How to use interviews in management and organisational research?

Research interviews are the most frequently  used qualitative method in management and organisational research. They have been associated with a wide range of research practices in the design and conduct of a study. Less is known, however, about which of these practices can meaningfully be combined in a single project.

CROWS member Stefanie Reissner (Durham University Business School) and her collaborator Andrea Whittle (Newcastle University Business School) have undertaken a review project of to address this gap to expand much-needed methodological knowledge of interview research in management and organisation studies.

Examining 225 journal articles published in prestigious management journals over a 10-year period, this project so far has:

1. Documented the most commonly used methodological practices used in different qualitative research traditions (Reissner & Whittle, 2022);
2. Examined differences in how management and organisational researchers make knowledge claims from interview data (Whittle & Reissner, 2025).

These findings will help doctoral students and researchers new to interview research to better understand which research practices have been used in management and organisational research and in which research tradition. This will enable researchers to make informed decisions about which of these practices might be appropriate to use in their own work.

Stefanie and Andrea have used these insights in training doctoral students and early career researchers in their respective institutions and via the Northern Advanced Research Training Initiative (NARTI).

Ongoing analysis of the dataset focuses on (1) examining what researchers ‘see’ in their interview data and what they subsequently develop theory about; and (2) interrogating the use of member categories in interview research in management and organisation studies.