Honing the Craft of Qualitative Data Collection in Extreme Contexts

Abstract

Over the past several years, there has been ongoing dialog within our academic journals and the profession regarding the value of examining extreme, unconventional, or unsettling contexts in management research. These conversations have highlighted that perhaps more than ever, we as a society are facing unprecedented grand and perplexing challenges, and conducting research in unconventional or extreme settings can reveal complex dynamics or relationships that we may not understand otherwise. Less discussed, however, are methodological considerations for conducting research in unique contexts. As such, we aim to extend the explicit discussion of effective strategies for scholars who consider the perspectives and workplace realities of unusual or unconventional populations. We bring together a collection of reflective essays rooted in the authors’ experiences of collecting data from extreme contexts or unusual samples. We highlight how these rich experiences in the field required the authors to modify or extend methodological conventions with the goal of guiding scholars pursuing research in similarly unconventional contexts.

Making Exceptions Exceptional: A Cross-Methodological Review and Future Research Agenda

“…Qualitative research tends to focus on the analysis of textual data (Walsh et al, 2015) and treats exceptions as necessary for theory building (Charmaz, 2000; Miles & Huberman, 1994). Unique or extreme contexts, such as firefighters (Pratt, Lepisto, & Dane, 2019) or sex workers (Toubiana & Ruebottom, 2022), breathe life into a phenomenon of interest and can be used to vividly display cases and underlying dynamics (Eisenhardt, 1989; Sharma, Toubiana, Lashley, Massa, Rogers, & Ruebottom, 2023). A description of the study context and how it fits with theory is often a core aspect of a qualitative paper (Pratt, 2015).…”

“…Qualitative authors tend to use planned exceptions to expose the visible dynamics of a phenomenon (e.g., Cameron, Thomason, & Conzon, 2021; Harvey & Kou, 2013). In these articles, researchers harnessed the extremeness of their context to help unpack theory (Bamberger & Pratt, 2010; Sharma et al, 2023). For instance, Harrison, Askin, and Hagtvedt (2023) studied bands nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy award to explore the experience and outcomes associated with early recognition among creative groups.…”

“…The value of planned exceptions is in “capturing realism rather than allowing for statistical generalizability” (Pratt et al, 2019: 427). In fact, deviating from standard methodological practice and employing a tool kit of different methodologies are crucial for conducting research on planned exceptions (Sharma et al, 2023). Keeping in mind the role of theory and implications of a planned exception for theory can aid in this effort.…”

“…Indeed, there are many positive features of a planned exception for theory development. Undertaking a research project that is deeply connected to a planned exception requires researchers to have “courage” to spend the time immersing themselves in a particular setting, convincing readers and reviewers of the appropriateness of the setting to the theoretical area and crafting a contribution from a “less-trodden path” (Sharma et al, 2023). Anchoring to a planned exception requires deep researcher knowledge of the selected setting and using this setting as the interpretive lens of data in a study to unpack theoretical insights (Hällgren et al, 2018; Hansen et al, 2023; Sharma et al, 2023).…”

Theorizing as Mode of Engagement in and through Extreme Contexts Research

“…Second, the dangers, fast pace and unusual (for business school academics) experiences that arise in extreme contexts may appear fascinating and can feel exciting (de Rond, 2012; Hällgren & Rouleau, 2019; Sharma et al, 2023). As a consequence, researchers who are trying to theorize can become so enthralled with the context’s extremeness that they produce a descriptive empirical story and are unable to abstract a meaningful theoretical account.…”