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.

Keywords

• nteractive qualitative analysis (iqa)
• qualitative research
• inductive methods
• research methods
• methodology