Qualitative Research In Management And Organisational Studies With Reference To Recent South African Research

Abstract

Denzin and Lincoln (1998), two renowned scholars in qualitative research, are correct when they point out that a quiet methodological revolution has been taking place in the social sciences and humanities, resulting not only in a blurring of disciplinary boundaries but also in the mutual focus on an interpretive, qualitative approach to research and theory. Qualitative research has a long and distinguished history in the intellectual enterprise. Well known is the pioneer work in sociology undertaken by the "Chicago school" in the 1920s and 1930s during which the importance of qualitative research for the study of human group life was established. In anthropology, during the same period, the path-breaking studies of Boas, Mead, Benedict, Bateson, EvansPritchard, Radcliffe-Brown and Malinowski outlined the execution of the fieldwork method, wherein the researcher/observer went to a foreign setting to study the customs and habits of another society and culture (cf. Denzin & Lincoln 1998). Qualitative research soon invaded other social disciplines. The extent of this invasion of the social sciences and its related professional fields, and the host of textbooks, journals, Web sites, international conferences, research monographs and readers that have consequently been published in the mid-1970s are nothing but remarkable! Among the professional areas that have thus far responded enthusiastically to qualitative methods and theory are: anthropology, sociology, education, psychology, criminology and criminal justice, social work, health, human development, family studies, communications, information studies, gerontology, industrial psychology and organisational and management studies. Merriam and associates (2002: xv) are correct when they conclude: "… qualitative research is an accepted methodology in all the social sciences and applied fields of practice".In this special edition of the Journal of Industrial Psychology that is devoted to qualitative studies undertaken by local industrial psychologists and other colleagues working in the management and organisational fields, it seems appropriate, if not necessary, (i) to take a brief look at the nature of qualitative research abroad, (ii) to take stock of the state of the art in South Africa, and (iii) to obtain a sense of the status of qualitative research in the management and organisational field as well as South Africans' approach to qualitative research in these two areas.While this is a pleasant task, qualitative research's longdistinguished history, the divergent disciplines, philosophies, theories and traditions that contributed to this research style over a century, and the current key issues, like its "double crisis", namely the inclusion of the Other and the legitimation of the field, make this a demanding undertaking. However, a few cautionary words are in order. First, in tackling these three tasks, it must be cautioned that the article can at best scratch the surface, resulting in a discussion that is far from exhaustive, and represents, in the final anal...

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