Abstract
In this provocative paper, I critically explore if and how the label ‘qualitative research’ might contribute to a prevalence of objectivist and positivist research approaches, a drive towards standardization and a lack of critical and reflexive research in management and organization studies. Referring to seminal texts and contemporary methodological debates, I argue that the use of the singular label ‘qualitative research’ to refer to paradigmatically diverse qualitative research approaches is problematic because it obfuscates the fundamental differences in how qualitative researchers ‘see’ the world and how they conduct their research as a result. The paper contains details about how three approaches to so-called ‘qualitative’ research differ in terms of the underpinning onto-epistemological assumptions, what this means for assessing research quality and for our scholarly community. I close the paper with four recommendations that management and organizations researchers can do in our daily practice to protect the philosophical and methodological diversity of so-called qualitative research.