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Professor Jean Bartunek
MB870 Qualitative Research Methods
Spring, 2007
Office hours: M, 2:00 – 3:30
or by appointment
Office: Fulton 430C
Ext: 2-0455 (Fax ext. 2-1601)
Home Phone: 617-661-1347
(call before 10 PM)
e-mail: bartunek@bc.edu
Qualitative Research Methods (MB870)
This course has two primary purposes: to teach students how to 1) use qualitative research methods and 2)
understand the role of such methods within complete research projects. The course includes a range of
topics related to qualitative research, including formulating research questions, gaining access, several
qualitative data collection methods, approaches to analyzing qualitative data, and theorizing based on
qualitative data. In addition, most of the classes will include both readings on how to carry out some
particular component of qualitative research and articles that illustrate this component.
There is a wide array of qualitative methods and accompanying epistemologies. We are not going to
touch on all qualitative methods and epistemologies, but simply introduce some more commonly used
methods. However, several of the issues we will discuss (e.g. gaining access, theorizing, analytic
approaches) are pertinent to multiple qualitative methods.
Books
Required
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. 1998. Basics of qualitative Research, Newbury Park: Sage.
Yin, R. K. 2003. Case study research: Design and methods. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Felman, M., Bell, J, & Berger, M. T.. 2003. Gaining access. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira.
Nathan, R. 2005. My freshman year. New York: Penguin
Rubin, H. J. & Rubin, I. S. 2005. Qualitative interviewing: The art of hearing data. 2nd Ed. Thousand
Oaks: Sage
Lee, T. W. 1999. Using qualitative methods in organizational research. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Optional, Supplemental text
Partington, D. 2002. Essential skills for management research. London: Sage
(This book contains some useful materials on many of the topics we’ll cover. It will also be used in
MB872 and MB873)
Where other Class Materials are Available
(there is an electronic version of each reading on our class webct site (http://webct.bc.edu) and also on
“myfiles” at https://wfs.bc.edu/xythoswfs/webui/_xy-6850958_1-t_YrvgemzH . Both of these
also include the class syllabus. The webct site additionally includes a calendar for the semester.
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Readings
Readings used in multiple classes
Balogun, J., & Johnson, G. 2004. Organizational restructuring and middle manager sensemaking.
Academy of management journal, 47: 523-549.
Dutton, J. E., & Dukerich, J. M. 1991. Keeping an Eye on the Mirror: Image and Identity in
Organizational Adaptation Academy of Management Journal, 34: 517-554.
Ferlie, E., Fitzgerald, L., Wood, M., & Hawkins, C. 2005. The nonspread of innovations: the mediating
role of professionals. Academy of Management Journal, 48: 117 – 134.
Gersick, C. J. G. 1988. Time and transition in work teams: Toward a new model in group development.
Academyof Management Journal, 31: 9–41.
Gersick, C., Bartunek, J., & Dutton, J. 2000 Learning from Academia: The importance of relationships in
professional life. Academy of Management Journal, 43: 1026-1044.
Ibarra, H. 1999. Provisional Selves: Experimenting with image and identity in professional adaptation.
Administrative Science Quarterly 44: 764-791.
Isabella, L. A. 1990. Evolving interpretations as change unfolds: How managers construe key
organizational events. Academy of Management Journal, 33: 7–41.
Jehn, K. A. 1997. A qualitative analysis of conflict types and dimensions in organizational
groups. Administrative Science Quarterly, 42: 530-557.
Maitlis, S. 2005. The social processes of organizational sensemaking. Academy of Management
Journal, 48: 21 – 49.
Prasad, P. 1993. Symbolic processes in the implementation of technological change: A symbolic
interactionist study of work computerization Academy of Management Journal, 36: 14001429.
Sutton, R. I. 1987. The process of organizational death: Disbanding and reconnecting. Administrative
Science Quarterly, 32: 542–569.
Readings used in individual classes
February 5
Samuel Hubbard Scudder, 1997. “Learning to See,” In J. Hatton and P.B. Plouffe (Eds.) Science and Its
Ways of Knowing: pages 143 – 146.
Karen Locke, Karen Golden-Biddle and Martha S. Feldman, 2007. “Abduction, Belief and Doubt in
Conducting Research,” Unpublished manuscript.
Anne Lamott, 1995. Bird by Bird, “Looking Around” pages 97 – 102.
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John Lofland, David Snow, Leon Anderson, and Lyn H. Lofland, 2006 (4th Edition). Analyzing Social
Settings: A Guide to Qualitative Observation and Analysis, Chapter 5, “Logging Data,” pages 81 - 117,
but specifically pages 81 – 98 and 108 – 117.
Robert M. Emerson, Rachel I. Fretz, and Linda L. Shaw, 1995. Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes, Chapter
1 “Fieldnotes in Ethnographic Research” and Chapter 2, In the Field: Participating, Observing and Jotting
Notes” pages 1 – 38.
February 12
Jordan, B., & Dalal, B. 2006. Persuasive Encounters: Ethnography in the Corporation. Field
Methods, 18: 359-381.
February 19
Suddaby, R. 2006. What grounded theory is not. Academy of Management Journal, 49: 633-642.
March 19
Ryan, G., & Bernard, H. R. 2003. Techniques to Identify Themes. Field Methods, 15: 85–109
Ryan, G. W.. 2004. Using a Word Processor to Tag and Retrieve Blocks of Text, Field Methods, 16:
109–130.
McLellan, E., & Macqueen, K. M. 2003. Beyond the Qualitative Interview: Data Preparation and
Transcription. Field Methods, 15: 63–84
April 9
Bartunek, J. M., & Louis, M. R. (1996). Insider/outsider team research. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Bartunek, J. M., Walsh, K., & Lacey, C. A. (2000). Dynamics and dilemmas of women leading women.
Organization Science, 11, 589-610.
Engwall, M., Kling, R., & Werr, A. (2005). Models in action: how management models are interpreted in
new product development. R&D Management, 35, 427-439.
Evered, R., & Louis, M. R. (1981). Alternative Perspectives in the Organizational Sciences: 'Inquiry
from the Inside' and 'Inquiry from the Outside.' Academy of Management Review, 6 385 – 395.
Werr, A, & Greiner, L. In Press Collaboration and the production of management knowledge in
research, consulting and management practice. In: A. B. Shani, N. Adler, S. A. Mohrman, W. A.
Pasmore & B. Stymne, Eds, The Handbook of Collaborative Management Research. London:
Sage.
April 16
Langley, A. 1999. Strategies for theorizing from process data. Academy of Management Review, 24: 691–
710.
April 23
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Fine, G. A. and Elsbach, K. D. 2000. Ethnography and experiment in social psychological theorybuilding: tactics for integrating qualitative field data with quantitative lab data. Journal of
Experimental Social Psychology, 36, 51–76.
Edmondson, A. C. 1999 Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams. Administrative
Science Quarterly 44: 350-383.
Pratt, M. 2000. The good, the bad, and the ambivalent: Managing identification among AMWAY
distributors. Administrative Science Quarterly, 45: 456-493.
Notes:
1. If you haven't already joined the Academy of Management I encourage you to do so. Student rates are
relatively inexpensive. Membership applications may be obtained from the Academy of Management,
P.O. Box 3020, Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510-8020, (914-923-2607) or e-mail aom@academy.pace.edu
2. If you haven’t already done so, you should sign up for one of the IRB training sessions addressing
Human Participants Protection or complete the NIH online tutorial – the sooner the better. See
information at http://www.bc.edu/research/rcip/human/
3. There is a very good listserve that deals with qualitative research in multiple disciplines, QUALRS-L.
It is maintained by Professor Judith Preissle, University of Georgia.
To subscribe to QUALRS-L, send an email message addressed to:
LISTSERV@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
In the body of the message, type:
SUBSCRIBE QUALRS-L yourfirstname yourlastname
For example, if I wished to subscribe myself to the list, I would send the message
SUBSCRIBE QUALRS-L Jean Bartunek
Class Schedule
January 22. Introduction to the course and qualitative methods
Reading: Nathan (whole book)
Discussion questions:
1. As a reader, what was your overall reaction to the book?
2. What did the author learn about what college life is like?
3. What did you learn from reading this book about what college life is like?
4. How would you describe the specific research methodologies she used?
5. What, if anything, is different and/or similar about her research methods than the approaches used in
most quantitative research?
6. How “generalizable” is what she learned? Would it apply to all colleges/universities?
7. What questions (of any kind) are raised for you by the approach she took to her research?
January 29. Research Questions and Research Design/AOM Ethical Standards
Readings: Lee, ch 1 – 2 (as a summary of some issues associated with qualitative, as opposed to
quantitative, approaches), Rubin & Rubin, ch. 3 - 4; Academy of Management Code of Ethical
Conduct
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Consider the introduction sections of the following readings: Gersick, Isabella, Sutton, Maitlis, Ferlie et
al., Balogun & Johnson, Gersick et al., Prasad, Jehn, Dutton & Dukerich
What were the research questions and/or hypotheses in each reading?
What were the contexts in which these research questions were embedded?
Is there anything different about how these research questions/hypotheses are set up here than in (at least
some of) the quantitative research you’ve read?
At this point, what strike you as the likely ethical issues likely to arise in conducting qualitative research?
February 5. Observation in Field studies
This class session will be taught by Karen Golden-Biddle, Boston University (at BU).
Readings: Scudder, Locke et al., Lamott, Lofland et al., Emerson et al.
February 12: Gaining Access
Readings: Jordan and Dalal reading. Feldman et al. Book. Everyone read ch. 1 – 5 and the section by
Michael Pratt in chapter 10. Skim the rest of the book; we will divide up chapters 6 – 10 for individual
students to present in class, in order that we can develop during class as inclusive as possible an
indication of the issues involved in gaining access.
Look at the Gersick, Isabella, Sutton, Maitlis, Ferlie et al., Balogun & Johnson, Gersick et al., Prasad,
Jehn, Dutton & Dukerich readings. Did any of them report anything interesting about getting access?
Plan for observation and for interviews
February 19: Grounded Theory as a basis for qualitative research
Readings: Strauss and Corbin. Read ch. 1 – 4 carefully; skim ch. 5 – 14, Suddaby; Gersick, Isabella,
Sutton readings
What makes grounded theory grounded theory? What’s essential for something truly to be grounded
theory?
Suddaby says that the Gersick, Isabella, and Sutton readings are excellent illustrations of grounded
theory. Do you agree with him?
February 26: Interviews as a methodology
Readings: Rubin & Rubin, ch. 5 – 9, Lee, ch. 4 Ibarra, Jehn, Maitlis, Prasad readings
What interview strategies/approaches/questions did Ibarra, Jehn, Maitlis, and Prasad use? How consistent
is what they did with what Rubin and Rubin advocate?
Guest speaker for part of the class: Bruce Kennedy, the CSOM statistical consultant, discussing focus
groups as an interview method.
March 8: Observation paper due.
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March 12: case studies and comparative case studies as a methodology
Readings: Yin, ch. 1 – 4, Maitlis, Ferlie et al., Balogun & Johnson, Dutton & Dukerich readings.
We will discuss the central issues associated with case studies as a method and explore the method as it
was carried out in these studies.
In addition, based on your own observation, we will try to put together multiple cases in real time
March 15: Interview files and transcripts due.
March 19: Coding and analyzing qualitative data
Readings: Lee, ch. 6, Rubin, ch. 11, Strauss & Corbin, ch. 5 – 14, Ryan, Ryan & Bernard, McLellan &
Macqueen readings, Gersick et al., Prasad, and Jehn readings.
What is involved in coding and content analyzing qualitative data?
What approaches did Gersick et al., Prasad, and Jehn use to analyze their qualitative data?
Based on the interview transcripts, we will conduct some coding of the interview data we collected.
March 26. The use of qualitative package, especially NVivo 7
Class taught by Reut Livne-Tarandach, with assistance from Mary Ann Glynn
Prior to class practice using one or more of the qualitative software packages (access to them is indicated
at end of syllabus)
April 9. Collaborative methodologies. Jointly with BU students (at BC)
Bartunek & Louis, Bartunek et al., Engwall et al., Evered & Louis, Werr & Greiner readings.
Analysis of your interview data using qualitative software is due this day
April 16 (we may have to change the time and/or date). Presenting and theorizing from qualitative
data
Lee, ch. 6 – 7, Rubin, ch. 12, Yin, ch. 6, Langley reading,
How is theorizing done in conjunction with qualitative data? The same way as quantitative?
How are the qualitative findings presented and analyzed in the following articles? Gersick, Isabella,
Sutton, Maitlis, Ferlie et al., Balogun & Johnson, Gersick et al., Prasad, Jehn
What are the theoretical contributions of these articles?
How did these theoretical contributions arise from the qualitative data and their analyses?
April 23. The use of multiple methods and criteria for assessing qualitative research
Strauss & Corbin, ch. 15 – 17, Fine & Elsbach, Edmondson, Pratt readings
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How can the validity of qualitative findings be determined?
How might/should qualitative and quantitative approaches/multiple methods be combined in a study?
What are problems with combining them? How can the problems be resolved?
What does the combination of mixed methods add?
April 30 Oral presentation of research project in class. Discussion of ethical issues that have arisen in
the course of doing the research. Class wrap-up.
May 7 Final papers from the course are due.
Assignments
Please submit ALL Assignments electronically – No hard copy
Qualitative research paper
The major assignment is a (short but complete) qualitative research paper. It should include an
introduction, research question(s), literature review, use of one or more of the qualitative approaches (e.g.
observation, interview), presentation of findings, proper analysis of qualitative data, and discussion. The
entire paper should be no more than 30 pages double spaced.
You will present (a convention-length version of) this paper in class during the last session on April 30.
The complete written paper will be due on May 7.
Two short projects
There will be two short projects, an observation and an interview. As the Nathan book notes, sometimes
observing what happens in a university cafeteria can provide important insights. We will discuss in class
some research questions that might be answered through observation and interviews of one or more BC
dining halls.
Observation. You will do one 30 minute period of observation of a dining hall using the kind of
method that Nathan described, and use this to write a brief “case study” of what transpired in terms of
interracial relationships in a dining hall on campus. That assignment is due March 8 at the latest, so we
can use the case studies in class on the 12th.
Interview, transcription, and analysis using qualitative software. You will each conduct one
interview. It should be an in-depth "ethnographic" interview no less than 30 minutes in length and taperecorded using a digital tape recorder (such as the ones in Steve Borgatti’s office, which are for anyone to
use). You should use one of the interviewing techniques discussed in the readings.
After conducting the interview, you must transcribe the entire interview. (The Department owns a
transcription machine that works with digital audio files. To obtain the recorder and/or transcribing foot
pedal, visit Fulton 430 and ask Jean Passavant Cochrane. She will let you into Steve Borgatti’s office and
help you sign the machines out.)
We will be sharing the transcriptions so everyone can see everyone else's interviews and so we can work
with them. The “taped” interview and its transcription are due on March 15, so we can use the transcripts
in class on March 19.
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Finally, you will use the Atlas.ti, NVivo, hyperresearch (or a similar) qualitative software program to
code your interview. You should be sure to create at least 20 distinct codes (this is under the limit for the
Atlas.ti demonstration package). This is due on April 9.
Grading
Observation and writeup
Interview and transcription
Interview analysis using
Qualitative software
Oral presentation
Written research paper
Class participation
15%
10%
10%
15%
35%
15%
Class participation is graded on preparedness, willingness to contribute, relevance, and grasp of the
material. Written assignments are evaluated with respect to clarity, grasp of the material, insight,
completeness and professionalism.
Access to the qualitative software packages
The computers in Fulton 214 have the full version of Atlas ti 4.2 and of nvivo. Alternatively you can
download demonstration copies of software packages:
You can download a demonstration copy of NVivo 7 free for 30 days at:
http://www.qsrinternational.com/DemoReg/DemoReg1.asp
You can download a demonstration copy of atlas.ti free at http://www.atlasti.com/download.php
You can download a demonstration version of HyperResearch free at
http://www.researchware.com/hr/downloads.html