Upcoming Issues, New Methods: Using Interactive Qualitative Analysis (IQA) in Management Research

Abstract

Objective: this article aims to present interactive qualitative analysis (IQA) as a qualitative strategy to be used in management research, detailing its application. Since the IQA is a strategy derived from research in education, this study discusses the potentialities of its use in management research. Methods: the IQA is presented by the step-by-step application of the method in a research problem in entrepreneurship. Results: the IQA targets the generation of a shared mental map of the focus group members on the phenomenon under study. The data collection and analysis steps are conducted in parallel, and the research participants themselves carry out the first analysis. The results presented in a set of relationships between the elements of the shared mental map are theorized. The inductive character of the initial stages, combined with deductive procedures, allows discovering new ways of thinking about the investigated problems, reinforcing qualitative research’s exploratory character. Conclusions: the replicable data collection and analysis protocol promotes researches’ reliability and validity, by presenting empirical evidences that the interpretations are guaranteed by the data, allowing for methodological and theoretical advances.

Introduction to the Special Issue Call for Qualitative Research Tutorials in Contemporary Administration Studies: An Editorial

“…This paper by Behling et al (2022) engages with a fairly new method known as interactive qualitative analysis (IQA). According to the authors, this method is a qualitative strategy to be used in management research.…”

“…However, Silva et al (2022) also discuss how such methods also challenge researcher 'blind spots' arising from their own interests or 'grand theories,' by addressing the local experience of participants and producing knowledge that is useful in that local context. This concern with the local experience and knowledge of participants, and the critique of the allknowing, all-seeing researcher is also reflected in Behling et al (2022). The method of interactive qualitative analysis seeks not to create theory to explain participant experience, but to uncover 'theories in action' that inform and guide how a group makes sense of a particular phenomenon, and thus can also help challenge the status quo supported by existing theories in any given area of knowledge.…”