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Qualitative designs and methodologies for business, management, and organizational research.

• Robert P. Gephart Robert P. Gephart Alberta School of Business, University of Alberta
•  and  Rohny Saylors Rohny Saylors Carson College of Business, Washington State University
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190224851.013.230
• Published online: 28 September 2020

Qualitative research designs provide future-oriented plans for undertaking research. Designs should describe how to effectively address and answer a specific research question using qualitative data and qualitative analysis techniques. Designs connect research objectives to observations, data, methods, interpretations, and research outcomes. Qualitative research designs focus initially on collecting data to provide a naturalistic view of social phenomena and understand the meaning the social world holds from the point of view of social actors in real settings. The outcomes of qualitative research designs are situated narratives of peoples’ activities in real settings, reasoned explanations of behavior, discoveries of new phenomena, and creating and testing of theories.

A three-level framework can be used to describe the layers of qualitative research design and conceptualize its multifaceted nature. Note, however, that qualitative research is a flexible and not fixed process, unlike conventional positivist research designs that are unchanged after data collection commences. Flexibility provides qualitative research with the capacity to alter foci during the research process and make new and emerging discoveries.

The first or methods layer of the research design process uses social science methods to rigorously describe organizational phenomena and provide evidence that is useful for explaining phenomena and developing theory. Description is done using empirical research methods for data collection including case studies, interviews, participant observation, ethnography, and collection of texts, records, and documents.

The second or methodological layer of research design offers three formal logical strategies to analyze data and address research questions: (a) induction to answer descriptive “what” questions; (b) deduction and hypothesis testing to address theory oriented “why” questions; and (c) abduction to understand questions about what, how, and why phenomena occur.

The third or social science paradigm layer of research design is formed by broad social science traditions and approaches that reflect distinct theoretical epistemologies—theories of knowledge—and diverse empirical research practices. These perspectives include positivism, interpretive induction, and interpretive abduction (interpretive science). There are also scholarly research perspectives that reflect on and challenge or seek to change management thinking and practice, rather than producing rigorous empirical research or evidence based findings. These perspectives include critical research, postmodern research, and organization development.

Three additional issues are important to future qualitative research designs. First, there is renewed interest in the value of covert research undertaken without the informed consent of participants. Second, there is an ongoing discussion of the best style to use for reporting qualitative research. Third, there are new ways to integrate qualitative and quantitative data. These are needed to better address the interplay of qualitative and quantitative phenomena that are both found in everyday discourse, a phenomenon that has been overlooked.

• qualitative methods
• research design
• methods and methodologies
• interpretive induction
• interpretive science
• critical theory
• postmodernism
• organization development

Introduction

Qualitative research uses linguistic symbols and stories to describe and understand actual behavior in real settings (Denzin & Lincoln, 1994 ). Understanding requires describing “specific instances of social phenomena” (Van Maanen, 1998 , p. xi) to determine what this behavior means to lay participants and to scientific researchers. This process produces “narratives-non-fiction division that link events to events in storied or dramatic fashion” to uncover broad social science principles at work in specific cases (p. xii).

A research design and/or proposal is often created at the outset of research to act as a guide. But qualitative research is not a rule-governed process and “no one knows” the rules to write memorable and publishable qualitative research (Van Maanen, 1998 , p. xxv). Thus qualitative research “is anything but standardized, or, more tellingly, impersonal” (p. xi). Design is emergent and is often created as it is being done.

Qualitative research is also complex. This complexity is addressed by providing a framework with three distinct layers of knowledge creation resources that are assembled during qualitative research: the methods layer, the logic layer, and the paradigmatic layer. Research methods are addressed first because “there is no necessary connection between research strategies and methods of data collection and analysis” (Blaikie, 2010 , p. 227). Research methods (e.g., interviews) must be adapted for use with the specific logical strategies and paradigmatic assumptions in mind.

The first, or methods, layer uses qualitative methods to “collect data.” That is, to observe phenomena and record written descriptions of observations, often through field notes. Established methods for description include participant and non-participant observation, ethnography, focus groups, individual interviews, and collection of documentary data. The article explains how established methods have been adapted and used to answer a range of qualitative research questions.

The second, or logic, layer involves selecting a research strategy—a “logic, or set of procedures, for answering research questions” (Blaikie, 2010 , p. 18). Research strategies link research objectives, data collection methods, and logics of analysis. The three logical strategies used in qualitative organizational research are inductive logic, deductive logic and abductive logic (Blaikie, 2010 , p. 79). 1 Each logical strategy makes distinct assumptions about the nature of knowledge (epistemology), the nature of being (ontology), and how logical strategies and assumptions are used in data collection and analysis. The task is to describe important methods suitable for each logical strategy, factors to consider when selecting methods (Blaikie, 2010 ), and illustrates how data collection and analysis methods are adapted to ensure for consistency with specific logics and paradigms.

The third, or paradigms, layer of research design addresses broad frameworks and scholarly traditions for understanding research findings. Commitment to a paradigm or research tradition entails commitments to theories, research strategies, and methods. Three paradigms that do empirical research and seek scientific knowledge are addressed first: positivism, interpretive induction, and interpretive abduction. Then, three scholarly and humanist approaches that critique conventional research and practice to encourage organizational change are discussed: critical theory and research, postmodern perspectives, and organization development (OD). Paradigms or traditions provide broad scholarly contexts that make specific studies comprehensible and meaningful. Lack of grounding in an intellectual tradition limits the ability of research to contribute: contributions always relate to advancing the state of knowledge in specific unfolding research traditions that also set norms for assessing research quality. The six research designs are explained to show how consistency in design levels can be achieved for each of the different paradigms. Further, qualitative research designs must balance the need for a clear plan to achieve goals with the need for adaptability and flexibility to incorporate insights and overcome obstacles that emerge during research.

Our general goal has been to provide a practical guide to inspire and assist readers to better understand, design, implement, and publish qualitative research. We conclude by addressing future challenges and trends in qualitative research.

The Substance of Research Design

A research design is a written text that can be prepared prior to the start of a research project (Blaikie, 2010 , p. 4) and shared or used as “a private working document.” Figure 1 depicts the elements of a qualitative research design and research process. Interest in a topic or problem leads researchers to pose questions and select relevant research methods to fulfill research purposes. Implementation of the methods requires use of logical strategies in conjunction with paradigms of research to specify concepts, theories, and models. The outcomes, depending on decisions made during research, are scientific knowledge, scholarly (non-scientific) knowledge, or applied knowledge useful for practice.

Figure 1. Elements of qualitative research design.

Research designs describe a problem or research question and explain how to use specific qualitative methods to collect and analyze qualitative data that answer a research question. The purposes of design are to describe and justify the decisions made during the research process and to explain how the research outcomes can be produced. Designs are thus future-oriented plans that specify research activities, connect activities to research goals and objectives, and explain how to interpret the research outcomes using paradigms and theories.

In contrast, a research proposal is “a public document that is used to obtain necessary approvals for a research proposal to proceed” (Blaikie, 2010 , p. 4). Research designs are often prepared prior to creating a research proposal, and research proposals often require the inclusion of research designs. Proposals also require greater formality when they are the basis for a legal contract between a researcher and a funding agency. Thus, designs and proposals are mutually relevant and have considerable overlap but are addressed to different audiences. Table 1 provides the specific features of designs and proposals. This discussion focuses on designs.

Table 1. Decisions Necessitated by Research Designs and Proposals

Source: Based on Blaikie ( 2010 ), pp. 12–34.

The “real starting point” for a research design (or proposal) is “the formulation of the research question” (Blaikie, 2010 , p. 17). There are three types of research questions: “what” questions seek descriptions; “why” questions seek answers and understanding; and “how” questions address conditions where certain events occur, underlying mechanisms, and conditions necessary for change interventions (p. 17). It is useful to start with research questions rather than goals, and to explain what the research is intended to achieve (p. 17) in a technical way.

The process of finding a topic and formulating a useful research question requires several considerations (Silverman, 2014 , pp. 31–33, 34–40). Researchers must avoid settings where data collection will be difficult (pp. 31–32); specify an appropriate scope for the topic—neither too wide or too narrow—that can be addressed (pp. 35–36); fit research questions into a relevant theory (p. 39); find the appropriate level of theory to address (p. 42); select appropriate designs and research methods (pp. 42–44); ensure the volume of data can be handled (p. 48); and do an effective literature review (p. 48).

A literature review is an important way to link the proposed research to current knowledge in the field, and to explain what was previously known or what theory suggests to be the case (Blaikie, 2010 , p. 17). Research questions can used to bound and frame the literature review while the literature review often inspires research questions. The review may also provide bases for creating new hypotheses and for answering some of the initial research questions (Blaikie, 2010 , p. 18).

Layers of Research Design

There are three layers of research design. The first layer focuses on research methods for collecting data. The second layer focuses on the logical frameworks used for analyzing data. The third layer focuses on the paradigm used to create a coherent worldview from research methods and logical frameworks.

Layer One: Design as Research Methods

Qualitative research addresses the meanings people have for phenomena. It collects narratives of organizational activity, uses analytical induction to create coherent representations of the truths and meanings in organizational contexts, and then creates explanations of this conduct and its prevalence (Van Maanan, 1998 , pp. xi–xii). Thus qualitative research involves “doing research with words” (Gephart, 2013 , title) in order to describe the linguistic symbols and stories that members use in specific settings.

There are four general methods for collecting qualitative data and creating qualitative descriptions (see Table 2 ). The in-depth case study approach provides a history of an event or phenomenon over time using multiple data sources. Observational strategies use the researcher to observe and describe behavior in actual settings. Interview strategies use a format where a researcher asks questions of an informant. And documentary research collects texts, documents, official records, photographs, and videos as data—formally written or visually recorded evidence that can be replayed and reviewed (Creswell, 2014 , p. 190). These methods are adapted to fit the needs of specific projects.

Table 2. Qualitative Data Collection Methods

The in-depth case study method.

The in-depth case study is a key strategy for qualitative research (Piekkari & Welch, 2012 ). It was the most common qualitative method used during the formative years of the field, from 1956 to 1965 , when 48% of qualitative papers published in the Administrative Science Quarterly used the case study method (Van Maanen, 1998 , p. xix). The case design uses one or more data collection strategies to describe in detail how a single event or phenomenon, selected by a researcher, has changed over time. This provides an understanding of the processes that underlie changes to the phenomenon. In-depth case study methods use observations, documents, records, and interviews that describe the events in the case unfolded and their implications. Case studies contextualize phenomena by studying them in actual situations. They provide rich insights into multiple dimensions of a single phenomenon (Campbell, 1975 ); offer empirical insights into what, how, and why questions related to phenomena; and assist in the creation of robust theory by providing diverse data collected over time (Gephart & Richardson, 2008 , p. 36).

Maniha and Perrow ( 1965 ) provide an example of a case study concerned with organizational goal displacement, an important issue in early organizational theorizing that proposed organizations emerge from rational goals. Organizational rationality was becoming questioned at the time that the authors studied a Youth Commission with nine members in a city of 70,000 persons (Maniha & Perrow, 1965 ). The organization’s activities were reconstructed from interviews with principals and stakeholders of the organization, minutes from Youth Commission meetings, documents, letters, and newspaper accounts (Maniha & Perrow, 1965 ).

The account that emerged from the data analysis is a history of how a “reluctant organization” with “no goals to guide it” was used by other aggressive organizations for their own ends. It ultimately created its own mission (Maniha & Perrow, 1965 ). Thus, an organization that initially lacked rational goals developed a mission through the irrational process of goal slippage or displacement. This finding challenged prevailing thinking at the time.

Observational Strategies

Observational strategies involve a researcher present in a situation who observes and records, the activities and conversations that occur in the setting, usually in written field notes. The three observational strategies in Table 2 —participant observation, ethnography, and systematic self-observation—differ in terms of the role of the researcher and in the data collection approach.

Participant observation . This is one of the earliest qualitative methods (McCall & Simmons, 1969 ). One gains access to a setting and an informant holding an appropriate social role, for example, client, customer, volunteer, or researcher. One then observes and records what occurs in the setting using field notes. Many features or topics in a setting can become a focus for participant observers. And observations can be conducted using continuum of different roles from the complete participant, observer as participant, and participant observer, to the complete observer who observes without participation (Creswell, 2014 , Table 9.2, p. 191).

Ethnography . An ethnography is “a written representation of culture” (Van Maanen, 1988 ) produced after extended participation in a culture. Ethnography is a form of participant observation that focuses on the cultural aspects of the group or organization under study (Van Maanen, 1988 , 2010 ). It involves prolonged and close contact with group members in a role where the observer becomes an apprentice to an informant to learn about a culture (Agar, 1980 ; McCurdy, Spradley, & Shandy, 2005 ; Spradley, 1979 ).

Ethnography produces fine-grained descriptions of a micro-culture, based on in-depth cultural participation (McCurdy et al., 2005 ; Spradley, 1979 , 2016 ). Ethnographic observations seek to capture cultural members’ worldviews (see Perlow, 1997 ; Van Maanen, 1988 ; Watson, 1994 ). Ethnographic techniques for interviewing informants have been refined into an integrated developmental research strategy—“the ethno-semantic method”—for undertaking qualitative research (Spradley, 1979 , 2016 ; Van Maanen, 1981 ). The ethnosemantic method uses a structured approach to uncover and confirm key cultural features, themes, and cultural reasoning processes (McCurdy et al., 2005 , Table 3 ; Spradley, 1979 ).

Systematic Self-Observation . Systematic self-observation (SSO) involves “training informants to observe and record a selected feature of their own everyday experience” (Rodrigues & Ryave, 2002 , p. 2; Rodriguez, Ryave, & Tracewell, 1998 ). Once aware that they are experiencing the target phenomenon, informants “immediately write a field report on their observation” (Rodrigues & Ryave, 2002 , p. 2) describing what was said and done, and providing background information on the context, thoughts, emotions, and relationships of people involved. SSO generates high-quality field notes that provide accurate descriptions of informants’ experiences (pp. 4–5). SSO allows informants to directly provide descriptions of their personal experiences including difficult to capture emotions.

Interview Strategies

Interviews are conversations between researchers and research participants—termed “subjects” in positivist research and informants in “interpretive research.” Interviews can be conducted as individual face-to-face interactions (Creswell, 2014 , p. 190) or by telephone, email, or through computer-based media. Two broad types of interview strategies are (a) the individual interview and (b) the group interview or focus group (Morgan, 1997 ). Interviews elicit informants’ insights into their culture and background information, and obtain answers and opinions. Interviews typically address topics and issues that occur outside the interview setting and at previous times. Interview data are thus reconstructions or undocumented descriptions of action in past settings (Creswell, 2014 , p. 191) that provide descriptions that are less accurate and valid descriptions than direct, real-time observations of settings.

Structured and unstructured interviews. Structured interviews pose a standardized set of fixed, closed-ended questions (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, & Jackson, 2012 ) to respondents whose responses are recorded as factual information. Responses may be forced choice or open ended. However, most qualitative research uses unstructured or partially structured interviews that pose open-ended questions in a flexible order that can be adapted. Unstructured interviews allow for detailed responses and clarification of statements (Easterby-Smith et al., 2012 ; McLeod, 2014 )and the content and format can be tailored to the needs and assumptions of specific research projects (Gephart & Richardson, 2008 , p. 40).

The informant interview (Spradley, 1979 ) poses questions to informants to elicit and clarify background information about their culture, and to validate ethnographic observations. In interviews, informants teach the researcher their culture (Spradley, 1979 , pp. 24–39). The informant interview is part of a developmental research sequence (McCurdy et al., 2005 ; Spradley, 1979 ) that begins with broad “grand tour” questions that ask an informant to describe an important domain in their culture. The questions later narrow to focus on details of cultural domains and members’ folk concepts. This process uncovers semantic relationships among concepts of members and deeper cultural themes (McCurdy et al., 2005 ; Spradley, 1979 ).

The long interview (McCracken, 1988 ) involves a lengthy, quasi-structured interview sessions with informants to acquire rapid and efficient access to cultural themes and issues in a group. Long interviews differ ethnographic interviews by using a “more efficient and less obtrusive format” (p. 7). This creates a “sharply focused, rapid and highly intense interview process” that avoids indeterminate and redundant questions and pre-empts the need for observation or involvement in a culture. There are four stages in the long interview: (a) review literature to uncover analytical categories and design the interview; (b) review cultural categories to prepare the interview guide; (c) construct the questionnaire; and (d) analyze data to discover analytical categories (p. 30, fig. 1 ).

The active interview is a dynamic process where the researcher and informant co-construct and negotiate interview responses (Holstein & Gubrium, 1995 ). The goal is to uncover the subjective meanings that informants hold for phenomenon, and to understand how meaning is produced through communication. The active approach is common in interpretive, critical, and postmodern research that assumes a negotiated order. For example, Richardson and McKenna ( 2000 ) explored how ex-patriate British faculty members themselves interpreted and explained their expatriate experience. The researchers viewed the interview setting as one where the researchers and informants negotiated meanings between themselves, rather than a setting where prepared questions and answers were shared.

Documentary, Photographic, and Video Records as Data

Documents, records, artifacts, photographs, and video recordings are physically enduring forms of data that are separable from their producers and provide mute evidence with no inherent meaning until they are read, written about, and discussed (Hodder, 1994 , p. 393). Records (e.g., marriage certificate) attest to a formal transaction, are associated with formal governmental institutions, and may have legally restricted access. In contrast, documents are texts prepared for personal reasons with fewer legal restrictions but greater need for contextual interpretation. Several approaches to documentary and textual data analysis have been developed (see Table 3 ). Documents that researchers have found useful to collect include public documents and minutes of meetings; detailed transcripts of public hearings; corporate and government press releases; annual reports and financial documents; private documents such as diaries of informants; and news media reports.

Photographs and videos are useful for capturing “accurate” visual images of physical phenomena (Ray & Smith, 2012 ) that can be repeatedly reexamined and used as evidence to substantiate research claims (LeBaron, Jarzabkowski, Pratt, & Fetzer, 2018 ). Photos taken from different positions in space may also reveal different features of phenomena. Videos show movement and reveal activities as processes unfolding over time and space. Both photos and videos integrate and display the spatiotemporal contexts of action.

Layer Two: Design as Logical Frameworks

The second research design layer links data collection and analysis methods (Tables 2 and 3 ) to three logics of enquiry that answer specific questions: inductive, deductive, and abductive logical strategies (see Table 4 ). Each logical strategy focuses on producing different types of knowledge using distinctive research principles, processes, and types of research questions they can address.

Table 3. Data Analysis and Integrated Data Collection and Analysis Strategies

Table 4. logical strategies for answering qualitative research questions with evidence.

Based in part on Blaikie ( 1993 ), ch. 5 & 6; Blaikie ( 2010 ), p. 84, table 4.1

The Inductive Strategy

Induction is the scientific method for many scholars (Blaikie, 1993 , p. 134), and an essential logic for qualitative management research (Pratt, 2009 , p. 856). Inductive strategies ask “what” questions to explore a domain to discover unknown features of a phenomenon (Blaikie, 2010 , p. 83). There are four stages to the inductive strategy: (a) observe and record all facts without selection or anticipating their importance; (b) analyze, compare, and classify facts without employing hypotheses; (c) develop generalizations inductively based on the analyses; and (d) subject generalizations to further testing (Blaikie, 1993 , p. 137).

Inductive research assumes a real world outside human thought that can be directly sensed and described (Blaikie, 2010 ). Principles of inductive research reflect a realist and objectivist ontology. The selection, definition, and measurement of characteristics to be studied are developed from an objective, scientific point of view. Facts about organizational features need to be obtained using unbiased measurement. Further, the elimination method is used to find “the characteristics present in all the positive cases, which are absent in all the negative cases, and which vary in appropriate degrees” (Blaikie, 1993 , p. 135). This requires data collection methods that provide unbiased evidence of the objective facts without pre-supposing their importance.

Induction can establish limited generalizations about phenomena based solely on the observations collected. Generalizations need to be based on the entire sample of data, not on selected observations from large data sets, to establish their validity. The scope of generalization is limited to the sample of data itself. Induction creates evidence to increase our confidence in a conclusion, but the conclusions do not logically follow from premises (Blaikie, 1993 , p. 164). Indeed, inferences from induction cannot be extended beyond the original set of observations and no logical or formal process exists to establish the universality of inferences.

Key data collection methods for inductive designs include observational strategies that allow the researcher to view behavior without making a priori hypotheses, to describe behavior that occurs “naturally” in settings, and to record non-impressionistic descriptions of behavior. Interviews can also elicit descriptions of settings and behavior for inductive qualitative research. Data analysis methods need to describe actual interactions in real settings including discourse among members. These methods include ethnosemantic analysis to uncover key terms and validate actual meanings used by members; analyses of conversational practices that show how meaning is negotiated through sequential turn taking in discourse; and grounded theory-based concept coding and theory development that use the constant comparative method.

Facts or descriptions of events can be compared to one another and generalizations can be made about the world using induction (Blaikie, 2010 ). Outcomes from inductive analysis include descriptions of features in a limited domain of social action that are inferred to exist in other similar settings. Propositions and broader insights can be developed inductively from these descriptions.

The Deductive Strategy

Deductive logic (Blaikie, 1993 , 2010 ) addresses “why” questions to explain associations between concepts that represent phenomena of interest. Researchers can use induction, abduction, or any means, to develop then test the hypotheses to see if they are valid. Hypotheses that are not rejected are temporarily corroborated. The outcomes from deduction are tested hypotheses. Researchers can thus be very creative in hypothesis construction but they cannot discover new phenomena with deduction that is based only on phenomena known in advance (Blaikie, 2010 ). And there is also no purely logical or mechanical process to establish “the validity of [inductively constructed] universal statements from a set of singular statements” from which deductive hypotheses were formed (Hempel, 1966 , p. 15 cited in Blaikie, 1993 , p. 140).

The deductive strategy uses a realist and objectivist ontology and imitates natural science methods. Useful data collection methods include observation, interviewing, and collection of documents that contain facts. Deduction addresses the assumedly objective features of settings and interactions. Appropriate data analysis methods include content coding to identify different types, features, and frequencies of observed phenomena; grounded theory coding and analytical induction to create categories in data, determine how categories are interrelated, and induce theory from observations; and pattern recognition to compare current data to prior models and samples. Content analysis and non-parametric statistics can be used to quantify qualitative data and make it more amenable to analysis, although quantitative analysis of qualitative data is not, strictly speaking, qualitative research (Gephart, 2004 ).

The Abductive Strategy

Abduction is “the process used to produce social scientific accounts of social life by drawing on the concepts and meanings used by social actors, and the activities in which they engage” (Blaikie, 1993 , p. 176). Abductive reasoning assumes that the socially meaningful world is the world experienced by members. The first abductive task is to discover the insider view that is basic to the actions of social actors (p. 176) by uncovering the subjective meanings held by social actors. Subjective meaning (Schutz, 1973a , 1973b ) refers to the meaning that actions hold for the actors themselves and that they can express verbally. Subjective meaning is not inexpressible ideas locked in one’s mind. Abduction starts with lay descriptions of social life, then moves to technical, scientific descriptions of social life (Blaikie, 1993 , p. 177) (see Table 4 ). Abduction answers “what” questions with induction, why questions with deduction, and “how” questions with hypothesized processes that explain how, and under what conditions, phenomena occur. Abduction involves making a logical leap that infers an explanatory process to explain an outcome in an oscillating logic. Deductive, inductive, and inferential processes move recursively from actors’ accounts to social science accounts and back again in abduction (Gephart, 2018 ). This process enables all theory and second-order scientific concepts to be grounded in actors’ first-order meanings.

The abductive strategy contains four layers: (a) everyday concepts and meanings of actors, used for (b) social interaction, from which (c) actors provide accounts, from which (d) social scientific descriptions are made, or theories are generated and applied, to interpret phenomena (Blaikie, 1993 , p. 177). The multifaceted research process, described in Table 4 , requires locating and comprehending members’ important everyday concepts and theories before observing or creating disruptions that force members to explain the unstated knowledge behind their action. The researcher then integrates members’ first-order concepts into a general, second-order scientific theory that makes first-order understandings recoverable.

Abduction emerged from Weber’s interpretive sociology ( 1978 ) and Peirce’s ( 1936 ) philosophy. But Alfred Schutz ( 1973a , 1973b ) is the contemporary scholar who did the most to extend our understanding of abduction, although he never used the term “abduction” (Blaikie, 1993 , 2010 ; Gephart, 2018 ). Schutz conceived abduction as an approach to verifiable interpretive knowledge that is scientific and rigorous (Blaikie, 1993 ; Gephart, 2018 ). Abduction is appropriate for research that seeks to go beyond description to explanation and prediction (Blaikie, 1993 , p. 163) and discovery (Gephart, 2018 ). It employs an interpretive ontology (Schutz, 1973a , 1973b ) and social constructionist epistemology (Berger & Luckmann, 1966 ), using qualitative methods to discover “why people do what they do” (Blaikie, 1993 ).

Dynamic data collection methods are needed for abductive research to capture descriptions of interactions in actual settings and their meanings to members. Observational and interview approaches that elicit members’ concepts and theories are particularly relevant to abductive understanding (see Table 2 ). Data analysis methods must analyze situated, first-order (common sense) discourse as it unfolds in real settings and then systematically develop second-order concepts or theories from data. Relevant approaches to produce and validate findings include ethnography, ethnomethodology, and grounded theorizing (see Table 3 ). The combination of what, why, and how questions used in abduction produces a broader understanding of phenomena than do what and why deductive and inductive questions.

Layer Three: Paradigms of Research

Scholarly paradigms integrate methods, logics, and intellectual worldviews into coherent theoretical perspectives and form the most abstract level of research design. Six paradigms are widely used in management research (Burrell & Morgan, 1979 ; Cunliffe, 2011 ; Gephart, 2004 , 2013 ; Gephart & Richardson, 2008 ; Hassard, 1993 ). The first three perspectives—positivism, interpretive induction, and interpretive abduction—build on logics of design and seek to produce rigorous empirical research that constitutes evidence (see Table 5 ). Three additional perspectives pursue philosophical, critical, and practical knowledge: critical theory, postmodernism, and organization development (see Table 6 ). Tables 5 and 6 describe important features of each research design to show similarities and differences in the processes through which theoretical meaning is bestowed on research results in management and organization studies.

Table 5. Paradigms, Logical Strategies, and Methodologies for Empirical Research

Sources: Based on and adapted and extended from Blaikie ( 1993 , pp. 137, 145, & 152); Blaikie ( 2010 , Table 4.1, p. 84); Gephart ( 2013 , Table 9.1, p. 291) and Gephart ( 2018 , Table 3.1, pp. 38–39).

Table 6. Alternative Paradigms, Logical Strategies, and Methodologies

Based in part on Gephart ( 2004 , 2013 , 2018 ).

The Positivist Approach

The qualitative positivist approach makes assumptions equivalent to those of quantitative research (Gephart, 2004 , 2018 ). It assumes the world is objectively describable and comprehensible using inductive and deductive logics. And rigor is important and achieved by reliability, validity, and generalizability of findings (Kirk & Miller, 1986 ; Malterud, 2001 ). Qualitative positivism mimics natural science logics and methods using data recorded as words and talk rather than numerals.

Positivist research (Bitektine, 2008 ; Su, 2018 ) starts with a hypothesis. This can, but need not, be based in data or inductive theory. The research process, aimed at publication in peer-reviewed journals, requires researchers to (a) identify variables to measure, (b) develop operational definitions of the variables, (c) measure (describe) the variables and their inter-relationships, (d) pose hypotheses to test relationships among variables, then (e) compare observations to hypotheses for testing (Blaikie, 2010 ). When data are consistent with theory, theory passes the test. Otherwise the theory fails. This theory is also assessed for its logical correctness and value for knowledge. The positivist approach can assess deductive and inductive generalizations and provide evidence concerning why something occurs—if proposed hypotheses are not rejected.

Positivists view qualitative research as highly subject to biases that must be prevented to ensure rigor, and 23 methodological steps are recommended to enhance rigor and prevent bias (Gibbert & Ruigrok, 2010 , p. 720). Replicability is another concern because methodology descriptions in qualitative publications “insufficiently describe” how methods are used (Lee, Mitchell, & Sablynski, 1999 , p. 182) and thereby prevent replication. To ensure replicability, a qualitative “article’s description of the method must be sufficiently detailed to allow a reader . . . to replicate that reported study either in a hypothetical or actual manner.”

Qualitative research allows positivists to observe naturally unfolding behavior in real settings and allow “the real world” of work to inform research and theory (Locke & Golden-Biddle, 2004 ). Encounters with the actual world provide insights into meaning construction by members that cannot be captured with outsider (etic) approaches. For example, past quantitative research provided inconsistent findings on the importance of pre- and post-recruitment screening interviews for job choices of recruits. A deeper investigation was thus designed to examine how recruitment impacts job selection (Rynes, Bretz, & Gerhart, 1991 ). To do so, students undergoing recruitment were asked to “tell us in their own words” how their recruiting and decision processes unfolded (Rynes et al., 1991 , p. 399). Using qualitative evidence, the researchers found that, in contrast to quantitative findings, “people do make choices based on how they are treated” (p. 509), and the choices impact recruitment outcomes. Rich descriptions of actual behavior can disconfirm quantitative findings and produce new findings that move the field forward.

An important limitation of positivism is its common emphasis on outsiders’ or scientific observers’ objective conceptions of the world. This limits the attention positivist research gives to members’ knowledge and allows positivist research to impose outsiders’ meanings on members’ everyday behavior, leading to a lack of understanding of what the behavior means to members. Another limitation is that no formal, logical, or proven techniques exist to assess the strength of “relationships” among qualitative variables, although such assessments can be formally done using well-formed quantitative data and techniques. Thus, qualitative positivists often provide ambiguous or inexplicit quantitative depictions of variable relations (e.g., “strong relationship”). Alternatively, the analysts quantify qualitative data by assigning numeric codes to categories (Greckhamer, Misngyi, Elms, & Lacey, 2008 ), using non-parametric statistics, or quantitative content analysis (Sonpar & Golden-Biddle, 2008 ) to create numerals that depict associations among variables.

An illustrative example of positivist research . Cole ( 1985 ) studied why and how organizations change their working structures from bureaucratic forms to small, self-supervised work teams that allow for worker participation in shop floor activities. Cole found that existing research on workplace change focused on the micropolitical level of organizations. He hypothesized that knowledge could be advanced differently, by examining the macropolitical change in industries or nations. Next, a testable conclusion was deduced: a macro analysis of the politics of change can better predict the success of work team implementation, measured as the spread of small group work structures, than an examination of the micropolitics of small groups ( 1985 ). Three settings were selected for the research: Japan, Sweden, and the United States. Japanese data were collected from company visits and interviews with employment officials and union leaders. Swedish documentary data on semiautonomous work groups were used and supplemented by interviews at Volvo and Saab, and prior field research in Sweden. U.S. data were collected through direct observations and a survey of early quality circle adopters.

Extensive change was observed in Sweden and Japan but changes to small work groups were limited in the United States (Cole, 1985 ). This conclusion was verified using records of the experiences of the three nations in work reform, compared across four dimensions: timing and scope of changes, managerial incentives to innovate, characteristics of mobilization, and political dimensions of change. Data revealed the United States had piecemeal experimentation and resistance to reform through the 1970s; diffusion emerged in Japan in the early 1960s and became extensive; and Swedish workplace reform started in the 1960s and was widely and rapidly diffused.

Cole then answered the questions of “why” and “how” the change occurred in some countries but not others. Regarding why Japanese and Swedish managers were motivated to introduce workplace change due to perceived managerial problems and the changing national labor market. Differences in the political processes also influenced change. Management, labor, and government interest in workplace change was evident in Japan and Sweden but not in the United States where widespread resistance occurred. As to how, the change occurred through macropolitical processes (Cole, 1985 , p. 120), specifically, the commitment of the national business leadership to the change and whether or not the change was contested or uncontested by labor impacted the adoption of change. Organizational change usually occurs through broad macropolitical processes, hence “the importance of macro-political variables in explaining these outcomes” (p. 122).

Interpretive Induction

Two streams of qualitative research claim the label of “interpretive research” in management and organization studies. The first stream, interpretive induction, emphasizes induction as its primary logical strategy (e.g., Locke, 2001 , 2002 ; Pratt, 2009 ). It assumes a “real world” that is inherently objective but interpreted through subjective lenses, hence different people can perceive or report different things. This research is interpretive because it addresses the meanings and interpretations people give to organizational phenomena, and how this meaning is provided and used. Interpretive induction contributes to scientific knowledge by providing empirical descriptions, generalizations, and low-level theories about specific contexts based on thick descriptions of members’ settings and interactions (first-order understandings) as data.

The interpretive induction paradigm addresses “what” questions that describe and explain the existence and features of phenomena. It seeks to uncover the subjective, personal knowledge that subjects have of the objective world and does so by creating descriptive accounts of the activities of organizational members. Interpretive induction creates inductive theories based on limited samples that provide low-scope, abstract theory. Limitations (Table 5 ) include the fact that inductive generalizations are limited to the sample used for induction and need to be subjected to additional tests and comparisons for substantiation. Second, research reports often fail to provide details to allow replication of the research. Third, formal methods for assessing the accuracy and validity of results and findings are limited. Fourth, while many features of scientific research are evident in interpretive induction research, the research moves closer to humanistic knowledge than to science when the basic assumptions of inductive analysis are relaxed—a common occurrence.

An illustrative example of interpretive induction research . Adler and Adler ( 1988 , 1998 ) undertook a five-year participant-observation study of a college basketball program (Adler, 1998 , p. 32). They sought to “examine the development of intense loyalty in one organization.” Intense loyalty evokes “devotional commitment of . . . (organizational) members through a subordination that sometime borders on subservience” (p. 32). The goal was to “describe and analyze the structural factors that emerged as most related” to intense loyalty (p. 32).

The researchers divided their roles. Peter Adler was the active observer and “expert” who undertook direct observations while providing counsel to players (p. 33). Patricia Adler took the peripheral role of “wife” and debriefed the observer. Two research questions were posed: (a) “what” kinds of organizational characteristics foster intense loyalty? (b) “how” do organizations with intense loyalty differ structurally from those that lack intense loyalty?

The first design stage (Table 5 ) recorded unbiased observations in extensive field notes. Detailed “life history” accounts were obtained from 38 team members interviewed (Adler & Adler, 1998 , p. 33). Then analytical induction and the constant comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967 ) were used to classify and compare observations (p. 33). Once patterns emerged, informants were questioned about variations in patterns (p. 34) to develop “total patterns” (p. 34) reflecting the collective belief system of the group. This process required a “careful and rigorous means of data collection and analysis” that was “designed to maximize both the reliability and validity of our findings” (p. 34). The study found five conceptual elements were essential to the development of intense loyalty: domination, identification, commitment, integration, and goal alignment (p. 35).

The “what” question was answered by inducing a generalization (stage 3): paternalistic organizations with charismatic leadership seek people who “fit” the organization’s style and these people require extensive socialization to foster intense loyalty. This description contrasts with rational bureaucratic organizations that seek people who fit specific, generally known job descriptions and require limited socialization (p. 46). The “how” question is answered by inductive creation of another generalization: organizations that control the extra-organizational activities of members are more likely to evoke intense loyalty by forcing members to subordinate all other interests to those of the organization (p. 46).

The Interpretive Abduction Approach

The second stream of interpretive research—interpretive abduction—produces scientific knowledge using qualitative methods (Gephart, 2018 ). The approach assumes that commonsense knowledge is foundational to how actors know the world. Abductive theory is scientifically built from, and refers to, everyday life meanings, in contrast to positivist and interpretive induction research that omits concern with the worldview of members. Further, interpretive abduction produces second-order or scientific theory and concepts from members’ first-order commonsense concepts and meanings (Gephart, 2018 , p. 34; Schutz, 1973a , 1973b ).

The research process, detailed in Table 5 (process and stages), focuses on collecting thick descriptive data on organizations, identifying and interpreting first-order lay concepts, and creating abstract second-order technical constructs of science. The second-order concepts describe the first-order principles and terms social actors use to organize their experience. They compose scientific concepts that form a theoretical system to objectively describe, predict, and explain social organization (Gephart, 2018 , p. 35). This requires researchers to understand the subjective view of the social actors they study, and to develop second-order theory based on actors’ subjective meanings. Subjective meaning can be shared with others through language use and communication and is not private knowledge.

A central analytical task for interpretive abduction is creating second-order, ideal-type models of social roles, motives, and interactions that describe the behavioral trajectories of typical actors. Ideal-type models can be objectively compared to one another and are the special devices that social science requires to address differences between social phenomena and natural phenomena (Schutz, 1973a , 1973b ). The models, once built, are refined to preserve actors’ subjective meanings, to be logically consistent, and to present human action from the actor’s point of view. Researchers can then vary and compare the models to observe the different outcomes that emerge. Scientific descriptions can then be produced, and theories can be created. Interpretive abduction (Gephart, 2018 , p. 35) allows one to addresses what, why, and how questions in a holistic manner, to describe relationships among scientific constructs, and to produce “empirically ascertainable” and verifiable relations among concepts (Schutz, 1973b , p. 65) that are logical, hold practical meaning to lay actors, and provide abstract, objective meaning to interpretive scientists (Gephart, 2018 , p. 35). Abduction produces knowledge about socially shared realities by observing interactions, uncovering members’ first-order meanings, and then developing technical second-order or scientific accounts from lay accounts.

Interpretive abduction (Gephart, 2018 ) uses well-developed methods to create, refine, test, and verify second-order models, and it provides well-developed tools to support technical, second-level analyses. Research using the interpretive abduction approach includes a study of how technology change impacts sales automobile practices (Barley, 2015 ) and an investigation study of how abduction was used to develop new prescription drugs (Dunne & Dougherty, 2016 ).

An illustrative example of the interpretive abduction approach . Perlow ( 1997 ) studied time management among software engineers facing a product launch deadline. Past research verified the widespread belief that long working hours for staff are necessary for organizational success. This belief has adversely impacted work life and led to the concept of a “time bind” faced by professionals (Hochschild, 1997 ). One research question that subsequently emerged was, “what underlies ‘the time bind’ experienced by engineers who face constant deadlines and work interruptions?” (Perlow, 1997 , p. xvii). This is an inductive question about the causes and consequences of long working hours not answered in prior research that is hard to address using induction or deduction. Perlow then explored assumption underlying the hypothesis, supported by lay knowledge and management literature, that even if long working hours cause professionals to destroy their life style, long work hours “further the goals of our organizations” and “maximize the corporation’s bottom line” (Perlow, 1997 , p. 2).

The research commenced (Table 5 , step 1) when Perlow gained access to “Ditto,” a leader in implementing flexible work policies (Perlow, 1997 , p. 141) and spent nine months doing participant observation four days a week. Perlow collected descriptive data by walking around to observe and converse with people, attended meetings and social events, interviewed engineers at work and home and spouses at home, asked participants to record activities they undertook on selected working days (Perlow, 1997 , p. 143), and made “thousands of pages of field notes” (p. 146) to uncover trade-offs between work and home life.

Perlow ( 1997 , pp. 146–147) analyzed first-order concepts uncovered through his observations and interviews from 17 stories he wrote for each individual he had studied. The stories described workstyles, family lives, and traits of individuals; provided objective accounts of subjective meanings each held for work and home; offered background information; and highlighted first-order concepts. Similarities and differences in informant accounts were explored with an empirically grounded scheme for coding observations into categories using grounded theory processes (Gioia, Corley, & Hamilton, 2012 ). The process allowed Perlow to find key themes in stories that show work patterns and perceptions of the requirements of work success, and to create ideal-type models of workers (step 3). Five stories were selected for detailed analysis because they reveal important themes Perlow ( 1997 , p. 147). For example, second-order, ideal-type models of different “roles” were constructed in step 3 including the “organizational superstar” (pp. 15–21) and “ideal female employee” (pp. 22–32) based on first-order accounts of members. The second-order ideal-type scientific models were refined to include typical motives. The models were compared to one another (step 4) to describe and understand how the actions of these employee types differed from other employee types and how these variations produced different outcomes for each trajectory of action (steps 4 and 5).

Perlow ( 1997 ) found that constant help-seeking led engineers to interrupt other engineers to get solutions to problems. This observation led to the abductively developed hypothesis that interruptions create a time crisis atmosphere for engineers. Perlow ( 1997 ) then created a testable, second-order ideal-type (scientific) model of “the vicious working cycle” (p. 96), developed from first-order data, that explains the productivity problems that the firm (and other research and development firms)—commonly face. Specifically, time pressure → crisis mentality → individual heroics → constant interruptions of others’ work to get help → negative consequences for individual → negative consequences for the organization.

Perlow ( 1997 ) then tested the abductive hypothesis that the vicious work cycle caused productivity problems (stage 5). To do so, the vicious work cycle was transformed into a virtuous cycle using scheduling quiet times to prevent work interruptions: relaxed work atmosphere → individuals focus on own work completion → few interruptions → positive consequences for individual and organization. To test the hypothesis, an experiment was conducted (research process 2 in Table 5 ) with engineers given scheduled quiet times each morning with no interruptions. The experiment was successful: the project deadline was met. The hypothesis about work interruptions and the false belief that long hours are needed for success were supported (design stage 6). Unfortunately, the change was not sustained and engineers reverted to work interruptions when the experiment ended.

There are three additional qualitative approaches used in management research that pursue objectives other than producing empirical findings and developing or testing theories. These include critical theory and research, postmodernism, and change intervention research (see Table 6 ).

The Critical Theory and Research Approach

The term “critical” has many meanings including (a) critiques oriented to uncovering ideological manifestations in social relations (Gephart, 2013 , p. 284); (b) critiques of underlying assumptions of theories; and (c) critique as self-reflection that reflexively encapsulates the investigator (Morrow, 1994 , p. 9). Critical theory and critical management studies bring these conceptions of critical to bear on organizations and employees.

Critical theory and research extend the theories Karl Marx, and the Frankfurt School in Germany (Gephart & Kulicki, 2008 ; Gephart & Pitter, 1995 ; Habermas, 1973 , 1979 ; Morrow, 1994 ; Offe, 1984 , 1985 ). Critical theory and research assume that social science research differs from natural science research because social facts are human creations and social phenomena cannot be controlled as readily as natural phenomena (Gephart, 2013 , p. 284; Morrow, 1994 , p. 9). As a result, critical theory often uses a historical approach to explore issues that arise from the fundamental contradictions of capitalism. Critical research explores ongoing changes within capitalist societies and organizations, and analyzes the objective structures that constrain human imagination and action (Morrow, 1994 ). It seeks to uncover the contradictions of advanced capitalism that emerge from the fundamental contradiction of capitalism: owners of capital have the right to appropriate the surplus value created by workers. This basic contradiction produces further contradictions that become sources of workplace oppression and resistance that create labor issues. Thus contradictions reveal how power creates consciousness (Poutanen & Kovalainen, 2010 ). Critical reflection is used to de-reify taken-for-granted structures that create power inequities and to motivate resistance and critique and escape from dominant structures (see Table 6 ).

Critical management studies build on critical theory in sociology. It seeks to transform management and provide alternatives to mainstream theory (Adler, Forbes, & Willmott, 2007 ). The focus is “the social injustice and environmental destruction of the broader social and economic systems” served by conventional, capitalist managers (Adler et al., 2007 , p. 118). Critical management research examines “the systemic corrosion of moral responsibility when any concern for people or for the environment . . . requires justification in terms of its contribution to profitable growth” (p. 4). Critical management studies goes beyond scientific skepticism to undertake a radical critique of socially divisive and environmentally destructive patterns and structures (Adler et al., 2007 , p. 119). These studies use critical reflexivity to uncover reified capitalist structures that allow certain groups to dominate others. Critical reflection is used to de-reify and challenge the facts of social life that are seen as immutable and inevitable (Gephart & Richardson, 2008 , p. 34). The combination of dialogical inquiry, critical reflection, and a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods and data are common in this research (Gephart, 2013 , p. 285). Some researchers use deductive logics to build falsifiable theories while other researchers do grounded theory building (Blaikie, 2010 ). Validity of critical research is assessed as the capability the research has to produce critical reflexivity that comprehends dominant ideologies and transforms repressive structures into democratic processes and institutions (Gephart & Richardson, 2008 ).

An illustrative example of critical research . Barker ( 1998 , p. 130) studied “concertive control” in self-managed work teams in a small manufacturing firm. Concertive control refers to how workers collaborate to engage in self-control. Barker sought to understand how control practices in the self-managed team setting, established to allow workers greater control over their work, differed from previous bureaucratic processes. Interviews, observations, and documents were used as data sources. The resultant description of work activities and control shows that rather than allowing workers greater control, the control process enacted by workers themselves became stronger: “The iron cage becomes stronger” and almost invisible “to the workers it incarcerates” (Barker, 1998 , p. 155). This study shows how traditional participant observation methods can be used to uncover and contest reified structures and taken-for-granted truths, and to reveal the hidden managerial interests served.

Postmodern Perspectives

The postmodern perspective (Boje, Gephart, & Thatchenkery, 1996 ) is based in philosophy, the humanities, and literary criticism. Postmodernism, as an era, refers to the historical stage following modernity that evidences a new cultural worldview and style of intellectual production (Boje et al., 1996 ; Jameson, 1991 ; Rosenau, 1992 ). Postmodernism offers a humanistic approach to reconceptualize our experience of the social world in an era where it is impossible to establish any foundational underpinnings for knowledge. The postmodern perspective assumes that realities are contradictory in nature and value-laden (Gephart & Richardson, 2008 ; Rosenau, 1992 , p. 6). It addresses the values and contradictions of contemporary settings, how hidden power operates, and how people are categorized (Gephart, 2013 ). Postmodernism also challenges the idea that scientific research is value free, and asks “whose values are served by research?”

Postmodern essays depart from concerns with systematic, replicable research methods and designs (Calas, 1987 ). They seek instead to explore the values and contradictions of contemporary organizational life (Gephart, 2013 , p. 289). Research reports have the character of essays that seek to reconceptualize how people experience the world (Martin, 1990 ; Rosenau, 1992 ) and to disrupt this experience by producing “reading effects” that unsettle a community (Calas & Smircich, 1991 ).

Postmodernism examines intertextual relations—how texts become embedded in other texts—rather than causal relations. It assumes there are no singular realities or truths, only multiple realities and multiple truths, none of which are superior to other truths (Gephart, 2013 ). Truth is conceived as the outcome of language use in a context where power relations and multiple realities exist.

From a methodological view, postmodern research tends to focus on discourse: texts and talk. Data collection (in so far as it occurs) focuses on records of discourse—texts of spoken and written verbal communication (Fairclough, 1992 ). Use of formal or official records including recordings, texts and transcripts is common. Analytically, scholars tend to use critical discourse analysis (Fairclough, 1992 ), narrative analysis (Czarniawska, 1998 ; Ganzin, Gephart, & Suddaby, 2014 ), rhetorical analysis (Culler, 1982 ; Gephart, 1988 ; McCloskey, 1984 ) and deconstruction (Calais & Smircich, 1991 ; Gephart, 1988 ; Kilduff, 1993 ; Martin, 1990 ) to understand how categories are shaped through language use and come to privilege or subordinate individuals.

Postmodernism challenges models of knowledge production by showing how political discourses produce totalizing categories, showing how categorization is a tool for social control, and attempting to create opportunities for alternative representations of the world. It thus provides a means to uncover and expose discursive features of domination, subordination, and resistance in society (Locke & Golden-Biddle, 2004 ).

An illustrative example of postmodern research . Martin ( 1990 ) deconstructed a conference speech by a company president. The president was so “deeply concerned” about employee well-being and involvement at work that he encouraged a woman manager “to have her Caesarian yesterday” so she could participate in an upcoming product launch. Martin deconstructs the story to reveal the suppression of gender conflict in the dialogue and how this allows gender conflict and subjugation to continue. This research established the existence of important domains of organizational life, such as tacit gender conflict, that have not been adequately addressed and explored the power dynamics therein.

The Organization Development Approach

OD involves a planned and systematic diagnosis and intervention into an organizational system, supported by top management, with the intent of improving the organization’s effectiveness (Beckhard, 1969 ; Palmer, Dunford, & Buchanan, 2017 , p. 282). OD research (termed “clinical research” by Schein, 1987 ) is concerned with changing attitudes and behaviors to instantiate fundamental values in organizations. OD research often follows the general process of action research (Lalonde, 2019 ) that involves working with actors in an organization to help improve the organization. OD research involves a set of stages the OD practitioner (the leader of the intervention) uses: (a) problem identification; (b) consultation between OD practitioner and client; (c) data collection and problem diagnosis; (d) feedback; (e) joint problem diagnosis; (f) joint action planning; (g) change actions; and (h) further data gathering to move recursively to a refined step 1.

An illustrative example of the organization development approach . Numerous OD techniques exist to help organizations change (Palmer et al., 2017 ). The OD approach is illustrated here by the socioeconomic approach to management (SEAM) (Buono & Savall, 2007 ; Savall, 2007 ). SEAM provides a scientific approach to organizational intervention consulting that integrates qualitative information on work practices and employee and customer needs (socio) with quantitative and financial performance measures (economics). The socioeconomic intervention process commences by uncovering dysfunctions that require attention in an organization. SEAM assumes that organizations produce both (a) explicit benefits and costs and (b) hidden benefits and costs. Hidden costs refer to economic implications of organizational dysfunctions (Worley, Zardet, Bonnet, & Savall, 2015 , pp. 28–29). These include problems in working conditions; work organization; communication, co-ordination, and co-operation; time management; integrated training; and strategy implementation (Savall, Zardet, & Bonnet, 2008 , p. 33). Explicit costs are emphasized in management decision-making but hidden costs are ignored. Yet hidden costs from dysfunctions often greatly outstrip explicit costs.

For example, a fishing company sought to protect its market share by reducing the price and quality of products, leading to the purchase of poor-quality fish (Savall et al., 2008 , pp. 31–32). This reduced visible costs by €500,000. However, some customers stopped purchasing because of the lower-quality product, producing a loss of sales of €4,000,000 in revenue or an overall drop in economic performance of €3,500,000. The managers then changed their strategy to focus on health and quality. They implemented the SEAM approach, assessed the negative impact of the hidden costs on value added and revenue received, and purchased higher-quality fish. Visible costs (expenses) increased by €1,000,000 due to the higher cost for a better-quality product, but the improved quality (performance) cut the hidden costs by increasing loyalty and increased sales by €5,000,000 leaving an increased profit of €4,000,000.

SEAM allows organizations to uncover hidden costs in their operations and to convert these costs into value-added human potential through a process termed “qualimetrics.” Qualimetrics assesses the nature of hidden costs and organizational dysfunctions, develops estimates of the frequencies and amounts of hidden costs in specific organizational domains, and develops actions to reduce the hidden costs and thereby release additional value added for the organization (Savall & Zardet, 2011 ). The qualimetric process is participative and involves researchers who use observations, interviews and focus groups of employees to (a) describe, qualitatively, the dysfunctions experienced at work (qualitative data); (b) estimate the frequencies with which dysfunctions occur (quantitative data); and (c) estimate the costs of each dysfunction (financial data). Then, strategic change actions are developed to (a) identify ways to reduce or overcome the dysfunction, (b) estimate how frequently the dysfunction can be remedied, and (c) estimate the overall net costs of removing the hidden costs to enhance value added. The economic balance is then assessed for changes to transform the hidden costs into value added.

OD research creates actionable knowledge from practice (Lalonde, 2019 ). OD intervention consultants use multistep processes to change organizations that are flexible practices not fixed research designs. OD plays an important role in developing evidence-based practices to improve organizational functioning and performance. Worley et al. ( 2015 ) provide a detailed example of the large-scale implementation of the SEAM OD approach in a large, international firm.

Here we discuss implication of qualitative research designs for covert research, reporting qualitative work and novel integrations of qualitative and quantitative work.

Covert Research

University ethics boards require researchers who undertake research with human participants to obtain informed consent from the participants. Consent requires that all participants must be informed of details of the research procedure in which they will be involved and any risks of participation. Researchers must protect subjects’ identities, offer safeguards to limit risks, and insure informant anonymity. This consent must be obtained in the form of a signed agreement from the participant, obtained prior to the commencement of research observations (McCurdy et al., 2005 , pp. 29–32).

Covert research that fails to fully disclose research purposes or practices to participants, or that is otherwise deceptive by design or tacit practice, has long been considered “suspect” in the field (Graham, 1995 ; Roulet, Gill, Stenger, & Gill, 2017 ). This is changing. Research methodologists have shown that the over/covert dimension is a continuum, not a dichotomy, and that unintended covert elements occur in many situations (Roulet et al., 2017 ). Thus all qualitative observation involves some degree of deception due practical constraints on doing observations since it is difficult to do fully overt research, particularly in observational contexts with many people, and to gain advance consent from everyone in the organization one might encounter.

There are compelling benefits to covert research. It can provide insights not possible if subjects are fully informed of the nature or existence of the research. For example, the year-long, covert observational study of an asylum as a “total institution” (Goffman, 1961 ) showed how ineffective the treatment of mental illness was at the time. This opened the field of mental health to social science research (Roulet et al., 2017 , p. 493). Covert research can also provide access to institutions that researchers would otherwise be excluded from, including secretive and secret organizations (p. 492). This could allow researchers to collect data as an insider and to better see and experience the world from members’ perspective. It could also reduce “researcher demand effects” that occur when informants obscure their normal behavior to conform to research expectations. Thus, the inclusion of covert research data collection in research designs and proposals is an emerging trend and realistic possibility. Ethics applications can be developed that allow for aspects of covert research, and observations in many public settings do not require informed consent.

The Appropriate Style for Reporting Qualitative Work

The appropriate style for reporting qualitative research has become an issue of concern. For example, editors of the influential Academy of Management Journal have noted the emergence of an “AMJ style” for qualitative work (Bansal & Corley, 2011 , p. 234). They suggest that all qualitative work should use this style so that qualitative research can “benefit” from: “decades of refinement in the style of quantitative work.” The argument is that most scholars can assess the empirical and theoretical contributions of quantitative work but find it difficult to do so for qualitative research. It is easier for quantitatively trained editors and scholars “to spot the contribution of qualitative work that mimics the style of quantitative research.” Further, “the majority of papers submitted to . . . AMJ tend to subscribe to the paradigm of normal science that aims to find relationships among valid constructs that can be replicated by anyone” (Bansal, Smith, & Vaara, 2018 , p. 1193). These recommendations appear to explicitly encourage the reporting of qualitative results as if they were quantitatively produced and interpreted and highlights the advantage of conformity to the prevailing positivist perspective to gain publication in AMJ.

Yet AMJ editors have also called for researchers to “ensure that the research questions, data, and analysis are internally consistent ” (Bansal et al., 2018 , p. 1193) and to “Be authentic , detailed and clear in argumentation” (emphasis added) (Bansal et al., 2018 , p. 1193). These calls for consistency appear to be inconsistent with suggestions to present all qualitative research using a style that mimics quantitative, positivist research. Adopting the quantitative or positivist style for all qualitative reports may also confuse scholars, limit research quality, and hamper efforts to produce innovative, non-positivist research. This article provides six qualitative research designs to ensure a range of qualitative research publications are internally consistent in methods, logics, paradigmatic commitments, and writing styles. These designs provide alternatives to positivist mimicry in non-positivist scholarly texts.

Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Research in New Ways

Qualitative research often omits consideration of the naturally occurring uses of numbers and statistics in everyday discourse. And quantitative researchers tend to ignore qualitative evidence such as stories and discourse. Yet knowledge production processes in society “rely on experts and laypeople and, in so doing, make use of both statistics and stories in their attempt to represent and understand social reality” (Ainsworth & Hardy, 2012 , p. 1649). Numbers and statistics are often used in stories to create legitimacy, and stories provide meaning to numbers (Gephart, 1988 ). Hence stories and statistics cannot be separated in processes of knowledge production (Ainsworth & Hardy, 2012 , p. 1697). The lack of attention to the role of quantification in everyday life means a huge domain of organizational discourse—all talk that uses numbers, quantities, and statistics—is largely unexplored in organizational research.

Qualitative research has, however, begun to study how words and numbers are mutually used for organizational storytelling (Ainsworth & Hardy, 2012 ; Gephart, 2016 ). This focus offers the opportunity to develop research designs to explore qualitative features and processes involved in quantitative phenomena such as financial crises (Gephart, 2016 ), to address how stories and numbers need to work together to create legitimate knowledge (Ainsworth & Hardy, 2012 ), and to show how statistics are used rhetorically to convince others of truths in organizational research (Gephart, 1988 ).

Ethnostatistics (Gephart, 1988 ; Gephart & Saylors, 2019 ) provides one example of how to integrate qualitative and quantitative research. Ethnostatistics examines how statistics are constructed and used by professionals. It explores how statistics are constructed in real settings, how violations of technical assumptions impact statistical outcomes, and how statistics are used rhetorically to convince others of the truth of research outcomes. Ethnostatistics has been used to reinterpret data from four celebrated network studies that themselves were reanalyzed (Kilduff & Oh, 2006 ). The ethnostatistical reanalyses revealed how ad hoc practices, including judgment calls and the imputation of new data into old data set for reanalysis, transformed the focus of network research from diffusion models to structural equivalence models.

Another innovative study uses a Bayesian ethnostatistical approach to understand how the pressure to produce sophisticated and increasingly complex theoretical narratives for causal models has impacted the quantitative knowledge generated in top journals (Saylors & Trafimow, 2020 ). The use of complex causal models has increased substantially over time due to a qualitative and untested belief that complex models are true. Yet statistically speaking, as the number of variables in a model increase, the likelihood the model is true rapidly decreases (Saylors & Trafimow, 2020 , p. 3).

The authors test the previously untested (qualitative) belief that complex causal models can be true. They found that “the joint probability of a six variable model is about 3.5%” (Saylors & Trafimow, 2020 , p. 1). They conclude that “much of the knowledge generated in top journals is likely false” hence “not reporting a (prior) belief in a complex model” should be relegated to the set of questionable research practices. This study shows how qualitative research that explores the lay theories and beliefs of statisticians and quantitative researchers can challenge and disrupt conventions in quantitative research, improve quantitative practices, and contribute qualitative foundations to quantitative research. Ethnostatistics thus opens the qualitative foundations of quantitative research to critical qualitative analyses.

The six qualitative research design processes discussed in this article are evident in scholarly research on organizations and management and provide distinct qualitative research designs and approaches to use. Qualitative research can provide research insights from several theoretical perspectives, using well-developed methods to produce scientific and scholarly insights into management and organizations. These approaches and designs can also inform management practice by creating actionable knowledge. The intended contribution of this article is to describe these well-developed methods, articulate key practices, and display core research designs. The hope is both to better equip researchers to do qualitative research, and to inspire them to do so.

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the assistance of Karen Lund at The University of Alberta for carefully preparing Figure 1 . Thanks also to Beverly Zubot for close reading of the manuscript and helpful suggestions.

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1. The fourth logic is retroduction. This refers to the process of building hypothetical models of structures and mechanisms that are assumed to produce empirical phenomena. It is the primary logic used in the critical realist approach to scientific research (Avenier & Thomas, 2015 ; Bhaskar, 1978 ). Retroduction requires the use of inductive or abductive strategies to discover the mechanisms that explain regularities (Blaikie, 2010 , p. 87). There is no evident logic for discovering mechanisms and this requires disciplined scientific thinking aided by creative imagination, intuition, and guesswork (Blaikie, 2010 ). Retroduction is likr deduction in asking “what” questions and differs from abduction because it produces explanations rather than understanding, causes rather than reasons, and hypothetical conceptual mechanisms rather than descriptions of behavioral processes as outcomes. Retroduction is becoming important in the field but has not as yet been extensively used in management and organization studies (for examples of uses, see Avenier & Thomas, 2015 ); hence, we do not address it at length in this article.

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Qualitative Research in Business and Management

• Michael D Myers - University of Auckland, New Zealand
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This accessible and expansive, yet remarkably concise textbook is designed to help readers with their research project. As well as guiding them through the key methods of collecting and analysing qualitative data, this book provides invaluable information on writing up their research and how to get published.

Now in its third edition,  Qualitative Research in Business and Management  has been fully updated to include a range of recent examples of aspects of qualitative research in action, and a new look at the methods and ethics of using social media data.

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The online resources featured are further reading, weblinks and powerpoint slides.

Qualitative Research in Business and Management is an accessible and well-structured introduction in qualitative research. Myers clearly explains the main concepts and principles of qualitative research, illustrating them with recent examples from top journals. Being concise and comprehensive, I consider this the best textbook in the field.

Perfect for Dissertation support

Great book, well written

This is one of few books on qualitative research method in business. The coverage is extensive. It includes both the design and data analysis of qualitative research. Although the author is a scholar in information systems, he managed to include all the business and management sub-areas in the book. The explanation is also very easy to follow.

A good book to invite students to prepare for theses using qualitative methods. The book covers the essential in an abordable way.

a useful text aimed at Business and management students which will provide a useful source of advice and guidance as well as introducing the basics.

Well explained qualitative research concepts and the exercise sections are useful.

Currently this book is still in the university (building). Due to Covid 19 I was not able to collect it.

It is a clear and concise volume that summarises many of the issues my students face in conducting their qualitative research.

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The Top 10 Most Interesting Business Research Topics

Interesting and relevant business research topics are vital for students pursuing an MBA or an undergraduate degree in business . Aside from helping you get excellent grades in school, they can help you understand business problems and come up with solutions to vital business research questions.

Choosing a single business research paper topic can be daunting. There are tons of exciting topics to choose from. This article provides several examples of business research paper topics that can inspire your next paper or research project.

Find your bootcamp match

What makes a strong business research topic.

A strong business research paper topic is clear, concise, well-phrased, and easy to understand. It is devoid of unnecessary jargon and may contain relevant business terms and widely known abbreviations. It also lays the foundation for the entire paper, summarizing the scope and aim of the business research project.

Tips for Choosing a Business Research Topic

• Brainstorm: When choosing a research topic, begin by brainstorming topics that strike your interest or that you have substantial knowledge about. Make a list of ideas as you go.
• Consider keywords and hot topics: Think about trends and hot topics in your field and academic network. Skimming the table of contents in a recently published business journal can be very helpful in this regard.
• Research: Next, read up on your keywords to help you form possible topics for your research paper. Conduct a literature review to see what other researchers have discovered and how your research can add to the existing body of knowledge.
• Sort your ideas: After your preliminary research, take your ideas and sort them into categories. For instance, keep topics on business law separate from international business topics.
• Narrow down: Finally, narrow down your options. At this stage, consider the cost of running the project, your level of expertise, your interest, and the availability of research materials. Eventually, you’ll arrive at a single ideal research topic.

What’s the Difference Between a Research Topic and a Research Question?

A research topic is a subject that forms the foundation of your research paper—for example, the impact of gender discrimination. Your topic scope here may be fairly broad.

By contrast, a research question articulates a specific problem that your research aims to solve. Answering research questions should be the objective of your study or thesis. One example of a strong research question is “How do cultural contexts affect the impact of gender discrimination in privately owned companies?”

How to Create Strong Business Research Questions

Creating strong business research questions follows the same rules as choosing strong business research topics. However, this time you have to ask the following questions: how, why, and who? Research questions should relate to your topic of study. They should be clear, straightforward, and answerable.

Top 10 Business Research Paper Topics

1. frameworks for better customer privacy protection, information security, and data utilization.

Privacy is a common issue for customers and businesses in this data-driven age. The World Bank’s Data Protection and Privacy Policy laws ensure that companies comply with business ethics and best practices when handling customer data. What are some strategies that businesses employ to ensure proper data handling?

2. Modern Methods of Increasing Employee Productivity

Monetary incentives, healthy work environments, and excellent work-life balance keep workers motivated and improve productivity. This research can explore the pros and cons of each method and its potential implications on employee motivation and morale. You can use data analytics methods to assess the effectiveness of these strategies.

3. Brand Influencing and Social Media Marketing Strategies

The International Chamber of Commerce formulated the international code of conduct on direct selling to guide local and international business marketing operations to ensure fairness in highly competitive business environments. Such online marketing operations include social media marketing and brand influencing.

4. Analyzing the Role of Copyrights and Trademarks in Business Transactions

Copyright, patent, and trademark policy are essential legal doctrines that prevent business people from unfairly profiting from others’ creations. When two businesses enter into a transaction, several potential issues could arise. One such issue is the protection of intellectual property. The purpose of this research is to explore the role copyrights and trademarks play in maintaining fair business transactions.

5. Analyzing the Structure of Transactions and the Role of a Director’s Guarantee in Business Law

Transactions, specifically in business law, play a significant role in the stability of companies. This paper on business law aims to analyze business laws and the structure of transactions. It will also recognize the role of a director’s guarantee in ensuring these aspects function to maintain the stability of companies in the American business sector.

6. Challenges to Transforming Small Local Businesses into Global Business Brands

Scaling a start-up or a small family business into a global brand involves several factors, including financing and financial management , technology, management, and the business environment. By studying international brands like Walmart and Spanx, you can identify core challenges that impede scaling and suggest solutions ranging from innovation management and technological innovation to a possible change in government policies.

7. Ethical Issues in Modern Business Management

Business ethics is a core aspect of business management . It defines the right and wrong ways of conducting business and guides business managers in the day-to-day running of their enterprises. With this research topic, you can explore ethical issues a business leader faces in the modern era, such as business corruption, harassment, and discrimination.

8. The Economic Development of Developing Economies in the Emerging Digital Economy

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s 2021 report revealed a fast-rising global data-driven digital economy. It also sparked several questions regarding the divide between developing economies and their developed counterparts. Some areas of focus were poor internet connection and lack of technological infrastructure.

9. The Role of Business Negotiation in Driving Sales Performance

With this topic, you can focus on the role of different negotiation tactics in achieving desired outcomes for both the organization and the customer. Managers can use these findings to help their team members negotiate more effectively and achieve better results.

10. The Role of Social Entrepreneurship in Societal Transformation

Social entrepreneurs are business start-ups formed with the primary aim of solving a societal problem and upholding moral principles, turning profit-making into a lower priority than it might be otherwise. You can study the business plans and business models of these kinds of ventures and highlight their roles in bringing about sustainable development and other forms of positive social change.

Other Examples of Business Research Topics & Questions

Business research topics.

• Harnessing organizational structure as an antidote to corporate crime and a strategy for business survival
• Social intelligence and its roles in driving growth among women-owned start-ups
• Exploring links between employee diversity and corporate culture
• Legal risks for remote employees of marijuana-based businesses
• Environmental issues and their implications for business management

Business Research Questions

• Do employee diversity and internal business communication play an essential role in productivity?
• How can small companies impact global change?
• What are effective strategies for maintaining vastly diversified organizations?
• What role does human resource management play in ensuring proper crisis management in small businesses?
• What is the role of start-ups in global business?

Choosing the Right Business Research Topic

Choosing the right business topic can be challenging, but it is essential to writing a compelling paper. Make sure to pick a topic that interests you. Also, ensure that your topic meets your professor’s requirements for the assignment.

Having a good research topic is the first step to writing an excellent research paper because it lays the foundation for the entire piece. Conduct in-depth research and take advantage of any resources available to you to facilitate the process.

Business Research Topics FAQ

The difference between quantitative research and qualitative research is that quantitative research uses numerical data to analyze problems, and it relies on statistical sampling and mathematical models to arrive at conclusions. On the other hand, qualitative business research collects data through interviews, focus groups, and observations.

You can find strong business communication research paper topics on research websites like Google Scholar and ResearchGate. You can also check many other online resources for suggestions on dissertation topics in business communication.

When starting a business, you should research your industry, target market, and competitors. It is also necessary to study business law, organizational behavior, and financial management.

Some examples of business research questions on racial and gender discrimination in the workplace include:

• How does implicit bias impact employees and businesses?
• What can companies do to prevent or mitigate discrimination in the workplace? 
• How can we create a more inclusive workplace for all employees? 
• What are the best practices for handling discrimination complaints?

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Home » 500+ Business Research Topics

500+ Business Research Topics

Business research is an essential component of any successful organization, as it allows companies to make informed decisions based on data-driven insights. Whether it’s market research to identify new opportunities, or analyzing internal processes to improve efficiency, there are a vast array of business research topics that companies can explore. With the constantly evolving business landscape, it’s critical for organizations to stay up-to-date with the latest research trends and best practices to remain competitive. In this post, we’ll explore some of the most compelling business research topics that are currently being studied, providing insights and actionable recommendations for businesses of all sizes.

Business Research Topics

Business Research Topics are as follows:

• The impact of social media on consumer behavior
• Strategies for enhancing customer satisfaction in the service industry
• The effectiveness of mobile marketing campaigns
• Exploring the factors influencing employee turnover
• The role of leadership in organizational culture
• Investigating the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance
• Assessing the impact of employee engagement on organizational performance
• The challenges and opportunities of global supply chain management
• Analyzing the effectiveness of e-commerce platforms
• Investigating the impact of organizational culture on employee motivation
• The role of corporate governance in ensuring ethical business practices
• Examining the impact of digital marketing on brand equity
• Strategies for managing diversity and inclusion in the workplace
• Exploring the effects of employee empowerment on job satisfaction
• The role of innovation in business growth
• Analyzing the impact of mergers and acquisitions on company performance
• Investigating the impact of workplace design on employee productivity
• The challenges and opportunities of international business expansion
• Strategies for managing talent in the knowledge economy
• The role of artificial intelligence in transforming business operations
• Examining the impact of customer loyalty programs on retention and revenue
• Investigating the relationship between corporate social responsibility and brand reputation
• The role of emotional intelligence in effective leadership
• The impact of digital transformation on small and medium-sized enterprises
• Analyzing the effectiveness of green marketing strategies
• The role of entrepreneurship in economic development
• Investigating the impact of employee training and development on organizational performance
• The challenges and opportunities of omnichannel retailing
• Examining the impact of organizational change on employee morale and productivity
• The role of corporate social responsibility in attracting and retaining millennial talent
• Analyzing the impact of employee motivation on organizational culture
• Investigating the impact of workplace diversity on team performance
• The challenges and opportunities of blockchain technology in business operations
• Strategies for managing cross-functional teams
• The role of big data analytics in business decision-making
• Examining the impact of corporate social responsibility on customer loyalty
• Investigating the relationship between corporate social responsibility and employee engagement
• The impact of social media marketing on customer engagement and brand loyalty.
• The effectiveness of AI in improving customer service and satisfaction.
• The role of entrepreneurship in economic development and job creation.
• The impact of the gig economy on the labor market.
• The effects of corporate social responsibility on company profitability.
• The role of data analytics in predicting consumer behavior and market trends.
• The effects of globalization on the competitiveness of small businesses.
• The impact of e-commerce on traditional brick-and-mortar retail.
• The role of emotional intelligence in leadership and team management.
• The effects of workplace diversity on employee productivity and satisfaction.
• The role of corporate culture in employee retention and satisfaction.
• The impact of employee training and development on company performance.
• The effectiveness of performance-based pay structures on employee motivation.
• The impact of sustainability practices on company reputation and profitability.
• The effects of artificial intelligence on job displacement and the future of work.
• The role of innovation in the growth and success of small businesses.
• The impact of government regulations on business operations and profitability.
• The effects of organizational structure on company performance and efficiency.
• The role of emotional labor in service industries.
• The impact of employee empowerment on job satisfaction and retention.
• The effects of workplace flexibility on employee productivity and well-being.
• The role of emotional intelligence in negotiation and conflict resolution.
• The impact of branding on consumer behavior and purchase decisions.
• The effects of customer experience on brand loyalty and advocacy.
• The role of storytelling in marketing and advertising.
• The impact of consumer psychology on pricing strategies and sales.
• The effects of influencer marketing on consumer behavior and brand loyalty.
• The role of trust in online transactions and e-commerce.
• The impact of product design on consumer perception and purchasing decisions.
• The effects of customer satisfaction on company profitability and growth.
• The role of social entrepreneurship in addressing societal problems and creating value.
• The impact of corporate governance on company performance and stakeholder relations.
• The effects of workplace harassment on employee well-being and company culture.
• The role of strategic planning in the success of small businesses.
• The impact of technology on supply chain management and logistics.
• The effects of customer segmentation on marketing strategies and sales.
• The role of corporate philanthropy in building brand reputation and loyalty.
• The impact of intellectual property protection on innovation and creativity.
• The effects of trade policies on international business operations and profitability.
• The role of strategic partnerships in business growth and expansion.
• The impact of digital transformation on organizational structure and operations.
• The effects of leadership styles on employee motivation and performance.
• The role of corporate social activism in shaping public opinion and brand reputation.
• The impact of mergers and acquisitions on company performance and stakeholder value.
• The effects of workplace automation on job displacement and re-skilling.
• The role of cross-cultural communication in international business operations.
• The impact of workplace stress on employee health and productivity.
• The effects of customer reviews and ratings on online sales and reputation.
• The role of competitive intelligence in market research and strategy development.
• The impact of brand identity on consumer trust and loyalty.
• The impact of organizational structure on innovation and creativity
• Analyzing the effectiveness of virtual teams in global organizations
• The role of corporate social responsibility in crisis management
• The challenges and opportunities of online marketplaces
• Strategies for managing cultural diversity in multinational corporations
• The impact of employer branding on employee retention
• Investigating the impact of corporate social responsibility on investor behavior
• The role of technology in enhancing customer experience
• Analyzing the impact of social responsibility initiatives on customer satisfaction
• Investigating the impact of supply chain disruptions on business performance
• The role of business ethics in organizational decision-making
• The challenges and opportunities of artificial intelligence in customer service
• Strategies for managing employee burnout and stress in the workplace.
• Impact of social media on consumer behavior and its implications for businesses.
• The impact of corporate social responsibility on company performance.
• An analysis of the relationship between employee satisfaction and customer loyalty.
• The effect of advertising on consumer behavior.
• A study on the effectiveness of social media marketing in building brand image.
• The impact of technological innovations on business strategy and operations.
• The relationship between leadership style and employee motivation.
• A study of the effects of corporate culture on employee engagement.
• An analysis of the factors influencing consumer buying behavior.
• The effectiveness of training and development programs in enhancing employee performance.
• The impact of global economic factors on business decision-making.
• The role of organizational communication in achieving business goals.
• The relationship between customer satisfaction and business success.
• A study of the challenges and opportunities in international business.
• The effectiveness of supply chain management in improving business performance.
• An analysis of the factors influencing customer loyalty in the hospitality industry.
• The impact of employee turnover on organizational performance.
• A study of the impact of corporate governance on company performance.
• The role of innovation in business growth and success.
• An analysis of the relationship between marketing and sales performance.
• The effect of organizational structure on employee behavior.
• A study of the impact of cultural differences on business negotiations.
• The effectiveness of pricing strategies in increasing sales revenue.
• The impact of customer service on customer loyalty.
• A study of the role of human resource management in business success.
• The impact of e-commerce on traditional brick-and-mortar businesses.
• An analysis of the relationship between employee empowerment and job satisfaction.
• The effectiveness of customer relationship management in building brand loyalty.
• The role of business ethics in corporate decision-making.
• A study of the impact of digital marketing on consumer behavior.
• The effect of organizational culture on employee turnover.
• An analysis of the factors influencing employee engagement in the workplace.
• The impact of social media on business communication and marketing.
• A study of the relationship between customer service and customer loyalty in the airline industry.
• The role of diversity and inclusion in business success.
• The effectiveness of performance management systems in improving employee performance.
• The impact of corporate social responsibility on employee engagement.
• A study of the factors influencing business expansion into new markets.
• The role of brand identity in customer loyalty and retention.
• The effectiveness of change management strategies in organizational change.
• The impact of organizational structure on organizational performance.
• A study of the impact of technology on the future of work.
• The relationship between innovation and competitive advantage in the marketplace.
• The effect of employee training on organizational performance.
• An analysis of the impact of online reviews on consumer behavior.
• The role of leadership in shaping organizational culture.
• The effectiveness of talent management strategies in retaining top talent.
• The impact of globalization on small and medium-sized enterprises.
• A study of the relationship between corporate social responsibility and brand reputation.
• The effectiveness of employee retention strategies in reducing turnover rates.
• The role of emotional intelligence in leadership and employee engagement.
• The impact of digital marketing on customer behavior
• The role of organizational culture in employee engagement and retention
• The effects of employee training and development on organizational performance
• The relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance
• The impact of globalization on business strategy
• The importance of supply chain management in achieving competitive advantage
• The role of innovation in business growth and sustainability
• The impact of e-commerce on traditional retail businesses
• The role of leadership in managing change in organizations
• The effects of workplace diversity on organizational performance
• The impact of social media on brand image and reputation
• The relationship between employee motivation and productivity
• The role of organizational structure in promoting innovation
• The effects of customer service on customer loyalty
• The impact of globalization on small businesses
• The role of corporate governance in preventing unethical behavior
• The effects of technology on job design and work organization
• The relationship between employee satisfaction and turnover
• The impact of mergers and acquisitions on organizational culture
• The effects of employee benefits on job satisfaction
• The impact of cultural differences on international business negotiations
• The role of strategic planning in organizational success
• The effects of organizational change on employee stress and burnout
• The impact of business ethics on customer trust and loyalty
• The role of human resource management in achieving competitive advantage
• The effects of outsourcing on organizational performance
• The impact of diversity and inclusion on team performance
• The role of corporate social responsibility in brand differentiation
• The effects of leadership style on organizational culture
• The Impact of Digital Marketing on Brand Equity: A Study of E-commerce Businesses
• Investigating the Relationship between Employee Engagement and Organizational Performance
• Analyzing the Effects of Corporate Social Responsibility on Customer Loyalty and Firm Performance
• An Empirical Study of the Factors Affecting Entrepreneurial Success in the Technology Sector
• The Influence of Organizational Culture on Employee Motivation and Job Satisfaction: A Case Study of a Service Industry
• Investigating the Impact of Organizational Change on Employee Resistance: A Comparative Study of Two Organizations
• An Exploration of the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Supply Chain Management
• Examining the Relationship between Leadership Styles and Employee Creativity in Innovative Organizations
• Investigating the Effectiveness of Performance Appraisal Systems in Improving Employee Performance
• Analyzing the Role of Emotional Intelligence in Leadership Effectiveness: A Study of Senior Managers
• The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Employee Motivation and Job Satisfaction in the Healthcare Sector
• Evaluating the Effectiveness of Talent Management Strategies in Enhancing Organizational Performance
• A Study of the Effects of Customer Relationship Management on Customer Retention and Loyalty
• Investigating the Impact of Corporate Governance on Firm Performance: Evidence from Emerging Markets
• The Relationship between Intellectual Capital and Firm Performance: A Case Study of Technology Firms
• Analyzing the Effectiveness of Diversity Management in Improving Organizational Performance
• The Impact of Internationalization on the Performance of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises: A Comparative Study of Developed and Developing Countries
• Examining the Relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Financial Performance: A Study of Listed Firms
• Investigating the Influence of Entrepreneurial Orientation on Firm Performance in Emerging Markets
• Analyzing the Impact of E-commerce on Traditional Retail Business Models: A Study of Brick-and-Mortar Stores
• The Effect of Corporate Reputation on Customer Loyalty and Firm Performance: A Study of the Banking Sector
• Investigating the Factors Affecting Consumer Adoption of Mobile Payment Systems
• The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in Attracting and Retaining Millennial Employees
• Analyzing the Impact of Social Media Marketing on Brand Awareness and Consumer Purchase Intentions
• A Study of the Effects of Employee Training and Development on Job Performance
• Investigating the Relationship between Corporate Culture and Employee Turnover: A Study of Multinational Companies
• The Impact of Business Process Reengineering on Organizational Performance: A Study of Service Industries
• An Empirical Study of the Factors Affecting Internationalization Strategies of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
• The Effect of Strategic Human Resource Management on Firm Performance: A Study of Manufacturing Firms
• Investigating the Influence of Leadership on Organizational Culture: A Comparative Study of Two Organizations
• The Impact of Technology Adoption on Organizational Productivity: A Study of the Healthcare Sector
• Analyzing the Effects of Brand Personality on Consumer Purchase Intentions: A Study of Luxury Brands
• The Relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and Customer Perceptions of Product Quality: A Study of the Food and Beverage Industry
• Investigating the Effectiveness of Performance Management Systems in Improving Employee Performance: A Study of a Public Sector Organization
• The Impact of Business Ethics on Firm Performance: A Study of the Banking Industry
• Examining the Relationship between Employee Engagement and Customer Satisfaction in the Service Industry
• Investigating the Influence of Entrepreneurial Networking on Firm Performance: A Study of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises
• The Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility on Employee Retention: A Study of High-tech Firms
• The impact of workplace communication on employee engagement
• The role of customer feedback in improving service quality
• The effects of employee empowerment on job satisfaction
• The impact of innovation on customer satisfaction
• The role of knowledge management in organizational learning
• The effects of product innovation on market share
• The impact of business location on customer behavior
• The role of financial management in business success
• The effects of corporate social responsibility on employee engagement
• The impact of cultural intelligence on cross-cultural communication
• The role of social media in crisis management
• The effects of corporate branding on customer loyalty
• The impact of globalization on consumer behavior
• The role of emotional intelligence in leadership effectiveness
• The effects of employee involvement in decision-making on job satisfaction
• The impact of business strategy on market share
• The role of corporate culture in promoting ethical behavior
• The effects of corporate social responsibility on investor behavior
• The impact of sustainability on brand image and reputation
• The role of corporate social responsibility in reducing carbon emissions.
• The effectiveness of loyalty programs on customer retention
• The benefits of remote work for employee productivity
• The impact of environmental sustainability on consumer purchasing decisions
• The role of brand identity in consumer loyalty
• The relationship between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction
• The impact of e-commerce on traditional brick-and-mortar stores
• The effectiveness of online advertising on consumer behavior
• The impact of leadership styles on employee motivation
• The role of corporate social responsibility in brand perception
• The impact of workplace diversity on organizational performance
• The effectiveness of gamification in employee training programs
• The impact of pricing strategies on consumer behavior
• The effectiveness of mobile marketing on consumer engagement
• The impact of emotional intelligence on leadership effectiveness
• The role of customer service in consumer loyalty
• The impact of technology on supply chain management
• The effectiveness of employee training programs on job performance
• The impact of culture on consumer behavior
• The effectiveness of performance appraisal systems on employee motivation
• The impact of social responsibility on organizational performance
• The role of innovation in business success
• The impact of ethical leadership on organizational culture
• The effectiveness of cross-functional teams in project management
• The impact of government regulations on business operations
• The role of strategic planning in business growth
• The impact of emotional intelligence on team dynamics
• The effectiveness of supply chain management on customer satisfaction
• The impact of workplace culture on employee satisfaction
• The role of employee engagement in organizational success
• The impact of globalization on organizational culture
• The effectiveness of virtual teams in project management
• The impact of employee turnover on organizational performance
• The role of corporate social responsibility in talent acquisition
• The impact of technology on employee training and development
• The effectiveness of knowledge management on organizational learning
• The impact of organizational structure on employee motivation
• The role of innovation in organizational change
• The impact of cultural intelligence on global business operations
• The effectiveness of marketing strategies on brand perception
• The impact of change management on organizational culture
• The role of leadership in organizational transformation
• The impact of employee empowerment on job satisfaction
• The effectiveness of project management methodologies on project success
• The impact of workplace communication on team performance
• The role of emotional intelligence in conflict resolution
• The impact of employee motivation on job performance
• The effectiveness of diversity and inclusion initiatives on organizational performance.
• The impact of social media on consumer behavior and buying decisions
• The role of diversity and inclusion in corporate culture and its effects on employee retention and productivity
• The effectiveness of remote work policies on job satisfaction and work-life balance
• The impact of customer experience on brand loyalty and revenue growth
• The effects of environmental sustainability practices on corporate reputation and financial performance
• The role of corporate social responsibility in consumer purchasing decisions
• The effectiveness of leadership styles on team performance and productivity
• The effects of employee motivation on job performance and turnover
• The impact of technology on supply chain management and logistics efficiency
• The role of emotional intelligence in effective leadership and team dynamics
• The impact of artificial intelligence and automation on job displacement and workforce trends
• The effects of brand image on consumer perception and purchasing decisions
• The role of corporate culture in promoting innovation and creativity
• The impact of e-commerce on traditional brick-and-mortar retail businesses
• The effects of corporate governance on financial reporting and transparency
• The effectiveness of performance-based compensation on employee motivation and productivity
• The impact of online reviews and ratings on consumer trust and brand reputation
• The effects of workplace diversity on innovation and creativity
• The impact of mobile technology on marketing strategies and consumer behavior
• The role of emotional intelligence in customer service and satisfaction
• The effects of corporate reputation on financial performance and stakeholder trust
• The impact of artificial intelligence on customer service and support
• The role of organizational culture in promoting ethical behavior and decision-making
• The effects of corporate social responsibility on employee engagement and satisfaction
• The impact of employee turnover on organizational performance and profitability
• The role of customer satisfaction in promoting brand loyalty and advocacy
• The effects of workplace flexibility on employee morale and productivity
• The impact of employee wellness programs on absenteeism and healthcare costs
• The role of data analytics in business decision-making and strategy formulation
• The effects of brand personality on consumer behavior and perception
• The impact of social media marketing on brand awareness and customer engagement
• The role of organizational justice in promoting employee satisfaction and retention
• The effects of corporate branding on employee motivation and loyalty
• The impact of online advertising on consumer behavior and purchasing decisions
• The role of corporate entrepreneurship in promoting innovation and growth
• The effects of cultural intelligence on cross-cultural communication and business success
• The impact of workplace diversity on customer satisfaction and loyalty
• The role of ethical leadership in promoting employee trust and commitment
• The effects of job stress on employee health and well-being
• The impact of supply chain disruptions on business operations and financial performance
• The role of organizational learning in promoting continuous improvement and innovation
• The effects of employee engagement on customer satisfaction and loyalty
• The impact of brand extensions on brand equity and consumer behavior
• The role of strategic alliances in promoting business growth and competitiveness
• The effects of corporate transparency on stakeholder trust and loyalty
• The impact of digital transformation on business models and competitiveness
• The role of business ethics in promoting corporate social responsibility and sustainability
• The effects of employee empowerment on job satisfaction and organizational performance.
• The role of corporate governance in mitigating unethical behavior in multinational corporations.
• The effects of cultural diversity on team performance in multinational corporations.
• The impact of corporate social responsibility on consumer loyalty and brand reputation.
• The relationship between organizational culture and employee engagement in service industries.
• The impact of globalization on the competitiveness of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
• The effectiveness of performance-based pay systems on employee motivation and productivity.
• The relationship between innovation and corporate performance in the pharmaceutical industry.
• The impact of digital marketing on the traditional marketing mix.
• The role of emotional intelligence in leadership effectiveness in cross-cultural teams.
• The relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance in the banking sector.
• The impact of diversity management on employee satisfaction and retention in multinational corporations.
• The relationship between leadership style and organizational culture in family-owned businesses.
• The impact of e-commerce on supply chain management.
• The effectiveness of training and development programs on employee performance in the retail sector.
• The impact of global economic trends on strategic decision-making in multinational corporations.
• The relationship between ethical leadership and employee job satisfaction in the healthcare industry.
• The impact of employee empowerment on organizational performance in the manufacturing sector.
• The relationship between corporate social responsibility and employee well-being in the hospitality industry.
• The impact of artificial intelligence on customer service in the banking industry.
• The relationship between emotional intelligence and employee creativity in the technology industry.
• The impact of big data analytics on customer relationship management in the telecommunications industry.
• The relationship between organizational culture and innovation in the automotive industry.
• The impact of internationalization on the performance of SMEs in emerging markets.
• The effectiveness of performance appraisal systems on employee motivation and retention in the public sector.
• The relationship between diversity management and innovation in the pharmaceutical industry.
• The impact of social entrepreneurship on economic development in developing countries.
• The relationship between transformational leadership and organizational change in the energy sector.
• The impact of online customer reviews on brand reputation in the hospitality industry.
• The effectiveness of leadership development programs on employee engagement in the finance industry.
• The relationship between corporate social responsibility and employee turnover in the retail sector.
• The impact of artificial intelligence on the recruitment and selection process in the technology industry.
• The relationship between organizational culture and employee creativity in the fashion industry.
• The impact of digital transformation on business models in the insurance industry.
• The relationship between employee engagement and customer satisfaction in the service industry.
• The impact of mergers and acquisitions on organizational culture and employee morale.
• The effectiveness of knowledge management systems on organizational performance in the consulting industry.
• The impact of social media marketing on brand loyalty in the food and beverage industry.
• The relationship between emotional intelligence and customer satisfaction in the airline industry.
• The impact of blockchain technology on supply chain management in the logistics industry.
• The relationship between corporate social responsibility and employee engagement in the technology industry.
• The impact of digitalization on talent management practices in the hospitality industry.
• The effectiveness of reward and recognition programs on employee motivation in the manufacturing industry.
• The impact of industry 4.0 on organizational structure and culture in the aerospace industry.
• The relationship between leadership style and team performance in the construction industry.
• The impact of artificial intelligence on financial forecasting and decision-making in the banking sector.
• The relationship between corporate social responsibility and customer loyalty in the automotive industry.
• The impact of virtual teams on employee communication and collaboration in the pharmaceutical industry.
• The impact of remote work on employee productivity and job satisfaction
• The effects of social media marketing on customer engagement and brand loyalty
• The role of artificial intelligence in streamlining supply chain management
• The effectiveness of employee training and development programs on organizational performance
• The impact of diversity and inclusion initiatives on organizational culture and employee satisfaction
• The role of corporate social responsibility in enhancing brand reputation and customer loyalty
• The effects of e-commerce on small businesses and local economies
• The impact of big data analytics on marketing strategies and customer insights
• The effects of employee empowerment on organizational innovation and performance
• The impact of globalization on the hospitality industry
• The effects of corporate governance on organizational performance and financial outcomes
• The role of customer satisfaction in driving business growth and profitability
• The impact of artificial intelligence on financial forecasting and risk management
• The effects of corporate culture on employee engagement and retention
• The role of green marketing in promoting environmental sustainability and brand reputation
• The impact of digital transformation on the retail industry
• The effects of employee motivation on job performance and organizational productivity
• The role of customer experience in enhancing brand loyalty and advocacy
• The impact of international trade agreements on global business practices
• The effects of artificial intelligence on customer service and support
• The role of organizational communication in facilitating teamwork and collaboration
• The impact of corporate social responsibility on employee motivation and retention
• The effects of global economic instability on business decision-making
• The role of leadership styles in organizational change management
• The impact of social media influencers on consumer behavior and purchasing decisions
• The effects of employee well-being on organizational productivity and profitability
• The role of innovation in driving business growth and competitive advantage
• The impact of digital marketing on consumer behavior and brand perception
• The role of strategic planning in organizational success and sustainability
• The impact of e-commerce on consumer privacy and data security
• The effects of corporate reputation on customer acquisition and retention
• The role of diversity and inclusion in organizational creativity and innovation
• The impact of artificial intelligence on customer relationship management
• The effects of customer feedback on product development and innovation
• The role of employee job satisfaction in reducing turnover and absenteeism
• The impact of global competition on business strategy and innovation
• The effects of corporate branding on customer loyalty and advocacy
• The role of digital transformation in enhancing organizational agility and responsiveness
• The effects of employee empowerment on customer satisfaction and loyalty
• The role of entrepreneurial leadership in driving business innovation and growth
• The impact of digital disruption on traditional business models
• The effects of organizational culture on innovation and creativity
• The role of marketing research in developing effective marketing strategies
• The impact of social media on customer relationship management
• The effects of employee engagement on organizational innovation and competitiveness
• The role of strategic partnerships in promoting business growth and expansion
• The impact of global trends on business innovation and entrepreneurship

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

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Qualitative Research in Business and Management

• Emma Bell - Open University, UK
• Hugh Willmott - Cardiff Business School, UK
• Description

Over the past few decades, qualitative research in management and business has expanded rapidly. Business and management is set to become - if it is not already - the dominant field within the domain of qualitative research. It is therefore vital that students and scholars are well-informed about exemplary contributions to, methods employed by, and issues, challenges, debates faced by qualitative researchers in this field. This four-volume collection is designed to provide a set of authoritative sources capable of facilitating the development of knowledge and understanding.  The collection provides an Introduction written by the editors, which contextualises and guides readers through the selection. Volume One: Classical and Contemporary Studies Volume Two: Methods, Approaches, Techniques: Guides and Exemplars Volume Three: Practices and Preoccupations Volume Four: Challenges and Prospects

See what’s new to this edition by selecting the Features tab on this page. Should you need additional information or have questions regarding the HEOA information provided for this title, including what is new to this edition, please email [email protected] . Please include your name, contact information, and the name of the title for which you would like more information. For information on the HEOA, please go to http://ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea08/index.html .

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Enlightening, provocative, argumentative, and formidably perceptive, this collection conveys the richness and complexity of organizational life while also holding the keys to its amelioration. While qualitative research studies in organization and management may still be outnumbered by their quantitative counterparts, we can see here how and why they hold the upper hand in transforming theory and practice.

Emma Bell and Hugh Willmott have put together four volumes of historically rich, analytically inclusive and vivid accounts of carrying out qualitative research in business and management settings. The volumes take readers through canonical, classic works to significant contemporary developments – in both theory and method – reflecting the changing organizational contexts in which current research is set. The editors provide a thoughtful introduction and guide to the materials. This is without doubt the most comprehensive and broad treatment of qualitative research I have ever encountered. It will have a long shelf life, deservedly so.

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Qualitative Research Topics & Ideas For Students

Do you have difficulty finding a qualitative research title for your project? If you are, you need not worry because you are not alone. However, there are many unique qualitative titles you can explore for your research. You just need a few qualitative research title examples to get you started. Qualitative research is focused on data obtained through a researcher’s first-hand observations, natural setting recording, artifacts, case studies, documents, questionnaires, and interviews. The findings in qualitative research are usually non-numerical. Also, it is common in humanities and social sciences. This post provides over 100 qualitative research topics you can consider.

• The Best Qualitative Research Topics That Impress the Teacher

Exceptional Qualitative Research Topics In Social Science

Qualitative research title examples for students, fantastic examples of qualitative research titles, good topics to start for qualitative research, qualitative research topics in education, quick examples of qualitative research topics, qualitative research topics in the philippines, qualitative researches topics about humanity & social science, great choices of qualitative research title examples, qualitative research topics for students to think about, our examples of the best qualitative research topics that impress the teacher.

An excellent research topic will help you earn a good grade. Consider any example of a qualitative research title from the following options:

• The impacts of social media on physical social engagement in society
• The benefits of treating mental disorders with medication
• The effects of Gender-Based Violence on women’s social lives in rural areas
• The decline of academic pursuit in third-world countries
• Sexual workers: the stigma they experience
• How has the promotion of feminist values influenced workplaces?
• Free education: its impact in third-world countries
• What is the correlation between education and success?
• Ableism: its effects on disabled people in society
• Food insecurity in third-world nations

The topic of your research paper can influence how easily you can conduct your study and draw conclusions.

Here are fantastic examples of qualitative research titles:

• Female harm: how it is influenced by culture
• The socioeconomic impacts of free education
• The link between food insecurity and poor performance in schools
• Alcoholism among college students: a critical study
• How to mitigate child labor in our society
• The root causes of child labor in Latin America
• The stigma of living with transmissive medical conditions
• The root cause of the stigma of people living with disabilities
• How to identify depression in small children
• Signs of autism in kids below two years old

Choosing a qualitative research topic is not a task you should take lightly because it can influence your performance. Here are some noteworthy qualitative research titles examples:

• Basic patient care policies in developing nations
• The impacts of alcoholism on education
• Adult learning: what does it entail?
• Homeschooling: Is it the latest trend after the pandemic?
• Does computer literacy influence the quality of education kids enjoy?
• How to effectively teach students with learning disabilities
• The relationship between poor education systems and crime rates in third-world countries
• Student bullying: the psychological impacts
• Should high school students go through university preparedness programs?
• research writing in high schools: its significance

Are you looking for qualitative research topic examples to start your study? Below are some creative examples to consider:

• Remote tests: are they as effective as in-class tests?
• The value of social activities in academic institutions
• Why should healthcare be free in all countries?
• The implications of racist laws on society
• The reception of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments
• What is the difference between foreign policies in first-world and third-world nations?
• Racism and Colorism: what is the difference?
• Dissecting the causes of low voter turnouts in the 21 st century
• The challenges of social media on kid’s brain development
• The inclusion of black women in American politics and its impacts

When competing with several brilliant minds, a good research topic can do you greatly. The following qualitative research examples titles are a great place to start:

• Should school uniforms be discarded for high schoolers?
• The need for equal representation in global politics
• The implications of police brutality on politics
• The role of parental care in foster kids
• The distinction between Islamic values and Christian values
• The correlation between political instability and migration
• Sex trafficking and violence against women: what is the link?
• How can global governments eradicate homelessness?
• Fraternities and sororities: are they still relevant?
• The role of literature in promoting societal changes

Qualitative research is popular in the education field and other social sciences. Choose a qualitative research title example on the subject of education from the following list:

• Effectively introducing foreign languages in the high school curriculum
• How can teachers help students with disabilities improve their learning?
• The link between social activities and comprehension among students
• Research writing in high schools: is it necessary?
• How has virtual learning influenced teacher-student relationships?
• The implications of allowing smartphones in classes
• Should all schools introduce sign language lessons in their curriculum?
• Student loans: their impacts on black students
• The impacts of race on college acceptance rates
• Poverty and education: what is the link?
• Ethnic and socioeconomic causes of poor school attendance in developing worlds
• Various teaching methods and their efficiency
• Efficient teaching methods for children below two years
• Why do students perform better in humanities than in sciences?
• The difference between college acceptance and completion in most nations
• Remote learning in developing countries
• What are the best ways of approaching bullying in schools?
• How do teachers promote inequality among students?
• Does social class influence academic performance negatively or positively?
• How do teachers shape their students’ personalities?

Coming up with a qualitative research title can be hard because of the numerous subject areas and the issue of uniqueness. Therefore, we have prepared the following qualitative title examples for you:

• How to promote oral learning in classrooms
• Political instability in developing countries: its economic impacts
• The impacts of weather on social activities
• Boredom and poor-decision making: the connection
• Exploring the connection between attachment types and love languages
• Socioeconomic impacts of instability on a country
• How does social media impact the perception of reality
• Reality TV shows: are they a true reflection of reality?
• How culture applies to different age groups
• Is social media influencing the loss of cultural values?

You can base your research topic on a specific region or nation, like the Philippines. A sample qualitative research title can get you started. You can pick a sample qualitative research title from the ideas below:

• Why are so many Philippines residents migrating to America?
• The impact of politics on migration in the Philippines
• How has violence led to food insecurity in rural areas in the Philippines?
• The Philippine education system: an overview
• How cultural norms influence social activities in the Philippines
• Gender roles in the Philippines society
• How popular Filipino cultures have served as agents of social change in the nation
• The link between male dominance and GBV in the Philippines
• Barriers to clean hygiene in health centers in the Philippines
• The spread of COVID in rural areas in the Philippines

Most top performers in research subjects attribute their success to choosing the best title for qualitative research. Here are some qualitative research topics about humanities and social science to promote good performance:

• The impact of poor market rivalry on supply and demand
• The role of parents in shaping kids’ morals
• Is social media the root cause of poor societal morals?
• How does alcohol impact a person’s normal behavior?
• How often should adults engage in sporting activities?
• Children’s eating habits and their influences
• Low socioeconomic backgrounds and their impacts on self-esteem
• The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world’s views on viral diseases
• How can school-going kids manage depression
• Causes of mental challenges among school-going kids

Finding a good topic for qualitative research is a critical task that requires a lot of thought and research. However, we have simplified the process with the following qualitative topic ideas:

• Pop music and erratic youth behavior: is there a link?
• How do public figures influence cultures?
• Ideas for improving healthcare in developing nations
• Possible solutions for alleviating the food crisis in developing nations
• New ways of mitigating viral diseases
• Social media trends among the elderly
• Quarantine as a mitigation approach for infectious diseases
• Promoting social justice in patriarchal societies
• Worrying trends among the young population
• Emerging marketing trends in 2023

Qualitative research for college and high school students helps improve reading, writing, and intellectual skills. Here are some qualitative research examples and topic ideas for students :

• How to detect and prevent natural disasters beforehand
• Can the whole world have the same education system?
• What is the most effective therapy for patients recuperating from brain surgery?
• Possible solutions for promoting ethical practices in telehealth
• Can addicts overcome addiction without therapy?
• The latest technology trends and their impacts?
• How can global governments promote mental health awareness?
• Have smartphones caused reduced attention spans among users?
• Sexual violence in rural areas
• The introduction of Islam in African nations

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Qualitative research is an investigative analysis of intangible or inexact data, mostly non-numerical. The title of qualitative research you choose will guide your entire research process and influence its conclusions. Do you need a paper or an example of a research title qualitative topic? Our expert team is ready to write it for you.

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"[Post Qualitative Inquiry in Academia: Animating Potential for Intensities and Becoming in Writing] is original, provocative, moving, surprising, enlightening; a pleasure and a privilege to read."

- Professor Jonathan Wyatt, University of Edinburgh

Qualitative Research in Business: A Practical Overview

• Description

Qualitative methods are today taking their rightful place as valuable and powerful research tools both in business and elsewhere. Many professionals, however, continue to lack the skills needed to apply these methods in an effective and convincing manner. Qualitative Methods in Business Research: A Practical Guidebook offers an analysis and “how to” guide regarding qualitative research methods that provides practical and effective advice for those seeking knowledge regarding the application of these tools.

Opening discussions compare formal/scientific/quantitative methods of investigation with qualitative alternatives. Having provided this overview, a range of qualitative methods are discussed in an easy-to-understand manner that will be invaluable for those who wish to use these tools as part of their decision-making processes.

Assuming no prior background in qualitative research methods, the text is ideal both for the classroom and for use as a professional handbook. Powerpoint presentations reviewing each chapter will be provided to those instructors adopting the book as a text for classroom instruction.

Dr Alf H. Walle is a long-time Professor of Business Research Methods, and was an early advocate of using qualitative methods within business research. In addition to his graduate work in business, Walle holds outside MAs in Social Anthropology and Cross-Cultural Studies. He is an acknowledged leader of business anthropology, and has developed and presented seminars on qualitative methods to advanced graduate students and junior faculty. Walle is the author of 15 books, including Rethinking Business Anthropology (2013). He currently teaches at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks.

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ISBN: 1-4438-6621-0

ISBN13: 978-1-4438-6621-7

Release Date: 24th April 2015

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Criteria for Good Qualitative Research: A Comprehensive Review

• Regular Article
• Open access
• Published: 18 September 2021
• Volume 31 , pages 679–689, ( 2022 )

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• Drishti Yadav   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2974-0323 1  

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This review aims to synthesize a published set of evaluative criteria for good qualitative research. The aim is to shed light on existing standards for assessing the rigor of qualitative research encompassing a range of epistemological and ontological standpoints. Using a systematic search strategy, published journal articles that deliberate criteria for rigorous research were identified. Then, references of relevant articles were surveyed to find noteworthy, distinct, and well-defined pointers to good qualitative research. This review presents an investigative assessment of the pivotal features in qualitative research that can permit the readers to pass judgment on its quality and to condemn it as good research when objectively and adequately utilized. Overall, this review underlines the crux of qualitative research and accentuates the necessity to evaluate such research by the very tenets of its being. It also offers some prospects and recommendations to improve the quality of qualitative research. Based on the findings of this review, it is concluded that quality criteria are the aftereffect of socio-institutional procedures and existing paradigmatic conducts. Owing to the paradigmatic diversity of qualitative research, a single and specific set of quality criteria is neither feasible nor anticipated. Since qualitative research is not a cohesive discipline, researchers need to educate and familiarize themselves with applicable norms and decisive factors to evaluate qualitative research from within its theoretical and methodological framework of origin.

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Research Methodology: An Introduction

Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

Introduction

“… It is important to regularly dialogue about what makes for good qualitative research” (Tracy, 2010 , p. 837)

To decide what represents good qualitative research is highly debatable. There are numerous methods that are contained within qualitative research and that are established on diverse philosophical perspectives. Bryman et al., ( 2008 , p. 262) suggest that “It is widely assumed that whereas quality criteria for quantitative research are well‐known and widely agreed, this is not the case for qualitative research.” Hence, the question “how to evaluate the quality of qualitative research” has been continuously debated. There are many areas of science and technology wherein these debates on the assessment of qualitative research have taken place. Examples include various areas of psychology: general psychology (Madill et al., 2000 ); counseling psychology (Morrow, 2005 ); and clinical psychology (Barker & Pistrang, 2005 ), and other disciplines of social sciences: social policy (Bryman et al., 2008 ); health research (Sparkes, 2001 ); business and management research (Johnson et al., 2006 ); information systems (Klein & Myers, 1999 ); and environmental studies (Reid & Gough, 2000 ). In the literature, these debates are enthused by the impression that the blanket application of criteria for good qualitative research developed around the positivist paradigm is improper. Such debates are based on the wide range of philosophical backgrounds within which qualitative research is conducted (e.g., Sandberg, 2000 ; Schwandt, 1996 ). The existence of methodological diversity led to the formulation of different sets of criteria applicable to qualitative research.

Among qualitative researchers, the dilemma of governing the measures to assess the quality of research is not a new phenomenon, especially when the virtuous triad of objectivity, reliability, and validity (Spencer et al., 2004 ) are not adequate. Occasionally, the criteria of quantitative research are used to evaluate qualitative research (Cohen & Crabtree, 2008 ; Lather, 2004 ). Indeed, Howe ( 2004 ) claims that the prevailing paradigm in educational research is scientifically based experimental research. Hypotheses and conjectures about the preeminence of quantitative research can weaken the worth and usefulness of qualitative research by neglecting the prominence of harmonizing match for purpose on research paradigm, the epistemological stance of the researcher, and the choice of methodology. Researchers have been reprimanded concerning this in “paradigmatic controversies, contradictions, and emerging confluences” (Lincoln & Guba, 2000 ).

In general, qualitative research tends to come from a very different paradigmatic stance and intrinsically demands distinctive and out-of-the-ordinary criteria for evaluating good research and varieties of research contributions that can be made. This review attempts to present a series of evaluative criteria for qualitative researchers, arguing that their choice of criteria needs to be compatible with the unique nature of the research in question (its methodology, aims, and assumptions). This review aims to assist researchers in identifying some of the indispensable features or markers of high-quality qualitative research. In a nutshell, the purpose of this systematic literature review is to analyze the existing knowledge on high-quality qualitative research and to verify the existence of research studies dealing with the critical assessment of qualitative research based on the concept of diverse paradigmatic stances. Contrary to the existing reviews, this review also suggests some critical directions to follow to improve the quality of qualitative research in different epistemological and ontological perspectives. This review is also intended to provide guidelines for the acceleration of future developments and dialogues among qualitative researchers in the context of assessing the qualitative research.

The rest of this review article is structured in the following fashion: Sect.  Methods describes the method followed for performing this review. Section Criteria for Evaluating Qualitative Studies provides a comprehensive description of the criteria for evaluating qualitative studies. This section is followed by a summary of the strategies to improve the quality of qualitative research in Sect.  Improving Quality: Strategies . Section  How to Assess the Quality of the Research Findings? provides details on how to assess the quality of the research findings. After that, some of the quality checklists (as tools to evaluate quality) are discussed in Sect.  Quality Checklists: Tools for Assessing the Quality . At last, the review ends with the concluding remarks presented in Sect.  Conclusions, Future Directions and Outlook . Some prospects in qualitative research for enhancing its quality and usefulness in the social and techno-scientific research community are also presented in Sect.  Conclusions, Future Directions and Outlook .

For this review, a comprehensive literature search was performed from many databases using generic search terms such as Qualitative Research , Criteria , etc . The following databases were chosen for the literature search based on the high number of results: IEEE Explore, ScienceDirect, PubMed, Google Scholar, and Web of Science. The following keywords (and their combinations using Boolean connectives OR/AND) were adopted for the literature search: qualitative research, criteria, quality, assessment, and validity. The synonyms for these keywords were collected and arranged in a logical structure (see Table 1 ). All publications in journals and conference proceedings later than 1950 till 2021 were considered for the search. Other articles extracted from the references of the papers identified in the electronic search were also included. A large number of publications on qualitative research were retrieved during the initial screening. Hence, to include the searches with the main focus on criteria for good qualitative research, an inclusion criterion was utilized in the search string.

From the selected databases, the search retrieved a total of 765 publications. Then, the duplicate records were removed. After that, based on the title and abstract, the remaining 426 publications were screened for their relevance by using the following inclusion and exclusion criteria (see Table 2 ). Publications focusing on evaluation criteria for good qualitative research were included, whereas those works which delivered theoretical concepts on qualitative research were excluded. Based on the screening and eligibility, 45 research articles were identified that offered explicit criteria for evaluating the quality of qualitative research and were found to be relevant to this review.

Figure  1 illustrates the complete review process in the form of PRISMA flow diagram. PRISMA, i.e., “preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses” is employed in systematic reviews to refine the quality of reporting.

PRISMA flow diagram illustrating the search and inclusion process. N represents the number of records

Criteria for Evaluating Qualitative Studies

Fundamental criteria: general research quality.

Various researchers have put forward criteria for evaluating qualitative research, which have been summarized in Table 3 . Also, the criteria outlined in Table 4 effectively deliver the various approaches to evaluate and assess the quality of qualitative work. The entries in Table 4 are based on Tracy’s “Eight big‐tent criteria for excellent qualitative research” (Tracy, 2010 ). Tracy argues that high-quality qualitative work should formulate criteria focusing on the worthiness, relevance, timeliness, significance, morality, and practicality of the research topic, and the ethical stance of the research itself. Researchers have also suggested a series of questions as guiding principles to assess the quality of a qualitative study (Mays & Pope, 2020 ). Nassaji ( 2020 ) argues that good qualitative research should be robust, well informed, and thoroughly documented.

Qualitative Research: Interpretive Paradigms

All qualitative researchers follow highly abstract principles which bring together beliefs about ontology, epistemology, and methodology. These beliefs govern how the researcher perceives and acts. The net, which encompasses the researcher’s epistemological, ontological, and methodological premises, is referred to as a paradigm, or an interpretive structure, a “Basic set of beliefs that guides action” (Guba, 1990 ). Four major interpretive paradigms structure the qualitative research: positivist and postpositivist, constructivist interpretive, critical (Marxist, emancipatory), and feminist poststructural. The complexity of these four abstract paradigms increases at the level of concrete, specific interpretive communities. Table 5 presents these paradigms and their assumptions, including their criteria for evaluating research, and the typical form that an interpretive or theoretical statement assumes in each paradigm. Moreover, for evaluating qualitative research, quantitative conceptualizations of reliability and validity are proven to be incompatible (Horsburgh, 2003 ). In addition, a series of questions have been put forward in the literature to assist a reviewer (who is proficient in qualitative methods) for meticulous assessment and endorsement of qualitative research (Morse, 2003 ). Hammersley ( 2007 ) also suggests that guiding principles for qualitative research are advantageous, but methodological pluralism should not be simply acknowledged for all qualitative approaches. Seale ( 1999 ) also points out the significance of methodological cognizance in research studies.

Table 5 reflects that criteria for assessing the quality of qualitative research are the aftermath of socio-institutional practices and existing paradigmatic standpoints. Owing to the paradigmatic diversity of qualitative research, a single set of quality criteria is neither possible nor desirable. Hence, the researchers must be reflexive about the criteria they use in the various roles they play within their research community.

Improving Quality: Strategies

Another critical question is “How can the qualitative researchers ensure that the abovementioned quality criteria can be met?” Lincoln and Guba ( 1986 ) delineated several strategies to intensify each criteria of trustworthiness. Other researchers (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016 ; Shenton, 2004 ) also presented such strategies. A brief description of these strategies is shown in Table 6 .

It is worth mentioning that generalizability is also an integral part of qualitative research (Hays & McKibben, 2021 ). In general, the guiding principle pertaining to generalizability speaks about inducing and comprehending knowledge to synthesize interpretive components of an underlying context. Table 7 summarizes the main metasynthesis steps required to ascertain generalizability in qualitative research.

Figure  2 reflects the crucial components of a conceptual framework and their contribution to decisions regarding research design, implementation, and applications of results to future thinking, study, and practice (Johnson et al., 2020 ). The synergy and interrelationship of these components signifies their role to different stances of a qualitative research study.

Essential elements of a conceptual framework

In a nutshell, to assess the rationale of a study, its conceptual framework and research question(s), quality criteria must take account of the following: lucid context for the problem statement in the introduction; well-articulated research problems and questions; precise conceptual framework; distinct research purpose; and clear presentation and investigation of the paradigms. These criteria would expedite the quality of qualitative research.

How to Assess the Quality of the Research Findings?

The inclusion of quotes or similar research data enhances the confirmability in the write-up of the findings. The use of expressions (for instance, “80% of all respondents agreed that” or “only one of the interviewees mentioned that”) may also quantify qualitative findings (Stenfors et al., 2020 ). On the other hand, the persuasive reason for “why this may not help in intensifying the research” has also been provided (Monrouxe & Rees, 2020 ). Further, the Discussion and Conclusion sections of an article also prove robust markers of high-quality qualitative research, as elucidated in Table 8 .

Quality Checklists: Tools for Assessing the Quality

Numerous checklists are available to speed up the assessment of the quality of qualitative research. However, if used uncritically and recklessly concerning the research context, these checklists may be counterproductive. I recommend that such lists and guiding principles may assist in pinpointing the markers of high-quality qualitative research. However, considering enormous variations in the authors’ theoretical and philosophical contexts, I would emphasize that high dependability on such checklists may say little about whether the findings can be applied in your setting. A combination of such checklists might be appropriate for novice researchers. Some of these checklists are listed below:

The most commonly used framework is Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) (Tong et al., 2007 ). This framework is recommended by some journals to be followed by the authors during article submission.

Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research (SRQR) is another checklist that has been created particularly for medical education (O’Brien et al., 2014 ).

Also, Tracy ( 2010 ) and Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP, 2021 ) offer criteria for qualitative research relevant across methods and approaches.

Further, researchers have also outlined different criteria as hallmarks of high-quality qualitative research. For instance, the “Road Trip Checklist” (Epp & Otnes, 2021 ) provides a quick reference to specific questions to address different elements of high-quality qualitative research.

Conclusions, Future Directions, and Outlook

This work presents a broad review of the criteria for good qualitative research. In addition, this article presents an exploratory analysis of the essential elements in qualitative research that can enable the readers of qualitative work to judge it as good research when objectively and adequately utilized. In this review, some of the essential markers that indicate high-quality qualitative research have been highlighted. I scope them narrowly to achieve rigor in qualitative research and note that they do not completely cover the broader considerations necessary for high-quality research. This review points out that a universal and versatile one-size-fits-all guideline for evaluating the quality of qualitative research does not exist. In other words, this review also emphasizes the non-existence of a set of common guidelines among qualitative researchers. In unison, this review reinforces that each qualitative approach should be treated uniquely on account of its own distinctive features for different epistemological and disciplinary positions. Owing to the sensitivity of the worth of qualitative research towards the specific context and the type of paradigmatic stance, researchers should themselves analyze what approaches can be and must be tailored to ensemble the distinct characteristics of the phenomenon under investigation. Although this article does not assert to put forward a magic bullet and to provide a one-stop solution for dealing with dilemmas about how, why, or whether to evaluate the “goodness” of qualitative research, it offers a platform to assist the researchers in improving their qualitative studies. This work provides an assembly of concerns to reflect on, a series of questions to ask, and multiple sets of criteria to look at, when attempting to determine the quality of qualitative research. Overall, this review underlines the crux of qualitative research and accentuates the need to evaluate such research by the very tenets of its being. Bringing together the vital arguments and delineating the requirements that good qualitative research should satisfy, this review strives to equip the researchers as well as reviewers to make well-versed judgment about the worth and significance of the qualitative research under scrutiny. In a nutshell, a comprehensive portrayal of the research process (from the context of research to the research objectives, research questions and design, speculative foundations, and from approaches of collecting data to analyzing the results, to deriving inferences) frequently proliferates the quality of a qualitative research.

Prospects : A Road Ahead for Qualitative Research

Irrefutably, qualitative research is a vivacious and evolving discipline wherein different epistemological and disciplinary positions have their own characteristics and importance. In addition, not surprisingly, owing to the sprouting and varied features of qualitative research, no consensus has been pulled off till date. Researchers have reflected various concerns and proposed several recommendations for editors and reviewers on conducting reviews of critical qualitative research (Levitt et al., 2021 ; McGinley et al., 2021 ). Following are some prospects and a few recommendations put forward towards the maturation of qualitative research and its quality evaluation:

In general, most of the manuscript and grant reviewers are not qualitative experts. Hence, it is more likely that they would prefer to adopt a broad set of criteria. However, researchers and reviewers need to keep in mind that it is inappropriate to utilize the same approaches and conducts among all qualitative research. Therefore, future work needs to focus on educating researchers and reviewers about the criteria to evaluate qualitative research from within the suitable theoretical and methodological context.

There is an urgent need to refurbish and augment critical assessment of some well-known and widely accepted tools (including checklists such as COREQ, SRQR) to interrogate their applicability on different aspects (along with their epistemological ramifications).

Efforts should be made towards creating more space for creativity, experimentation, and a dialogue between the diverse traditions of qualitative research. This would potentially help to avoid the enforcement of one's own set of quality criteria on the work carried out by others.

Moreover, journal reviewers need to be aware of various methodological practices and philosophical debates.

It is pivotal to highlight the expressions and considerations of qualitative researchers and bring them into a more open and transparent dialogue about assessing qualitative research in techno-scientific, academic, sociocultural, and political rooms.

Frequent debates on the use of evaluative criteria are required to solve some potentially resolved issues (including the applicability of a single set of criteria in multi-disciplinary aspects). Such debates would not only benefit the group of qualitative researchers themselves, but primarily assist in augmenting the well-being and vivacity of the entire discipline.

To conclude, I speculate that the criteria, and my perspective, may transfer to other methods, approaches, and contexts. I hope that they spark dialog and debate – about criteria for excellent qualitative research and the underpinnings of the discipline more broadly – and, therefore, help improve the quality of a qualitative study. Further, I anticipate that this review will assist the researchers to contemplate on the quality of their own research, to substantiate research design and help the reviewers to review qualitative research for journals. On a final note, I pinpoint the need to formulate a framework (encompassing the prerequisites of a qualitative study) by the cohesive efforts of qualitative researchers of different disciplines with different theoretic-paradigmatic origins. I believe that tailoring such a framework (of guiding principles) paves the way for qualitative researchers to consolidate the status of qualitative research in the wide-ranging open science debate. Dialogue on this issue across different approaches is crucial for the impending prospects of socio-techno-educational research.

Amin, M. E. K., Nørgaard, L. S., Cavaco, A. M., Witry, M. J., Hillman, L., Cernasev, A., & Desselle, S. P. (2020). Establishing trustworthiness and authenticity in qualitative pharmacy research. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy, 16 (10), 1472–1482.

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Yadav, D. Criteria for Good Qualitative Research: A Comprehensive Review. Asia-Pacific Edu Res 31 , 679–689 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-021-00619-0

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Accepted : 28 August 2021

Published : 18 September 2021

Issue Date : December 2022

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s40299-021-00619-0

417 Business Topics & Research Titles about Business

The corporate world is the world of the future – there’s no doubt about that. And education in ABM will help you conquer it!

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What is ABM strand, exactly?

ABM stands for Accountancy, Business, and Management. Future leaders and entrepreneurs pursue education in this field to learn the skills essential for their careers. They study how to run a business. How to talk to clients. And, of course, how to come up with strategies to earn money.

Looking for exciting business topics to write about in a paper or dissertation? Here you’ll find a list of research titles about business, as well as ABM qualitative and quantitative research ideas collected by Custom-writing.org experts. We hope that these business and management research topics will inspire you for your own project or for a heated discussion.

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The key part of acquiring any education is writing a research paper . Why do it? First, it’s a test of a student’s analytical, writing, and research skills. Second, being able to conduct business research is paramount to its success.

• It helps you communicate with customers.
• It helps you scan the marketplace for threats and opportunities.
• It helps you understand how to minimize risks.
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• It helps you keep your hand on the pulse of the current trends in the market.

The obtained skills will guide you through the entirety of your professional career. It’s an experience that can’t be skipped. We’ve hand-picked 417 research topics related to the ABM strand, just for you. Here, you will find the best ideas for your future ABM research paper masterpiece.

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The first step in writing an ABM research paper is choosing a topic. With the abundance of ABM research topics ideas on the Internet, it’s not an easy task. Simply picking one won’t do the trick. You will need to juggle relevance, applicability, and your own personal interest in the subject.

There are two main types of AMB research methods: qualitative and quantitative.

• Qualitative research answers the why and the how questions. It tests customers’ reaction to new products and studies consumer behaviors. Case studies, interviews, and focus groups are the common methods of collecting such data.
• Quantitative research collects numerical data and analyzes stats. The common methods include various surveys in target groups.

What ABM fields to explore are out there?

• Financial accounting (aka accountancy) is creating financial statements to be distributed within and outside of a company.
• Management accounting is creating operational reports to be distributed only within a company.
• Banking and finance are all about financial services provided to customers, and the laws of investment.
• Business administration is supervising and overseeing various business operations.
• Marketing is all about the promotion of buying and selling services and products.
• Entrepreneurship is all about the process of coming up with, starting and managing a new business.
• Human resource development management is all about reaching the top potential of the employees.
• Hospitality management is overseeing and supervising various administrative tasks of a resort or hotel.
• Tourism is all about attracting, housing, and entertaining tourists, and organizing tours for them.

Getting lost in this embarrassment of riches? Let’s single out the five of the trendiest areas of ABM research. They are: business, marketing, accounting, project management, and human resources. Want to see more examples of research titles about ABM strand? More on them down below!

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Here are some of the freshest ideas for a relevant business research paper. Enjoy our selection of business research topics and research titles for ABM students. Choose one and prove that your finger is on the pulse of the modern market world!

• Is poverty a concern of a corporation? How can corporations contribute to social development? Should they concern themselves with it in the first place, and to what degree? How can corporate social responsibility result in the betterment of the market? How can a corporation’s perceived awareness produce a positive image for the customers?
• Labor relations : the latest tendencies and the predictions for the future. Analyze the contemporary trends in the labor-corporate relationship. What issues are likely to emerge in 2025-2030? Back up your conclusion with real-life examples.
• Diversity as a contemporary working reality. Due to globalization, people of various backgrounds tend to work together, more and more so. Does it influence the working process at all? Does the difference between genders, ages, and ethnicities hinder or facilitate business? Should the companies ensure that there’s diversity among their employees , and why? How should the work environments be organized to maximize efficiency?
• Personal networking : labor-corporate communication tool. How does the number of people you know correlate with the chances of finding the best partners, workers, and customers? Is it an exponential or a sine curve? Produce real-life examples.
• E-business: the world-wide globalization process. Some of the most successful modern businesses operate almost exclusively online. What are the examples? Assess the role of integration in their workflow. What are the overall perspectives of SCM (supply-chain management) in the realities of e-business?
• Leadership and business in the modern world. Is there a significant difference in the styles and strategies implemented by the leaders in the 21 century as compared to the earlier eras? How do modern leaders adjust to contemporary business realia? What are the challenges and opportunities? What are the global trends? Produce real-life examples.
• Copyright law : is it on the side of the artist or the company representing them? How has copyright law evolved through the times? What drove it so? To what extent does it protect modern artists? How can a copyright corporation exploit it, and to what degree? Produce real-life examples. Are there any court precedents?
• Advertisement and consumer behavior . What types of advertisements prove to be the most effective? Back up your data with research results. What are the latest trends in the world of advertisement? What are the advantages and disadvantages of online and offline advertising? What mistakes can be made by a brand that is trying to produce a positive image through advertisement?
• Apple : how to turn your brand into a religion. What are the factors behind the success of the Apple corporation? Is it just clever advertising, or is there something more to that? How does Apple build a following of brand loyalists? Does Apple face any difficulties in the realities of the modern harsh brand competition? What are your predictions for the nearest future of Apple corporation?
• Word of mouth: a fossil or a gem? Who usually relies on this form of advertisement the most? How can an already well-established corporation benefit from it? How does word of mouth differ from other types of advertisement? What are the advantages and disadvantages? Produce real-life examples of a brand’s or organization’s success due to word of mouth.
• Facebook and business . How can Facebook be used as a modern platform for conducting business? Does it have any advantages as compared to other online platforms? What are the disadvantages? What successful companies use Facebook as a business platform?

• Pay for performance: a source of loyalty or displeasure ? What’s the best strategy for an employer to link pay and performance? Should pay increases be dependent on just the performance of an employee, or should other factors also be considered? Back up your reasoning with research results.
• Local customization vs. global standardization. What are the pros and cons of each of the approaches? What companies are known to implement both strategies successfully? Give examples.
• External recruiting vs. Internal promotions . What are the pros and cons of each of the approaches? How can a company implement both strategies successfully? Which is a more cost-effective approach? Why is it impossible to stick to just one of the strategies?
• Does a multinational corporation have a motherland? Is it obligatory for a multinational corporation to have a strong presence in its home country? What are the economic benefits or downsides of it? Produce real-life examples.
• Management by walking around (MBWA). What is the reasoning behind it, and how is it implemented? Is it a boost for productivity or a stress for employees? Who needs it more – the employees or the manager? Is it effective? Illustrate your point with research results.
• The AIDA formula in advertising. What exactly is the AIDA formula? Why is it popular nowadays, and how does it compare to the other formulas for creating advertisements? Is it the key to a successful message broadcasting or a hindrance to creativity?
• Free market : an achievable goal or a utopia? What exactly is the concept of a free market? What are the advantages of such a system? What are the disadvantages? Are there any real-life examples, and what can be learned from them?
• Family business : pros and cons. Are there any modern examples of a successful family business? What might be the downsides of such a business model? What are the advantages? What can be learned from the examples of exercising interpersonal relations in business?
• Franchises vs. “from scratch” businesses. Why having a franchise is a go-to option for a lot of corporations? What benefits does it produce? Are there any downsides? Which business model is easier to maintain? Which business model is more cost-effective?
• Marijuana business in the US: state law vs. federal law. What is the current stand of federal law on the issue? What about state law? What is your prediction for the marijuana-based businesses for the nearest future?
• Governments vs. private businesses. How does the government manage private businesses in your country? What is the best strategy for a government-private business relationship? How does this relationship reflect on the economy of the country?
• The Internet and consumer behavior . How does the Internet shape consumer behavior in modern days? Are there any drastic changes in consumer behavior as compared to ten years ago? Is the Internet just a new platform for advertising, or is there more to that? Produce real-life examples.
• The culture of consumerism . What exactly is this phenomenon? Is it really a thing or just a popular penny dreadful? Is it a natural occurrence or an artificial design created by the major companies for increasing profit? What proofs of the latter can be produced?
• The best countries to invest into in 2020. How can a country be invested into? Why would some corporations choose to do it? What are the criteria? Is it cost-effective? What are the real-life examples?

Here are some more business research topics to explore:

• Outsourcing: its advantages and disadvantages for a business. Is it ethical?
• Authors and copyright: which works better, legal names or nom de plumes?
• Negotiation tactics : understanding authority.
• Oil prices impacts on consumer behavior in Turkey .
• Corruption cases: do state officials have a higher chance of succeeding with a request for dismissal?
• Juicy Fruit: business strategies and product promotion .
• Insider trading : how the nature of the offence and the punishment for it has changed through the decades.
• American Airlines: the secret of success .
• Alcohol: the advantages of the sale and consumption laws for the society’s well-being.
• Organizational change capacity concept .
• Death penalty : should it apply for the most severe corporate crimes?
• The correlation between wages and employee productivity.
• The correlation between strategic management and employee productivity .
• The impact of staff motivation on employee productivity.
• Managing employee retention .
• Low-cost economy: companies benefits and drawbacks .
• Sales letter vs. waste bin: how to avoid spam folder?
• Startups: how to.
• L’Oreal and Procter & Gamble: financial analysis .
• Teenagers vs. business: the phenomenon of teenage business.
• Logistical system: private and public warehouses combining .
• Small business : the basis of economics.
• Coca-Cola and PepsiCo: Comparative Analysis .
• Third-world countries: how is business done there?
• Taxes : types and uses.
• The role of corporate lobbyists in American future .
• Business ethics: is there a difference from general ethics? What are the laws?
• What are the cultural differences of doing business in different countries?
• Roadrunner Sport: social and digital media strategies .
• The target audience : how to define it and how to attract it?
• Crisis management in business.
• Call centers outside the US: pros & cons .
• Risks: how to calculate them in your business endeavor.
• Monopolies : how do they impact the market?
• Business dynasties: how does family business operate?
• Copyright law : how does it operate?
• A gaming lounge: business plan .
• Services: what are the most and least popular in the market?
• Dell Company: global strategies .
• Charity: is it a good advertisement strategy for a business?
• How to balance ecology and increasing production.
• SunTrust: business strategies in banking industry .
• Corporate culture : what company rituals are common in business?
• Negotiation and diplomacy in business.
• TransGlobal Airlines as a monopoly .
• A healthy working environment and its importance in business
• Google’s success: a case study .
• Brands: what’s their place in the modern market?
• American Airlines’ and US Airways merger .
• Military crisis: a hindrance or a boost for business?
• Small enterprises: what are the challenges?
• British Petroleum: the corruption case .
• Internet advertisement: is it overtaking the world of advertising?

• The psychology behind people’s decision to buy a more expensive product or a higher quantity of it.
• Feminism: how does it influence the way women consume?
• Hilton’s investments into the Italian tourism sector: causes and effects .
• Teenagers and brands: what brands are the most popular among modern teenagers?
• Mandatory recycling: how would it affect the prices? Would it be cost-effective in the long term?
• Advertising in schools: is it acceptable?
• Social media: what marketing strategies are used there? Does it influence offline advertisement?
• Tariffs on car imports in Ukraine .
• Employee stress : does every company need to offer services of a psychologist?
• Sports and art: do corporate extracurricular classes enhance employees’ creativity and result in a healthy work environment?
• Walmart company: environmental sustainability .
• Eco-friendliness: how can more eco-friendly policies be encouraged in companies and businesses?
• The concept of perfect competition .
• Personal guns: does the successful handgun production industry depend on their free distribution?
• BMW group sustainability plan .
• Minimum wage : should it be canceled? Why?
• Starbucks, Toyota and Google: missions comparison .
• Commerce and retail: what is the future? Will shopping activity move completely to the Internet?
• Toyota and Plexus: pricing strategies .
• Internet advertising: is it more effective than other types of advertisement?
• Tobacco production: should higher taxes apply to the tobacco companies? Should they be obliged to donate to cancer treatment centers?
• Alcohol production: should higher taxes apply to alcohol companies? Should they be obliged to donate to alcohol treatment centers?
• Xerox: company profile and overview .
• Business ethics: how does it influence important decisions made by a company?
• Ethics and morality in a business-oriented world.
• The rise and fall of Eastman Kodak .
• A museum exhibition: how can it be made marketable?
• The business guide to sustainability .
• Mobile phones: what has facilitated their high sales rates in recent years?
• Under Armour: company analysis and strategic alternatives .
• International human resources : what are the major challenges and pitfalls?
• Corporate rituals: what are the oldest and most rigid ones that are still practiced in companies?
• Brainstorming: how effective is it in producing ideas and business solutions?
• Healthy work environment: what does it look like, and how can it be created?
• Financial crisis: how does it affect business in the US and worldwide?
• Famous brands: what are the associated advantages of owning a product of a recognizable and respectable brand? Why are consumers often willing to pay for it more than for a less well-known alternative?
• Image: how does it affect the modern business culture and consumer behavior?
• Gender: does it influence the ability to manage small and large teams?
• Hiring youth: why certain niche companies prefer to employ young people? What are the examples?
• Differences in ethnic cultures: how do they influence team-building?
• Differences in ages: do they create difficulties in departmental cross-functional cooperation?
• Gender: why certain companies prefer to employ more women than men and vice versa? Are efficiency stereotypes empirically and numerically confirmed?
• Fitness franchises : why are they more and more popular?
• Franchise models: what types are out there? Which would you choose for a coffee house? Other examples are welcome.
• Franchise promotion: is it the responsibility of the franchisee or of the franchise holder?
• Franchise agreement: which items should be included to save from excessive spending with no reward?
• What factors must be considered when choosing the market for business expansion ?
• Globalization and consumer behavior: how does one affect the other?
• Chinese market: how does it benefit from globalization?
• Globalization: will it continue to spread, or will it cease to decrease?
• Business clusters: how do they move globalization?
• Bank mergers : a wise strategy or a result of failure? When should a bank consider this move?
• Bankruptcy : what are the most common reasons for it? Does it necessarily spell the end for a business?
• Big-box stores : how to ensure the success of a big-box retailer?
• Brand awareness: how to make people remember and recognize your brand?
• Competitive intelligence : what are the best ways to gather and analyze information about the business environment?
• Consumer loyalty: how to make a consumer develop a behavioral tendency of favoring one brand’s products over the other?
• Consumer risk management: what are the best ways to minimize the potential risk of a product not meeting quality standards entering the marketplace? How to make it cost-effective?
• Copycat products: why do they enter the market so easily, and what are the ways for a brand to fight for its copyright?
• Corporate crime : how is it best for a company to redeem its reputation after being compromised?
• Corporate social responsibility : how does this business model help make a company be socially accountable?
• People Water: corporate social responsibility .
• Customer competencies: how to enable your customers to learn and engage in an active dialogue?
• Data security : how to protect data from unauthorized access and data corruption?
• Downtown revitalization: how can it be beneficial for a business?
• Ruth’s Chris restaurants: SWOT analysis .
• Employee coaching: how is it different from managing? How is it best to organize employee coaching in a big / small company?
• The “Do no harm” ethical principle in business.
• Green products : are they good for a business? How can a company use less packaging, and reduce the amount of disposed toxics?
• Industry disruptor: what is a disruptive innovation in business?
• Intellectual capital: what are the components and what is the best way to unlock their potential?
• Job sculpting: what is the best way to match a person to a job that unlocks their potential to the fullest degree?
• Marketing ethics : what are the moral principles behind the regulation and operation of marketing in your country?
• Mergers : what are the types, and why do businesses do it?
• Organigraphs: how to graphically represent a company’s structure and processes? How are organigraphs different from a traditional organizational chart?
• Philanthropy: what are the competitive advantages of corporate philanthropy?
• Quality circles: how does it influence business positively?
• Regional planning: how to place infrastructure across a large area of land efficiently?
• Customer service initiatives: how to learn what your customers dislike, tolerate, and actively appreciate?
• Bagel Store vs. Subway: comparative analysis .
• Shared services model: why are they cost-efficient?
• Short-term financing: in what types of businesses does it apply best?
• Starbucks Effect: how does a Starbucks store affect home and property values?
• Groupon: daily deal or lasting success ?
• Strategic planning : how to establish the direction of a small business?
• IBM Corporation: business strategies .
• Labour strikes: what causes them? What are the consequences for a business in particular and for the economy in general?
• Companies’ ethics: concepts and cases .
• Subliminal advertising: how do they work?
• Telemarketing: a thing from the past or a relevant method of advertising?
• Underage workers: how does employment of minors work?
• Underwriting: who provides underwriting services and who receives them?
• Undocumented workers: do they have rights, and what are the risks?
• Unions: what is their stand in your country?
• Whistle blowing: is it regarded ethical in modern business practice?
• Work ethic : what kind of belief system is that? Does it have any downsides?
• Work-life balance : what are the ways of encouraging and maintaining it?
• Business leadership: is it a skill that can be learned?
• Stakeholders : what is their impact on the success of a business?
• Global unemployment: why is it a worldwide phenomenon? What are the solutions to the problem?
• International investment : why is it important to educate the public on its benefits?
• International competition: what are the strategic measures of survival for local companies?
• Job creation : how can big and small businesses create jobs?
• Businesses and oceans: why is it crucial to institute and implement environmentally-friendly approaches?
• Ethical conflicts: how to avoid cultural, religious, and political arguments at work?
• Organizational environmental pollution: how does it affect consumer trust levels?
• Business negotiation: what are the styles of intercultural dialogue?
• Excessive work: what are the consequences of overworking ?

Marketing is one of the most prominent entities that govern our world. It’s the cornerstone of business, serving to identify and satisfy customers’ wants and needs. Without marketing, there is no business!

Here are some of the most relevant marketing research paper topics and ideas. Choose one, and you are bound to impress your professor!

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• Coronavirus: a case study. How has COVID-19 affected consumer behavior worldwide ? What about your own country? Are there any glaring examples of inadequate consumer behavior? What are the reasons behind them? How do different businesses deal with the consequences of quarantine? Produce examples of marketing centered around Coronavirus.
• Zoom: a case study. How did Zoom manage to become a go-to platform during the Coronavirus outbreak ? Was it the brand’s clever marketing, or did something else influence the consumer choice? How did Zoom manage to outperform the dozens of rival video conferencing services? What are the numbers? Make your predictions on whether the company will be able to sustain its success after quarantine is over.
• Gillette #MeToo commercial: a case study. How did the brand express its political stand on a pressing social subject? Did the campaign ultimately succeed in its goal? Did the backlash harm Gillette’s reputation, or was it a sign of successful branding? How did it ultimately reflect on sales? What can be learned from the data?
• Xbox Series X: a case study. The Xbox Series X is the successor of the popular Xbox One home video game console. It is scheduled for release in late 2020. How is it advertised? How does its marketing campaign impact user behavior? Is it a fast process? Analyze the concept and the marketing campaign of the product.
• Colin Kaepernick in a Nike commercial: a case study. How did the brand use an existing political situation to its advantage? Did the campaign ultimately succeed in its goal, or did it merely taint Nike’s reputation? Was it marketing genius or brand failure? What do the numbers say? What can be learned from the data?
• Brexit and consumer behavior. How has Brexit affected consumer buying behavior in the UK? What about the EU? How did it impact currency exchange rate? What businesses benefited from it? What can be learned from the data?
• Same product, different branding: a comparison. Two companies are selling the same product – only branding and packaging are different. What influences customers’ choice? Is the price relevant in this equation? What can be learned from the data?
• Addictive consumer behavior. What brands are known to inspire addictive consumer behavior? What marketing tools do they employ? Are there any downsides for a business? Should companies be held liable for maniacal consumer behavior?
• Corporate social responsibility as a brand marketing tool. How effective is it? Produce examples of brands whose sales increased after a charity or awareness campaign. What can be learned from the data? What are the pitfalls of the CPR approach?
• The ROI in athletics. What exactly is return on investment? How is it calculated? Why is there close public attention to the ROI factor in athletics? How can ROI be used as a marketing tool? Produce real-life examples.

• Slack: a case study. How popular is Slack as compared to rival platforms offering similar services? How much of its success can be attributed to marketing? Is its success currently on the rise or on the decline?
• Uber : a case study. How has Uber become the leading company in its field? Analyze its history. What role did marketing play in its success? Analyze the company’s exit from the Chinese, Russian, and South Asian markets. Why did the company choose to do it? What benefits did it gain by doing so? What’s the current stand of the company?
• Facebook : a case study. Facebook has faced a lot of backlash in recent years. How did the company manage it? What are the examples of Facebook’s different takes on marketing influenced by the company’s negative publicity?
• Marketing in recession : a case study. The 2008 global financial crisis took a great toll on the markets worldwide. Nevertheless, there are stories of success for new products introduced to the market at the time. What companies managed to successfully roll out a product in the time following the 2008 global financial crisis? Give a case study of such a company.
• Microsoft : a case study. How does Microsoft advertise its products? How are traditional storefronts doing market-wise as compared to the recent advertising trend, mobile phone marketing? What choices does the IT giant make concerning mobile ad targeting? Is it successful?
• Black Friday : what’s the secret behind the phenomenon? Does it offer real value for money or is it simply a psychological trick of clever marketing?
• Digital transformation: how to create an effective digital marketing budget?
• Production expenditure: how does marketing affect it?
• Jeep company’s marketing .
• The Internet of things : what exactly is IoT? What are the examples? How can marketing be incorporated into it?
• Volkswagen company’s information technology .
• Volkswagen in America: managing IT priorities .
• Relationship banking: how has it been influenced by digital promotion and mobile money accessibility? How is mobile banking redefining the customer-bank relationship?
• Apple Computer Inc.: maintaining the music business .
• Credit card responsibility: how to limit compulsive buying behaviors for credit card holders?
• Corporate social responsibility: how do organizations use CSR to reinforce brand equity?
• Servus Credit Union Ltd: marketing strategies .
• Marketing manipulation tactics: what do brands do to get more customers?
• Herfy’s marketing strategy in India .
• Social media marketing as an image builder: different ways of communicating your brand image on the YouTube, Tik Tok, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram platforms.
• Consumer motivation on the BevCo example .
• Influencers: how can Internet-famous people impact the buying choices of consumers ?

• A Coffee shop marketing strategy .
• Direct marketing strategies: are consumers equipped enough to shield themselves from it?
• The “Do no harm” ethical principle in business .
• Maternity: what is the best way to market baby products?
• Family orientation: how does it affect marketing in general?
• Online shopping : what do buyers look for when shopping online? What attributes do they compare when choosing the product?
• Harley Davidson, Naked Juice, and Tropicana Juice: brand perception analysis .
• Global marketing: how does it incorporate standardization?
• Social class differentiation: how do financial institutions market their products and services differently on the basis of social class?
• Snapple Juice: marketing strategies .
• Internet marketing: what trends can be expected to dominate the online world in the future?
• Marketing and culture : how do advertising strategies vary across different cultures?
• The Green Motor Car Company: marketing strategy .
• Political campaigns : how can they impact advertising? Produce real-life examples.
• Impulsive buying : how does it occur, and how do brands exploit it?
• American Marketing Association: promotion strategy .
• Loyalty cards: do they boost sales and encourage customer loyalty?
• Brand trust: is it possible for well-marketed brands to get away with selling products of substandard quality?
• Trust as the way to develop proper company-clients relationships .
• Globalization : what is its impact on consumer behavior?
• Customer loyalty : what brand attributes result in it?
• Market monopoly: what are some of the successful marketing approaches that can help break through it?
• Cause marketing : how does it impact a brand’s affinity with its target audience?
• Brand equity : what is the effect of discount offerings and consumer promotions on it?
• The outcomes of advertising in a recession
• Top-of-mind awareness: how is it best achieved in modern times? Produce real-life data.
• Event sponsorships and customer perceptions: how to?
• Mobile ad targeting: pros and cons of mobile ad targeting based on users’ browser and app history.
• Mortgage marketing: how to make customers be able to differentiate between various mortgage options offered by competing banks?
• Drones production company marketing plan .
• Click baiting: a promising novelty in sponsored posts promotion or a brand-compromising nuisance, best to be avoided for fear of bad associations with the brand?
• Who are the consumers of Nivea?
• Celebrity endorsement : what’s its impact on ROI for CPG brands?
• Comparison advertising: is it effective in building brand equity?
• Do consumers prefer purchasing routine grocery products online?
• Is earned media perceived to be as important as it appears to be?
• Word of mouth: what makes people want to forward content to their friends?
• Viral content: how to?
• Evolving family structures: what has changed and how to address it with marketing?
• Augmented reality : how is it enhancing marketing experiences?
• Artificial intelligence: what role does it play in modern marketing?
• Advertising to children : how to? What are the pitfalls?
• Brand salience: how to?
• Humour in advertising: what’s the impact, and what’s the customer response?

As you are very well aware, accounting is all about numbers and measurements. It’s even been called the language of business! That’s why writing a research paper on one of the accounting research paper topics is such a good idea. You are going to master it in no time!

What are the main fields of accounting?

• Financial Accounting
• Management Accounting
• Accounting Information Systems
• Tax Accounting

There are carefully selected topics down below that explore each of those fields. Just go there and choose one – it’s that easy!

• Taxes and politics. How do organizations fight for the reduction of the taxes they have to pay? How can politicians influence the tax rate in different spheres? Are there any real-life examples of that? How can this situation be curbed? 
• Financial markets. What are commodities and stocks? What is the role of financial markets in the global economy? Why are there few people who understand financial markets? What issues does it raise? What can be done about it? 
• Accounting information systems . What are the most popular accounting systems used by businesses nowadays? What are the most modern ones? How rapid is the flow of information today? How does it influence modern accounting? What can be done to advance it even further? 
• Managing and accounting. How can managerial accounting help a company make better decisions? How does it work? What are the possible examples of successful and unsuccessful decisions made in a company based on the managerial accounting reports? 
• Personal finances . Why should individuals hire personal accountants? How can this practice be systematized? What are the alternatives? Produce examples of modern mobile accounting applications and free online services. What are the pitfalls to be aware of? 
• Debt management. Why does such a serious issue exist in the modern world? Produce the current numbers of people for whom debt is a life-governing factor. What is the reason behind the prevalence of this problem? Who may benefit from this situation? How can this be fixed? 
• Auditing collusion. What is employee / auditing collusion? How can it result in an unfair marketing advantage? Why is it illegal? Produce real-life examples of auditing collusion disrupting marketing equilibrium. What can be done to anticipate and prevent such occurrences in companies? 

Below are some other accounting research topics to explore:

• Accounting decisions: what are the criteria for making them correctly?
• General principles of accounting .

• Forensic accounting : how does the investigation process go? What are the role and essential skills of forensic accountants?
• Accounting theory: how is it influenced by culture?
• Tax assessment: how to correctly assess the tax on organizational earnings?
• The 2008 global financial crisis : what factors were the primary cause?
• What are the steps on the way to becoming a certified accountant ?
• Accounting ethics: what are the modern dilemmas?
• Accounting history : what are the historical prospects for the best accounting practices?
• Accounting systems: what are the risks in the process of developing their design?
• Earnings management: what are the perspectives?
• Tax reduction : what are the most effective ways of doing it for organizations?
• Managerial accounting: what are the effects of financial markets on management accounting?
• Financial fraud : what are the ways to escape it?
• Accounting theories: what is their meaning for business?
• Nortel Networks Corporation Accounting Theory .
• Normative theories: what are the issues with normative theorizing in accounting?
• Theoretical concepts: how to implement them in practical accounting?
• Earnings management: how to best organize it in a company?
• Cash flow: what is the effect of external factors on cash flow in an organization?
• Online accounting: can accountancy be effectively based on the Internet?
• Offshore accounting: how does it work? What are the pros and cons?
• Accounting systems: which are the most effective for accountants?
• Tax code: how to?
• Islamic banking : how is it different from the European approach?
• Financial markets: what are the known commodities?
• Financial markets: what is their role in the global economy?
• Financial transparency: what are the strategies to make organizational finances transparent?
• Cloud computing : what is its role in data management for accounting information systems?
• Personal investment: important factors .
• The ideal framework for AIS: what does an ideal framework for an accounting information system in multinational cooperatives look like?
• Food production company: a financial plan .
• Decision-making process: what is the role of AIS in the decision making process for medium / large economic enterprises?
• Accounting frauds: analyze three major accounting frauds of the last decade in detail. Why is ethical judgment needed in accounting at all times?
• Intellectual capital: how do two major business companies (of your choice) build a relationship between their financial statements and their intellectual capital?
• Education for senior executives: how can business education for senior executives influence hedging behavior?
• Non-profit accounting: what are its financial reporting requirements?

Project management is the cornerstone of doing business. After all, how can you do anything without organizing it first? You may think, “Oh, but that’s easy… I just do it!” But that’s not how it works in modern business.

In big corporations, the way you organize a project is often synonymous with its eventual success or failure. Project managers need all of their knowledge, skills, and techniques to make projects meet the requirements. Want to look deeper into the processes and secrets behind project management? The idea for your perfect project management research paper is waiting for you down below!

• Project management software . Which project management tools dominate the market today? Are they cost-effective? What do they primarily focus on (e.g., cost, scheduling time, etc.)? Analyze different project management software and find out whether they really lead to project success and increase productivity or not.
• Humanitarian logistics. How do system dynamics and project management principles affect logistics operations? The need for humanitarian logistics has increased around the world due to the rise in environmental disasters (earthquakes, tsunamis, etc.). How can the sustained damages be reduced? Analyze the collaboration between system dynamics and humanitarian logistics. How does it impact flows in the supply chain, stakeholders, and responses? What are the best adaptations of project management theories?
• Project delay causes. Identify the leading symptoms and causes of project delays. How does it impact the project life cycle? How do global construction companies cope with it? What strategies have they devised to deal with the issue?
• Factors of project selection. What are the primary factors that affect selecting a project? Analyze the shift of project benefits approach towards customer-centricity. What is the reason for it? What is the difference between the two approaches? Which is more effective in modern business?
• IT industry and agile project management . What is the impact of agile project management on productivity in IT companies? Analyze it using quantitative research techniques. Measure improvement of productivity, customer satisfaction, and employee satisfaction. Analyze and report the outputs of the data using empirical hypothesis testing methods.
• Implementation of project management practices . What is the impact of an organization on how project management practices are implemented? Analyze the more informal and people-focused project management practices that are used in small and medium-sized enterprises. Use mixed methods research techniques such as interviews and surveys. Choose companies from a specific sphere to collect data. Examine the size of the company and how it impacts project management practices.
• Communication and quality. How significant is communication in maintaining timely delivery and quality of project activities? Analyze the importance of communication between the organization of a project and its stakeholders (external and internal). How does efficient communication help an organization meet the expectations?
• Team conflict dynamics model: what conflict types and team conflict profiles are there? How can they produce resolutions that can lead a project to success?
• Culture and conflict management: how different cultures of project managers may influence the methods of conflict resolution they implement? How does a project manager’s background affect the way they identify misdeeds and the way they try to deal with conflicts that arise in their project?
• Project misalignment with business objectives: how does it affect the overall project performance?
• Project management soft skills : how important are they in the context of project success rates? What is the cost of training, and what are the benefits? How do they help the project achieve the desired outcome?
• Psychosocial stressors: how do they impact project manager performance? What types of psychosocial stressors are there? Does organizational culture have any mediating effect? Use real-life data.

• Project management research trends: how do they influence project success? What is the relationship between project management research trends and social-economic trends?
• Project management maturity factors: how do they influence project success in large enterprises? How come the role of projects has increased worldwide, but the overall number of successful projects hasn’t changed? What is the relationship between project performance factors and organizational project management maturity?
• Agile-scrum beyond IT: how can it bring managerial benefits to other sectors? Analyze its potential for the healthcare industry. Illustrate how it may be applied to develop frameworks for quality and timeliness improvement. How can it help deliver healthcare in a large-scale patient setting?
• Project completion rate: how do organizational characteristics influence it in the construction industry? Analyze data on project performance using key performance indicators (KPIs). Use social network analysis tools to document organizational characteristics.
• Leadership style as a mediator: how to connect collaboration satisfaction and emotional intelligence? What leadership styles are there? What are their roles as mediators between emotional intelligence and collaboration satisfaction?
• Effective project scheduling system: what are the effects of the application of this planning and scheduling style in construction projects? Use the critical path method (CPM) in the analysis of drafting and subsequent implementation of an effective project scheduling system for manufacturing renewable energy plants.
• Effective project manager appointment guidelines: how to design and implement them for construction companies in XYZ? How do two types of leadership styles, person-centered and team-centered, differ when used by project managers? How can one balance them? What does Archer say on the topic in her Realist social theory? Use the data from your analysis for designing effective project manager appointment guidelines to be implemented in XYZ construction companies.
• Controlling costs in project management: a systems approach. Analyze the work of the research and development departments for a US-based consumer goods manufacturer.
• Management: power, authority, and influence .
• Culture, project performance, and IT industry: what might be the causes of delay and failure due to cultural factors?
• CISCO Systems Inc: strategies and management .
• Initiation stage of a project: a review. Analyze the work of the US medicine sector.
• Similar but different: review the similarities and differences in how people practice project management across the world.
• Effective teamwork role for organizations performance .
• Competitive advantage: does a company gain a competitive advantage by implementing expert management in a project?
• Canbide Corporation: operations management tools .
• Critical path analysis: how do project managers plan for it and assess it?
• Diversity: management practices and principles .
• The uncertainty: how valid is it in lengthy and difficult projects in the US construction industry?
• Transformational and transactional leadership models .
• The history: investigate and analyze the development and evolution of project management across the past 20 years.
• The qualities of an efficient leader .
• Understanding the intricacies: how important is the grasp of the project’s intricate nature for its effective management?
• McDonalds: management effectiveness .
• Benchmarking project management maturity: analyze the benchmark standard of measuring maturity in project management.
• Shangri-La Hotels: company management .
• Agile project management: how does academic literature help develop its understanding?
• The organization of international business .
• The PMBOK guidelines: do they prepare managers for handling project risks successfully?
• Information management system: practical solutions .
• Project management methodologies: how do various prevailing project management methodologies correspond with efficacy? Review the US market.
• Subway in the US: management strategies in food industry .
• Software development methodologies: how do organizations justify their choices?
• Teamwork on project management : how important is it in the US healthcare system?
• The concept of change in management .
• Software tools: how do different project management software tools correspond with efficacy in the developed world?
• Establishment of Ruth’s Chris Steak House in London: how to make a restaurant chain international?
• Attitude towards risk: how does project management handle possible risks in the US oil and gas sector?

• Package role in design and planning process .
• Public procurement: what are the associated challenges for project management in the US IT sector?
• Humility and its impact in leadership .
• The stakeholder approach: how does a global perspective picture its overall success in adoption and completion of projects?
• Management: Holistic Response to Client Issues .
• Captiva Conglomerate: management strategies .
• Best project management practices: what does the European financial sector tell us about them?
• Hewlett-Packard: global supply chain management .
• Leadership qualities: does successful project management need them?

Human resource management is one of the most interesting spheres of business. After all, it’s all about people!

There are three major areas of a human resource manager’s responsibilities. They are: staffing, allocating compensation and benefits for employees, and administrating work.

There’s so much you can do as an HR specialist. It’s as people-oriented as a profession can get. It’s always a continuous process, too. You’ll never get bored!

There are a number of questions an HR specialist needs to know the answer to. How to select the best recruits? How to encourage team spirit and teamwork among the employees? How to motivate people? How to appraise and how to punish? All of those questions and more are raised in our selection of human resources research topics!

• Training of employees as a performance enhancer. How does training of employees correspond with their performance? Produce real-life data. Use a questionnaire to identify and determine the workforce needs in an organization. Analyze the data by calculating a simple percentage analysis. How much did employee training influence their performance? Was it cost-effective?
• Performance evaluation and its impact on productivity. How does performance evaluation impact employee productivity? What is its purpose? What is the difference between formal and informal evaluations? How should a performance evaluation be carried out? Describe each of the steps. What is the influence of a poor evaluation on an employee’s morale and their absenteeism rate? Produce real-life data.
• Motivation and its impact on morale. What motivation theories are there? Which are the most popular to utilize in organizations today? What does the process of staff motivation look like? Does it influence employee performance? Produce real-life data. Analyze the data by calculating a simple percentage analysis.
• Performance appraisal and its impact on productivity. What is performance appraisal, and how is it different from performance evaluation / employee motivation? Why is it considered to be crucial for the growth and survival of an organization? What is the role of performance appraisal as a strategic factor? Describe what performance appraisal techniques are used in an organization. How does it impact employee productivity? Produce real-life data.
• Human resource and its relevance in modern business. Why are the effective acquisition, utilization, and maintenance of human resources considered to be central to the growth of an organization? How can executive initiative utilize human resources profitably for an organization? What are the techniques of sustaining and developing human resources in an organization? How to achieve maximum cooperation between staff and management?
• Stress and its impact on the employee performance. What is the effect of stress on workers’ performance? Produce real-life data. Collect data using questionnaires and descriptive survey research design. Present the collected data in tables. Analyze it using simple percentages and frequencies.
• Staff training in business organizations. How to identify the training needs of an organization? What is the role of management in staff training and development? What types of training methods are there? What are the effects of training on employee performance? Produce real-life data.

Here are some of the simpler human resources topics to explore:

• Employee loyalty: what are the main factors that can increase it?
• The cost of prejudice and discrimination on the wprkplace .
• Conflicts in the workplace : how to resolve them? What are the most typical ones?
• Cultural differences: how can human resource managers work around cultural differences in an international company?

• Recruiting students: what are the pros and cons? 
• Compensation and benefits are the parts of employment relationship . 
• Employees’ education : should a company pay for it? 
• Harmful outsourcing of United States jobs . 
• Outsourcing and freelance workers: what are the pros and cons? 
• Recruitment : what are the opportunities and risks of recruiting new team members? 
• How to motivate employees effectively?  
• HR managers: how to select, recruit, hire, and educate human resource managers?  
• Legal aspects of human resource management . 
• Overqualified employees: how should an HR manager deal with an overqualified employee? 
• Google company: workforce diversity policy . 
• Talent hunting and management: what’s the human resource manager’s role in this process? 
• Character types: what character types are there, and how do they affect the team-building process in a company? 
• Workplace harassment and bullying: how should a human resource manager deal with such challenges? What strategies of prevention are to be employed? 
• Diversity : how can a company encourage it? What is its impact on the dynamics in the workplace? 
• Communication: how to make it effective? How does it affect a company’s success? 
• Wages : do they affect employee productivity? How to increase employees’ motivation and make it cost-effective? 
• Assessing employee performance : what are the best ways to do it? What tools and criteria are there? 
• The role of diversity in the workplace . 
• Labor laws : what are the most critical issues to be resolved? 
• Company data : how to protect it in the age of technology? 
• Equal pay : are staff members paid equally, and how can HR managers address this issue? 
• Leadership styles . 
• Health problems: how can they affect employees’ productivity, and how can HR managers address this issue? 
• Riordan Manufacturing: HR marketing services . 
• Workplace motivation: what motivates people to work more? 
• Mergers and acquisitions : what is the role of an HR specialist in these processes? 
• Managing a diverse workforce . 
• Employee loyalty: how can HR specialists encourage employee loyalty through developing the job satisfaction factor? 
• Organizational burnout of employees . 
• Employee retention: which factors contribute to it? 
• Salary bonuses: what are their additional benefits? How can an HR specialist identify who is eligible for getting them? 
• Strategic human resources : is there global competitiveness on it, and why? 
• Human resources market: describe its demand and supply circle. 
• Daily childcare: how can it enhance the performance of employees in the company? 
• Compensation packages : what are they and what is their function? How can an HR specialist identify who is eligible for getting them? 
• Career planning : should it be more people-oriented, or is it to be centered around companies? 
• Professional qualities vs. fitting personality: which is more important? 
• Performance tests: how are they to be conducted? 
• Do remote interviews match in their effectiveness with personal ones? 

The Accountancy , Business , and Management (ABM) research focuses on the basic concepts of financial, marketing, and business management. ABM research explores various strategies employed in the business, marketing, and accounting spheres. It helps specialists in the sphere discern which business theories work best when put to practice.

Qualitative research gathers non-numerical data used to uncover customers’ opinions, thoughts, and trends. ABM qualitative studies use focus groups, observations, and interviews. The importance of the qualitative method have been increasingly recognized in the ABM field as a rich in detail and insightful way of analyzing the current market situation.

The nature of business research is the collection, study, and analysis of various business-related data to acquire detailed information and use it to maximize sales and profit of a business. The employed research methods include qualitative and quantitative types. The importance and benefits of business research can’t be overrated.

A marketing research topic is an issue that a researcher is investigating in their marketing research paper. The topic needs to be specific and well-defined to ensure the success of a research project on market and marketing. Selecting a topic is a challenging part of the marketing research.

Learn more on this topic:

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• What are the Topics used in Research Starters – Business? EBSCO Connect
• What should be a good topic for research related to Accountancy, Business, and Management? Quora
• The difference between quantitative vs. qualitative research: SurveyMonkey
• Understanding Quantitative vs. Qualitative Research: Medium.com
• PhDs in Business & Management: Five Hot Research Topics (TopUniversities)
• All Topics: Harvard Business Review
• Research topics and projects: QUIT Business School
• Browse All Topics: Harvard Business School
• Market Research: Entrepreneur
• Management Accounting Research: Elsevier
• Accounting Research Tutorial: UF Libraries
• What Is Management Research Actually Good For? Harvard Business Review
• What is Management Research? University of Toronto
• The value of management research to managers: The Conversation
• Human Resources: Harvard Business School
• Research & Surveys: SHRM
• Human Resources in Research: UOttawa
• BA (Hons) Business Studies: University of Stirling
• BA Research: University of Newcastle
• Education Studies BA: UCL Institute of Education
• Areas of Research: PhD in Management, Michigan State University
• Research focus areas in business and government: Victoria University of Wellington
• PhD Subject Groups: Business School, University of Edinburgh
• Research areas: The University of Sydney Business School
• Research topics: Leeds University Business School
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• Open access
• Published: 08 July 2023

Understanding geriatric models of care for older adults living with HIV: a scoping review and qualitative analysis

• Kristina Marie Kokorelias 1 , 2 , 3 ,
• Anna Grosse 1 , 4 ,
• Alice Zhabokritsky 5 , 6 , 7 &
• Luxey Sirisegaram 1 , 4  

BMC Geriatrics volume  23 , Article number:  417 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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Advances in Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) treatment have reduced mortality rates and consequently increased the number of individuals with HIV living into older age. Despite this, people aged 50 years and older have been left behind in recent HIV treatment and prevention campaigns, and a gold-standard model of care for this population has not yet been defined. Developing evidence-based geriatric HIV models of care can support an accessible, equitable, and sustainable HIV health care system that ensures older adults have access to care that meets their needs now and in the future.

Guided by Arksey & O’Malley (2005)’s methodological framework, a scoping review was conducted to determine the key components of, identify gaps in the literature about, and provide recommendations for future research into geriatric models of care for individuals with HIV. Five databases and the grey literature were systematically searched. The titles, abstracts and full texts of the search results were screened independently in duplicate. Data were analyzed using a qualitative case study and key component analysis approach to identify necessary model components.

5702 studies underwent title and abstract screening, with 154 entering full-text review. 13 peer-reviewed and 0 grey literature sources were included. Most articles were from North America. We identified three primary model of care components that may improve the successful delivery of geriatric care to people living with HIV: Collaboration and Integration; Organization of Geriatric Care; and Support for Holistic Care. Most articles included some aspects of all three components.

To provide effective geriatric care to older persons living with HIV, health services and systems are encouraged to use an evidence-based framework and should consider incorporating the distinct model of care characteristics that we have identified in the literature. However, there is limited data about models in developing countries and long-term care settings, and limited knowledge of the role of family, friends and peers in supporting the geriatric care of individuals living with HIV. Future evaluative research is encouraged to determine the impact of optimal components of geriatric models of care on patient outcomes.

Peer Review reports

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) continues to be characterized as one of the most prominent public health threats [ 1 ], although advances in antiretroviral therapy (ART) have reduced mortality rates and transformed HIV into a manageable, chronic disease [ 2 ]. The life expectancy for people living with HIV who have had early and sustained access to ART is now similar to that of HIV-negative populations [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]. Thus, there is now an increase in the number of individuals living with HIV into older age [ 6 ] and the number of older adults (aged ≥ 50 years [ 7 ]) living with HIV is expected to increase even further in the coming years [ 8 ]. The proportion of older adults living with HIV has nearly tripled since 2000 [ 9 ].

Older adults with HIV have an increased risk of dementia, diabetes, frailty, depression, osteoporosis, and some cancers, compared to those who are HIV negative [ 10 , 11 , 12 ]. Comorbidities commonly associated with ageing (e.g., diabetes) have been found to increase the risk of opportunistic infections (e.g., HIV-related concerns) in older adults with HIV [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. Moreover, stigma is associated with higher rates of loneliness, social isolation and depression in the HIV population [ 17 ]. Despite their increased risk of poor health and social outcomes, older adults living with HIV face many challenges accessing appropriate health and social care, further exacerbating their poor health outcomes [ 18 ]. The stigma associated with HIV may result in a fear of disclosure that delays treatment [ 19 ], and individuals with HIV can feel discriminated against by healthcare providers, resulting in hesitation about or refusal to seek medical care [ 20 , 21 ]. Older adults also tend to not access social services designed for the HIV-infected population because of their own assumption that these programs are created only for younger individuals [ 22 ]. Consequently, HIV scholars have urged for a health and social care system where knowledge and communication about geriatric HIV care are encouraged amongst advocates who work directly with this population, such as geriatric healthcare workers [ 23 ].

Geriatric specialists have expertise in managing many comorbidities that share associations with both ageing and HIV, despite geriatricians being hesitant to take a prominent role in the care of HIV in older adults [ 24 ] due to a lack of experience and training [ 25 ]. While health policy reports a preference for general practice-based HIV care over specialist care [ 26 , 27 ], general practitioners may have a less nuanced understanding about the holistic care of an older adult with complex comorbidities, geriatric syndromes, and metabolic complications when compared with geriatricians [ 28 ]. The use of the Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) has been explored, and may lead to improved health and social outcomes in the older adult-HIV population [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 ], and may be used to measure outcomes in clinical trials that aim to improve the delivery of HIV care for the older adult-HIV population [ 36 ]. However, in the absence of specialized geriatric models of HIV care, many older adults with HIV fail to receive a CGA [ 37 , 38 ] and the recommendations from CGAs are rarely implemented due to a lack of feasibility following a geriatric consult for older adults with HIV [ 39 ].

Numerous models of care, defined as “the way health services are delivered” [ 40 ] (pg., 3), have been developed for older adults with HIV. Many involve geriatric specialists in HIV care, with geriatricians taking on various responsibilities ranging from consultation to leadership roles [ 36 , 41 ]. However, the gold-standard model of care for older adults living with HIV have not yet been defined [ 34 , 35 ], and geriatric care is often delivered by non-geriatric specialists [ 16 ]. Instead of examining models of care, recent literature reviews have tended to focus on the prevalence and experiences of older adults in HIV care [7, NaN], or the experiences of geriatricians [ 24 ]. As implementing geriatric models of HIV care into healthcare settings requires unique considerations [ 28 ], an improved understanding of existing models of care may inform best-practices. This approach has been done to inform the design and delivery of other models of healthcare [ 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 ]. Therefore, we conducted a scoping review of the existing evidence about geriatric models of care for older adults within the context of HIV. To our knowledge, this is the first review to systematically identify the core operational components of existing models of care specific to older adults living with HIV.

A scoping review was selected to map the available literature on geriatric models of care for older adults within the context HIV [ 46 ]. The protocol for our scoping review followed the well-established framework outlined by Arksey and O’Malley [ 46 ] and later refined by Levac et al. [ 47 ] and Colquhoun et al. [ 48 ]. The framework was selected as it provides guidance to ensure a rigorous scoping review approach utilizing a comprehensive search strategy [ 46 ]. Our protocol has been published elsewhere (blinded for review #1) but is briefly described within this section of the manuscript. There were no deviations from our protocol. The framework includes five steps: 1) identifying the research questions; 2) identifying relevant literature; 3) study selection; 4) charting the data; 5) collating, summarizing and reporting the results [ 46 ]. The optional sixth step of consulting with key stakeholders was not followed due to financial resource constraints. We briefly summarize each step and report our findings in accordance with The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-Scr) [ 49 ] (see Supplemental Material A).

Step 1: Identifying the research questions

Our questions were developed to support a knowledge synthesis that could mobilize the current evidence into practice. Our study aimed to answer: What are the key components of the existing models of HIV care for older adults (aged ≥ 50 years [ 7 , 29 ])?

Step 2: Searching for relevant studies

To identify studies, we developed a comprehensive search strategy with an experienced medical information specialist (CDC) who first conducted the search in MEDLINE(R) ALL (in Ovid, including Epub Ahead of Print, In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations, Ovid MEDLINE(R) Daily) and then translated it into NLM’s PubMed OVID Embase + Embase Classic, EBSCO’s CINAHL Complete, Clarivate’s Web of Science Core Collection, and Elsevier’s Scopus from the earliest record to 2022 (see Supplemental Material B for the full strategies ) . The search strategy was peer-reviewed according to the peer-review of electronic search strategy guidelines (the PRESS strategy) [ 50 ]. MeSH terms were used. All searches were limited to English language. The final searches were completed on Friday, October 21, 2022. Duplicates were removed using the Bramer method in EndNote [ 51 ]. Covidence was used to manage the review process, including the deduplication of database results [ 52 ].

Gray literature and non-indexed articles were searched for using Google Scholar, Open Grey, open Google searches and relevant websites, including the World Health Organization, UK National Research Register, CADTH’s “Grey Matters”, New York Academy of Medicine's Grey Literature Report, the Canadian Medical Association InfoBase and the National Institute for Heath and Care Excellence – Guidance. Similar search terms used in the scientific search were used. We also consulted with stakeholders of our research (i.e. geriatricians, infectious disease specialists) for any gray literature missed.

Step 3: Selecting studies

Three reviewers (LS, KMK and AG) independently screened article titles and abstracts (level 1-screening) and then full articles (level 2-screening) were screened in duplicate to identify potentially relevant studies. In both levels of screening, any disagreements were resolved through team-based discussion. Articles were included if they described an implemented model or models of care to treat older adults living with HIV exclusively (i.e., not as part of the treatment for multi-morbidity including HIV) and included a registered healthcare provider that specialized in geriatric care (e.g., gerontology social worker, geriatric clinical nurse specialist, geriatrician). Perspective (viewpoint) papers that describe implemented models of HIV care were also included. Book sections, theses, film broadcasts, abstracts without adequate data, and literature reviews were excluded. Articles were also excluded if they: (1) did not propose an original model of HIV care specifically for older adults (i.e., models of care for all adults or models that may include older adults), (2) focused on ethical issues or the theoretical understandings of HIV care or geriatric care, (3) focused on training healthcare providers on how to deliver HIV and/or geriatric care; and (4) described social support, rather than care in a clinical, health-care context. Forward and backward searching were conducted on the final full-text articles to ensure a broad search using EndNote and Citationchaser [ 53 , 54 ].

Step 4: Charting the data

The same three reviewers independently extracted data from the included studies using a data abstraction form that was developed and pilot tested by two researchers (LS and KMK). The data form was tested on five articles for consistency in understanding and ensuring that all relevant data was captured. No changes were made after comparing the pilot test results. The fields for abstraction included author last name, year, study type, setting, geographic location (country), methodology, characteristics of intervention (model of care) and delivery method, participant and provider characteristics, patient inclusion and exclusion criteria, desired outcomes (primary and secondary), results and key conclusions.

Step 5: Collating, summarizing and reporting the results

Data were analyzed using a systematic qualitative case study analytic approach [ 55 ]. First, each author reviewed the abstracted data and independently noted the core operational components (i.e., model structure and process for delivery) described in the models of care. Then the authors came together to list all the identified model components across the included articles, by exploring the similar and different terms to describe the same model components. Each model component was given a label and a definition. These components became the basis of codes that were then appropriately applied by one author (KMK) to each article using NVivo 12 software [ 56 ]. Next the coded data was reviewed by all authors to determine how each model of care described in the articles adhered or did not adhere to each of the particular model components (codes). The authors met weekly to discuss the process of adherence. This discussion process was informed by adherence analyses [ 57 ]. During this process, authors were encouraged to identify any components that were potentially originally overlooked. No additional suggestions were made on key model components. The model components adhered to across the articles and models of care formed the basis of the results.

After a comprehensive list of the identified model components had been determined, two authors (KMK and AG) went through each article and identified them as either adhering or not adhering to each particular characteristic component, as determined by written evidence within the articles. This was done by having the two authors each providing their vote (i.e., adhering or not) and then comparing the two scoring. Any uncertainty in adherence assignment or discrepancies in voting was resolved through discussion amongst all the investigators as done in other reviews with similar methodologies [ 42 ].

Step 6: Consultation

To further contribute to our component adherence, we shared our model components with the senior investigators of our peer-reviewed articles for feedback. We also asked the investigators to assess their level of agreement with our interpretations of their study's component adherence. Lastly, we asked authors to send along any studies that they believed would be relevant to our review. This was done via email by the first (KMK) and senior author (LS) in December 2022. After two months, we only received five replies from 13 potential authors (n = 5/13, 38%) and all five authors agreed with the adherence we provided their article with, suggesting an accurate adherence analysis. No investigators provided us with additional materials or feedback on the model components, rather just commenting on their article specifically.

The databases search yielded a total of 5699 unique citations, from which 151 articles were selected for full text review. Of these 151 articles, 12 peer-reviewed articles were included. An additional peer-reviewed article was obtained from hand searching. No grey literature was included. Thirteen articles were included in the final analysis (see Fig.  1 PRISMA flow chart).

PRISMA flow chat diagram

Most ( n  = 10/13, 77%) of the publication activity occurred in the United States (USA) [ 28 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 ]. The remaining three articles ( n  = 3/13,23%) were from the United Kingdom (UK)[ 66 , 67 , 68 ]. Over half ( n  = 9/13,69%) of the articles were published in the last 5 years (2018–2023) [ 28 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 ]. In published papers, the most common research methods were qualitative. The key description from these studies were abstracted and are summarized in Table 1 .

Patient population

Patients in the included models of care ranged from 48 [ 60 ]–87 years of age [ 67 ]. The number of patients served ranged from 76 [ 39 ] over 4 years to a maximum of 4000 at the time of data collection (period unspecified) [ 66 ]. Of those articles that reported sex ( n  = 9/13,69%), the majority described primarily male samples [ 39 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 68 ]. Articles that reported race/ethnicity ( n  = 7/13, 54%), described including participants who were mostly White [ 60 , 61 , 67 ] or African American [ 39 , 62 , 63 , 65 , 68 ]. These articles all included White individuals. Of the two ( n  = 2/13, 15%) studies that reported the median time since HIV diagnosis [ 39 ], the average was 12.5 [ 63 ]- 21.5 [ 39 ] years. Medicaid was used as the patients’ primary health insurance in the USA [ 39 , 61 , 62 ].

Key operational components of geriatric models of HIV care

The qualitative analysis identified three distinct model of care components, each with one or more sub-components. These components are listed and described in Table 2 . Table 3 also lists the articles adherent to each component. These model components entail: Collaboration and Integration; Organization of Geriatric Care; and Support for Holistic Care. These three components are described and are illustrated in Fig.  2 .

 Main Model Components

Model Component 1: Collaboration and integration

Eleven ( n  = 11/13, 85%) [ 28 , 39 , 41 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 ] articles described the importance of collaboration and integration for providers caring for older adults with HIV. Models of care frequently incorporated a team of multidisciplinary professionals from the health and social care sectors that were linked in with community supports to improve healthcare delivery for older adults with HIV.

i) Multidisciplinary care roles

Multidisciplinary teams supported the care of older adults living with HIV in all eleven articles that adhered to the Collaboration and Integration model component ( n  = 11/13, 85%). These articles described several provider roles, including designated HIV specialists (infectious diseases or internal medicine physicians) [ 39 , 41 , 60 , 61 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 ], geriatricians [ 39 , 41 , 60 , 61 , 64 , 65 , 67 , 68 ] and/or dual-trained HIV and geriatric physicians. Other physician roles included psychiatrists [ 39 ], endocrinologists [ 65 ], cardiologists [ 41 , 60 , 61 , 68 ] and medicine fellows [ 64 ]. Numerous nursing roles [ 41 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 64 , 65 ] were involved, such as HIV clinical nurse specialists [ 41 , 66 , 67 ] and nurse practioners [ 41 , 64 , 65 ]. Allied health professionals included dieticians [ 39 , 65 , 66 ]/ nutritionists[ 41 ], social workers[ 39 , 41 , 59 , 61 , 65 , 66 , 68 ], phsysiotherapists [ 41 , 59 , 66 ], occupational therapists [ 41 , 59 , 66 ], speech-language pathologists[ 59 ], counselors/therapists [ 59 ], homecare aides [ 59 ], clinical psychologists [ 65 , 66 ] and specialist pharmacists [ 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 ].

In addition to healthcare providers, several models of care also included research team members (i.e. research coordinators [ 39 ], research assistants [ 39 ], graduate students in gerontology and epidemiology [ 41 ]), medical directors and administrative staff [ 59 , 61 ] (e.g., program coordinator[ 60 ], a gerontologist [i.e., non-clinician] [ 41 ]), chaplains [ 59 ] and volunteers [ 59 ]. Peer navigator roles were also described [ 28 , 41 , 65 , 68 ].

The key responsibilities of these providers differed between models of care and many had overlapping functions. Physicians [ 39 , 41 , 60 , 61 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 ] and nurses [ 41 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 64 , 65 ] were often responsible for overseeing and ensuring appropriate medical care, such as disease and symptom management. Other healthcare professional roles and designated navigation-specific roles [ 28 , 65 , 68 ], provided medication, rehabilitation [ 41 , 59 , 66 ], dietary [ 39 , 59 , 65 , 66 ], or emotional counseling to patients and caregivers [ 59 ]. Geriatricians, in particular, provided evidence-based, best-practice advice that was shared with patients’ primary care providers [ 39 , 41 , 60 , 61 , 64 , 65 , 67 , 68 ]. HIV specialists generally oversaw HIV-related treatments and community services [ 39 , 41 , 60 , 61 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 ]. Pharmacists often provided medication instructions and explained care protocols [ 41 , 60 , 65 , 66 , 67 ]. All care providers were described as providing informational and tangible (i.e., hands-on care) support. Administrative and research staff were responsible for documenting relevant information accurately [ 39 , 41 , 59 , 61 ]. Only one article mentioned the role of non-professional caregivers (i.e., spouse, partner, or friend) as part of the care team [ 59 ], in which they were described as providing much of the personal care involved in the home management of HIV [ 59 ].

Administrative team members and researchers support the collection of client information to systematically standardize clinical and research operations [ 39 , 41 , 59 , 60 , 61 ].

ii) Team-Based care

Ten articles ( n  = 10/13, 77%) described the team-based delivery of multidisciplinary care, which was facilitated by several different mechanisms. Informational continuity was identified as being vital in ensuring a consistent and coherent approach to the management of older adults’ evolving needs [ 67 ]. A shared electronic health record was found to enable team-based care, including the ability for multiple providers to chat in real-time [ 28 , 41 , 60 , 61 , 68 ]. Moreover, the multidisciplinary team would often meet to discuss each patient’s background, their outcome measures, current clinical problems, and anticipated needs [ 28 ]. Consequently, the team would facilitate the appropriate screenings through access to different providers, services, and resources [ 28 , 39 , 41 , 60 , 61 , 65 , 68 ]. Following a referral and initial clinical visit, the HIV-geriatric specialists would maintain communication with the primary care team [ 28 ], make recommendations based on the identified age-related needs for care [ 28 ], initiate referrals to other specialist care providers and communicate with community stakeholders to meet other needs [ 59 ]. Team-based care allowed for all members of the circle of care to have a comprehensive knowledge of patients’ health and social care needs (e.g., functional, cognitive) [ 28 ]. Results from retrospective medical and pharmacy chart reviews helped inform all team decisions [ 65 ]. When deemed necessary, the team would be able to create a new action plan [ 39 ] and determine follow-up [ 64 ]. Nurses who worked in case manager roles helped to facilitate this care by coordinating a comprehensive, holistic care plan in collaboration with the patient, caregiver(s), physician(s), and other members of the care team [ 59 ]. Team-based models of care were felt to improve the coordination of care [ 41 ].

iii) Community linkages

Nine articles ( n  = 9/13, 69%) described how the management of HIV in older adults involved active, collaborative partnerships between multidisciplinary healthcare providers and the various community resources available to individuals living with HIV. Models of care were often delivered in linkage with community resources (e.g., social groups) [ 41 ] and through community partners (e.g., volunteer organizations) [ 41 ]. Social workers often helped to facilitate community linkages [ 59 ], and grant-funding helped to pay for community services [ 65 ]. By working with community partners [ 41 ], models of care were able to deliver both nonclinical care [ 39 ] (e.g., peer support to decrease isolation and depression [ 41 ]), as well as clinical care [ 28 ] (e.g., care facilitated by a community nurse [ 39 ]). Community outreach also helped to foster friendships amongst older adults living with HIV through social and community-building activities including dinners, speeches, dances, and trips [ 59 ]. Local partner agencies assisted with meeting the housing needs for patients with marginal housing [ 61 ], and with the provision of legal services [ 61 ]. Partnering medical HIV-geriatric services with community services was thought to result in improved access to services [ 28 ], reduced social isolation [ 60 ], improved home safety management [ 59 ] and the provision of spiritual care such as priests, rabbis, or pastoral personnel [ 59 ].

Model Component 2: Organization of geriatric care

The specific organizational structure of each model of care varied, particularly as it related to staffing models, processes for access and referrals, and the implementation of evidence-based, best-practice care and follow-up. All articles adhered and contributed to this model component. Models of care were often delivered through clinics that were predominantly hospital-based (i.e., operating within a hospital) [ 39 , 60 , 61 , 65 , 66 , 67 ]. Additionally, geriatric clinics were outpatient clinics housed within existing HIV clinics [ 41 ] or community-based services providing home care [ 59 ]. Some models of care were able to be delivered virtually, either solely via phone [ 62 ] or in addition to in-person delivery [ 65 , 66 ]. Some clinics ran weekly [ 66 ], bi-weekly [ 65 ] or monthly [ 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 ], whereas others were full-time [ 39 , 65 ].

i) Staffing models

Within the identified models of care, various staffing models were described. All articles contributed to this sub-component. The Geriatrician-Referral model included a geriatrician who consulted on patients [ 39 , 41 , 60 , 61 , 64 , 65 ] based on a referral from the primary care team (often an HIV provider [ 41 ]), according to the perceived need (e.g., cognitive concerns). Six articles ( n  = 6/13, 46%) adhered to this. The Joint-Clinic model involved a geriatrician and HIV physician who were present in a single, combined clinic [ 41 , 66 , 67 , 68 ]. Four articles ( n  = 4/13, 31%) adhered to this model. The HIV-Physician-led model involved staffing clinics with a HIV physician and clinical nurse specialist trained in geriatrics, without geriatrician involvement [ 65 , 66 ]. Two articles ( n  = 2/13, 15%) adhered to this model. A further staffing model, the Dual-Trained Provider model, involved a dually-trained HIV and geriatrics provider, as either a physician [ 41 , 68 ] or psychotherapist [ 62 , 63 ]. Four articles ( n  = 4/13, 31%) adhered to this model. The Nurse-led model, involved nurse-lead teams of allied health professionals [ 59 ]. Only one article ( n  = 1/13, 8%) adhered to this model [ 59 ].

i) Access and referrals

All articles described processes to ensure appropriate access to care, and thus contributed to this sub-component. Referrals and on-call services [ 59 ] were used to facilitate access to care [ 59 ]. In some models of care, older adults were only able to access geriatric services via a referral from their HIV primary care team [ 39 , 41 , 60 , 61 , 67 ], while in other models, referrals were triggered by a combination of age (i.e., 50 years of age or older) and need (e.g., complexity) [ 28 , 66 , 67 , 68 ]. The process of receiving geriatric care often began with an assessment of patients’ needs and functional status (e.g., cognition) [ 39 ] and the collection of demographic information (e.g., age, sex, race/ethnicity, HIV risk factors, marital status, insurance status [ 39 ])[ 28 , 61 , 65 ]. Provider referrals were often documented through tracking scheduled appointments [ 60 , 61 , 68 ], however, limitations of this method included HIV providers not remembering to refer [ 41 ] and patient barriers such as confusion over the need for the referral which may result in skipping geriatric appointments [ 41 ]. One model of care implemented patient reminders to help ensure appointments were attended [ 64 ]. Two articles ( n  = 2/13, 15%) relied on referrals through an AIDS service organization [ 62 , 63 ]Moreover, across the models, patients could choose to be referred to one service (e.g. cardiology clinic) or multiple (e.g., geriatrics clinic) [ 60 , 68 ]. Patients could choose to have follow up with the geriatrician[ 28 ] and/or be connected with a primary care provider [ 41 ]. Clinics have developed guidelines and policies to guide the operation of services [ 28 ].

ii) Implementation of evidence-based screening

All articles described the incorporation of gold-standard, evidence-based screening practices into their geriatric care. Mood symptoms were assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale [ 60 , 62 , 63 , 67 ], the Geriatric Depression Scale [ 62 , 63 ], the Older Peoples’ Quality of Life Questionnaire [ 67 ] and/or the Patient Health Questionnaire [ 39 ], while cognition was assessed using tools such as the Montreal Cognitive Assessment [ 60 ]. CGAs were followed up with direct actions such as counseling (e.g., about ageing) [ 28 , 39 , 60 ], assessments of comorbidities, age-appropriate preventative health screening[ 41 , 60 , 61 ], and pharmacist reviews targeting polypharmacy and drug safety [4, NaN]. In addition to the CGA, clinics offered British HIV Association (BHIVA)-recommended screening (i.e., guidelines for the management of HIV), an antiretroviral review, a functional review and full medication review [ 28 , 66 ]. Emotional support was monitored using the ‘Therapy Content Checklist’ [ 62 , 63 ]. The goal of using valid measurements was to promote best practice [ 59 ].

Model Component 3: Support for holistic care

As older persons are more likely to experience cumulative health challenges that affect their quality of life, models of care for people ageing with HIV have incorporated a comprehensive holistic management approach. All included articles adhered and contributed to this model component. Clinics provided care for patients with multimorbidity [ 60 , 61 , 66 , 67 ] and helped them to overcome socioeconomic challenges [ 41 ], substance use disorders [ 60 , 65 ] and social isolation [ 60 , 62 , 63 ] by understanding their backgrounds[ 41 ]. Physical health consultations considered cardiovascular disease, dental health, eye health and bone health[ 28 , 41 , 60 , 61 , 64 , 68 ] to address HIV and metabolic-related complications [ 41 ]. Care plans incorporated medication prescriptions [ 28 , 39 , 60 , 61 , 66 , 67 , 68 ], preventative screening [ 28 , 39 , 60 , 61 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 ], age-related disease processes (e.g., cognitive-testing) [ 28 , 39 , 41 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 ], psychosocial interventions to improve social networks and mental health [ 28 , 39 , 59 , 60 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 ], exercise and nutrition regimens [ 39 ] and behavioural health supports (e.g., smoking cessation, therapy) [ 28 , 39 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 67 ] to meet the holistic needs of each patient. Spiritual support delivered through religious leaders, mental health counselors/therapists, and emotional support volunteers was also offered [ 59 , 64 ].

i)Comprehensive geriatric assessment

Most models of care ( n  = 8/13,61.5%) involved a CGA [ 28 , 39 , 41 , 60 , 61 , 66 , 68 ] or utilized geriatric screening tools [ 65 ] to guide holistic care plans. Most CGAs were delivered by geriatricians who would write full consultation notes [ 39 , 60 , 61 ], although non-geriatrician health care providers were often trained to administer geriatric screening tests [ 41 , 64 ]. The CGA provided an overview of physical and mental health, as well as social support systems [ 39 ], using validated scales [ 39 ].

ii)Supporting self-management

The models of care in six articles ( n  = 6/13, 46%) aimed to support the self-management of older adults living with HIV. The goal of self-management was to enable patients to better manage their health outside of the clinic setting by involving older adults in medical decision-making [ 60 , 68 ] and managing their chronic illnesses [ 59 , 60 , 61 ]. Self-management involved education [ 39 , 59 , 60 , 65 ] and coaching [ 28 ] about health behaviours, guidance for choosing appropriate interventions [ 39 , 59 , 65 ] to improve a patient’s health status [ 28 , 65 ], and increased health care utilization to improve patient involvement in care [ 60 , 65 ]. Some models involved classes where older adults could learn about various health conditions [ 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 ]. Where self-management was not possible due to cognitive or functional impairments, healthcare professionals provided education to individuals’ social support networks such as to encourage their inclusion in care [ 39 , 59 ]. To evaluate self-management, some studies included surveys about knowledge in the evaluations of the clinic models [ 60 , 61 ].

Our scoping review of the literature identified thirteen articles describing geriatric models of care for older adults living with HIV. The identified models came from two countries, the USA and the United Kingdom, and incorporated screening for geriatric syndromes [ 28 , 39 , 41 , 60 , 61 , 65 , 66 , 68 ]. From these articles, we identified three overarching key model components: Collaboration and Integration; Organization of Geriatric Care; and Support for Holistic Care. The models of care were largely delivered by a consulting geriatrician [ 39 , 41 , 60 , 61 , 64 , 65 ] via a referral from an HIV provider [ 41 ], from a joint clinic model involving a geriatrician and HIV physician[ 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 ], or through a dually-trained HIV-geriatrics provider [ 41 , 62 , 63 , 68 ]. However, some models did not involve a geriatrician [59, NaN]. Table 4 summarizes the future recommendations from the included articles.

Our review identified that most models of geriatric-HIV care are delivered by multidisciplinary teams that facilitate integrated health and social care. Multidisciplinary providers who work in team-based care models have been shown to improve clinical outcomes among HIV patients [ 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 ]. This study provided examples of collaborations in which practitioners worked together to meet the diverse needs of patients. Our data expand this finding by suggesting that multidisciplinary care providers help to facilitate referrals to even more providers, particularly those working in community settings, to ensure care continuity and care coordination to meet holistic needs for support. However, it is important for future research to further understand what staffing model of multidisciplinary team care contributes best to the quadruple aim of optimizing health system performance (i.e., improving the individual experience of care; improving the health of populations; reducing the per capita cost of healthcare and creating better provider experiences [ 74 ]) and the limitations of the existing approaches. Moreover, given the shortage of geriatricians [ 45 ] to meet patient needs, it is important to consider the transferability of models that involve a geriatrician [ 39 , 41 , 60 , 61 , 64 , 65 ][ 66 , 67 , 68 ], or dually-trained HIV-geriatrics provider [ 41 , 62 , 63 , 68 ].

The increasing proportion of older adults living with multimorbidity, including HIV, has evoked calls for tailored geriatric services that respond to their evolving needs. Our results suggest that care delivery should address multiple complex and multidimensional aspects of health and wellness, including psychosocial needs such as strategies to reduce social isolation. However, none of the articles discussed the provision of palliative or hospice care. Palliative care has been posited to augment HIV patients’ health and social care outcomes [ 75 ]. Implementation science may help researchers identify how to implement novel palliative care interventions into exiting practices and support uptake and sustainability by considering why, how and in what circumstances barriers and facilitators may be present [ 76 ]. In addition, older adults were described as being decision makers in their care such as being able to choose the follow up services they receive [ 60 , 68 ]. While some programs sought the input of older adults (e.g., through focus groups, none explicitly mentioned partnering with older adults to co-design their models of HIV care. Other HIV interventions have included individuals living with HIV on their steering committees and in development teams, such that care meaningfully reflects their wishes and preferences [ 77 , 78 , 79 ]. These interventions do not include older adults. Future models of care may wish to engage older adults in co-design to conceptualize and brainstorm program delivery [ 80 , 81 ].

Our review identified several areas of research with limited information. Most literature was published in the USA. Only one article mentioned the role of family caregivers in the care of HIV [ 59 ]. However, individuals living with HIV may receive support from non-kin family caregivers, such as friends [ 82 ]. Research is needed to better understand how broader conceptualizations of family can be embedded into the multidisciplinary care teams to help facilitate family-centered care [ 43 , 83 ]. Moreover, none of the articles mentioned care being delivered in the context of nursing or long-term care homes, nor did they mention offered referrals to long-term care facilities or services. Research is needed to determine the optimal approach for delivering geriatric services in long-term care settings to older adults living with HIV. Strategies are also needed to effectively embed HIV care into the already overburdened and under-resourced long-term care sector. While telehealth has proven to be an effective strategy for delivering HIV care [ 84 , 85 ], particularly in rural and remote communities where specialists may not be readily available [ 86 ], additional research is needed to identify the best practices and limitations for delivering geriatric-focused models of care virtually. Lastly, no studies have evaluated how to best incorporate culturally-sensitive geriatric care across racial and ethnic groups [ 87 , 88 ]. Thus, more data are needed to develop culturally-informed models of care to better engage and care for diverse populations of older adults living with HIV, particularly for adults with certain racial and ethnic backgrounds who may face pervasive stigma for accessing HIV care [ 89 , 90 ].

Limitations

As with any review, our findings must be considered within the context of the limitations. Despite our best efforts (i.e., multiple databases, peer-reviewed strategy, screening in duplicate, bibliographic searches, contacting authors of the reviewed articles), we may have inadvertently missed potentially relevant articles. Moreover, we may have missed papers of programs not yet described in the literature, such as those recently funded or piloted. Similarly, we limited the inclusion criteria to studies available in English due to resource constraints (i.e., lack of funding to support translation) and, consequently, may have biased our included studies to those published in English-speaking countries [ 91 ]. However, the intention of scoping reviews is to provide an overview or “map” of the breadth of existing literature, and thus, future exploration is warranted that builds upon our search strategy. Studies focused on individuals with HIV, but did not include description of older adults living with co-morbidities that impair healthcare decision-making, such as dementia, making it difficult to comment about models of care for individuals who require decision-making support. Lastly, stakeholders in implementing, delivering and receiving models of care (e.g., individuals with HIV, policy-makers, healthcare professionals) were not involved in the study design nor analysis.

Conclusions

Our review suggests that novel models of geriatric care for older adults living with HIV should include collaboration and integration, an organization of care that considers appropriate and timely referrals, communication of medical information and the implementation of evidence-based recommendations, as well as a holistic understanding of the dimensions of care, such that they support self-management. This proposed geriatric-based model can provide the framework to inform future implementation science and evaluative research to support further refining and developing this model. However, further research is needed to inform models of geriatric-HIV care in long-term care settings. Given the increasing number of older adults living with HIV, the development of best-practice models of integrated care can hopefully guide healthcare professionals to provide optimal care in the context of the complexities of care for older adults with HIV.

Availability of data and materials

The analysis files and data used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment

Human Immunodeficiency Virus

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank and acknowledge the contributions of Charmaine De Castro, Information Specialist at the Mount Sinai Hospital– Sinai Health System, for providing guidance on the search strategy development, and conducting the literature search. We would like to thank and acknowledge the contributions of the authors who replied to our emails for contributing to our analysis.

This work was supported by Sinai Health’s Healthy Ageing and Geriatrics Program Research Fund.

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All authors contributed to the project idea and initiated the project. KMK and LS conceptualized the study design. KMK wrote the first draft of this manuscript and revised the article during the review process. KMK and LS provided guidance to the Information Specialist with respect to the design of the search strategy. All authors finalized the literature search strategy. KMK piloted the search strategy. AG and LS were involved in editing and revising the manuscript. All authors approved the final version of the protocol and are accountable for all aspects of the work.

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Kokorelias, K.M., Grosse, A., Zhabokritsky, A. et al. Understanding geriatric models of care for older adults living with HIV: a scoping review and qualitative analysis. BMC Geriatr 23 , 417 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-023-04114-7

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