HBS 4852: Seminar on the Craft of Inductive Qualitative Research

Professors: Michel Anteby and Leslie Perlow

This seminar provides a forum to demystify the craft of qualitative inductive research. How do field notes get transformed into published books and articles? How does theory get built and substantiated? What is the behind the scenes process successful scholars are using? Our goal is to look behind the curtain and understand the art and science of writing up this work. It is also to gain an appreciation for the variety of ways in which people work.

Towards this end, the seminar will be composed of two parts: 1) learning from others and 2) learning by doing. The first part of each class will involve uncovering the story behind a published piece of work, written by a leading scholar. The second part of each class will involve class participants sharing their own writing based on on-going research projects. This writing can take the form of full paper or much earlier stage memos, outlines or other writing sample.

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