Global Journal of Management and Business Research, E: Marketing, Volume 23 Issue 1

Once the analytical categories referring to the epistemological bases have been defined, it is worth noting that, when reviewing the literature on qualitative research, one can notice that, frequently, this research is not being defined by itself, but in contrast to quantitative research. Therefore, Bryman (1988) observes the differences and similarities between qualitative and quantitative research. From the point of view of the researcher's relationship with the research subject, quantitative research is distant and neutral, while in qualitative research the researcher knows the space and lives the time experienced by the investigated. Thus, the qualitative researcher interacts with the researched object/subject, with the intention of giving it a voice and building a plot of meanings. For this, the researcher's worldview is part of the investigative process, and it is impossible to detach oneself from it. This dialectical process is inductive, makes generalization lose strength for discovery and standardized language is freed and evolves to new narrative possibilities, which seek to integrate a scheme of multiple voices (GERGEN; GERGEN, 2006). As for the image of social reality, the quantitative approach is characterized as static and external to the actor, and the qualitative, procedural and socially constructed by the subjects. The objective of quantitative research is to explain and predict (establishing causal relationships and/or testing hypotheses) and qualitative research is to understand, describe and characterize (at most, point out association relationships) (BRYMAN; 1988). The subjects, from a quantitative perspective, must be sufficient to guarantee representativeness; on the other hand, in the qualitative one, all people who elaborate knowledge and/or produce adequate practices to intervene in the problems object of the research are considered. The central quantitative concern is statistical validation and the scope of the findings is nomothetic, that is, it intends to generalize; the qualitative focuses on understanding the meanings and the scope of the findings is ideographic, as it treats each individual as a unique universe. Furthermore, the quantitative data collection strategies are structured and the technique for dealing with them is statistics; on the other hand, qualitative research has unstructured and semi-structured strategies and the treatment of data aims at the meaning of the contents (BRYMAN; 1988). III. M ethodological P aths ReMark, according to the electronic library SPELL (2021), has 789 citations, 812,398 accesses, 165,809 downloads, 551 available documents and an H: 9 index. The types of texts published are: theoretical and theoretical-empirical scientific articles, in Spanish, English and Portuguese. The Journal is published quarterly, is of an academic nature, publishing articles that are the result of scientific research, which must necessarily bring an innovative theoretical or empirical contribution to the area of Marketing knowledge. In addition, there is a deliberate position to publish articles by all research groups in the country, privileging researchers from regions in the consolidation phase and encouraging joint production. It is characterized by being aimed at a broad, highly qualified public that works in the marketing area in public, private and third sector, national and international organizations. The article evaluation process is characterized by a triple evaluation system and involves two sequential steps: the desk review and the evaluation by the reviewers (ReMark, 2020). Its focus is the publication of scientific contributions in the following areas: research methods and theory in marketing; consumer behavior; marketing management and strategy; and marketing in specific contexts. The next step was to define the criteria for classification, evaluation and analysis of the articles, structuring the documentary research in three stages. First step: a) reading the articles in full: b) classification of the articles according to the type of research (quantitative, qualitative, quali-quantitative and essay) and; c) elimination of articles classified as quantitative research, quali-quantitative and essay. Second stage: a) evaluation of qualitative research according to the research strategy (case study, multicase, documentary, ethnographic, grounded theory , action research and participant); b) evaluation of qualitative research according to the data collection technique (interview, observation, document analysis and focus group); and c) evaluation according to the data analysis method (discourse analysis, content analysis and narrative analysis) (BRYMAN, 1988; SANDELOWSKI, 1997; ALVES-MAZZOTTI and GEWANDSNAJDER, 1999; DENZIN and LINCOLN, 2006; BANDEIRA DE MELLO, 2006; CHUEKE and LIMA, 2012). Third stage – analysis: a) content analysis according to the epistemological bases and analytical categories specified in Table 1. For the purposes of analysis, this identification was achieved based on the objective of each work, the analysis of the methodological procedures explained and through the detailed reading of each article, as well as the way in which the data were presented and analyzed, which made clear the nature that the authors give to their investigation, even if implicitly. From this, a survey of the Journal's publications was carried out in the period of 2018, where the publication of four annual editions was identified. In the first three, ten articles were published each, and in the last, twelve articles were published. Of the total of forty-two articles published, five are of a qualitative nature, twenty-eight are quantitative, five are characterized as both qualitative Methodological Nature and Epistemological bases of Qualitative Studies in Marketing 24 Global Journal of Management and Business Research Volume XXIII Issue I Version I Year 2023 ( )E © 2023 Global Journals