Qualitative research: advancing the science and practice of hospitality.

No doubt, those suggestions make working with researchers appear to be a daunting endeavor, but it can also be exciting. The simple process of articulating a problem or challenge to an outsider--who can listen but does not need to respond--often leads to a more nuanced understanding for the person facing the problem. By actually raking on an active role-in which the researcher and manager weave together different, but equally important inputs and jointly discover new insights--the manager not only improves organizational performance, but, on a personal level, often learns that the most powerful learning and creative leaps occur in collaboration. Qualitative research has the potential to provide managers with the richest return for the problem at hand, but, more important, for enhancing their decision-making and intuitive skills. Most of all, it represents one way for managers to participate in creating something new that extends beyond the organization and guides the industry to new levels of understanding an d performance.

A Key Merger of Talents

In this article, I explored the process of qualitative research, its role in creating new knowledge for the hospitality industry, and ways that managers may wish to contribute to research projects to help ensure its rigor and usefulness. Managers and researchers are encouraged to contribute jointly to projects and, together, to interpret and apply results. If conducted appropriately, qualitative research represents an exciting venue for creating new, useful knowledge in a manner that serves both researchers and practitioners' divergent needs. It represents a key way for practitioners and academics to merge their talents, expertise, and passion in support of advancing the science of the hospitality industry. EXHIBIT 1 Qualitative-data collection methods Purpose of the Guiding research study questions Exploratory * What is happening? * To investigate * What are the salient

little-understood themes and patterns

phenomena that emerge in

participants'

meaning structures? * To identify * How are these

important constructs patterns linked? Explanatory * To explain the * What events, beliefs

relationships between and attitudes are

the phenomena in shaping this

question phenomenon? * To identify a causal * How do these forces

or process model interact? Purpose of the Research study methodologies Exploratory Grounded-theory

analysis * To investigate Deconstruction

little-understood

phenomena Discourse analysis

Critical-theory

analysis * To identify Case study

important constructs Explanatory * To explain the Dramatism

relationships between

the phenomena in

question * To identify a causal Narrative analysis

or process model

Ethnography

Feminist-based approaches

Action research and

insider-outsider research Purpose of the Data-collection study method Exploratory Participant observation,

field notes, filming * To investigate Structured or

little-understood unstructured

phenomena interviews (group

or individual,

oral or written)

Written stories

of personal * To identify experiences and

important constructs life histories Explanatory * To explain the Social-network

relationships between diagrams

the phenomena in

question * To identify a causal Recording of kinesics

and proxemics

or process model

Historical analysis

Researcher accounts

of involvement

in a change initiative Source: Adapted and modified from: C. Marshall and G.B. Rossman, Designing Qualitative Research (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1989).

(1.) For a detailed explanation of a qualitative-research technique, see: Robert J. Kwortnik, Jr., "Clarifying 'Fuzzy' Hospitality-management Problems with Depth Interviews and Qualitative Analysis, on pages 117-129 of this Cornell Quarterly.

(2.) M.S. Davis, "That's Interesting! Toward a Phenomenology of Sociology and a Sociology of Phenomenology," Philosophy of the Social Sciences, Vol. 1 (1971), PP. 309-344.

(3.) S.R. Barley, G.W. Meyer, and D.C. Gash, "Culture of Cultures: Academics, Practitioners, and the Pragmatics of Normative Control," Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 33, No. 1 (1988), pp. 24-60.

(4.) S.B. Bacharach, "Organizational Theories: Some Criteria for Evaluation," Academy of Management Review, Vol. 14, No. 4 (1989), pp. 496-515.

(5.) D.A. Whetten, "What Constitutes a Theoretical Contribution?," Academy of Management Review, Vol. 14, No. 4 (1989), pp. 490-495.

(6.) N.K. Denzin and Y.S. Lincoln, "Entering the Field of Qualitative Research," in Handbook of Qualitative Research, ed. N.K. Denzin and YS. Lincoln (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1994), p. 2.

(7.) J.M. Bartunek and M. Seo, "Qualitative Research Can Add New Meanings to Quantitative Research," Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 23 (2002), pp. 237-242.

(8.) M.B. Miles and A.M. Huberman, Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook (London: Sage, 1994), p. 7.

(9.) E.G. Guba and Y.S. Lincoln, "Competing Paradigms in Qualitative Research," in Denzin and Lincoln, pp. 105-117.

(10.) Denzin and Lincoln, p. 6.

(11.) R.I. Sutton and A. Rafseli, "Untangling the Relationship between Displayed Emotions and Organizational Sales: The Case of Convenience Stores," Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 31, No. 3 (1989), pp. 461-487.

(12) Ibid, p. 472.

(13.) See, for example: C.J.G. Gersick, J.M. Bartunek, and J.E. Dutton, "Learning from Academia: The Importance of Relationships in Professional Life," Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 43, No. 6 (2000), pp. 1026-1044; and RJ. Boland, Jr., J. Singh, P. Salipante, J.D. Aram, S.Y. Fay, and P. Kanawattanachai, "Knowledge Representations and Knowledge Transfer," Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 44, No. 2 (2001), PP. 393-417.

(14.) For a dense but useful explanation of qualitative-research traditions, see: Handbook of Qualitative Research, second edition, ed. N. Denzin and Y. Lincoln (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2000).

(15.) A. Prasad and P. Prasad, "The coming of Age of Interpretive Organizational Research," Organizational Research Methods, Vol. 5, No. 1 (2002), Pp. 4-11.

(16.) V.J. Janesick, "The Dance of Qualitative Research Design," in Denzin and Lincoln (1994), p. 209.

(17.) C. Marshall and G.B. Rossman, Designing Qualitative Research (Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 1989).

(18.) A.M. Huberman and M.B. Miles, "Data Management and Analytic Methods," in Denzin and Lincoln (1994), pp. 428-444.

(19.) Guba and Lincoln, p. 114.

(20.) D.L. Altheide and J.M. Johnson, "Criteria for Assessing Interpretative Validity in Qualitative Research," in Denzin and Lincoln (1994), pp. 485-499.

(21.) Y. Lincoln and E. Guba. Naturalistic Inquiry (Beverly Hills, GA: Sage, 1985).

(22.) Guba and Lincoln, op. Cit.

(23.) Bartunek and Seo, op. cit.

(24.) S.L. Rynes, J.M. Bartunek, and R.L. Daft, "Across the Great Divide: Knowledge creation and Transfer between Practitioners and Academies," Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 44, No. 2 (2001), PP. 340-355.

(25.) P. Shrivastava and I.I. Mitroff, "Enhancing Organizational Research Utilization: The Role of Decision Makers' Assumptions," Academy of Management Review, Vol. 9, No. 1 (1984), pp. 18-26.

(26.) G. Johns, "constraints on the Adoption of Psychology-based Personnel Practices: Lessons from Organizational Innovation," Personnel Psychology, Vol. 46, No. 3 (1993), pp. 569-592.

(27.) S.A. Mohrman, C.B. Gibson, and A.M. Mohrman, Jr., "Doing Research that Is Useful to Practice: A Model and Empirical Exploration," Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 44, No. 2 (2001), P. 357.

(28.) Rynes et. al, op. cit.

(29.) Ibid.

(30.) C. Arygris and D. Schon, Organizational Learning: A Theory-of-action Perspective (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1978).

(31.) T.M. Amabile, C. Patterson, J. Mueller, T. Wojcik, P.W Odomirok, M. Marsh, and S.J. Kramer, "Academic-practitioner Collaboration in Management Research: A Case of Cross-profession Collaborarion," Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 44, No. 2 (2001), pp. 418-431.

Kate Walsh, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of organizational management at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration (kmw33@cornell.edu).