Why publication based on qualitative research in management is not increasing?

Think low no. of publication in qualitative research in management is possibly due to low no. of qualitative research (especially the quality ones).  I have conducted research in quantitative and mixed method.  Personally I find that it is more difficult to conduct a qualitative research vs a quantitative research.  Reasons being:

The majority of social science researches depend on qualitative methods since quantitative method are more accurate and reasoning. Statistics and numbers donot lie.

There is a saying, "There are four types of lie.  Lie, Greater Lie, Greatest Lie and then comes Statistics."

I find among Ph.D students quantitative method more popular because it is easier to do; the rules of the game are defined and examiners have the same rule whereas the work content is more in qualitative research and one is uncertain about examiner's ontology..

Actually, and according to my observations, it goes back to the advisors' preparation and choices to carry out the research endeavors within their groups. Also, based on my experience with new PhD instructors in Business, those who came from certain European countries prefer qualitative approaches versus those who graduated from the US come with quantitative approaches. This does not mean that mixed methods are not used, but these come on a later stage when research teams from faculty members are formed. Beside all this, journal policies play a role.

My answer is not related to management/business only, but is generally applicable to any field.

I come from Europe and I agree with Mr. Hejase that many European students prefer to do qualitative analysis in contrast to our American fellows. I believe the reason for that is the difference in approach to education. In general, we have only very few standardized tests in European higher education , unlike in the US system where outcomes of standardized tests basically define who you are in academia (take SAT and GRE as two fine examples). I also have experience from academic environment Asia (mainly China) and students here are very similar to students from the USA when it comes to research methodology. As the test-oriented environment in China pretty much resembles the one in US, it is not much surprising.

All in all, I believe that when it comes to journal submissions, in the publish-or-perish era where number of published articles define your academic standing, it is safer for researchers to use qualitative methods as they are measurable. Because outcomes of qualitative analysis are "questionable" and open to interpretation, it is risky for a researcher to spend considerable amount of time on an article that would get rejected just because person/people reviewing might have slightly different opinion.

Good point Tomas. The influence on China comes from the US as well. Since the number of Chinese students studying in the US is many folds the number going to Europe or Australia. Doctoral graduates come back home with similar choices for research approaches. Same thing applies to Japan and South Korea.

Point well taken, Thomas. The issue is how to make researchers and publishers understand the right approach. Even before knowing the problem and framing the research question, how can one decide the method?

The nature of the investigated managerial phenomena leads researchers to adopt the quantitative aspect more for several reasons:

Including the lack of experience of researchers, the researcher tries to find the best way to prove his or her theories, quantitative research is easy in terms of achievement assessment and other reasons.

Dear Salam

It is not a matter of easy or not to carry out quantitative or qualitative research, it is a matter of carrying out research thoroughly, using a methodology that sheds light on the aims of the research and is deep enough to contribute to the Reservoir of Knowledge in the specified area. 

Well, I guess qualitative research have their own outlets to publish. Some journals are more "qualitative-friendly" than others. Perhaps, European based journals are more accepting to qualitative studies than US based ones. Alternatively, the qualitative tradition is more accepting to publication outside peer review journals, such as book chapters and so on. So, perhaps we need a more balanced definition of "publication"?

Well said, Hussin.

It is a matter of carrying out research thoroughly, using a methodology that sheds light on the aims of the research; the problem is that if you are a faculty, to sustain your position you require certain minimum number of publication. Even for getting Ph.D degree, most of the universities require some publication before you submit thesis. This pressure makes one choose a method that is readily acceptable by publishers rather than the methodology that sheds light on the aims of the research.

In my opinion, qualitative research required well defined concept whereas quantitative research can be carried out with little modification in previous research. Here comes the role of mentor to guide and set a path for conceptual research. 

In addition, conceptual research need more time and validation in comparison to quantitative research. At the same time, journals do accept quantitative research easily in comparison to others.

It is a much more useful to carry on quantitative research, however, for theories development we need to conduct a qulalitative research.  Both are a must and equally important.  At the International University of Sarajevo we try to conduct both research methods on PhD level. Thank you.

 @ Arun Aditya Sahay

As for your question "Even before knowing the problem and framing the research question, how can one decide the method?" it is truly troublesome. I believe it is partially and issue of undergraduate curriculum - research methodology classes are only limited in number and mostly only introductory. Students basically lack opportunities to develop skills in qualitative research.Therefore the only solution I see for future generation of researchers is to develop undergraduate curriculum (and graduate too) to expose students to wider variety of research methods. This way they can choose proper methodology.

In my opinion quantitative research methods tend to be prescriptive in laying out the required procedures and techniques for data collection, analysis and assessing the results. As such there is a lot more certainty for the researcher regarding the research process. Whereas qualitative research is much more flexible and open to uncertainty 

Thanks Tomas. You have caught the bull by horn. We are responsible for this state of affair by prescribing only quantitative (statistical) method in undergraduate and post-graduate  classes. Students, therefore, lack opportunities to develop skills in qualitative research Worse is that in some universities,even at doctoral level, only quantitative techniques for research is taught.

Therefore the solution, perhaps, is to change the curriculum at all levels to expose students to qualitative techniques of research. At the other end, more journals focused on qualitative research need to be introduced besides advocating to existing publishers the value of qualitative research.

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Good recommendations Arun. However, the idea is to change the policy rather than the curriculum about using quantitative rather than qualitative. It is even better to train students on mix methods and the potential of each. Your idea of subscription to journals which bring forward qualitative research is also excellent. It is a matter of how to train the students and here the role of the instructor is fundamental.

 You are right Hussin.

Changing the policy rather than the curriculum is the right way to achieve it but then the problem is how to change the policy when the majority in the academic world, who matter in policy formulation/change, is sitting with quantitative Methods near to their chest?

Change starts one step at a time, in an evolutionary manner.

How to take that one step and how to make it big?

Why publication based on qualitative research in management is not increasing?

Think low no. of publication in qualitative research in management is possibly due to low no. of qualitative research (especially the quality ones).  I have conducted research in quantitative and mixed method.  Personally I find that it is more difficult to conduct a qualitative research vs a quantitative research.  Reasons being:

Dear Han,

You are absolutely right in stating, 'Personally I find that it is more difficult to conduct a qualitative research vs a quantitative research'.Yes, it is right that there are more things to learn in qualitative research - for examples research designs (e.g. case study, ethnography, phenomenology, historical, action research, grounded theory etc.), data collection methods but as a practitioner in industry, I found the results of qualitative research gave more accurate projection compared to quantitative method. This was in relation to forecasting sales. Thereafter, whenever, I assigned a study to consultants, I always asked for in depth interview of dealers and customers. When I swished over to academics, though I am a hard core engineer, I found results of qualitative research more useful for the society and accordingly I have adopted qualitative and mixed methods leaving behind my expertise in quantitative techniques. Having said this, I entirely agree with you stating the value of mixed method.

One step at a time is within the institution research culture and practices, and then it extends through the consortium of universities you belong to by agreeing on mixed methods to cope with all, and so on through workshops, seminars, conferences, and then the partners wherever they are!!

I suspect, only a few Universities/Institutions are giving quality Qualitative Research Course. Even on the faculty side, there are only a few well honed qualitative researchers so are the cases of editors and reviewers.

I agree with you Pr. Arunaditya

To increase the publication of more quality qualitative paper, we need to take following actions:

1. Introduce "Qualitative Research Course in Master and Ph.D programs

2. Train teachers in qualitative research

3. Train editors and reviewers in qualitative research

4. Introduce more qualitative research journals

5. Persuade leading journals in respective field to take qualitative paper as well.

Respected Colleagues,

In my point of view, Qualitative or Quantitative is not just the matter of "Method" but the matter of overall mindset in Business and Economic faculties all around. It is really surprising that not only at the undergraduate but even at the PhD level most of the business and economic schools have "given up" literally on the significance of "Philosophy of Science", which is the basic source to understand the "Utility" of philosophical paradigms and the importance of all types of research methods.

In general, we tend to stand at either extreme, some say only quantitative methods can generate knowledge through statistical techniques and qualitative research is mere personal reflections of a researcher; whereas others say "statistics comes after all lies".

Both, qualitative and quantitative, methods are useful and important if researchers understand the philosophy of both well. For instance, no quantitative research method is useful if a researcher is not aware of the fundamental significance of practically relevant well-established theories, because numbers itself do not have any meaning unless backed with theoretical logic to transform numbers into knowledge.

Best Regards

Aslam

True, today's researchers hardly devote time to "Philosophy of Science" which the fountain head for research. Maslow had said, "If you have hammer in hand, every problem before you will appear as nail." The need is to know the problem first and then select the method or tool. You can't peel the onion from the center. You have to go from outer layer to the center.

The outer layer in this case is the philosophy that lets you understand episemology and your own ontology.

As CEM (customer exerperience mnagement) is proliferating obtaining valuable insights is only possible through qualitative studies. Customer engagement and delivering the same , offline and online requires inputs of various stimuli and cues to conceptualise a framework in the xperience economy.

Timira

Customer Exerperience Mnagement research can be done trough both qualitative as well as quantitative method. The appropriate method will depend upon the research question.

Yes Sir. I completely agree and there are many approaches/metrics available for the same. But for the insight pertaining to experiential or engagement marketing , a qualitative approach such as Projective Techniques are very helpful. Thanks for your inputs

I agree that for an experiential or engagement marketing , a qualitative approach such as Projective Techniques is suitable. However, having said this, I hasten to say that this is not the only method that is suitable. There are other methods like ethnography, action research, content analysis etc. Apart from the research question, the method chosen also depends on the ontology of the researcher.

Compared to a quantitative approach, a qualitative research requires more efforts in terms of data codification and discussion since the researcher needs to establish relationships and ideas by himself

Karim

You are right. Qualitative research is more difficult because it is difficult to find respondents ready to give interview providing deep data not to speak of data codification, their analisys and deep reflection before starting discussion on the findings.