Abstract
Meaning, Metaphors, and Methods: How Qualitative Researchers Migrate, Mutate, and Mature

Researchers who use qualitative methods change over time. You are not the same person you were when you first did an interview, wrote a case study, or provided insights to people in a company about what was happening. You have undergone many changes and the world has changed around you. You have received reactions to your work; perhaps many rejections and perhaps some acceptances. You might say you have grown or even evolved, but on the other hand you might say you’ve mutated, migrated, or matured. In this keynote address I reflect on the past quarter century of my qualitative work in information systems and its relationship to the journeys commenced by others in the qualitative research community. I will explore how we’ve arrived at this point and what we may face in the future.

Abstract
Qualitatively Bigger: Doing Larger-Scale Science

Discussions about doing qualitative research are shifting from viability to value. Within information systems, qualitative research is seen as one of several viable approaches to conducting research. The best scholarship in this intellectual community extends from findings, concepts and insights drawn from studies that employ a variety of methods. The questions now focus on what does the research provide, not what approach was taken. With this focus towards value, scholars pursuing qualitative approaches to data collection and intensive research methods should be both very aware, and very wary, of the increasing push towards big science. By big science I mean the inter-dependent combination of larger-scale problems, larger-scale research teams, larger-scale data sets, and a concomitant emphasis on developing the funding, tools and infrastructure to support these efforts.
Building from this sketch, I focus on two questions: What does big mean for qualitative research? How does one do larger-scale – big— qualitative research? In response, I emphasize four trajectories of effort to both respond to and advance qualitative inquiry in an era of big science longings. First, I emphasize the importance of linking micro-studies with larger, macro-level, interests. Second, I advance the concept of connected studies. Third, I discuss the importance of research programs. Fourth, I propose sharing data and speculate on what it means to build big sets of qualitative data.