Four Qualitative Approaches There are several approaches to qualitative research.

It seems that four are most commonly used for business, organization and management studies: phenomenology, ethnography, grounded theory and case studies. Phenomenology Phenomenology is focused on the participants lived experiences. This type of research is interested in specific concrete experiences and how the participants perceive and feel about those experiences. This approach is not the most common approach for business, organization and management research. However, it is occasionally used when the focus of the study is on how organization practices, processes or policies impact the people inside and outside the organization. For example, how does downsizing impact the employee and their family? However, case studies do sometimes incorporate aspects of phenomenology into a single or multiple case study approach. For more on this approach read Creswell (2003). Ethnography Ethnography is focused on exploring and understanding groups and culture. This type of research is often used by cultural anthropologists like Margaret Meade. It typically requires extended field research with multiple visits to the particular site/group. For this reason, pure ethnographic approaches are not common for doctoral students in business, organization and management who typically want to get done in a reasonable amount of time. However, sometimes ethnographic aspects are integrated into a case study approach. For more on this approach read Creswell (2003). Grounded Theory While qualitative research tends to be inductive or at the most quasi-deductive, grounded theory is possibly the most inductive of the four approaches. Theory and models are developed by analyzing the data - from the ground up. This may be one of the most difficult approaches for a new researcher especially when working at a distance from their research supervisor. Case studies will often incorporate aspects of grounded theory when appropriate. For more on this approach read Corbin and Strauss (1990). Case Study The case study is by far the most common approach used in business, organization and management research. Many of the studies that I see classified as one of the other approaches are actually case studies. Case studies range from highly inductive methods to quasi-deductive designs. While many fields and disciplines do not allow for the combination and integration of aspects from the different research approaches (phenomenology, ethnography, grounded theory and cases studies), it is not uncommon for organization and management researchers to combine aspects of other approaches into the case study approach. Why? Because organization and management researchers are often studying topics that include the intersections between process, people and culture. A case study may include questions that span one or more of these dimensions and thus require more than one research approach. For more on the case study approach read Eisenhardt (1989) and Eisenhardt and Graebner (2007). Other Approaches There are other qualitative approaches such as the narrative and heuristics. These are seldom used in organization and management scholarly research. Heuristics is probably the least common approach in scholarly organization and management research. Using a heuristic approach the researcher becomes one with the topic, situation, etc. and is a participant in the event(s). This approach requires a high degree of self awareness to counter and mitigate bias and validity threats. This is very difficult for a new researcher. Heuristic researchers are typically very experienced, have an intense interest in the topic, and share experiences with other participants. Unlike most research and journal articles, heuristic research is sometimes written in first person. References

Corbin, J., & Strauss, A. (1990). Grounded Theory Research: Procedures, Canons, and Evaluative Criteria. Qualitative Sociology, 13(1), 3-22. Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage. Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989). Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review, 14(4), 19.

Eisenhardt, K. M., & Graebner, M. E. (2007). Theory Building From Cases: Opportunities and Challenges. Academy of Management Journal, 50(1), 8.

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