ABSTRACT
In this introduction, we suggest that the boundary between qualitative and quantitative research is a spurious construct, that good theory-building or theory-confirming research charts a continuous arc, and to break that continuity into a binary taxonomy is an act of social construction that is neither helpful nor productive. Spurious though the qualitative/quantitative divide may be, we inherit a theoretical and methodological landscape where this binary is an accepted feature of our professional nomenclature. As a consequence, it is necessary to engage in an act of strategic essentialism, i.e., embrace the category in order to transcend it.
Along these lines, this volume is presented as a way to clarify the multiplicity of research traditions that populate the qualitative end of the spectrum, and that have and can be employed gainfully in organization studies. The chapters in this book, besides constituting a powerful case for qualitative research, provide a vivid portrayal of the paths traversed, the state-of-the-art as well as possible futures for this form of inquiry. They serve to remind us of the power and the allure of a well-woven “story” – one that simultaneously serves as the basis of provisional theorizing and is strongly embedded in persuasive data and evidence. Moreover, they offer ways forward for a methodological terrain that is in danger of being hijacked by tired templates and recycled insights.
We conclude by suggesting that good qualitative research resists the siren call of institutionalization by challenging the “common sense” assumptions of a theoretical discourse and bringing them into the realm of the questionable. In doing so, it seeks to theorize the untheorizable, and anthropologize the dominant paradigms of organizational research.
