Managers and research - The pros and cons of qualitative approaches

Many managers undertake 'research' in the course of their normal work - for planning, problem solving, market research and decision-support-in which t hey have to gather information which enables decisions to be taken about a course of action. However, from our experience the methods they employ are dominated by quantitative techniques, augmented by an interview or question naire survey from which much qualitative data remains unused. Yet many of t he issues managers investigate are complex, messy, and involve a range of s takeholders with different concerns and perceptions. These are circumstance s in which qualitative research could offer a richness and depth of underst anding unlikely to be achieved with quantitative approaches. This paper des cribes three cases in which the authors supported practicing managers in th eir wish to identify and use qualitative approaches in their 'research'. We describe the processes which took place and the managers' experience of us ing the qualitative approaches. We then reflect on the potential and the pr oblems for the wider use of qualitative research methods by managers.