Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 9(4), pp 693–715 December 2016. Copyright © 2016 Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. doi:10.1017/iop.2016.92 Focal Article Qualitative Research in I-O Psychology: Maps, Myths, and Moving Forward Michael G. Pratt Boston College Silvia Bonaccio University of Ottawa Qualitative methods are gaining prominence in psychology, as well as related felds such as organizational behavior. Yet, we can fnd little evidence of qualitative re- search in our top industrial–organizational (I-O) psychology journals. We argue that the lack of research employing qualitative methods is a loss for the feld, and we explore the reasons why few scholars adopt this approach. We then explore where this type of research is published and where it is not. Finally, we discuss and debunk several myths that continue to characterize qualitative methods with an eye toward encouraging a greater appreciation and acceptance of this research tradition. Keywords: qualitative methods, research method, industrial and organizational psychology, student training I (the frst author) remember my frst position as an assistant professor. Al- though I trained in a prominent organizational psychology doctoral pro- gram in the United States, the only job interviews and ofers I received were from business schools. When I got to my new job, I was able to get a cour- tesy appointment in my university’s psychology department (then ranked the second best in the country). Upon meeting one of the senior faculty in industrial–organizational (I-O) psychology, I was asked about the kind of re- search I did. After discussing the theoretical topics I examined, I noted that most of my research was qualitative. Her response was short and to the point: Michael G. Pratt, Management and Organization Department, Carroll School of Man- agement, Boston College; Silvia Bonaccio, Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. This article was written when the frst author was on sabbatical at Harvard Business School. The second author wishes to acknowledge the receipt of a grant from the Telfer School of Management Research Fund. Special thanks to Xiaoxi Chang for her help with the journal analysis. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Michael G. Pratt, Man- agement and Organization Department, Carroll School of Management, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467. E-mail: prattmg@bc.edu 693 https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/iop.2016.92 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 54.70.40.11, on 04 Jun 2019 at 07:07:52, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at