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Abstract

This study is a retrospective review of methodological strategies employed during a virtual team-based training qualitative study about the emergent process of adapting to remote education among students and professors from a Master Management Program. The aim of this study was to test the technique of collaborative research as an educational and training strategy for Ph.D. students of management who are inexperienced in qualitative inductive research carried out in a virtual environment. A professor and eight Ph.D. students formed the research team and applied a qualitative inductive approach. As a result, 18 methodological steps emerged, which required just over one hundred hours of work. We describe advantages and challenges faced during the process, including greater credibility and validity for the results, technical and interactional difficulties of the virtual research environment, and difficulty reaching consensus in the data analysis stage. The findings also highlight the importance of coordination, active participation, and continuous assessment as Ph.D. educational and teaching strategies. Qualitative Virtual Team Research has proved to be a potential training tool for beginning researchers. We also contribute to the body of research on Ph.D. education and teaching by detailing the procedures used to coordinate the project and clarifying details regarding the strategies used to reach consensus in data analysis development.

Keywords

team-based research, collaborative research, qualitative virtual team research, qualitative research, Ph.D. education, training, virtual environment

Author Bio(s)

Queila R. S. Matitz's academic background: Doctorate in Administration (UFPR-2009), Master’s in Administration (PUCPR-2004), specialization in Communication (PUCPR-1998), and graduation in Industrial Design (PUCPR-1994). Dedicated to teaching and research since 1998, she is currently a professor of undergraduate and graduate courses in Administration at UFPR. She is the author and co-author of books and teaching materials in Scientific Methodology, Research in Administration, Fundamentals of Administration, and Strategic Administration. She has already acted as a volunteer in national and international NGOs. She is currently an evaluator of national and international congresses and periodicals in the area of administration. The main current research interests include: Qualitative Research Methods, Process Philosophy applied to Organizational Studies, and Strategy and Strategic Decision Process. She is the coordinator of the Administration course (2020-2022). She was the pedagogical coordinator (2017-2018) and tutoring coordinator (2016-2017) of the Public Management course at UAB/PNAP/UFPR. Please direct correspondence to queila.matitz@gmail.com.

Camilla Fernandes holds a Master's in Business Administration from the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), and is currently a Ph.D. student at the same institution with an emphasis on Strategy and Organizational Analysis. Her research interests involve organizational studies, women in organizations, emotions in organizational theory, entrepreneurship, and public administration. She is a member of the research group Humans Dimensions in Organizations at the UFPR, of the European Group for Organizational Studies (EGOS), and also of The European Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ECBS). Please direct correspondence to camillafer05@gmail.com.

André R. R. Contani holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) and is currently a Ph.D. student at the same institution, focused on Strategy and Organizational Analysis. His research interests involve perspectives of practice and communication in organizations, especially by the lens of process ontology, and include organizing, strategy as practice, narratives, and mediatization. He is also a member of the research group Strategy: Processes, Practices, and Decision at UFPR. Please direct correspondence to acontani@gmail.com.

Beatriz Zanoni holds a Master's degree in Business Administration from the State University of Londrina (UEL) and is currently a Ph.D. student at the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) focused on Strategy and Organizational Analysis. Her research interests involve social practices, strategy, sustainability, translation, and narratives, from the perspectives of flat ontology proposed by Latour. She is also a member of the research group Strategy: Processes, Practices, and Decision at UFPR. Please direct correspondence to beatriz.lz@hotmail.com.

Rafael Budach holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) and is currently a Ph.D. student at the same institution, focused on Strategy and Organizational Analysis. His studies and research interests are based on a process ontology and are linked to theories of social practice, with an emphasis on the role of materiality, organizational narratives, and strategy as practice. He is also a member of the research group Strategy: Processes, Practices, and Decision at UFPR. Please direct correspondence to rafael_budach@hotmail.com

Weber Henrique Radael is a professor of Business Administration at the State University of Paraná (UNESPAR). He holds a Master's in Business Administration from State University of Maringá (UEM) and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Business Administration at Federal University of Paraná (UFPR). His research interests involve international business, internationalization process, born global firms, service firms, risk, misconduct, strategy, and innovation. He is also a member of the research group Strategy: Processes, Practices, and Decision at UFPR. Please direct correspondence to weber.radael@gmail.com.

Joyce A R Santos is a professor of Administration at the Federal Institute of Santa Catarina. She has a Master's in Business Administration from the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), with a focus on Innovation and Technology. Her research interests involve entrepreneurship, innovation, and sustainability. Please send correspondence to joysantosap@gmail.com.

Samantha Frohlich is a professor in the Trilingual Executive Secretarial Course (SET) at the State University of West Paraná (UNIOESTE). Doctoral Student in Administration (PPGADM) focusing on the research line of Strategy and Organizational Analysis (EAO) at the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR). Master’s in Administration from the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR). Graduated in Executive Secretariat from the State University of West Paraná (UNIOESTE). Researcher in the project entitled Organizational Processes, History, and Organizational Memory: New Perspectives for the Study of Dynamic Capabilities in Brazilian Organizations at UFPR. Please direct correspondence to samanthafrohlich@ufpr.br.

Ana C V Carvalho is a professor of Business and Management at Federal Institute of Parana. She holds a Master’s in Business Administration from State University of Londrina (UEL) and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Business Administration at Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), focusing on Innovation and Technology. Her research interests involve social innovation, social enterprise, accelerators, incubators, and the triple helix approach. She is a member of the Study Group on Management of Innovation, Technology, and Sustainability (EGITS) at UFPR. Please direct correspondence to acvcarvalho@gmail.com.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments The authors would like to recognize gratitude to all graduate students and professors that kindly accepted to participate in this study. Distinctive acknowledgments are made to Dr. Bárbara Galleli for conducting a training session that allowed the authors to perform an integrated analysis. Funding This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001.

Publication Date

8-16-2021

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2021.4859

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