'Standing on [Transparent] Shoulders': Applying Open Source Approaches to Qualitative Management Research
The Routledge Companion to Qualitative Research in Organization Studies (Raza Mir and Sanjay Jain, eds.), Forthcoming
25 Pages Posted: 20 Jul 2017
Date Written: May 2, 2017
Abstract
Qualitative management research, like most every field of research, faces questions of transparency and reproducibility. In this chapter, I argue that qualitative researchers can learn and benefit from the practices of free and open-source software. I thus detail key challenges that qualitative research confronts, as well as ways in which an open-source approach can address these challenges. I then turn attention to the barriers to implementing such an approach. Finally, I reflect on how the field might work to overcome these barriers. Ultimately, I argue, free and open-source software simultaneously serves as a template, a cautionary tale and a source of inspiration for increasing transparency in qualitative research.
Keywords: Qualitative research, open source, transparency, reproducibility, cumulative research, data sharing, software
JEL Classification: B4, C80, M1, N01
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation