EDUCATING QUALITATIVE RESEARCHERS IN MANAGEMENT: TOWARD PERFORMATIVE JUDGEMENTS

The aim of this essay is to reflect critically on qualitative research education in doctoral management programs. The central idea is to offer a qualitative research education model supported by the concept of performative judgment. The notion of performative judgment draws upon Aristotle's virtues of thought via Strati's idea of sensible knowledge. The proposal focuses on a theoretical understanding of qualitative research education rather than prescribing pedagogical techniques or steps. The performative judgment education model is therefore open-ended and flexible and may fit in different doctoral program settings. It also helps to reveal the differences between the notions of training and education, showing how they can work together in the educational process.

KEYWORDS:
Qualitative research; doctoral management education; performative judgment; practical wisdom; sensible knowledge

Virtue	Description
Scientific knowledge	"What we know scientifically does not even admit of being otherwise, and whenever what admits of being otherwise escapes observation, we do not notice whether it is or is not. Hence, what is known scientifically is by necessity" (Aristotle, 1139b 2). It is deduction supported by basic principles.
Craft knowledge	Craft knowledge is concerned with coming to be, and "the exercise of the craft is the study of how something that admits of being and not being comes to be, something whose principle is in the producer and not in the product." (Aristotle, 1140a 4). Craft knowledge pretense to building things.
Practical wisdom	Practical wisdom is about human concerns, about things open to deliberation. "For we say that deliberating well is the function of the prudent person more than anyone else; but no one deliberates about things that cannot be otherwise, or about things lacking any goal that is a good achievable in action" (Aristotle, 1141b 6). Practical wisdom is deliberating according to human beings' common sense of what is good or bad.
Understanding	Understanding has "grasped the truth and never make mistakes, about what can or cannot be otherwise, it means that we have understanding of principles. Neither scientific knowledge, practical wisdom, and wisdom is possible about principles" (Aristotle, 1141a 2).
Wisdom	"The wise person must not only know what is derived from the principles of science but also grasp the truth about the principles. Therefore, wisdom is understanding plus scientific knowledge; it is scientific knowledge of the most honorable things that has received its coping stone" (Aristotle, 1141a 3).

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[TFN1] Source: Adapted from Aristotle (1999)Aristotle. (1999). Nicomachean ethics (2nd ed., Terence Irwin, Trans.). Indianapolis, USA: Hackett Publishing..