ORGANIZATION STUDIES - MTO-03-Qual. Research Methods - Book Summary,

Chapter 1 – the foundation of qualitative research
Why philosophical background of qualitative research important?
 Important to know that there is no single accepted way to do such research
 How to do research depends on a lot of factors  beliefs, funders, goal of research,
characteristics of the participants
 Some methods are particularly used for one philosophy (maintaining consistency)

Characteristics defining qualitative research:
 Naturalistic, interpretive approach
 Concerned with exploring phenomena ‘from the interior’ (innerlijk)
 Taking the perspectives and accounts of research participants as a starting point
 What, why and how questions (rather than how many)

Methods  observation, semi-structured interview, depth-interview, focus groups
Data  not numbers, but words or photographs

Definition Denzin & Lincoln = a set of interpretive, material practices that make the world
visible. These practices transform the world. They turn the world into a series of representations,
including field notes, interviews, conversations, photographs, recording and memos to self.
Qualitative research study things in their natural settings, attempting t make sense or interpret
phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them

Beliefs about the nature of the social world and what there is to know about it  ontology:
 Whether or not there is a social reality that exist independently of human conceptions and
interpretations
 Is there a shared social reality or only multiple, context specific ones?
Two positions:
1. Realism = there is a external reality which exists independently of peoples beliefs
and understandings of it  distinction of the way the world is and the meaning and
interpretation of that world held by individuals. Variants:
 Naive/shallow realism  reality can be observed directly and accurately
 Cautious realism  reality can be known approximately or imperfectly
rather than accurately
 Dept/critical/transcendental realism  reality consists of different
levels (empirical domain  experience through sences, actual domain 
bestaat ongeacht het wordt waargenomen, real domain  underlying
processes and mechanisms
 Subtle realism  external reality exists, is only known through the human
mind
 Materialism  recognizes only material features, such as economic
relations. Values/beliefs are epiphenomena, that features are from, but do
not shape the material world
2. Idealism = reality is fundamentally mind-dependent  only knowable through the
human mind and through socially constructed meanings  no reality exists
independent of these. Variants:
 Subtle/contextual/collective idealism  social world is made up of
representations constructed and shared by people in particular contexts
 Relativism/radical idealism  there is no shared reality
Beliefs about the nature of knowledge and how it can be required  epistemology
 How can we learn about reality? What forms the basis of our knowledge?
 Induction = bottom-up process, patterns are derived from observations of the world
(evidence  conclusion)
 Deduction = top-down, logically derived hypotheses are tested against observations
(conclusion  evidence)
 Reproductive logic  identifying the structures that may have produced patterns, try
different models for a fit
 Abductive logic  using researchers categories, from participants own accounts of
everyday activities, ideas or beliefs
Variants:
 Foundational vs fabilistic models  foundational assumes it’s possible to mirror
reality accurately. Fabilistic treats all knowledge claims as provisional (voorlopig)
 Value-mediated  all knowledge is affected by the values of the person who
produces or receives it