The process of building theory

Some scholars of management, organizations and markets expend significant energy disparaging and defending various research methods. Debates about deductive vs. inductive theory-building; case-based information versus large-sample data; and qualitative versus quantitative research are dichotomies that surface almost daily in the lives of those of us who conduct research and review the work of others. This paper asserts that some of this conflict might evolve toward cooperation if we better understood the process by which bodies of understanding are built within communities of researchers.