General questions 1
What determines the interest of a topic?
A topic is interesting when it is significant, puzzling, well-scoped, novel, and actionable. Significance means the topic addresses an important academic or societal problem rather than a trivial issue. It should create curiosity, often by challenging common assumptions or by highlighting something that existing research cannot fully explain. The topic must have an appropriate scope—focused enough to be studied rigorously, but broad enough to matter. Novelty is essential: the topic should contribute something new, such as a new perspective, a new combination of theories, or a new empirical setting. Finally, actionability increases relevance by offering insights that can inform practice, policy, or future research.
What characterises qualitative methods?
Qualitative methods are inductive or abductive and exploratory. They rely on rich, contextual data such as interviews, observations, and documents to understand how actors interpret and enact organizational practices. Rather than testing predefined hypotheses, qualitative methods aim to uncover meanings, processes, and mechanisms and often contribute to theory development.
What is the abductive approach?
The abductive approach begins with empirical observations that are surprising or puzzling and then iteratively moves between data and theory to find the most plausible explanation. Rather than purely testing or building theory, abduction refines theory by confronting it with unexpected empirical insights. It is common in qualitative and mixed-methods research.
What are qualitative methods suitable for, in relation to studying?
Qualitative methods are suitable when the aim is to understand the social, contextual, and processual aspects of business and organizational life. They are particularly appropriate when researchers seek insight into how actors experience, interpret, and enact practices, rather than measuring outcomes or effects. In sum, if the goal is to access the lived processes through which organizations evolve and to understand meanings and interactions in context, qualitative research provides the most appropriate methodological lens.
Please describe the characteristics of convenience sampling
Convenience sampling involves selecting participants or cases that are easily accessible to the researcher. While this approach is practical and time-efficient, it carries a higher risk of bias and limits the credibility and transferability of findings.
What is a research question?
A research question clearly states what the study seeks to understand, explain, or test. It provides direction for the entire research process by guiding theory selection, method choice, data collection, analysis, and interpretation. A strong research question ensures that the study is focused, coherent, and analytically driven rather than descriptive or unfocused.
What are the strengths and limitations of quantitative methods?
The main strengths of quantitative methods are generalizability, statistical rigor, and predictive power. They allow researchers to test theory systematically and compare results across large samples. However, their limitations include limited sensitivity to context, difficulty capturing processes and change over time, and reliance on predefined categories that may not fully reflect lived experiences.
What is SLR (Systematic Literature Review)?
A Systematic Literature Review (SLR) is a structured and transparent approach to identifying, selecting, and synthesizing academic literature related to a clearly defined research question. Unlike narrative reviews, an SLR follows predefined search and inclusion procedures to reduce bias and increase rigor. The purpose of an SLR is not to collect as many articles as possible, but to synthesize existing research in order to clarify what is known, what is debated, and what is missing. In this sense, the task of an SLR is to build an argument, not a library.
What are the criteria in relation to qualitative research questions, and why?
Qualitative research questions should aim to generate rich and thick descriptions, allowing deep insight into meanings and processes. They must be researchable in practice, meaning that access, time, and resources are realistically available. The questions should be neither too broad nor too narrow, and they must connect to existing theory and research to ensure relevance. Sub-questions should be logically and conceptually linked to the main question. Qualitative research questions often begin with “how” or “why” because these formulations invite exploration of processes and contexts rather than simple cause–effect relationships.
Please describe the characteristics of purposive sampling
Purposive sampling involves deliberately selecting participants or cases based on their relevance to the research question. This strategy aims to maximize insight and depth by focusing on cases that are particularly informative or theoretically meaningful.
How do quantitative and qualitative methods differ in relation to research questions?
Quantitative and qualitative methods differ primarily in the type of questions they ask and the kind of answers they seek.
Quantitative research questions typically ask “what”, focusing on relationships, differences, or causal effects between variables. They assume that phenomena can be measured and compared numerically.
Qualitative research questions typically ask “how” or “why”, focusing on processes, meanings, and interpretations. They aim to understand how social or organizational phenomena unfold in context rather than to measure their magnitude.
What are the strengths and limitations of qualitative methods?
Qualitative methods excel at providing depth, contextual understanding, and insight into processes and meanings. They are particularly strong for studying complex or poorly understood phenomena. Their limitations include limited statistical generalizability, greater reliance on researcher interpretation, and challenges in making predictions or testing theory in a strict sense.
What is a research paradigm? Define ontology and epistemology.
A research paradigm is a set of underlying assumptions about reality, knowledge, and how research should be conducted.
Ontology concerns the nature of reality—whether reality exists independently of human perception (objectivism) or is socially constructed through interaction (constructionism).
Epistemology concerns how knowledge can be generated—whether through objective measurement and observation (positivism) or through interpretation and understanding of meaning (interpretivism).
Together, these assumptions shape methodological choices and how research findings are interpreted.
Describe the qualitative research process
The qualitative research process is iterative and non-linear, meaning that data collection, analysis, and theory development influence each other continuously. Researchers often move back and forth between empirical material and emerging interpretations, refining their focus as understanding deepens. This flexibility allows qualitative research to remain sensitive to context and unexpected insights rather than following a fixed sequence of steps.
Please describe the characteristics of theoretical sampling
Theoretical sampling is used mainly in grounded theory research and involves selecting new cases based on emerging theoretical insights. Sampling decisions are guided by the need to refine, extend, or challenge developing concepts until theoretical saturation is reached.
What makes a research question appropriate?
An appropriate research question is clear, researchable, and theory-informed. It must be understandable to others and feasible to answer with available data, time, and access. The question should connect to existing theory and literature so that it contributes to an ongoing academic conversation. It should also be logically coherent, especially if sub-questions are used, and neither too broad to be unmanageable nor too narrow to be insignificant.
What is the role of theory in research?
Theory provides the conceptual framework for research. It identifies key concepts, explains how they are related, and specifies the conditions under which relationships hold. In quantitative research, theory is primarily tested through hypotheses. In qualitative research, theory is often developed, refined, or extended through close engagement with empirical data. Across both approaches, theory ensures that research contributes to cumulative knowledge rather than isolated findings.
What different typologies of literature reviews exist?
Different typologies of literature reviews exist because literature can be used for different research purposes. Narrative reviews provide broad overviews but are relatively subjective. Systematic literature reviews emphasize rigor and transparency through predefined procedures. Scoping reviews map the breadth of research in an area, especially in emerging fields. Meta-analyses statistically combine results from quantitative studies, while meta-syntheses integrate findings from qualitative research. Integrative reviews combine qualitative and quantitative studies, and critical reviews focus on evaluating and challenging dominant theoretical assumptions.
Describe the importance of sampling in relation to studies
Sampling is important in qualitative research because it determines the relevance, depth, and credibility of the findings. Rather than aiming for statistical representativeness, qualitative sampling focuses on selecting cases that are information-rich and suitable for answering the research question.
Please describe the strengths and limitations of interviews as a data collection tool
Interviews are strong because they provide direct access to participants’ experiences, interpretations, and meanings. They allow for depth, flexibility, and clarification through interaction. However, interviews are also vulnerable to biases such as social desirability, interviewer influence, and selective memory, which can affect data quality.
What characterises quantitative methods?
Quantitative methods are deductive and confirmatory. They begin with theory, translate concepts into measurable variables, and test hypotheses using structured data and statistical techniques. These methods emphasize objectivity, comparability, and precision, and they are well suited for identifying patterns, estimating effect sizes, and making generalizable claims.
What is the deductive approach and inductive approach?
The deductive approach starts with existing theory, from which hypotheses are derived. These hypotheses are then tested empirically using data. The goal is to confirm, refine, or reject theoretical expectations. Deduction is most commonly associated with quantitative research.
The inductive approach starts with empirical data and identifies patterns, themes, or regularities from which theory is developed. Instead of imposing existing theoretical frameworks, researchers allow concepts and explanations to emerge from the data. Induction is closely associated with qualitative research and theory building.
Please describe each step in the literature review
A systematic literature review matters because it reduces bias and increases transparency in how literature is selected and interpreted. The process begins by defining a clear review question, which determines the scope and focus of the review. Eligibility criteria are then specified to ensure consistency in which studies are included. Researchers subsequently search the literature using predefined search terminology across relevant databases. Studies are screened and selected in stages to ensure relevance and quality. Data is then systematically extracted using structured templates. The results are reported through synthesis rather than study-by-study summaries, and finally the findings are discussed in relation to theory, practice, and future research, while acknowledging the review’s limitations.
Please describe the characteristics of convenience sampling
Convenience sampling involves selecting participants or cases that are easily accessible to the researcher. While this approach is practical and time-efficient, it carries a higher risk of bias and limits the credibility and transferability of findings.
Please describe the different characteristics of interview types
Structured interviews follow standardized questions and ensure comparability across participants but allow little flexibility. Semi-structured interviews combine predefined questions with flexibility, enabling deeper exploration while maintaining focus. Unstructured interviews are highly open-ended and participant-led, allowing rich narratives but offering less consistency across cases.