
Mats Alvesson
Professor

Epistemic Attitudes and Source Critique in Qualitative Research
Author
Summary, in English
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.
Department/s
- Department of Business Administration
Publishing year
2020-01-01
Language
English
Pages
33-45
Publication/Series
Journal of Management Inquiry
Volume
29
Issue
1
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Topic
- Economics and Business
Keywords
- interviews
- qualitative Research
- source critique
- epistemic attitude
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1056-4926