From Moby Dick to Free Willy: Macro-cultural discourse and institutional entrepreneurship in emerging institutional fields. Organization, 11, 689-711. Meyer,].
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF
Case Study Research EDITED BY
Albert J. Mills Saint Mary's UniversitYt
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Gabrielle Durepos St. Francis Xavier UniversitYt Antigonish Nova Scotia
Elden Wiebe The King's University College, Edmonton, Alberta
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A SAGE Reference Publication
Iterative
the level of the institutional field and diversity at an organizational or subgroup level through variations in organizational culture. At the same time that there are pressures for organizations to become homogeneous there are also strategic pressures to demonstrate uniqueness. A comparative case study approach may be used effectively to contrast the specific elements of organizational culture between two organizations within the same field that have undergone isomorphic processes leading toward similarity while maintaining differentiation through the uniqueness of their individual organizational cultures. The case study method would be effective in this area of research particularly because of the complexity involved in examining both the similarities of connected organizations and the differentiation of individual organizations internally. Critical Summary
There is considerable potential for case study research in this area to focus on the transformative change that an individual organization undertakes in its pursuit of legitimization with an institutional field and for analysis on the impact on an organizational field of the actions of leading organizations in the field. Individual cases can be used to expand on the concept of isomorphism through highlighting specific experiences of an organization as it contends with pressures to adhere to a common set of standards, norms, and values within an organizational field. Case study research would also be relevant for investigating organizations that contradict the theory of isomorphic change within fields by examining the elements of an organization that allow it to resist the isomorphic pressures of a field. At a field level of examination, case study research could be used to examine the development and emergence of new organizational fields as relationships between organizations change and alter the composition of fields. The rich empirical data and depth of investigation in one situation resulting from a case study approach make this method of study an effective research tool for studying isomorphism within organizations and fields. However, this very strength also poses a drawback for the case study approach. The results of a
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case study are not necessarily generalizable across different organizational fields. Generalizable results would require the comparison of several individual studies in several fields; moreover, the case study is not applicable in a situation in which the researcher wishes to examine a large number of organizations that have undergone isomorphic change. In this instance, a survey approach may be more effective.
Rhonda Pyper See also Comparative Case Study
Further Readings
Dacin, M. T. (1997). Isomorphism in context: The power and prescription of institutional norms. Academy of Management Journal, 40, 46-81. de Holan, P. M., & Phillips, N. (2002). Managing in transition: A case study of institutional management and organizational change. Journal of Management Inquiry, 11, 68-83. DiMaggio, P.]., & Powell, W. W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48, 147-160. Lawrence, T. B., & Phillips, N. (2004). From Moby Dick to Free Willy: Macro-cultural discourse and institutional entrepreneurship in emerging institutional fields. Organization, 11, 689-711. Meyer,]. W., & Rowan, B. (1977). Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony. American Journal of Sociology, 83, 340-363.
ITERATIVE Iterative refers to a systematic, repetitive, and recursive process in qualitative data analysis. An iterative approach involves a sequence of tasks carried out in exactly the same manner each time and executed multiple times. Meaning is provided to this repeatable formulation in qualitative research by calling upon a prior, recognized authorized usage. The interplay between elements of the research, such as that between design and discovery, or among data collection, preliminary analysis, and further data collection, are examples of an iterative approach in qualitative research.
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Iterative
Conceptual Overview and Discussion The philosophy behind an iterative approach to research is that of flexibility and ongoing change that meets the needs of the research design, data requirements, and analysis methods in response to new information as it is collected. Loops of iterative cycles occur that may begin as small loops and then move into larger cycles. Iterative sampling is an example of an iterative process. Working back and forth between the research design and the initial data collection, adjustment can be made to the purposive sampling frame, followed by further data collection with another cycle of evaluation against the sampling frame, and further sampling adjustment and data collection as needed. Iterative sampling ensures that information-rich participants are included in the study. This process recognizes that rich information, purposefully focused on the collection of specific, rather than general, data related to the research topic, is necessary for reliable and valid qualitative research. Mistakenly criticized as repeatedly changing the objectives of the study, and as lacking rigor, an iterative approach is valuable for its sensitivity to the richness and variability of data and for ensuring data address the study's objectives. In the coding of data, an iterative sequence of actions occur, in which a segment of data is selected, conceptualized, and tagged or labeled with a meaningful code. This sequence is executed multiple times in exactly the same way. A further iterative cycle occurs alongside the coding sequence as the researcher moves between the inductive discoveries of patterns to their deductive verification, yielding further inductive insight, beginning the cycle again. Themes may emerge from iteratively induced patterns. In the visual display of themes in models and network diagrams connections between themes, as well as new themes, emerge. Working back and forth between raw data, codes, themes, and visual data display, another iterative cycle is begun. Drawing together and lengthening out the inductive-deductive and thematic data display iterations are yet other cycles, those of reflection and writing. As the findings are written up, analysis continues with reflection on the results, returning to the analysis, writing up some of the findings,
reflecting back to the results, and so on. By executing these sequences multiple times the analysis deepens and gains momentum, while at the same time a standard of reliability is applied to the subjective process of coding, interpretation, and analysis in qualitative research.
Application Julia A. Walters, Emily C. Hansen, E. Haydn Walters, and Richard Wood-Baker describe an iterative approach in which each transcript was read after each interview with attention to repeated stories and links between events. Initial codes and memos were applied to the data. This cycle of reading, linking, coding, and memoing was repeated with each interview. Another iteration, in which interview transcripts were compared with each other, began following collection of the second interview. Codes were collated into categories, and categories were grouped into themes in further iterative cycles involving comparison among codes, categories, and themes. In a multi-case study, Ned Kock used iterative cycles in action research with eight organizations in two countries (four in each country). Proceeding iteratively through processes of diagnosing, planning, taking action, evaluating, and then specifying learning objectives for each organization, an evaluative model was developed. The processes were completed for each organization before beginning the same process with the next organization. The evaluative model was refined with the results from each organization's iterations. Mindful of the often-overlooked insights from group conversations about research, Trena Paulus, Marianne Woodside and Mary Zeigler describe an iterative process of collaborative dialogue in their study. Each team member brought individually constructed understandings of the research to team meetings. Collaborative understandings from individually constructed meanings were created through talk, shifting individual team member's understandings. Collaborative dialogue led to the revision and refinement of analyses and manuscripts as the iterative cycles of individual and group understanding led to further iterations between analyses and manuscripts and looped back to further collaborative dialogue. The active development of understanding through iterative
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Iterative Nodes
cycles of dialogue, analysis, writing, and more dialogue challenges concepts such as saturation and interrater reliability. Saturation refers to the process whereby data are collected and analyzed until no new themes are identified; interrater reliability refers to measured agreement between raters or coders. Iterative cycles in which collaborative discussion of codes and coding, checking interpretations against data and prior interpretations, frequently resulted in new themes and in multiple, in-depth meanings replacing the more superficial rater agreements as the basis of understanding. Critical Summary An iterative approach in qualitative research provides the flexibility necessary to adapt data collection and analysis in response to the needs of the study. An iterative process, which involves the systematic repetition of a sequence of tasks executed in exactly the same manner multiple times, provides a deepening understanding of research data and brings a standard of reliability to the research.
B. Raewyn Bassett See also Depth of Data; Performativity; Reliability
Further Readings Kock, N. (2003). Action research: Lessons learned from a multi-iteration study of computer mediated communication in groups. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 46, 105-128. Paulus, T., Woodside, M., & Zeigler, M. (2008). Extending the conversation: Qualitative research as dialogic collaborative process. The Qualitative Report, 13, 226-243. Retrieved from http://www.nova.edu/ ssss/QRlQR13-2/paulus.pdf Walters,]. A., Hansen, E. c., Walters, E. H., & WoodBaker, R. (2008). Under-diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A qualitative study in primary care. Respiratory Medicine, 102, 738-742.
ITERATIVE NODES The iterative nodes concept is a qualitative research methodological tool used to evaluate identifiable sets of leadership activities to determine the effectiveness
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of a leader. The activities are categorized and analyzed in the context of the leader's ability to effectively manage data or information to arrive at unbiased and viable conclusions or decisions, especially in the scarcity of resources. Conceptual Overview and Discussion Hezekiah Orji introduced the idea of the iterative nodes in his initial study of the role and impact of U.S. presidential leadership on global security. In this quest, Orji used NVivo software to organize and categorize archival data obtained from books, electronic databases, and contemporary narratives on policy decisions pertaining to U.S. presidents Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush for content analysis. Numerous themes emerged in the process that were categorized into five major themes for reasonableness of manageability and study significance. Analysis of these major themes yielded results that were identified with the presidents' emerging leadership approaches (transactional and transformational), which were then evaluated to identify the presidents' levels of effectiveness. Application Because many leadership decisions have resulted in discords that have often deteriorated to levels of unwanted or unnecessary wars and/or conflicts, a qualitative research tool that would facilitate intense scholarship on case studies toward ideas on limiting the probabilities of errors in decisions becomes increasingly crucial. The triangulation approach used in Orji's study developed into a qualitative research methodology-the Zekoist iterative triangulation concept (ZIT-c), in which iterative nodes (see Figure 1) are conceptualized as major components. The iterative nodes are defined in the study as integrated sets of elemental components that, if properly applied, would limit the chances for errors in judgment. The ZIT-c illustrates the interactivities that occur between identified systems elements and the iterations within the systems that are studied. The study evaluates a leader's ability on the basis of data, as is done in similar qualitative studies. The ZIT-c was motivated through generalizations obtained from triangulating theories and prior concepts of systems theory, hierarchy of
