Qualitative Research in the Study of Leadership

Although an increasingly growing number of books on qualitative research methods are currently available, there is not a text that examines the use of qualitative research methods in the context of the study of leadership which has produced a voluminous body of research. This book is intended to fill this void. It discusses the use of qualitative research methods in leadership studies beginning with an examination of the paradigmatic assumptions underlying qualitative research. The book chronicles the gradually increasing legitimacy of qualitative inquiry in a discipline in which the hegemony of the quantitative paradigm continues to prevail. A variety of qualitative methods are presented that can be placed on a continuum ranging from purely qualitative (e.g., phenomenology, ethnography, grounded theory) to highly quantitative (e.g., certain forms of content analysis, historiometry and mixed methods designs). The book also includes a chapter on the use nontextual, image-based sources of data for qualitative leadership research. For each of the qualitative methods discussed, empirical leadership research illustrating the application of these methods is reviewed and analyzed. The book is intended for students of leadership ranging from graduate students to seasoned leadership scholars. Finally, it was written with leadership practitioners in mind who wish to broaden their understanding of new developments in leadership research.