to analyze the data rather than on technical procedures involving explicit category classification systems (Gall et al., 1996) (Dooley, 2002, p. 343). In turn, structural analysis involve the process of examining case study data for the purpose of identifying patterns inherent in discourse, text, events, or other phenomena (Dooley, 2002, p. 343). Although the researcher s intuition that is based on prior professional knowledge and experience is highly valuable, the academic research requires also structural approach to appreciate the study value by the academic environment. Regarding particular strategies to structural analysis, Naresh Malhotra and David Birks (2007) present three approaches as applied in marketing research setting: grounded theory, content analysis and semiotics. Catherine Cassell and Gillian Symon (2012) as editors of the recent book on core qualitative methods in organizational setting (Symon & Cassell, 2012b) have decided to choose grounded theory, template analysis, conversation analysis, discourse analysis and narrative analysis, all of them representing the nonpositivist approach to data analysis. In turn, Robert Yin (2009) presents four strategies of analysis of case studies: relying on theoretical proposition (which is recommended by the author), developing a case description, using both qualitative and quantitative data and examining rival explanations 10 It is worth noticing that preplanning of analytical strategy is also advisable in quantitative research, although some beginning researchers seem not to remember about it. Otherwise it may have serious consequences. For instance, if a researcher gathers only nominal data, he or she can t conduct some advanced statistical analysis such as regression analysis or structural equation modeling. 113

115 How to analyze qualitative data completed with five techniques: pattern matching (recommended by the author), time-series analysis, explanation building type of pattern matching, logic model and cross-case synthesis. Below three groups of strategies will be shortly described: the template analysis as an example of a common approach to thematic analysis of qualitative data, pattern matching strategies and the grounded theory strategy of data analysis as they represent various traditions to theory development. Template analysis. The term template analysis was first used in the 1990s, although coding based on thematic analysis involving similar principles has much longer history (Thorpe & Holt, 2008). Nigel King (2012) uses this term to name the set of structured procedures involving thematic coding and underlines flexibility of this approach to many different goals of study and epistemological approaches. Doing the template analysis, a researcher develops a template which includes main topics (topic coding), then within each topic a set of codes is further developed (analytical coding). Next codes are grouped depending on their similarity, and the hierarchical organization of codes is produced. The template may be developed a priori or driven from data, or both. The a priori template may be constructed on the basis of literature review, existing theory, research objectives, research issues and questions in a topic guide. The data driven template is a list of topics based on obtained data. For instance, all the interviews may be coded and then integrated or the first interview is elaborated to obtain the list of topics, and this template is applied to next interviews and completed with emerging themes. Therefore, the prepared template of codes is implemented for all the interviews. The final template consists of shared topics and topics regarding individual specifics. It is applied to all participants to check its appropriateness in light of individual results. Each code is ascribed directly to fragments of the text that exemplify it. Particular sections of the text may have more than one code. Template may evolve with progress of data analysis. In case of interviews, transcripts constitute the base of analysis although current software for qualitative analysis enables also working similarly with recordings. Template analysis with this particular name was applied in a wide range of sub disciplines of business research including human resource management, service management, accounting, marketing, although in some research may be not applicable, e.g., in some constructivist research when the reduction of data may be contrary to epistemological assumptions (Thorpe & Holt, 2008). Template analysis as a type of data organization is an introductory phase to producing analytical outcome and interpretation. Analytic techniques used to build and verify theoretical propositions via pattern matching. Robert Yin (2003; 2009) distinguishes five analytic techniques. They are shortly described in Frame 6.1. As one may see, analytic techniques differ in at least three aspects. Each follows different theoretical problem, proposition and strategy. They involve the deductive approach to 114

116 6.2. Main strategies of analysis different extent. Finally, they differ in more or less open structure of analytic process, and thus are more or less time consuming. Frame 6.1. The analytic strategies of pattern matching described by Robert Yin (2003; 2009) The main idea of pattern matching analytical techniques is based on comparing an obtained pattern(s) of results with a predicted pattern. If the predicted values have been revealed and alternative explanations have been excluded, the researcher may form strong inference. Depending on hypothesis, the researcher may test one pattern or more patterns derived from different theories or dependent on different circumstances. Next, the exact overall pattern or the degree of match or mismatch is being established. To use this analytic strategy, the author should pre-establish one or more (rival) theoretical propositions, articulated in operational terms. The most useful for the analysis is to present this initial model as a figure. The patterns of dependent variables, patterns of independent variables or patterns of rival explanations may establish the predicted proposition. For instance, the new motivational program causes an increase of productivity and fewer conflicts between coworkers (two nonequivalent dependent variables). In any of these models, the researcher is expected to determine the set of dependent or independent variables and the levels of these variables, which allow determining whether the empirically based pattern is matched or mismatched with the predicted one. If more than one model is tested, they should be extremely distinctive. Otherwise, the researcher may have difficulties to determine to which one the empirical results fit better. This way of analysis strengthens the internal validity of case study when predicted and obtained patterns are matched. Yin considers it as most desirable. In the explanation building type of pattern matching, which is considered by Yin as much more difficult than generic strategy, the theoretical proposition is developed from case to case. First, the initial theoretical model is established. Next, the empirical based pattern of results is compared with this initial model. Based on the outcomes of this comparison, initial theoretical model is revised. Next, the developed model is compared with empirical results of the same case and in the next step with empirical results of next case(s). Again, a theoretical model may be revised and tested till the final explanation. Another type of pattern matching technique of analysis is timeseries analysis. It is applied when the model is aimed to reveal or check an existence of a sequence of events that preceded the given phenomenon. For instance, in a spectacular research example cited by (5), occurring all the three conditions were established as necessary for 115

117 How to analyze qualitative data repeated marihuana use: initially smoking marihuana, next feeling its effects and finally enjoying those effects. One or more time-series may be postulated for one or more cases. In turn, the logic model predicts existence of a pattern in which one event caused an outcome that produced another outcome, etc., so complex sequence of events over time is under consideration. In practice, trends of data points are compared. In the cross-case synthesis the researcher integrates the data similarly as if each case was a separate study. If many cases are included, the quantitative techniques of synthesis and metanalysis may be applied. If only a few are analyzed, researcher may use tables with common framework, that is filled in with data from each case and the general pattern is looked for via substantive, not quantitative examination, in which the researcher develops strong, plausible, and fair arguments that are supported by the data (Yin, 2009, p. 158). The key advantage of Yin s analytical strategies is relative simplifying of the amount of data as only some outcomes are of main concern. This is because the researcher establishes the main pattern of results through triangulation procedure, only including those variables that are predicted by a theoretical model. For easiness of analysis it is the best if the theoretical model is presented as a figure that illustrates the presumed pattern and then obtained results are also presented as a figure that illustrates an obtained pattern. However, some researchers perceive this approach as too simplistic and loosing the opportunities present in data (Buchanan, 2012). Undoubtedly, as any other analytical approach some areas of its application are more and other less appropriate, with successful application in testing theory while case study method is applied (Yin, 2009). The grounded theory approach. The grounded theory approach assumes that theory is driven from data, which are systematically gathered and analyzed via replicable set of procedures. It has origin in the late 1950s in the theory of Glaser and Strauss. It has arisen as contradiction to long narrative passages in ethnography research to produce theoretical propositions that were testable and verifiable (Malhotra & Birks, 2007, p. 166). By now it is applied mainly to generate new theory, to deliver new insight which supplements existing theories or to challenge the existing theories (Malhotra & Birks, 2007). In this analytical approach, researcher starts analyses during and just after the first interview. Based on that, he or she develops preliminary set of interpretations which are the basis for further interviewing. It includes decisions on who will be interviewed (theoretical sampling) and what themes will be further elaborated. The next interview is followed by more analysis and subsequent decisions, more interviews and analysis and so on. Thus, the theory evolves during the research 116

118 6.2. Main strategies of analysis process itself and is the product of a continuous interplay between the analysis and data collection (Kenealy, 2012). An example of the grounded theory strategy can be found in Frame 6.2., and in the research of Bryant & Lasky (2007), which is shortly mentioned in one of next sections as an example of difficulties while implementing the single analytical approach. Frame 6.2. An example of the grounded theory strategy in a single case study involving qualitative interviews in management David Douglas (2006) examined decision processes of SME owner manager in the UK. He used the grounded theory methodological approach as a mean to investigate complexity of management processes. The research involved all the employees: the manager and manager s colleagues. At the exploratory stage of the research, recurrent structured and semi structured interviews and observation at the premises of the firm were implemented. The researcher prepared field notes during a fieldwork visit or soon after it. At the second stage, individual in-depth and semi-structured extended interviews (of 3 6 hours duration) were conducted. These interviews were audiorecorded and transcribed. According to the assumptions, in pure version of the grounded theory approach, the researcher starts as a carte blanche, and his or her starting point are data, thus, the extensive literature review is not necessary (Kenealy, 2012). At first exploratory stages the unstructured interviews are conducted. While some followers of this approach underline a risk of extensive control related with recordings an what leads them to relying only on notes taken unobtrusively during and after the interview (Kenealy, 2012), others apply mixture of notes and audiotaping (Douglas, 2006, see also Frame 6.2.). After each interview a set of coding is developed, starting with open coding related with decision about the direction of gathering data. A researcher also uses memo-writing. It may be informal or formal. In memos the researcher describes his or her way of reasoning. Memos are next ordered to create an integrated theoretical framework. Finally, this order of memos is compared with experiences of particular participants. Pure application of the grounded theory has been criticized at least in some points (Malhotra & Birks, 2007). First, the mutual interaction of the data and researcher may result in lower objectivity that is necessary to derive accurate interpretation of data and sensitivity for slight differences in meanings of data that in turn enable finding out the relationships between concepts. Second, the idea of ignoring the researcher s preconceptions may lead to acknowledgement of implicit theories of the researcher. Third, overlooking the relevant theories may 117

119 How to analyze qualitative data be counterproductive. Fourth, the process can degenerate into a fairly empty building of categories, especially when aided by data analysis software (Malhotra & Birks, 2007, p. 250). Nevertheless, some insightful studies in management were published, with research on a topic of adoption of technologies among them. One may also find in the literature examples of mixed approach integrating the grounded theory and other analytical strategies, with Yin s approach among them (Thorpe & Holt, 2008). As a concluding point, it is worth emphasizing that the choice of strategy similarly as the choice of epistemological position may result from many circumstances including the nature of a research problem, acceptance in the direct academic setting (e.g., supervisor, reviewers) and in the indirect environment (consideration of publication in a more positivist or non-positivist biased journal), time requirements (without any doubt the grounded theory approach is more time consuming). For appropriateness of analysis and easiness of discussion with criticism, in academic research a consistent application of one strategy is advisable. Nevertheless, sometimes the complementary usage of two strategies may appear fruitful for better understanding of the phenomena under consideration (I will come back to this issue in the section on comparing results between participants). However, the researcher should apply the hybrid reflexively and should know the rationale of this decision. For students academic purpose in management and economics, when a deductive approach or a hybrid of deductive and inductive approaches is recommended (see previous chapters), the analytical strategies involving partial deductive approaches (template analysis for separate interviews and case studies and pattern matching in case of case-studies, depending on research questions and epistemological approach) are the most appropriate. Therefore, it is valuable to shortly justify why a given analytical strategy is considered as the best in the particular study by references to other (prominent) research in similar field of study or other substantive explanation. In this way a researcher underlines his or her methodological advancement and may reduce the risk of extreme criticism. Nevertheless, the researcher should be ready for discussion on other propositions, similarly as in case of any other research 11 (Cornelissen, Gajewska-de Mattos, Piekkari, & Welch, 2012). 11 It may happen that other academics have different propositions how to analyze data. It is not rare also in quantitative research (e.g., in quasi-experimental research to check the influence of one independent continuous variable some authors use median split (split into two groups with median as a point of splitting), others split groups into three groups and use only extreme groups) and use ANOVA statistics, while many others recommend the usage of regression analysis as most appropriate for this kind of analysis. Although the general pattern of results does not change, each of these solutions may give slightly different statistical significance or the same outcome. To discuss with critics of reviewers, some authors of manuscripts which they have sent to publication and some Ph.D. students conduct additional analysis what may be very insightful or at least confirm their way of reasoning. 118

120 6.3. Main stages of generic process of analysis KEY POINTS The qualitative research has a wide variety of analytical strategies to choose. This decision should be preliminary made at the stage of planning the research, because it influences the further stages including theoretical model presentation, recruitment process, development of topic guide and fieldwork. For students academic purposes in management and economics, the analytical strategies involving partial deductive approaches (template analysis for separate interviews and case studies and pattern matching in case of case-studies, depending on research questions and epistemological approach) are recommended. The researcher s task is to understand the rationale of the choice and justify the choice for a given research. More about strategies of analysis including the pattern matching can be found in the book by Robert Yin (2003). Persons interested in the template analysis strategy of data analysis in organizational setting may read the text by Nigel King (2012), and for more details about it: FR/Template_Analysis/. A good example of a short report from the research involving type of template analysis one may find in the publication by Catherine Cassell et al. (2006). The grounded theory approach is thoroughly described in the book by Naresh Malhotra and David Birks (2007) about marketing research, while its application to management field in Graham Kenealy (2012). About wide range of other strategies of data analysis in organizational setting one may read in selected chapters in the books edited by Catherine Cassell and Gillian Symon (Cassell & Symon, 2004; Symon & Cassell, 2012b), particularly about the conversation analysis in the text by David Greatbatch and Timothy Clark (2012), about the narrative analysis in the text by Sally Maitilis (2012), and about the discourse analysis in the text by Cliff Oswick (2012). The content analysis as applied to marketing research analysis and to focus group analysis was presented in the books by Naresh Malhotra and David Birks (2007) and David Stewart et al. (2007) Main stages of generic process of analysis Although different specific approaches to analysis may be used by a researcher (such as template analysis, pattern matching and grounded theory), they have some common base that will be called a generic approach (Malhotra & Birks, 2007). Figure 6.2. presents stages of such approach. 119

121 How to analyze qualitative data Figure 6.2. Stages of qualitative analysis and result presentation PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS: research design development, topic guide development, interviewing FORMAL ANALYSIS Data assembly Data reduction Data display Data verification REPORTING As mentioned earlier, the process of analysis had already started at a stage of research design development, then continued at a stage of topic guide development and interviewing itself. Before fieldwork also a tentative outline of the report should be prepared, as it helps to decide how detailed should be the data collection process (Yin, 2009). These preliminary stages of analysis help avoid the panic question how to deal with 1000 pages of transcript that could arise too late when all the fieldwork is done (Kvale, 1996). But similarly as in the whole qualitative research process, the researcher may (and should) react flexibly to incoming information (Yin, 2009). In the formal analysis, the researcher s first task is to gather all the qualitative data from a given research (data assembly stage). It may include: notes and reflections of the researcher, any documents from and about participants (as recruitment questionnaires, homework, techniques outcomes such as collages, drawings, etc.) and in case of interviews, the audio or video recording and transcripts of entire interviews (more about the role of transcripts, recording and field notes in the next section). The essential role is also played by all the information from preliminary stages including theoretical background and the hypothesis. Next, the researcher goes to the second stage of data reduction when the task is to organize and structure data in the way that will help understand the patterns of results. The typical way of data reduction is to code them. After that the researcher may prepare the different data displays such as matrices, crosstabulations, graphs, charts, networks that will present interrelations between results, the differences and similarities between subgroups of participants. However, one should remember that data display is not equal with the content of the report. It is a tool to understand better the patterns of results. Next, at a stage of data verification, the researcher task is to check if the given way of reasoning and its interpretation is justified in the light of obtained data. Most of research analysis steps may be conducted either by one researcher or by a team including a research assistant. It depends on researcher s preferences, time constraints and budget (if applicable). If the main researcher wants to 120

122 6.4. Transcripts, recordings and fi eld notes as bases of formal analysis understand data completely, the best idea is to conduct most of analysis process on its own or only with a minimal support (e.g., the most technical work as gathering data from the research, transcripts, 12 some types of table matrices could be done by a well trained assistant or assistants). The advantage of sharing the work is that too much focus on details may sometimes distract the attention from the most important steps of analysis, particularly if many interviews were conducted. However, the main researcher is the most knowledgeable about the problem, research goals and theoretical background, so his or her involvement in the analysis should be total. Since the students and Ph.D. students conduct most steps themselves, the researcher should once again consider the cognitive and time capacities, and even the design, to make this work manageable. KEY POINTS Qualitative analysis of interviews is not a simple description of what was said by any participant or group of participants. This is a process of finding the meaning and patterns of obtained information. To do that and be reliable, a research analysis includes gathering all the sources of data (data assembly), organizing and reduction of data, mostly via coding procedure (data reduction), finding patterns within data via various matrixes, tables, etc. (data display) and checking if the obtained patterns and interpretations really exist in data (data verification) Transcripts, recordings and fi eld notes as bases of formal analysis In case of interviews, the researcher has four main possible bases for further analysis: transcripts (written form of interview), audio-recordings, video-recordings and field-notes. Although some researchers prefer working mainly with recordings or mainly with field notes, working with transcripts or complementary usage of transcripts, recordings and field notes seems to be the most advantageous (Maison, 2010; Malhotra & Birks, 2007; Stewart et al., 2007; Thorpe & Holt, 2008). Nevertheless, each of them has some strengths and weaknesses. Let s start with advantages. Working with transcripts facilitates in-depth understanding and comparisons as it is easier to return to specific parts of interviews and to compare interviews and parts of interviews. Analyses based on transcripts help to avoid common psychological heuristics in researcher thinking such as heuristic of accessibility ( colorful data are remembered better), confirmation error/heuristic of representativeness (seeing more coherence than in reality) or prejudice toward elite (too much attention given to opinions of 12 Transcripts may be done also by professional transcription services. 121

123 How to analyze qualitative data eloquent participants). Finally, transcripts are a permanent record of the interview that may be easily shared with others. Listening or watching recordings is a good source of information about overall participants reactions thanks to nonverbal aspects of communication (e.g., intonation, breaks for thinking, gestures and other behavioral responses), and in case of FGIs about the authors of statements. It also helps to understand better the influence of an interviewer on participants reactions. In turn, fieldwork notes are very comprehensive what facilitates grasping the main direction of participants thinking. However, each procedure, particularly as the solely basis of analysis, has also weak points. In transcripts some cues (such as non-verbal communication, the authors of statements in a group) are lost. Making transcripts is time consuming. Some researchers argue that in academic case study research transcribing is too time consuming and expensive and unnecessary when concern with every word in not required and it is enough to check the notes afterwards (Perry, 1998), while others underline that transcripts may change the sense of participants statements (more about types, reliability and validity of transcribing one may find in the book by Steinar Kvale (1996)). Fieldwork notes are often not complete and they are preliminary biased by researcher s judgments and memory; they consist of answers but omit questions; additionally, if an interviewer focuses on making notes, he can t focus on active listening (compare section 5.5. in Chapter 5, so the overall quality of interview is lower). In turn, the analysis based only on recordings would be very time-consuming, because it is difficult to form the synthetic view of all the results and difficult to return to particular parts of interviews. KEY POINTS One may recognize pros and cons in case of any basis of interviews analysis: transcripts, audio- and video-recordings, and field notes have some. Working with transcripts or complementary usage of all of them is the most beneficial The systematic data analysis via coding and displaying data After the first step of data assembly, it is time for data reduction. Figure 6.3. presents main detailed steps leading to data reduction. First, the researcher s task is to listen to (or watch) recordings, read transcripts and field notes as complementary sources of information. At this beginning stage of the research most often it is enough to familiarize with some of recordings and some of the transcripts, particularly if the researcher was also the interviewer. Such actions will help to form the global view on data and will deliver initial overall answers to research objectives. Thanks to this preliminary analysis one may reveal also the basic limitations of the fieldwork such as influence of the 122

124 6.5. The systematic data analysis via coding and displaying data interviewer (and the group in case of FGIs) or the role of questions order (more about it in a section Additional remarks ). Figure 6.3. Tasks at data reduction stage Reading all (or at least some) transcripts or listenning/watching recordings Determining the list of main research issues and their order (peparing report schedule) Setting up a broad group of coding categories for each topic Organizing data in transcripts acc. to the schedule and grouping categories Together with research objectives, topic guide and preliminary outline of the report (that was prepared before fieldwork), the global view on data enables preparing a template for further analysis (template analysis) or just the preliminary model is used (pattern matching analysis). It won t be a final version and a researcher should be flexible to make further changes. The report template is necessary to make basic order in data by general research issues, e.g., it may include coding category decision process with sections such as type of motivations, criteria of college choice, then image of college with further subsections as rational image and emotional image, etc. Such a basic structure also enables rejecting data that are not related with research objectives. Next task of the researcher within each main topic is to prepare a broad group of coding categories. For instance, for the issue of motivation of psychological studies choice one may imagine groups such as types of motivation: internal vs. external, autothelic vs. instrumental value. Sometimes many different coding categories are possible or data seem to be extremely individualized. First cue which categories are most relevant are always theoretical propositions, research objectives and hypothesis (if they were formulated). Second way to find out general patterns in data is going beyond obvious categories and explain reasons of opinions and sometimes even cross coding categories. See Frame 6.3. for example. As one may see, highly individualized direct answers were ordered to obtain more general pattern, or with the usage of one group (panel A) or two groups of codes (panel B). To find the most appropriate, 123

125 How to analyze qualitative data insightful and exhaustive coding categorization for the given data and research topic, a researcher may look at the data many times and use many various categorizations. Frame 6.3. An example of coding categories when each answer was given by 1 2 participants: Motivation to study psychology among potential students A. B. Autothelic value Feeling of social pressure to study Family s pressure Need for being similar to classmates Instrumental value Internal motivation Wanting to have nice student life Need for expanding the knowledge in line with interests Wanting to work in a future: as a couple psychologist, in advertising, as a HR manager, as a coach, with people, as a journalist External motivation Studies as important to have any work Difficulties to find any job without studies Source: own elaboration, based on data obtained during focus group interviews conducted at the University of Warsaw in cooperation with students of Economic Psychology specialty. When the list of research issues (report template) and groups of coding categories are ready, it is time to organize data in transcripts, by breaking down qualitative data into discrete chunks and attaching a reference to those chunks of data (Malhotra & Birks, 2007). Thanks to this, the researcher may easily retrieve the data, organize and reorganize the data and also interpret them. In the literature and in practice one may find at least four types of organizing data procedures. The simplest way to categorize data is to indicate chunks of data by color markers on a printed version of transcript or to underline information with color and make comments in a word editor (Stewart et al., 2007). The researcher may also use the cut and paste technique, what means to copy some parts of interviews related to given topics and paste them in another place to gather together all the parts that are related to a given topic (in the past this technique was applied with scissors and glue (Stewart et al., 2007) and sometimes it may be useful to come back to the traditional techniques). One may use separate documents or a data table matrix as presented in Table 6.1. Finally, one may use computer software that supports qualitative analysis (the subsection of Additional remarks is devoted to this issue). To my knowledge, each procedure has some supporters among practitioners and some benefits and limitations (Maison, 2010; Stewart et al., 2007). While deciding which one to choose, it is worth considering which of them is going to be 124

126 6.5. The systematic data analysis via coding and displaying data most beneficial for the chosen analytical strategy and amount of data to deal with. With a huge amount of data, many coding categories and dispersed data, working directly with transcripts may be inconvenient. A table matrix hinders usage of many codlings for a given part of text. In turn, the usage of computer software requires good skills to appreciate the most useful features. Table 6.1. A fictitious example of spreadsheet data display of 8 IDIs IDI 1 IDI 2 IDI 3 IDI 4 IDI 5 IDI 6 IDI 7 IDI 8 Small Small Small Small Medium Medium Medium Medium Decision maker Decision maker Service personnel Service personnel Decision maker Decision maker Service personnel Service personnel Types of relationships Criteria of choice Verbatim from the interview that refers to this topic Source: own elaboration. Next, the researcher s task is to review the descriptions given to the codes, to examine differences between types of participants, develop models of interconnectivity amongst the coded categories and finally iterate between the code descriptions and the developing model. It is time for playing with data so displaying data in a wide range of configurations to understand their meaning the best. Anyhow, it is valuable to look for unintended patterns, which may not be obvious from the beginning (Dooley, 2002). Before one starts to examine differences between subgroups or participants sharing particular characteristics, it is worth starting with comparing results within a segment as a means to understand the general pattern of results that could be specific for a segment. When one establishes repeated patterns of results, it is time to compare different subgroups. To examine differences between types of participants, the researcher may use a cross-tabulation. This time in place of verbatim citations one may use the coding categories or number of interviews in which a given coding category appeared; see Table 6.2. Also 125

127 How to analyze qualitative data comparable matrices may be very useful. It should facilitate revealing similarities and differences between cases or individuals. Table 6.2. A fictitious example of cross-tabulation Code Coding category Values expected in organization culture (n = 6) Values present in current organization culture (n = 6) Male Female Male Female 1.1. Office s aesthetics Social atmosphere Work-life balance Creativity Quality Professionalism To understand relationships between coding categories, a researcher may use many types of data charts (see Malhotra and Birks, 2007) or networks ( / Visualization). The richest in examples of different ways of displaying data is the book by Matthew Miles and A. Michael Huberman (1994). To understand better what does data visualization mean, one may recollect films in which the police investigator puts available information on the big board and then re-organizes it when new issues are emerging or when the new vision of what happened appears. KEY POINTS The systematic process of analysis includes coding and displaying data. The coding serves to reduce a huge amount of data. The researcher may use a variety of categorizations (including going beyond obvious categories) to understand the hidden structure in the data. To establish this hidden structure of interrelationships, the researcher may apply a variety of table matrices, cross-tabulations, etc. The most comprehensive handbook on issues related with coding and displaying data in various types of tables and matrices is the publication by Matthew Miles and A. Michael Huberman (1994). More about issues related with the organization of data can be found in most handbooks on computer software devoted to qualitative analysis (compare the last section references). 126

128 6.7. Understanding differences between participants 6.6. Establishing the shared vision of reality via triangulation Interviews themselves deliver information about subjective participants perspective on some phenomena, events or processes. Taking for granted an assumption about relationship between this subjective perception and reality is too far going (King, 2004). The perspective may be biased by many factors including personal characteristics (e.g., different access to long-term memory) and professional characteristics (e.g., type of education, seniority, job position, attitudes to revealing information about an organization). Thus, individual participants may not have enough knowledge or may not deliver some information to researcher. To make it even more complicated, the attitudes, beliefs, etc., may be more or less internally consistent. To establish facts, or rather the vision of reality which would be shared by more than one person or more than one type of source, the researcher may adopt at least three strategies, all going beyond the level of the formal analysis. They are related with a method or participant s choice. In all cases the researcher needs to deliver additional evidence that helps establish the shared vision of reality. First, the researcher may choose a case study method including many sources of information. Second, the researcher may involve more than one participant from a given organization. Third, the researcher may involve more than one technique to establish the most valid pattern within a single interview. Nevertheless, it is worth remembering that the researcher s aim is not always establishing facts; for some research aims the subjective perspective itself is a key issue in a study. To describe the process of revealing the most valid pattern of results based on different techniques of gathering data, in the literature on qualitative research the term triangulation (Malhotra & Birks, 2007; Miles & Huberman, 1994) was introduced. Triangulation means that the researcher compares results of several techniques to establish the facts via systematic analysis. KEY POINTS If a researcher intends to establish facts or a shared vision of reality, he or she may use triangulation, meaning comparing data from different sources, different persons or different techniques to discover the most valid pattern Understanding differences between participants As mentioned above, triangulation is a method of establishing the facts or the shared vision of reality. Looking for coherent patterns is also a natural people tendency (in psychology it is called heuristic of representativeness or confirmation error (Miles & Huberman, 1994). Thus, also qualitative analysis is susceptible for 127

129 How to analyze qualitative data this researcher bias: looking at the data the researcher spontaneously tends to find out the main pattern. However, the reality is often complex and difficult to capture with simple rules. During such a spontaneous inferring process some data may be lost. To reduce the biased interviewing, analyzing and reporting, the first step is to understand and then control it. But no less important is understanding how to find out the pattern via systematic analysis, how to deal with discrepancies during analysis process, as omitting the evident discrepancies or seeing too much consistency may lead to false or not complete vision of reality. Three important issues are arising in this context. First, how to understand differences which are related with shared characteristics of a subgroup. Second, how to deal with a wide variety of data without a single pattern. Third, how to deal with the outstanding data. Characteristics of subgroup. Whenever the researcher reveals differences between subgroups of participants, he or she should consider if these differences are justifiable for a given subgroup. It may happen that the differences result from other interviewee s feature than the differentiating variable. For instance, a researcher may discover that most interviewees in a small organization said that they are motivated to work by achievements (except one person who appreciated social atmosphere), while most of interviewees in a medium organization emphasized the social network experience as the main motivator (again except one person). However, the thorough analysis revealed that persons who appreciated social atmosphere were women, and those who underlined the role of achievements were men. Thus, the analysis in terms of differences among small and medium organizations would be misleading. Lack of shared pattern. When the researcher discovers a huge variety of opinions on a given topic, he or she has at least three possibilities. First, the researcher may try to find a hidden dimension of answers (compare previous section and next subsection about dealing with outstanding data) or establish reasons of differences (e.g., the subgroup of small enterprises included managers working in different departments and thus could not possess enough knowledge about the topic). Then, the researcher may describe the obtained variety (e.g., one subgroup/case is more heterogeneous and other is more homogenous). An example of dealing with a situation of wide variety of opinions one may find in the publication by Catherine Cassell et al. (2006), who explicitly writes about a variety of opinions and then presents examples of the most extreme answers. Understanding the role of outstanding data. Some authors recommend focusing only on repeated pattern of results because single outstanding data may be accidental (Yin, 2009). Other authors suggest that this analytical strategy may be too simplifying, misleading and may result in false vision of reality. For instance, Buchanan (2012) emphasizes that different results may point real contradictions, which are arising from different experiences, politics, different targets of sources and are prepared to justify some decisions. He even 128

130 6.7. Understanding differences between participants says that triangulation is a myth. He underlines that many voices are silenced by prevailing power structures and relationships, and one role of the researcher is to give those voices expression (p. 364). Similar perspective is offered by Sue Llewellyn and Deryl Northcott (2007) who emphasize that while studying some phenomena (e.g., organizational change) one voice may carry more insight for understanding the issue than the most popular and dominant opinions. Thus, before neglecting some data it is worth looking for other broader and less obvious categories of coding. Some data may seem irrelevant within one coding or relationship framework and may become interpretable within another one (as in example of SME and gender in the subsection about subgroup characteristics). The researcher may also try to find out the reasons of inconsistencies by formulating hypotheses and verifying them with the existing data reading transcripts once again and again, and find out evidences supporting and contrasting with the hypothesis. For instance, it may happen that a participant did not trust the researcher enough to reveal some data; that researcher did not devote enough time for a given issue; that on the participant s job position some data are unavailable; or that in different documents different data are presented. Bryant and Lasky (2007) provided another example of dealing with a contradiction in data. Most of data they analyzed and reported with ground theory framework in accordance with positivist paradigm of finding repetitive patterns. In turn, outstanding data of one participant were analyzed and presented within the narrative approach, which was chosen reflexively as best to visualize its insight into phenomena under consideration. It enabled the authors to present more insightful and complete picture of the phenomena. Additionally, it is worth checking the appropriateness of the recruitment process as it may appear that a participant did not shared the required characteristics. Finally, it is worth adding that similarly one may treat discrepancies within participant statements via understanding their real meaning for the phenomena under consideration rather than neglecting them or treating a participant as a liar. For instance, the consistency between implicit and explicit attitudes may help to predict the direction of behavior, while the discrepancy may hinder it depending on the additional circumstances the implicit or explicit attitudes may drive the action (Maison, 2004). KEY POINTS The researcher s aim is to reveal the repeating patterns within data. While looking for coherent patterns, the researcher should focus on the meaning of data, not on counting particular answers. The meaning of variety of opinions and of the outstanding opinions (both between a participant and within a single interview) should not be neglected, but thoroughly understood and presented if they carry new insight into the phenomena under consideration. 129

131 6.8. Data verifi cation How to analyze qualitative data When the process of data analysis is finished and patterns within data are established, the researcher s task is to demonstrate that the final conclusions are not only their subjective view on data, but that they represent a valid meaning of collected data (Malhotra & Birks, 2007). Authors who writes about qualitative research show a diversity of methods of data verification; however, one may find some similar issues which they underline (Malhotra & Birks, 2007; Miles & Huberman, 1994; Silverman, 2001; Yin, 2009). For instance, Malhotra and Birks (2007) underline the reference to the theoretical model, to secondary data, intelligence and literature, similar empirical findings and explanations obtained in different contexts, time frames and by other researchers. To validate data, they also recommend triangulation and participants validation that means obtaining feedback from research participants on the conclusions made by a researcher. During sampling, the verification occurs via interviewing diversity of participants. During the fieldwork, he recommends seeking of validation by asking questions in a variety of ways. During analysis, the researcher may check different explanations of the same results and by looking for additional evidences that the conclusion is right. They also add clear presentation of the obtained patterns via different forms of display, the exposure to reviewing process and critique. Miles and Huberman (1994) present thirteen techniques of data verification and confirmation that include: control over representativeness, control over the researcher s influence, triangulation, weighting of evidences, control over the meaning of exceptions, usage of extreme cases, following unexpected outcomes, looking for disconfirming evidences, logical tests (if then ), exclusion of ostensible relationships, replication, checking for alternative explanations, feedback from informants. According to Yin (2009), good research should apply four principles: the researcher should present that he or she attended to all evidences (p. 158), the analysis should address all major rival interpretations (p. 158), and the most significant aspects of the ( ) study and the researcher should use the prior, expert knowledge regarding not only the topic but also the knowledge about current discourse about a given method (interviews, case studies, etc.).simultaneously, most issues arisen above this author recommends throughout his whole book, e.g., triangulation (he uses case study as the multi-method inquiry) and feedback from informants. Taking into account opinions of other authors, one may distinguish five groups of techniques related to different stages of research process. They are summarized in Figure

132 6.8. Data verifi cation Figure 6.4. Techniques of data verification Appropriate sampling strategy and process of recruitment Replication of results (two groups of similar characteristic) Several techniques to confirm data (triangulation), e.g., by different forms of questionning about the same issue Asking all respondents (including contrary opinions) Control over subjectivity of researcher, e.g., by being neutral Testing of hypothesis which arisen during research Control over sample Case & participants Control over tools Topic guide Control over fieldwork Interview Validity of transcribing Triangulation Addressing rival explanations: seek for different possible explanations and evidences to support categorising, naming and connecting views Questionning the interpretations, looking for additional evidences and negative evidences Rejection of ostensible relationships Weighting of evidences, control over the meaning of exceptions Exclusion of ostensible relationships Following unexpected outcomes Are the results consistent? If not: is there the explanation for differences? Are there uncertain areas? Which ones? Access to raw data (recordings, transcripts) The completness of description including secondary data The ways of data display as a possibility to communicate to others Conclusions supported by relevant data Addressing rival explanations regarding presented data Going beyond obviousness The exposure and critique of others Participants validation The reference to the theoretical model, to secondary data, to literature, to similar empirical findings and explanations obtained in different ways The knowledge about current discourse about a given method (interviews, case studies, etc.) contexts, time frames Control over analysis Analysis Control over report Thesis To verify the data analysis, the researcher should compare the different results and find out the most valid pattern of results (that could be simple and consistent or complex and internally inconsistent). Second, the researcher should look for different possible explanations for established patterns of results including influence of the research context (role of interviewer, way of questioning) and substantive justifications, both theoretical and based on data. One may ask also about the disconfirmation of revealed results again in the light of theory and gathered data. It is worth also validating the revealed results with participants. Although in the literature one may find the proposal to confront the report with participants as the best solution (Malhotra & Birks, 2007; Yin, 2003), in practice it may be limited to coming back to each interview separately to check if the final result is truly valid with particular cases. An important step of data validation is also the choice of the data display as a means to communicate the results to others. Eventually, the researcher should show the results to others. Before public exposure, in case of Ph.D. thesis, it is worth starting with other students (in formal and informal discussions) and present results to the supervisor (Yin, 2003). It happens that some reviewers may expect inter-rater reliability measure such as Cohen s kappa statistics for coding categorization. This phenomenon was 131

133 How to analyze qualitative data observed in case of reviewers of manuscripts for publication in prestigious USA journals (Cornelissen et al., 2012). Joep Cornelissen et al. (2012) revealed that qualitative researchers disagree with these practices, although some of them conform to reviewers requirements. They note that such demands will lead to lost in phenomenological richness in favor of analytical reduction. KEY POINTS One of researcher s final tasks is to demonstrate convincing evidence that the established patterns of results illustrate the data and not only a subjective vision of the researcher. The verification refers to five stages of the research process starting with control over sampling, over the content of the topic guide, via fieldwork till the formal analysis and development of the report Additional remarks Analysis of interviewer/moderator influence and social context. In the literature on case study as qualitative research including the interviews (e.g. Yin, 2009), one point of analysis is rarely analyzed, although in the literature on qualitative interviewing in marketing research it is being one of important ones (e.g. Malhotra & Birks, 2007; Maison, 2010). This difference may be explained with different paradigms: realism in case study research and interpretative approach in marketing research, and more weight ascribed to the moderator of focus groups interviews. As mentioned in previous sections, the interviewer plays a prominent role in the process of interviewing as he or she may facilitate the openness and spontaneity of the participants or, in contrary, he or she may limit the talkativeness of the participant. Also, greater influence on the content of an interview was emphasized for an interviewer in individual than group interviews. At least three types of biases which are related to interviewer s role may be observed: personal moderator s bias toward own social and cultural values and attitudes, cognitive moderator s biases such as heuristic of representativeness, a need of the participant to satisfy the researcher. All of them may be implicit or explicit. An implicit bias is mostly displayed in non verbal communication (see the next subsection), whereas an explicit bias may be observed in verbal communication, e.g., as a judgment if someone s opinion is good or bad, in the way of asking the question. Biases may be nonintentional or intentional. In the latter case one may even say about unethical behavior (compare the guidelines of European Society for Opinion and Market Research and American Psychological Association) because the researcher consciously gathers unreliable data. 132

134 6.9. Additional remarks Even though during the analysis it is impossible to eliminate the biases, to increase the reliability of the research, the researcher should identify how much influence the interviewer had on participant s answers. It enables determining how much trust one may have toward the participants statements. But what often is being even more important the careful analysis of the interviewer verbal and non-verbal behaviors may be very helpful to determine the reasons underlying the differences between participants. For the aim of the analysis, it may be worth comparing not only answers but also the questions. Two different ways of questioning for the same issue may give partially various answers. Last but not least, the careful analysis of the interviewer s influence may help to reduce biases during further interviewing. While analyzing group interviews one should consider also the influence of other opinions, of respondent types and informational and normative influence of a group. More about this topic one may find in the handbook by Malhotra & Birks (2007). To reduce the role of undesirable biases, it is worth analyzing the data within its context, compare results of two or more interviews and take into account repeated patterns of results (however without neglecting meaning of single opinions if they carry insightful impact for the research objectives). However, the best is to have high self-awareness; then the researcher may probe about given issues to check the underlying reasons in this one or in further interviews. Moreover, the increasing awareness of biases during the analysis stage may help to develop further interviewing skills. The role of non-verbal communication. In some research topics, non-verbal communication may be an additional source of information. The intonation, paralinguistic (mhm, aha), laughing, no immediate answers, gestures, mimic and other behavioral responses may add new information or even radically modify the sense of statements (Maison, 2010), in case of both the interviewer and the participant. For instance, the question are you involved in this process? may have at least two different meanings depending on the intonation neutrally formulated it may serve as a simple filtering question, but with emphasis on you it may sound as disapproval or doubts what may cause the defensive reactions (including denying related with social risks of revealing some information). In case of professionals as participants, three roles of non-verbal communication are particularly worth of emphasis. First, the intonation and way of talking may suggest that a participant is trying to avoid revealing some information. An interviewer may deal with it during interviews by asking additional questions and eventually explicit commenting on it. But if not, it is information worth being registered because the pattern of results is not complete. Second, some non-verbal signals may suggest less or more involvement in a topic. For instance, a participant may talk about corporate values easily and with vivid engagement or with difficulty, weighting each word. The interpretation of these behaviors in terms of employees familiarity and identification with corporate values may 133

135 How to analyze qualitative data be worth of further investigation in participant other statements. Finally, some words may be said as a joke or ironically, what may totally differ their meaning as in case of the statement it is really a good solution. These complimentary data about non-verbal communication may be achieved via field notes made during interviewing, listening to audio-recordings and if available video recordings. Some pieces of this information may be also included in the transcript (e.g., that a participant was laughing, was more involved with a topic, did not answer immediately). To interpret inconsistencies properly, it is worth remembering two rules. The consistency of verbal with non-verbal results similarly as between implicit and explicit attitudes is a stronger base to predict further actions. Inconsistencies that may be interpreted as dual attitudes may implicate difficulty in predicting the direction of action. For instance, one may reveal the negative personal attitude toward the existing process of suppliers choice in an organization (revealed non-verbally), while evaluating it verbally in a positive way, but it may have various consequences for implementing this process (implementing it, omitting it, informally implementing other processes). Quantitative component. In Chapter 5 quasi-quantitative techniques such as closed questions with a scale or ranking and Likert scale questions were mentioned. Sometimes the researcher may even conduct some statistics for example because he or she wants to confirm if the differences really matter. In all these cases the researcher should avoid trials of statistical generalizations and should always remember not only about a small number of participants but also about the unstructured nature of interviewing. Using such statements as majority may be very misleading as for instance in case of 10 participants it is very subjective to say that 6 answers are majority. However, this type of answers may be very useful as a general frame for further analysis as it may help to determine the dominant patterns of results for segments, or may help to sort interviews and find out further specific patterns. Software-assisted analysis. In the literature one may find two positions on computer-aided qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) applications. On the one hand, researchers are critical or at least skeptical. On the other hand, the development of opportunities in the software results in its popularization and reduction of some risks. The dictionary of qualitative management research (Thorpe & Holt, 2008) enumerates 7 advantages and 3 the most controversial ones. CAQDAS may be advantageous unless the researcher knows its possibilities very well, knows its limitations and is able to think qualitatively. They may help storing, organizing, managing and searching the data (including different sources, stimuli materials, references, etc.). They may show relationships. However, they do not perform any analysis (Thorpe & Holt, 2008; Yin, 2003); they do not reveal the importance of relationships within data itself. 134

136 6.9. Additional remarks Thus, to appreciate benefits of the software for a successful research, the qualitative researcher needs to develop the skills of qualitative thinking on the one hand, and advanced skills of software application. Without advanced skills in software service it is difficult to appreciate its benefits. KEY POINTS During the analysis some weight should be given to understanding the influence of a moderator, social context and non-verbal communication (if possible and justified). The results of quantitative techniques (e.g., questions with scale) may be helpful to order data, but statistical generalization should be avoided. Computer-aided qualitative data analysis software may be valuable (if a researcher has enough skills), but it does not perform analysis and does not replace the researcher. More about sorting data in tables and matrices as well as the whole process of data analysis complemented with examples can be found in the book by Matthew Miles and A. Michel Huberman (1994). Persons interested in the applying of computer software in organizational qualitative research projects may read the text by Lyn Richards (1999) and handbooks dedicated to particular software, e.g., Suzanne Frieze (2012). 135

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138 CHAPTER 7 How to report qualitative data The almost final chapter presents how to prepare a good report on a qualitative research in the form of a student paper, MA or Ph.D. thesis. It determines four main features of a good academic report. Two styles of reporting are presented with information which one may be better fitted to the academic work The role of the report The key features of a good report from qualitative study are presented in Figure 7.1., and shortly discussed below. Most of them apply to most academic reports, not only regarding the presentation of qualitative research s results. Figure 7.1. Key features of good report Enough convincing for a recipient from a "target group" Exhaustively informative Contributing to the current knowledge Building "credible" impression Before the researcher starts writing the report, he or she should once again define the expectations of recipients (the importance of this issue for the whole research process was discussed in section 1 of Chapter 2). Even if he or she intends to reach the broader public (e.g., business colleagues), the primary recipients of the academic paper are academics (the supervisor, the reviewers, etc.). To gain other groups, a separate description of the findings should be prepared that would fit their needs, even slightly different than the expectations of academics (Yin, 2003). While sending manuscript for publication, the authors also conform to particular formal and informal requirements of the given journal and its reviewers (Cornelissen et al., 2012). 137

139 How to report qualitative data The analytical style, traditional structure of the paper or thesis (see next section), enough details to apply the procedure in different setting and to draw own conclusions, and addressing the issues important for reviewers who are mostly more familiar with the quantitative research, may help these academics to follow the text and may reduce some resistance that could hinder the understanding the key advantages of the researcher s work. The student paper, being a report from qualitative research, should show that the researcher made credible, valuable and original contribution to the knowledge development. Last but not least, it is worth remembering that the report serves also to impression management; it is a certificate of the researcher (Cassell et al., 2006). Even if the whole process was conducted perfectly, but researcher does not show it in the report convincingly, his or her skills and value of the research may raise doubts. To achieve the indicated aims, the researcher should follow some guidelines regarding the style, structure and content of the report, which are described in sections below. KEY POINTS The researcher should remember about four main functions of the student work being a report on a qualitative research: convincing the supervisor and reviewers about skills of the researcher in conducting the research, informativeness, contribution to the current knowledge and building credible impression The style of results reporting In literature one may find at least two main styles of qualitative results reporting: reflective reporting (Dooley, 2002), analytic reporting (Dooley, 2002). In case of academic reports in management and economy sciences, the analytical style is recommended. In analytical reporting the researcher should use objective style. In the reflective reporting a writer will use literary devices to bring the case alive for the reader and the strong presence of the researcher s voice is apparent (Dooley, 2002), it is more like a story-telling. Whichever style the researcher chooses, the language should be concise, strict to the point, unambiguous and neutral (meaning lack of subjective evaluation of the participants statements or behaviors and institutions action, e.g., on moral or normative dimensions) and what is also important written with a language that is involving for a reader. 138

140 7.3. Structure of the report KEY POINTS For the student work, the analytic reporting is recommended. For persons interested in differences in style of writing a paper for publication, depending on the philosophical and epistemological approaches (positivist USA tradition vs. non-positivist phenomenological tradition): the text by Joen Cornellissen et al. (2012) is recommended Structure of the report Any academic report should present the background of the research, methodology and results completed with conclusions and discussion in the light of earlier theoretical frameworks and other empirical findings. Although some researchers claim that in the report on a qualitative research it may be difficult to follow the traditional structure of empirical reporting (Cassell et al., 2006), it is recommended to apply this structure in a Ph.D. thesis (Perry, 1998); in a MA thesis and in any other student paper, similarly as in manuscripts for publications, it is worth following the structure typical for a given journal (Yin, 2009; this author uses the term linear analytic structure ). 13 Frame 7.1. Example of main sections headings in a student MA or Ph.D. thesis Title page Abstract with key words Table of contents List of tables List of figures Abbreviations Statement of original authorship Acknowledgments I. Introduction II. Literature review/theoretical background III. Methodology IV. Results/Analysis of data V. Discussion of results/conclusions and implications References Appendixes Source: own elaboration based on Perry (1998) and Dooley (2002) and own experience. 13 Yin (2009) mentions six alternative strategies of compositional structure: linear-analytic, comparative, chronological, theory-building, suspense and unsequenced structures with first three as being the most universal for different types of objectives (explanatory, descriptive or exploratory). 139

141 How to report qualitative data The report should serve the reader and present results in a way that the reader can understand (Dooley, 2002, p. 343), so it may be easier for reviewers to follow the content what may facilitate gaining their approval as they are more familiar with this type of structure (Perry, 1998). An example of such a structure of a Ph.D. thesis is presented in Frame 7.1. The structure and the content of each chapter may vary depending on a field, university and faculty tradition. Some detailed information about the content of Introduction and methodology chapters were presented in previous chapters about the problem definition and methodology while some issues will be addressed further in this section. KEY POINTS The structure of a student paper or thesis should comply with formal and informal requirements in a given academy. The researcher should go toward the expectations of positivist and quantitative part of the academic environment to facilitate the understanding of the qualitative research Content of the report and ways of presenting results Finally, some detailed issues regarding the content and way of presenting qualitative findings will be addressed. Similarly as in any other academic research report, the researcher is expected to present as much details of procedure and evidence confirming his or her conclusions as possible to help others understand and if necessary repeat similar procedures (Dooley, 2002). Some very detailed aspects of procedure or results may be presented in an appendix, similarly as materials prepared and retrieved from participants, and any data sources. The researcher may only list them, present all of them or demonstrate some of examples or present them in aggregated forms of display. Recordings, transcripts and field notes (if they were the only recording of data) should be available for others (following the same rules as in case of storage of quantitative questionnaires, but with additional effort to make the identity of persons or institutions confidential if necessary). To enhance these statements, it is worth emphasizing that European Society for Opinion and Market Research (ESOMAR), which established the international ethical standards in the market research field, recommends similar guidelines: Researchers shall always be prepared to make available the technical information necessary to assess the validity of any published findings. (Article 11 Research findings of ICC/ESOMAR international code on market and social research). As mentioned in Chapter 2, the credibility of research is an important issue in academic reception and the credibility of qualitative result may raise some 140

142 7.4. Content of the report and ways of presenting results doubts. Thus, although it is not clear how to estimate credibility of a qualitative research, the report should address the issue of credibility directly and present how the researcher has taken care of it (this issue was discussed in the previous chapter), in method section or in results section. To conform to positivist criteria of evaluation, in academic publications the authors address also the issue of generalizability of findings (Cornelissen et al., 2012). The published articles in the management field offer two strategies (Cornelissen et al., 2012): statements saying that small samples do not allow for any broad generalizations, expectations that revealed patterns may be transferable or generalizable to some organizations that share similar characteristics and mention concrete sectors or types of organizations (e.g., education hospitals), and identify the shared features. The report should clearly distinguish two levels: results description and interpretation (Maison, 2010). Based on a research results section the reader should have the possibility to draw similar conclusions but also to reach an independent judgments regarding the merits of the analysis (Yin, 2003, p. 188) taking into account own experiences and knowledge. Results mean the description what was found in data, what participants said. They should be presented in a concise form including repeated patterns, most extreme results, the variability of results, the inconsistencies obtained from different sources or interviewees. That is why the coding into broader categories was so important: it lets the researcher recognize a general pattern going beyond any single piece of data. Neither in quantitative studies, researcher does not present the data base with raw data, although he or she should present enough details to justify conclusions and have the data base available for other researchers. In turn, interpretation includes all the explanations and comments regarding the meaning of what participants said, information about confirmation or disconfirmation of the theoretical model, other empirical data, etc. The researcher should make it clear when the level of interpretation starts (e.g., by saying this data may be interpreted as following, this pattern of results only partially matches the prediction ). The key interpretation in the light of theoretical models should be shifted to the discussion section. A similar guideline one may find in the code of ESOMAR: When reporting on the results of a market research project, researchers shall make a clear distinction between the findings, the researchers interpretation of these findings, and any recommendations based on them. (Article 11 Research findings of ICC/ESOMAR international code on market and social research). The selection of results and the amount of details should be directed by a guiding research question and specific objectives that are mostly related with some theoretical assumptions. Enough results should be presented both supporting and challenging the further interpretation to convince the reader of 141

143 How to report qualitative data conclusions. However, again it does not mean that all the gathered data should be presented, including raw data. If the researcher can t resist to present data irrelevant for key research questions, some extremely interesting and insightful results but not related with main objectives one may include in the final section of the results chapter Other interesting results. Regarding the ways of presenting findings, it is important to determine the compositional structure. Again, it depends on the research objectives. According to Robert Yin (2009), the results of multiple case studies may be presented in at least three ways: 1) a short description of each case separately followed by cross-case presentation and attaching the description of each case in appendix, 2) separate sections about each case with similar template, followed by a crosscase comparison, 3) the presentation of results by issues that reflect steps of analysis (question and answer to this question) without traditional narration, 4) only cross-case analysis without separate sections on individual cases. In mixed-method approaches the way of presentation also depends on the objectives of the research. If the qualitative research was devoted to the scale or variables development, one may present this data within the relevant section of the method chapter. If the qualitative research was designed to support understanding of quantitative results, one may present its results within appropriate sections of the results chapter (e.g., by saying that qualitative results are in line with the obtained pattern, or give some insight into the reasons of some results and relevant qualitative results should be presented). If a qualitative research was relatively independent, the results together with method and discussion section may be presented as a separate chapter (e.g., Study 1, Study 2), and all the studies should be followed by joint discussion. In case of a qualitative research, the researcher may use some graphic presentations of data schemes, figures, matrices. But not necessarily the same as those used at the stage of analysis. This time graphics should visually present the key aspects of the results. In case of cognitive maps or any other comparisons presented in figures, it may be worth making a comment about the qualitative nature of results. Otherwise, some quantitative researchers may tend to analyze them quantitatively and evaluate their contribution falsely. When the results of interviews are reported, it is worth exemplifying the description with some verbatim citations of participants words (if they are available). However, the researcher is never expected to present too many of them or to exemplify each given statement; it is enough to emphasize that the whole transcript or/and recording is available by the researcher. The presentation of the citations may have a double role. First, to enhance the meaning of given statements in a more picturesque way. Second, to underline the credibility of given statements. In the main text, one may present all or only repeating statements of participants in a categorized form, if they are very short and crucial for the better understanding of a given pattern of the results. An example one 142

144 7.4. Content of the report and ways of presenting results may find in the book by Marzena Feldy (2012, p. 129). Another way is to use only one citation for the exemplification of chosen key statements. An example one may find in the publication by Catherine Cassell et al. (2006, pp ). If more citations were presented or citations were very long, the researcher may include them as a list, table or in other visual form in attachments. It may sound trivial, but some young researchers forget about it; the citations should not include spelling and punctuation errors (they may occur during transcribing), and the grammar should be edited to make the statements understandable in a written form (unless the researcher is going to emphasize something by showing grammar errors). Nevertheless, the researcher is expected to clearly distinguish the citations within a text. Similarly, as in citations of other authors, italics and quotation marks are used in case of short texts, and indents and smaller fonts in a separate paragraph in case of longer texts. The citations should be supplemented with information from which interview they come from (e.g., manager from small enterprise) and if abbreviations are used (e.g. M/SE), the researcher is expected to notice their meaning, e.g., M manager, S Subordinate, SE means Small Enterprise, ME Medium Enterprise in abbreviation section or in annotations. In the final chapter or chapters, the researches should discuss the results in the light of existing theories and empirical findings and address the issue of contribution to the knowledge, and original value of the research. The tendency to link knowledge with practice in management and economic science imply that researcher may also determine the potential implications for the practice if it is relevant for the research problem. Additionally, the researcher should devote some space for the issue of limitations of the study. Next to real limitations including the issue of the generalization, among others, the research may also discuss the objections that are likely to be raised by the reviewers (thus, once again the topic of good recognition of the expectations in the academic environment is coming back; see Chapter 2, section 1). Good practice is also to consider the potential directions of further studies. Before the final official version of the paper, the thesis or the manuscript, comes to existence, the draft may be read by others (Dooley, 2002; Yin, 2009). This procedure serves to construct validation (if participants or informants are involved) but also to language refinement (peer review). KEY POINTS While presenting a qualitative research in the student paper or thesis, the researcher should follow good practices regarding the description of any research. To go toward reviewers expectations, the researcher should discuss the problematic issues, which are present in the current methodological discourse including the issue of credibility, validity and generalizability of the results. 143

145 How to report qualitative data Some detailed guidelines regarding the content of each chapter of a student paper including Ph.D. thesis can be found in the article by Chad Perry (1998) who describes experience with postgraduate research in marketing in Australia and in the book by Robert Yin (2009). 144

146 CHAPTER 8 Brief conclusions This chapter presents a brief comment on issues presented in the handbook with highlighting some issues regarding researcher s choices. This handbook was addressed mostly to students of different level of higher education, both graduates and postgraduates. The role of this handbook was to familiarize the reader with the process of designing, conducting and analyzing a qualitative research in management and economic sciences. All the stages of this process were discussed with some examples from the recent literature. And the most important issues were discussed. Additionally, the recent discourse on the role and status of qualitative methods was presented. As one could have seen, part of the academic environment tends toward positivist criteria of qualitative research evaluation, while others represent non-positivist attitudes. Some of the latter conform to positivist criteria, while others underline the uniqueness of a qualitative research and inappropriateness of such criteria for qualitative research assessment. The handbook presents both positions to leave the final choice to a reader. However, it was also recommended to follow the positivist requirements in at least some points in students work. This position was applied in belief that it is more convenient to follow the positivist criteria as they are thoroughly described in academic work and to deal with potential criticism. The usage of some clear rules facilitates also preparing the paper, thesis and diploma on time. Nevertheless, researchers should have in mind the existing discourse, particularly when considering a research for publication. As mentioned throughout this handbook, the positivist bias prevails particularly in USA journals, while European journals are more open for the non-positivist type of research including idiographic approach. 145

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