Epistemic Attitudes and Source Critique in Qualitative Research
(2020) In Journal of Management Inquiry 29(1). p.33-45- Abstract
- In this essay, we explore and discuss current practices of source critique. In our empirical analysis of a sample of interview-based studies, we find that few studies show a careful and reflective stance toward their sources. In the majority of cases, we discern a tendency to either ignore basic issues of the trustworthiness of interview material or produce technical descriptions which seem to have no real effect on the actual assessment of the study’s sources. We suggest five epistemic attitudes which describe how scholars engage—or rather not engage—in source critique. To improve source critique, we suggest tactics of intra- and extrasource critique which seriously consider interactional dynamics behind and quality of interview content... (More)
- In this essay, we explore and discuss current practices of source critique. In our empirical analysis of a sample of interview-based studies, we find that few studies show a careful and reflective stance toward their sources. In the majority of cases, we discern a tendency to either ignore basic issues of the trustworthiness of interview material or produce technical descriptions which seem to have no real effect on the actual assessment of the study’s sources. We suggest five epistemic attitudes which describe how scholars engage—or rather not engage—in source critique. To improve source critique, we suggest tactics of intra- and extrasource critique which seriously consider interactional dynamics behind and quality of interview content other than “truth” reporting, aiming to corroborate interview statements by carefully cross-checking interview material with observations and multiple sources. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/f939c8db-5e01-4bcd-a965-c452bbbc1d40
- author
- Schaefer, Stephan LU and Alvesson, Mats LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2020-01-01
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- interviews, qualitative Research, source critique, epistemic attitude
- in
- Journal of Management Inquiry
- volume
- 29
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 13 pages
- publisher
- SAGE Publications
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85077216782
- ISSN
- 1056-4926
- DOI
- 10.1177/1056492617739155
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- f939c8db-5e01-4bcd-a965-c452bbbc1d40
- date added to LUP
- 2017-12-15 09:39:02
- date last changed
- 2022-04-25 04:13:48
@article{f939c8db-5e01-4bcd-a965-c452bbbc1d40, abstract = {{In this essay, we explore and discuss current practices of source critique. In our empirical analysis of a sample of interview-based studies, we find that few studies show a careful and reflective stance toward their sources. In the majority of cases, we discern a tendency to either ignore basic issues of the trustworthiness of interview material or produce technical descriptions which seem to have no real effect on the actual assessment of the study’s sources. We suggest five epistemic attitudes which describe how scholars engage—or rather not engage—in source critique. To improve source critique, we suggest tactics of intra- and extrasource critique which seriously consider interactional dynamics behind and quality of interview content other than “truth” reporting, aiming to corroborate interview statements by carefully cross-checking interview material with observations and multiple sources.}}, author = {{Schaefer, Stephan and Alvesson, Mats}}, issn = {{1056-4926}}, keywords = {{interviews; qualitative Research; source critique; epistemic attitude}}, language = {{eng}}, month = {{01}}, number = {{1}}, pages = {{33--45}}, publisher = {{SAGE Publications}}, series = {{Journal of Management Inquiry}}, title = {{Epistemic Attitudes and Source Critique in Qualitative Research}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1056492617739155}}, doi = {{10.1177/1056492617739155}}, volume = {{29}}, year = {{2020}}, }