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Call for Papers

SIM Affiliate Conference

WORKSHOP & SPECIAL ISSUE OF MERCATI E COMPETITIVITA’

*Emerging trends in qualitative research*

*A focus on social media research*

University of Pisa

19 May 2017



More than ever, qualitative research is going through a period of rapid
change and confronting new challenges. Anyone interested in the current
state and development of qualitative data analysis will find a field which
is constantly expanding and, at the same time, growing less structured.

In particular, we can see the evolving and changing environment in three
different aspects: data sources, data collection and data analysis.

Traditional sources of data—interviews, focus groups, transcripts and
observation protocols—are now complemented by visual, virtual, textual and
other types of data deriving from social media. As billions of people post
updates to platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram every day,
these platforms are opening up opportunities to draw upon vast qualitative
data streams.

As a consequence, new data collection tools, web crawling and data mining
techniques have emerged in recent years. For example, qualitative software
programs have been integrated with tools to capture social media content
for qualitative analysis (e.g., Ncapture for Nvivo). Kozinets (2010, 2015)
presented the concept of ‘netnography’ as a new approach that combines
archival and online communication work, participation and observation with
new forms of digital and network data collection and analysis.

Regarding data analysis, mixed or multi-method approaches that combine
qualitative and quantitative techniques are growing in importance (Creswell
and Piano Clark, 2011). In particular, mixed methods research
approaches—‘in which the researcher gathers both quantitative
(closed-ended) and qualitative (open-ended) data, integrates the two and
then draws interpretations based on the combined strengths of both sets of
data to understand research problems’ (Creswell, 2014, p. 2)—have clear
potential value in social media research. Qualitative data are often useful
for triangulating and augmenting quantitative results, and in a social
media context, they can go beyond tracking follower counts or hashtag use
to create a more complete picture of a specific community.

Given the overwhelming amount of data deriving from social media, attention
is increasingly turning towards automated content analysis instead of pure
qualitative content analysis (e.g., employing human coders to manually code
textual data), because it permits large-scale analyses and enhances the
reliability, replicability, transparency and efficiency of the results
(Humphreys, 2011; Mehl and Gill, 2008; Morris, 1994).

These and many other examples suggest to us that there is a need to reflect
on and discuss the use of qualitative techniques in order to facilitate
further exploration through the qualitative lens. In particular, we hope to
look at the latest emerging methods for analysing qualitative data, with a
particular focus on social media data.



This workshop invites contributions that address the role of qualitative
methods in responding to, challenging and contributing to data. This call
for papers solicits theoretical, methodological and empirical contributions
which draw on different research streams and disciplines, including
marketing, consumer behaviour, social media, etc. Methodologically, we
welcome pure qualitative, multi-method and mixed-methods research
approaches.


*Topics of interest include, among others:*

   - How qualitative techniques are evolving
   - Textual data coding
   - Automated vs. human coding in content analysis
   - Mixed and multi-method research designs
   - Innovative research methods for collecting qualitative data (e.g.,
   social media)
   - The role of technologies for social media content studies
   - Methods and tools for analysing qualitative data
   - Mixed and multi-method analysis in social media research
   - Virtual communities analysis
   - Netnographic studies
   - Measuring social media content



*Keynote speaker*

*Ashlee Humpreys - *Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University





*Submissions and Special Issue*

Scholars who wish to present a paper at the workshop are invited to submit
an extended abstract of 750-1000 words to [log in to unmask] no later
than* 3 of March 2017*. Authors will be notified of the outcome of the
selection process by *19 March 2017*.

*Mercati e Competitività* will announce a call for papers for a special
issue on this topic. With this workshop the Scientific Committee intends to
stimulate interest in the special issue, spark intellectual exchange on the
topic and provide feedback to prospective authors who may consider
submitting to the special issue.



*Programme*

The academic programme will start in the morning at 10:00 AM and will end
in the afternoon at 4:30 PM. In the first part of the workshop, Professor
Ashlee Humpreys, who has conducted seminal research in this field, will
introduce the subject. Then, the best papers amongst the ones proposed to
the Scientific Committee will be selected for discussion for about 30
minutes with the rest of the participants.

Some marketing managers, who deal with market research, will join the
Workshop in order to provide also the practitioner point of view (more
information will be available in due time).



*Registration*

There are no conference fees for members of SIMktg. Participants should
register no later than *30 April 2017 *by sending an email to
[log in to unmask]



*Scientific Committee*

   - *Sebastiano Grandi, *Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy (
   [log in to unmask])
   - *Annamaria Tuan*, University of Pisa, Italy ([log in to unmask])



*Organizing Committee*

   - *Daniele Dalli, *University of Pisa, Italy ([log in to unmask])
   - *Alessandro Gandolfo, *University of Pisa, Italy (
   [log in to unmask])
   - *Matteo Corciolani,* University of Pisa, Italy (
   [log in to unmask])



*Other Information*

For any information please contact*: *[log in to unmask]

Workshop Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/trendsinqualitativeresearch

-- 
*Elisa Giuliani*
Full Professor of Management
Associate Editor for *Research Policy *

Track Chair, *The contribution of MNEs to building sustainable societies*,
Academy of International Business, 2017

Track Co-Chair, *MNEs and sustainable development*, European International
Business Academy, 2017

*Contacts: *
Dipartimento Economia e Management
University of Pisa
Via Ridolfi 10, 56124, Pisa, Italy
Office # 319
Tel. + 39 050 2216280
Fax: + 39 050 2216267
Homepage: *http://people.unipi.it/elisa_giuliani/
<http://people.unipi.it/elisa_giuliani/>*

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