Benchmarking Good Practice in Qualitative Management Research

This paper is based upon the findings so far of an ESRC funded project investigating the use and evaluation of qualitative methods in management research. Work began in March 2003 and is scheduled to run until February 2005. The project is part of a larger programme of work being funded by the ESRC, which focuses specifically on extending and improving Research Methods in the research and practitioner communities. We are moving towards some ideas and understanding about the issues that might influence the quality of qualitative research and where this might lead in terms of the development of more training, education and dialogue. In this paper, we discuss our work so far in exploring this area and the issues that it raises.