Guest Editorial. Doing Dirty Research Using Qualitative Methodologies: Lessons from Stigmatized Occupations

Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss how using innovative interpretivist approaches and diverse qualitative methods advance our understanding of dirty work and dirty work research. The paper introduces the articles that form the basis of this special issue of QROM. Design/ methodology / approach: The Guest Editors’ adopt a literature review approach identifying key arguments in the dirty work research to date and reflecting on the challenges of doing dirty work research. Findings: The Guest Editors’ conclude that research into dirty work incorporates the embodied experiences of the researchers and that through writing differently we can better understand dirty work / research as an embodied and reflexive engagement. Dirty work and dirty work research is complex and dynamic in nature marked by ambivalence and ambiguity and enveloped in relations of power. Originality / value: This issue of QROM details illustrative and innovative qualitative methods of doing dirty work research, it offers novel insights into understudied dirty work sites and the challenges of doing dirty research using qualitative methods. It is also the first dedicated journal issue in organization and management research literature entirely focused on dirty work.