Cambridge Handbook of Qualitative Digital Research

Big data and algorithmic decision-making have been touted as game-changing developments in management research, but they have their limitations. Qualitative approaches should not be cast aside in the age of digitalisation, since they facilitate understanding of quantitative data and the questioning of assumptions and conclusions that may otherwise lead to faulty implications being drawn, and – crucially – inaccurate strategies, decisions and actions. This handbook comprises three parts: Part I highlights many of the issues associated with ‘unthinking digitalisation’, particularly concerning the overreliance on algorithmic decision-making and the consequent need for qualitative research. Part II provides examples of the various qualitative methods that can be usefully employed in researching various digital phenomena and issues. Part III introduces a range of emergent issues concerning practice, knowing, datafication, technology design and implementation, data reliance and algorithms, digitalisation.

Author Biography

Boyka Simeonova is an Assistant Professor in Information Management at Loughborough University, and the Director of the Knowledge and the Digital Economy Research Network and the Deputy Director of the Centre for Information Management. Boyka is also a co-editor of the book, Strategic Information Management: Theory and Practice, 5th Edition (2020). Robert D. Galliers is the University Distinguished Professor Emeritus and former Provost, Bentley University, and Professor Emeritus and former Dean, Warwick Business School. He received the AIS LEO Award for exceptional lifetime achievement in Information Systems in 2012 and was the founding editor-in-chief of The Journal of Strategic Information Systems. His work on research methods has been particularly well cited.