Abstract

This study investigates the reflexive relationship between the challenges encountered during the development and teaching of the qualitative research method (QARM) program and the stories of PhD students about their experiences with the course. The study is based on a number of pedagogical issues drawn from postgraduate students combined with an auto-ethnographic account of parallel experiences of teaching qualitative research methods, which form the basis of our methodology and analysis. The findings show that the main aching issue in surmounting the development of qualitative research is resilience, because breeding interpretive research becomes difficult in a conservative environment. Findings also show that innovative hands-on methods need to be used to teach QARM since kick-starting data building, exercising the interviewing process, and data analysis are the cornerstones of the methodology. Teaching QARM to students who have been brought up in a conservative accounting program may be pleasing since their discoveries attract enthusiasm. Overall, the complementarity of quantitative and qualitative methods in the findings suggests a continuous debate to strengthen the relationship in further studies.

Key words: Qualitative research, qualitative research method, accounting program, auto-ethnography.