Qualitative research approach in production engineering – an assessment of a research project and a sample of master of science dissertations

Abstract

This paper aims at demonstrating applications of qualitative research approaches in the subject of operations management (OM), more specifically in the practical field of industrial engineering. It firstly presents a brief review of research methods when using a qualitative research approach. This provides the backdrop for a content analysis of qualitative research in a research project in which a case study approach was employed. In addition, it analyses a sample of dissertations of a post graduate program in industrial engineering with regard to the qualitative research approaches used. These two cases highlighted are then used as the basis for a discussion of qualitative research in OM. The paper concludes that critical appraisal of qualitative research is needed and provides some recommendations for future work in this direction.