Achieving Rigor in Qualitative Analysis

Описание: Speaker: Prof. Stine Grodal (Northeastern University)

How do we achieve rigor in qualitative analyses? In this talk I will draw on a 2021 Academy of Management Review article (written with Michel Anteby and Audrey Holm), to argue that to achieve greater rigor in qualitative analysis we first need to understand that qualitative analysis is at its core a categorization process. The movement from data to theory is an active process in which researchers choose between multiple moves that help them to make sense of their data. I am going to explicate the framework that we develop in the paper and argue that if we are not sufficiently reflexive and explicit about the active analytical processes that generate theoretical insights, we cannot be transparent and, thus, rigorous about how we analyze data. In the talk I will provide practical advice for how to use the framework at different stages of the research process.

Recommended reading:
• Grodal, S., Anteby, M., & Holm, A. L. (2021). Achieving rigor in qualitative analysis: The role of active categorization in theory building. Academy of Management Review, 46(3), 591-612.
• Kahl, S. J., & Grodal, S. (2016). Discursive strategies and radical technological change: Multilevel discourse analysis of the early computer (1947–1958). Strategic Management Journal, 37(1), 149-166.
• Langley, A. (1999). Strategies for theorizing from process data. Academy of Management Review, 24(4), 691-710.
• Pratt, M. G., Kaplan, S., & Whittington, R. (2020). Editorial essay: The tumult over transparency: Decoupling transparency from replication in establishing trustworthy qualitative research. Administrative Science Quarterly, 65(1), 1-19.