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 Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management

 Volume 6, Issue 4

 Qualitative Research in Business & Management

Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management

ISSN: 1176-6093
Online from: 2004
Subject Area: Accounting & Finance
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Qualitative Research in Business & Management

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Reviewer(s):

Umesh Sharma (Department of Accounting, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand)

Citation:
Umesh Sharma, (2009) "Qualitative Research in Business & Management", Qualitative Research in
Accounting & Management, Vol. 6 Iss: 4, pp.292 - 296
DOI
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/11766090910989536
Downloads:
The fulltext of this document has been downloaded 602 times since 2009
Review Number:
2009/1
Review Subject:
Qualitative Research in Business & Management Michael D. Myers
Publisher Name:
Sage
Place of Publication:
London
Publication Year:
2009
Type:
Review
Publisher:
Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Article

Following the usual approach taken in Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, the dual reviews
provided here offer differing perspectives on this book. Umesh Sharma has recently completed a PhD at the
University of Waikato, in which he drew on qualitative research methods. Paul Collier is a Professor of
Accounting at Monash University and an experienced qualitative researcher.

Review 1

Section:

The book by Myers is a useful introductory book for graduate and postgraduate students in business and
management intending to conduct a qualitative research project. The book is in seven parts as follows:

 •

Part (i) provides a general introduction to qualitative research in business and management.

 •

Part (ii) examines an overview of qualitative research's fundamental concepts.

 •

Part (iii) addresses research method.

 •

Part (iv) discusses data collection techniques.

 •

Part (v) outlines analysing and interpreting qualitative data.

 •

Part (vi) examines writing and publishing qualitative research.

 •

Part (vii) is the concluding section that addresses qualitative research in perspective and is followed
by a glossary of commonly used terms in qualitative research.

In part (i), the author acknowledges that qualitative research methods are designed to help researchers
understand people and what they say and do. The author notes that qualitative researchers may like to ask
questions such as what, why, how and when? Myers posits that important questions that researchers might like
to ask are: what is happening here? Why is it happening? How has it come to happen this way? And when did it
happen? Myers claims that research questions can be derived from literature. Most importantly, qualitative
researchers need to make some kind of theoretical contribution in order to be published in academic journals.

Part (ii) discusses fundamental concepts of research which is addressed in Chapters 3‐5. Chapter 3 describes a
research design for qualitative research which provides a road map to the whole research project. Myers
emphasises that the chosen topic should be of interest to a researcher. My experience is that the research
question should be of personal interest and intrigue to keep researcher at it even if they are not sure why.
Literature review helps to identify gaps and generate a list of potential research question. Theoretical framework
is the next stage of research design which is little discussed in the book. Chapter 4 discusses research
assumption such as the underlying epistemology that guides research in terms of knowledge and how the
knowledge can be obtained. The chapter also identifies differences between positivist, interpretive and critical
research. Chapter 5 discusses ethics and focuses on moral principles as they apply to qualitative researchers.
Ethics involves respect and protection for the people actively consenting to be studied.

The qualitative research method forms part (iii) of the book which is addressed in Chapters 6‐9. Chapter 6
describes action research which aims to create organisational change and studies the process. Chapter 7
discusses case study research and outlines two popular uses of case studies: teaching and research. Myers
relies on Yin's (2003) book on case study research, which is a positivist approach. While other perspectives such
as interpretive and critical case studies are briefly discussed, some examples from the literature may be helpful.
Myers does suggest that case study research is time consuming and only those who are enthusiastic, committed
and have necessary people skills should consider doing case research. Chapter 8 describes ethnographic
research, which according to Myers is one of the most in‐depth research methods possible. The researcher may
be at the research site for a period of time to examine what people do and say. Chapter 9 discusses grounded
theory which involves a continuous interplay between data collection and analysis. Although the author has
placed grounded theory under research methods, it belongs equally under data analysis.

The data collection techniques form part (iv) of the book which is addressed in Chapters 10‐12. Chapter 10
discusses interview which is the most common way of data collection for qualitative researchers. Interviewing, I
believe, is an art and some techniques or ways of asking questions and probing questions needs to be outlined
here which may be beneficial to an inexperienced qualitative researcher. Chapter 11 discusses participant
observation and fieldwork while Chapter 12 discusses use of documents as a means of data collection.
Documents are useful as they can supplement interview data and provide background information for framing
interview questions and planning fieldwork.

The qualitative data analysis (QDA) forms part (v) of the book and is addressed in Chapters 13‐16. The author
acknowledges that the qualitative researcher ends up with large data sets, and so analysis is essential. The
author offers some guidance on data analysis such as series of events, hermeneutics, semiotics, and narrative
analysis. QDA software programs such as NVivo are important but are discussed only briefly. A separate chapter
could have been devoted to that. Chapter 14 outlines hermeneutics which helps a researcher to understand text
and the chapter contains some good case study applications of hermeneutics. Chapter 15 addresses semiotics
which is concerned with analysis of signs and symbols while Chapter 16 discusses narrative analysis where one
has to tell a story in a coherent manner.

Writing up and publishing forms part (vi) of the book and is addressed in Chapters 17‐18. Chapter 17 discusses
the write up of research where the author stipulates that a qualitative researcher is a story teller. Chapter 18
discusses getting published. Myers notes that his motto is that research is not finished until published which
ensures that the researcher finishes a research project before getting sidetracked with other things. He offers
good suggestions to novice researchers on the journal's review process: “I find that the sooner I am able to take
their comments on board, and the sooner I am able to understand their points of view (reviewers), the sooner I
am able to revise the paper. And the sooner it is revised, the sooner I am able to resubmit it to another journal”
(p. 243).

In summary, I feel the book is comprehensive, well written, and covers a variety of research methods,
approaches and is a valuable resource for qualitative researchers. All the examples of qualitative research are
chosen from top academic journals. However, the qualitative research may not be as simple as it seems; it
involves a huge investment of time and energy. One has to get the philosophical assumptions correct and adhere
to those assumptions throughout the project. Understanding the theoretical framework may involve wider reading
of books and journal articles that may have used a similar framework. Data collection may result in massive
amounts of data which the researcher has to manage in order to report only relevant data after going through the
analysis. Qualitative research is about telling a coherent story within a chosen theoretical framework, which may
not be easy. However, with some experience, the process may become less daunting for novice researchers.
While there may not be much new in the book for experienced qualitative researchers, nevertheless those
embarking on qualitative research will find this a useful read. The references (13 pages) at the end of the book
offer a wealth of follow up reading material for qualitative researchers. I recommend this book to those wishing to
embark on qualitative research.

Review 2

Section:

This book is aimed at graduate and postgraduate students who want to understand qualitative research. In the
main, it is an easy book to read, the arrangement of material in each chapter is logical, and there are examples
and lists that will no doubt be helpful to students.
The book has a number of strengths. First, it contrasts scientific and professional models of research. The first
assumes valid and reliable data, peer review and publication in academic journals with the focus on a theoretical
contribution. Whilst this is what drives university research, it is often criticised by practitioners as having little
relevance to them. Professional research by contrast is relevant to business practice and is more likely to be
published in practitioner journals, emphasising the practical contribution of the research. However, this kind of
research can be criticised as consultancy offering “quick fixes.” Myers does not see these as mutually exclusive.
Whilst Myers argues that scientific research should be more relevant to business problems, it should not be
consultancy as the insights from a scientific research approach are likely to be relevant to business over the
longer term. Myers emphasises the strength of qualitative research as its ability to study the complexity inherent
in real organisations.

Second, Myers provides a good understanding of the quantitative/qualitative debate through an introduction to
epistemology. He views qualitative research through positivist, interpretive and critical lenses, whereas many
books on qualitative research assume a single, often interpretive epistemology. The positivist takes a natural
science approach emphasising prediction based on dependent and independent variables. The interpretive
emphasises describing and explaining, focusing on social and behavioural aspects of organisations. The critical
challenges the status quo. All of these are valuable approaches, but Myers makes clear that researchers must
understand their own underlying philosophical assumptions.

Third, the book provides a sound theoretical treatment of action research, case studies, ethnography and
grounded theory as alternative approaches to doing qualitative research. These are explained as different ways
of enquiring about the subject of the researcher's interest. These alternative research methods differ as to the
role played by theory. In action research, the focus is on solving real business problems, in which the role of
theory is often secondary. Case studies use data to explain and contribute to the development of theory.
Ethnographies involve long period in the field to obtain rich and deep understandings, typically about
organisational culture and context. Grounded theory develops theory by a continual interplay between theory and
data to develop new concepts and theories. The choice of research method depends on the researcher's
philosophical assumptions and the research question that is being investigated.

Fourth, Myers reviews alternative methods of analysing a large volume of qualitative data: hermeneutics,
semiotics, and narrative analysis. Methods of data analysis are often missing from books of this kind.
Hermeneutics is concerned with understanding what people say and do, making sense of contradictory pieces of
evidence and constructing the whole from (what is often more than) the sum of its parts. Semiotics is concerned
not only with words but also with the meaning of signs and symbols, like brands and logos, rituals and culture.
Narratives may be organizational history represented in texts, reconstructions of past events, each providing a
sequential description. These chapters may present difficult concepts for the new researcher to grasp, but they
are worth persevering with as each method provides different insights into the data that the researcher has
collected.

However, Myers' book has a number of weaknesses. In particular, there is insufficient depth of coverage of the
skills required for qualitative data collection with the chapters on interviewing, participant observation and archival
research being fairly brief. For example, the chapter on interviewing has an over‐emphasis on the dramaturgical
approach and neglects coverage of different questioning techniques. The section on gaining access, of
fundamental importance to qualitative researchers, is also rather sketchy. Consequently, the book is unlikely to
be able to be used by a student without reference to other books which give more in‐depth coverage to data
collection methods.

A further weakness is the selection of cases that are drawn on as examples of good practice. There is an over‐
representation here of the author's own published works and it would have been preferable had a wider net been
cast from a wider variety of sources to obtain examples of qualitative research. Whilst the chapter on research
design and writing a research proposal offer sound, practical advice, the chapter on writing up could be
expanded. There are substantial differences between writing up a thesis and a journal paper, and the author
could have elaborated these differences, perhaps with a separate chapter on writing a journal paper. There are
several books on qualitative research that are aimed at the graduate and postgraduate student audience but on
the whole Myers' book is a valuable addition to that collection. The book will be particularly helpful for students
who want to understand the theories and approaches that underlie qualitative research, which is overall the major
strength of the book. In taking this approach Myers' book does, in an easy to read and accessible manner, fill a
gap in the market that many other books on qualitative research fail to satisfy. However, the book will be less
helpful for those who want more practical advice and a detailed explanation of gaining access and collecting data
collection.

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