From data to data: an overview towards qualitative data research reproducibility

New methodological approaches and massive amounts of collectible data call for the definition of the state of the art of qualitative research in marketing and management studies.Purpose of the paper: We provide an overview of qualitative research in the most recent literature in order to detect patterns and shared practices. Our results provide insight to researchers approaching qualitative data analysis. Methodology: A total of 87 papers, published from 2017 to 2021 in 10 high-ranked international marketing and management journals were collected and analyzed. Information on the sub-components of our analysis was coded, summarized, and re-elaborated to better highlight the research findings. Results: Following an ideal data flow, our study focuses on specific issues about the data types and sources that were used, the application of analysis techniques, and the sharing of data, thus re-interpreting them in terms of their specific importance to qualitative research.Research limitations: A major limitation lies in the fact that papers from some top journals were not reviewed. Moreover, some main topics in qualitative research, e.g. research questions, methodologies, and procedures, were deliberately overlooked, as we hope to analyze them in further studies.Practical implications: We offer input to scholars as we introduce some useful automated and online tools for data collection, analysis, and sharing in qualitative research. The information we produced is of the utmost usefulness for researchers who want to open their study perspective by using less investigated data. Originality of the study: We raise some challenging questions on the possibility of a synthetic and parsimonious approach to qualitative research and leave scholars with an open question on the evolution of qualitative studies in future research.