ACTIVE LEARNING IN THE TEACHING OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH: APPLICATION PROPOSAL

Objective: To propose an active learning methodology for teaching qualitative research in graduate school. Method: The paper is structured in two parts. The first is dedicated to theoretical-conceptual aspects, starting with the contextualization of the importance and challenges of researcher training, especially for the use of qualitative methods. This is followed by brief overview of the teaching of qualitative methodology, supported by a survey with coordinators and teachers of graduate programs in Administration and Psychology. Then the concepts of active learning methodologies are addressed, especially those based on experiential learning. The second part is dedicated to the presentation and discussion of a practical example that illustrates each of the steps of the methodological decision-making process to be observed in the qualitative research teaching-learning process at the graduate level. Conclusions: The main contribution of the paper is to offer an experiential teaching-learning model of the qualitative research methodology for graduate education. It closes by pointing out the limits and advantages of the methodological proposal.


INTRODUCTION
In the applied fields of Administration and Management, despite the high number of qualitative research projects, especially case studies (MWANGI; BETTENCOURT, 2017; ROMAN; MARCHI; ERDMAN, 2013), we find that little attention has been given to training in qualitative methods, particularly in graduate schools (YANG et al., 2020). The demarcation between qualitative and quantitative research has been based on the assumption that they are based on science and knowledge production paradigms considered incommensurate (HOLLINS, 2012).
Accordingly, although some may believe that the differences would delineate the dichotomy between quantitative and qualitative, the qualitative aspects cannot be treated as a unit, encompassing varied perspectives on comprehension and how to approach it, ranging from a more objective perspective to one of a more subjective nature.
We could enumerate here many approaches to comprehension, but what we want to highlight is that the effort to understand through the interpretation of human action is an unfinished process. Any interpretation is liable to be replaced or supplemented by another interpretation through gaps that are left. Comprehension can also be reviewed in relation to inconsistencies pointed out by critics. Qualitative research, therefore, is not based on a single understanding of what comprehension and interpretation may be.
Thus, any form of conducting qualitative research proves to be dependent on a theoreticalmethodological approach that advocates not only what its conception of comprehension is, but how to apprehend it. This shows the generalization limit of all interpretation. Knowledge is not a simple mirror of the world out there. It is mediated by diverse forms of language and the processing of an active mind that seeks to interpret this world.
It is easy to assume, then, that the training of new researchers in qualitative research (especially at the graduate level) poses additional challenges when compared to those in the teaching of quantitative methods. Despite the growth in the number of software packages, mainly based on grounded theory (NVivo, Atlas TI) or lexicometry (Alceste, Iramuteq), to support the analysis of qualitative data, the main decisions depend on researchers' theoretical and methodological repertoire.
Training researchers who know how to justify their methodological decisions, in fact, is one of the main commitments of graduate programs. The objective is to prepare future PhDs who are qualified to propose and develop scientific research projects, being active in the search for the technical and conceptual knowledge necessary to successfully carry out their research. In summary, training at the graduate level is not restricted to acquiring conceptual mastery, impossible to be obtained in the short term, but to offer alternatives to be traversed by the future PhD on the path of excellence in scientific production. One of our arguments in this article is that this objective will be successfully achieved through the use of effective teaching-learning strategies for the purpose of acquiring and mastering competencies for research (BISPO, 2017).
In the field of adult education, there is a relative consensus that placing the learner in a leading role facilitates their learning process (CULKIN, 2018;PFEFFER;ROGALIN, 2012).
However, the experiential and active learning processes do not seem to be favored in the politicalpedagogical projects of Brazilian graduate courses (VILLARDI; VERGARA, 2011). In the case of qualitative research, so plural in the theoretical and methodological approaches that challenge the researcher's decision processes (MWANGI; BETTENCOURT, 2017), this is understood to be a more fruitful way to achieve the expected results (MATTAR; AGUIAR, 2018;YANG et al., 2020).
Active teaching-learning methods allow future researchers not only, for example, to practice reasoning to formulate a research problem that can be answered qualitatively, but also to test choices for each methodological step, in an effort to obtain necessary knowledge that the takes them forward in their projects. 4 It is assumed that the development of key competencies for methodological decisionmaking in qualitative research will enable future researchers to reflect and better justify each step in a field of knowledge replete with idiosyncrasies. Researchers need to be able to make decisions based on plausible grounds, supported by a comprehensive understanding of the theoreticalmethodological field, and offer a counterpoint to the strong belief that the exploratory character of many qualitative studies exempts them from following methodological rigor (BISPO, 2017).
In other words, as we agree that qualitative research is anchored mainly in inductive processes, we believe that its teaching also requires going beyond technical concepts and instructions, and supporting student training in induction. As we also recognize that teachinglearning strategies in qualitative methods are strongly supported as well in the traditional paradigms with a focus on content transmission, the objective of this essay is to present in detail an active learning proposal that situates graduate students as protagonists of their own process of acquiring a repertoire, qualifying them to develop qualitative research with excellence.
To meet this objective, we will follow three steps: 1) we will present a brief overview of the teaching of qualitative methodology, based on a survey conducted with Brazilian graduate programs in Administration and Psychology; 2) we will discuss the active teaching-learning methods, especially those supported by experiential learning; and 3) we will detail the learning process that we defend as a methodological alternative to the teaching-learning process of qualitative research in graduate studies, guided by a schematic representation.

THEORETICAL FRAMES
Three parts structure this section. The first describes the teaching of qualitative methodology in Brazilian graduate studies. The second explains the qualitative researcher training regarding active and experiential learning. Finally, the third one presents in detail an application model, illustrating how to teach qualitative research.

The teaching of qualitative methodology in brazilian graduate studies
We conducted a survey in which 20 (twenty) program coordinators and professors of graduate programs in Administration and Psychology participated. Two sets of information were requested from the professors of research methodology disciplines: the syllabus / program content and the teaching-learning strategies. In relation to the syllabi, we found an emphasis on two blocks usually identified as pertaining to the research training process: • Theoretical-conceptual content. In this block, the philosophical tradition, assumptions, approaches and logic that underlie qualitative research are addressed.
They include project design, delimitation and contextualization of the theme, identification of the research problem, choice of strategies and techniques to answer the research questions, as well as content that addresses the types of design most characteristic of qualitative research (case studies, ethnomethodology, action research, grounded theory, narratives, and biographies).
• Stages of structuring and executing the research project. This block includes the strategies for data collection (interviews, focus groups, questionnaires, observation, and documents), interpretation, and analysis (coding, categorization, content analysis, narrative analysis, and discourse analysis). The use of images, video, and artistic resources appears in only one of the syllabi analyzed, denoting the prevalence of traditional strategies both in the collection and in the analysis of the data. None of the answers reported content dealing with innovations and trends related to qualitative methods, in their conceptual and practical aspects. This suggests less incentive to seek new ways to operationalize qualitative research.
Regarding teaching-learning strategies, we identified a predominance of oral (and dialogued) presentation, seminars, lectures by the students themselves or by guests (researchers or alumni). Some respondents emphasized an effort to dynamize classes with debates and group or plenary discussions. Most combine these strategies with activities for reading theoretical and empirical texts, with or without the preparation of reviews or written notes. The use of practical exercises and workshops for the preparation of articles, the preliminary design itself, or the techniques for analyzing qualitative data were not prevalent (n=6), nor was the use of software for analyses in the classroom (n=3).
We found, therefore, traditional teaching focused on the presentation of content, although possibly combined with debates and small-group or plenary discussions. The oral and dialogued presentation and the seminars offer protagonism to the social actors (professor and students, respectively), but they do not always consider the experience of dialogue. The analysis based on readings and texts involves a level of reflection that can lead the student to take an active role in decision making. The debates and discussions advance the possibilities for students to confront their points of view with those of other colleagues and also to engage actively in the process.
Finally, practical exercises and training workshops come closer to the reality of each student and offer more chances for active involvement in the learning process.
In summary, as reported by Villardi;Vergara (2011), the results of this brief survey of graduate programs indicate that there is still little use of problematizing, experiential, and active strategies, capable of placing the student in a position to make complex choices and challenging interpretive leaps as qualitative research training requires. Advancing in the use of strategies that put students in a leading role requires that teachers adopt teaching methods focused on the decision-making process throughout the simulated or concrete elaboration of a research project, enhancing the learning gain in the cognitive domain. According to Bloom's learning taxonomy (1956), the cognitive domain is manifested at six levels. The first is the identification and recognition of the acquired information. The second is comprehension, when the learner gives 6 meaning to this information. The third involves applying, that is, using the acquired information in a given situation. The fourth level is that of analysis, in which the learner demonstrates the ability to detail the content in smaller parts to expand his/her comprehension. The fifth is the synthesis in which the learner establishes combined relationships between the analyzed parts. The sixth and most complex level of the cognitive domain of learning is that of assessment, in which the learner is able to judge the value of the content or process learned based on criteria.
The traditional teaching-learning methods, which use readings and dialogued presentations, meet the basic levels of Bloom's taxonomy. In order for researchers to be stimulated in their complex thinking and to exercise their ability to make choices and make decisions by judging alternatives, we argue that their education needs to be anchored in active and experiential learning, as we will discuss in sequence.

Qualitative researcher training: active and experiential learning
The multiplicity of studies labeled as qualitative in nature makes the task of training new researchers quite challenging. In a study that analyzed the training paths of young researchers in the health field, Silva; Castro- Silva;Moura (2018) found that the teaching models in qualitative research differ as much as the ways of understanding epistemological, theoretical, and methodological issues. According to the authors, this reality means the path of novice researchers is related to the expertise of their advisors, which seems to be common in the process of training The training of qualitative researchers consists mainly of guiding them on where to look for the necessary content to respond to the problems proposed for investigation. To be a researcher who is dedicated to an applied field, it is therefore necessary to develop skills and attitudes related to the investigative process, in particular, guided by concrete problems, as each of them will require a set of theoretical-methodological choices to be experienced in the process of practical learning.
The teaching methodology called problem-based learning (PBL) proposes that learners confront real-world issues (meaningful to them), describe how to approach them and select the most appropriate strategies in the search for solutions. Providing the student with experience is the foundation of this active learning methodology in which there is confrontation with the action, at the level of thinking (problem-based learning) and at the level of doing (practical application, learning from mistakes) (REVANS, 1998). Scrutiny at the level of thought and the concrete way of doing leads students to formulate questions and to think about their actions, provoking changes in their current mental schemas (MANOLIS et al., 2013).
The theory of experiential learning developed by Kolb (1984), for example, establishes a dialogue with the behavioral and cognitive approaches to learning, being applicable to the context of undergraduate and graduate levels of education (KOLB, 2006). The foundations of this theory are based in Lewin's action research (1946), defined as a process of cooperative investigation to find solutions to concrete problems, whose steps involve four ways of learning: planning (abstract conceptualization), action (active experimentation), observation, and reflection.
The logic of the learning cycle is that there is no single course of action, that is, one single right way of thinking and acting. Action requires scrutinizing theory to solve the problem and find theoretical alternatives that can help in dealing with the situation. Students need to review their mental schemas acquired in their contact with the theory. They also need to test what they have learned in a controlled context of experience, relying on the support of the supervisor or educator, and a favorable environment for group learning, such as the classroom.
The option to emphasize aspects of the learning cycle requires the instructor to adopt a differentiated strategy (KOLB et al., 2014). If the focus is between concrete experience and reflective observation, the instructor must act as a facilitator, making the students get in touch with their experiences and reflect on them, increasing their self-knowledge. If the focus lies between reflective observation and abstract conceptualization, the instructor must act as an expert, offering various theoretical models and conceptual references so that the students can reflect deeply and organize their mental maps or schemas. If the focus is directed toward abstract conceptualization and active experimentation, the instructor needs to be a supporter of students' attempts to apply the knowledge they have learned, assessing their performance in an objective and critical way.
Finally, if the focus is on the interface between active experimentation and concrete experience, the required role for the instructor is that of a coach. In this case, it is up to the instructor to accompany the students in their experiences (feeling and experimenting), leading them to reflect 8 on their difficulties and advising them in overcoming them. In our view, this latter role should be the main focus of teaching qualitative methods at the graduate level, a proposal that we will detail in sequence.

Application model: teaching how to do qualitative research
The purpose of this section is to describe in detail the decision-making steps that should accompany the teaching of "doing qualitative research" at the graduate level of education, at the same time that we offer a teaching tool to be used in graduate courses. A research project begins with the formulation of a problem for which the intent is to find some evidence-based answer, which will be added to other answers derived from other studies. The research problem to be addressed by qualitative methods can also result from a set of previous studies on the phenomenon, which occurs, for example, in research groups that are already consolidated and that preferentially adopt some theoretical-methodological approaches. Although the question is the starting point, it cannot always be answered through the use of qualitative methods, and this is the first kind of learning that the student must have: experiment with formulating a research problem and submitting it to a critical scrutiny about the possibility of it being better investigated by a qualitative method (or even as a form of complementation in mixed-method designs).
If a problem involves analyzing the strength of the association between variables, or checking the effect of one variable on another, or even controlling variables, it can hardly be studied exclusively by a qualitative method. Multi-method or quantitative and experimental studies would be more appropriate. This does not mean that there is less rigor in the use of qualitative methods, but only that every method has limits and possibilities, which need to be carefully analyzed by the researcher.
To model the discussion and teaching of the main methodological decisions to be made in the development of a research project, we have built a schema, shown in Figure 1. Our suggestion is that this schema be used in guidelines, in order to practice the formulation of students' research problems and for collective reflections in the classroom. The same schema can also be used to debate on decisions made based on a research problem brought up by the teacher. In this case, a possible student presentation would be to fill in the model offered in Figure 1, substantiating each decision in text. To better illustrate our proposal, as we explain the schema, we will use an example, presented in the areas shaded in blue. For each stage, we will present examples of texts that could be delivered by students together with the figure, presented as a form (resource that the teacher can adopt), completed. It is important to present justifications that the use of qualitative methods would be the most appropriate. In Figure 1, we list six possible criteria. The first justification would be the focus.

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Our intent would be to understand the phenomenon in a processual way (shared meanings and meaningful) and not based on explanation (establishing correlations or cause and effect relationships through statistical or variable control) (criterion 1). A second justification would be the need to understand a phenomenon that has an unprecedented and unpredictable character, which needs to be known and theorized (criteria 2 and 3). There are situations in which the phenomenon will be investigated without anchoring in a well-established theoretical perspective (criterion 4), or there is a previous phenomenon, but with conceptual limits still unknown in general or in a specific context (criterion 5). In addition, if a phenomenon is ongoing (criterion 6), the use of qualitative methods is an excellent opportunity to get to know it better by proposing to monitor its manifestation over time.
In the proposed exercise, in addition to presenting the problem and its justification, students must apply the analysis of these criteria in judging the relevance of the qualitative approach (Figure 2). It is important to keep in mind that a problem is not approachable only by one single method, whether qualitative or quantitative. On the contrary, a problem can be approached from various theoretical-methodological perspectives. The reasoning that is being proposed here in this observance of the six criteria is to critically reflect on whether it would be feasible to study it qualitatively, and what are the gains obtained for comprehension of the phenomenon when compared to the use of experimental or correlational methods. Once some of them have been met, it is necessary to move on to other methodological decisions in order to give substance to the qualitative study. Below we list four steps:

Each for the theoretical field of reference
Scholars who are adherents of the grounded theory approach (STRAUSS; CORBIN, 2008) believe that we can do without a theory prior to qualitative investigation, since it would be constructed in the dialogue with the data in an open coding system. However, nothing precludes the use of a theory to guide the preliminary categorization system, which would be open to the creation of new categories in light of the non-conformity of the data to the category system. Thus, preliminary categorization would not force the data into conformity (as in the deductive test), but would guide the initial interpretive analyses, opening possibilities to review the category system in light of its non-relevance for understanding the data collected (open coding).
Our proposal is that students present, like in these examples, a brief text with the references mentioned in their schemas. For our purposes, we will comment on two theoretical models to guide the interpretive process, one from Administration and the other from Psychology, 11 which could serve as a basis for the analysis of data from discourse or statements from public or private managers during the first months of the pandemic. This does not mean that there are no other references capable of guiding the search for an answer to the research problem. As we have been pointing out, the learning process involves decision making accompanied by justification. Figure 3 shows the reference that would be aligned with organizational studies, to account for the voice that occupies a place and carries out the role of manager (field of Administration); in Figure   4, the reference would be supported in a perspective of adherence to a value system that shapes the personal character of the person who carries out this same role (field of Psychology).

RECIMA21 -REVISTA CIENTÍFICA MULTIDISCIPLINAR ISSN 2675-6218 ACTIVE LEARNING IN THE TEACHING OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH: APPLICATION PROPOSAL Sonia Maria Guedes Gondim, Ana Carolina de Aguiar Rodrigues, Daniela Campos Bahia Moscon, Janice Janissek
In the case of the choice aligned with organizational studies, Institutional Theory circumscribes the theoretical field of this research topic, given the interest in the "meaning present in managers' statements". The second part of the topic ("in periods of global crises") points to a context and, possibly, to a phenomenon still hidden in that topic: individual values. If rhetoric is a response to the institutional environment, in a period of crisis and uncertainty, it is likely to change as institutional expectations change (as uncertainty is controlled). On the other hand, individual values are more stable and, therefore, we can predict possible detachments between rhetoric and values (here we are already signaling a hypothesis of theoretical duality to be put to the test).
The two theoretical bases chosen, one at the institutional level and the other at the personal level, will serve to guide the following steps of data collection and analysis. Both emphasize the importance of the meanings of the statements of the social actors and, based on them, also allow us to construct inferences about the behaviors resulting from their interpretations.
They also make it possible to analyze the content of the statements based on theoretical categories, which can be used as a starting point both for the construction of new understandings about the phenomenon and for the reformulation of the comprehension already established from other investigated situations. The challenge when using two different theoretical approaches is to integrate them in order to expand the power of interpretation of the data, which could be characterized as a theoretical triangulation (FLICK, 2018).

Define data collection strategy
Usually, we will have more than one collection strategy available, among which we must choose the one that best enables us to respond qualitatively to the research problem, already envisioning the possible conceptual frameworks to guide the analyses. Following the schema, students will have to present the decisions regarding the criteria for choosing participants and data collection strategies.
In our example ( Figure 5), the challenge was to select public and private managers whose discourse would be analyzed. We exercise imaginative reasoning on how to arrive at the discourse of public and private managers about the coronavirus crisis. Interviews could be one route, but in general they are characterized by provoked discourse (not spontaneous). Another difficulty would be obtaining the managers' adherence to being interviewed several times. A more viable alternative would be to take advantage of the short and objective verbal manifestations that are already spontaneously expressed by managers, in media that, during the crisis, were constantly used. That's how we thought about tracking posts in the personal accounts of public and private managers on Twitter. The discourse or announcements would be documented there, being influenced by the context of the pandemic and the personal characteristics of the manager. The first criterion aims to consider the scope of management in the public and private spheres. In the case of private managers, it is considered that there are large, medium, and small companies. Another alternative could be to consider the five regions of the country. These criteria must take into account the symbolic universe. Symbolic representativeness is very important in qualitative studies and is characterized by the analysis of the participant's potential to generate qualified information about the phenomenon investigated, as distinct from the type of sample composition that is based on numerical representativeness. In our example, public managers are symbolically represented by three levels (Federal, State, and Municipal). Thus, if the objective is to address the universe of public management, participants at the three levels should compose the study. At least three participants, if at least one of each category is represented. This number can be increased by taking into account the 27 different Brazilian states (including the Federal District).

RECIMA21 -REVISTA CIENTÍFICA MULTIDISCIPLINAR ISSN 2675-6218 ACTIVE LEARNING IN THE TEACHING OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH: APPLICATION PROPOSAL Sonia Maria Guedes Gondim, Ana Carolina de Aguiar Rodrigues, Daniela Campos Bahia Moscon, Janice
Another alternative could be to seek symbolic representativeness by region: north, northeast, south, central-west, and southeast. The reasoning must take into account the analysis of how it is assumed that the studied phenomenon (discourse of public and private managers) may see variations in its manifestation. For example, would a manager in the northeast support values or manifest rhetoric that is different from public managers in the south or southeast of the country? It is important that students know how to justify the symbolic universe that they intend to cover.
Once the type of symbolic representativeness has been defined, the next step is to apply the other criteria for the study. As the discourse and statements were captured by Twitter, only those managers with accounts and regular posts can participate. In our example, public managers of different levels (president, governors, state, or municipal secretaries) and managers of private organizations (large and medium-sized companies) were followed. Our objective was also to assess whether private managers differed from public managers. This comparison could shed light on the influence of the political context in the speech of public managers compared to managers in the private sector who could be less influenced by the image they intend to convey to the audience.
As the research problem considers the change in the managers' discourse (rhetoric) during the crisis period, the data collection would need to be carried out over time. We established as a timeframe the period from March (initial phase of the spread of coronavirus) to July of 2020, a period that covered distinct phases of the process. We established the first post of the day related 14 to coronavirus and the pandemic as a criterion. This would ensure a single criterion of comparability between managers. This methodological step signals once again that it is a mistake to believe that qualitative research does not need to adopt objective criteria for data collection, treatment, and analysis procedures.

Define data analysis strategy
The treatment phase for the material obtained in the data collection is an important step for making sense of the content and also requires the researcher to make decisions anchored in systematic procedures that allow the results to be compared with the theories used as a basis.
Whether as a guidance tool after data collection, or an exercise in the classroom based on the problem and data provided by the teacher, we propose that students describe the analysis strategies highlighting the choices made at each stage. Then, they should present the model they designed for the stage that, in the schema of Figure 1, we call ground: the way they organize (code and categorize) the literality of the data (either by software or manually).
In our example (Figure 6), we are addressing the phenomenon supported on two theoretical bases, Institutional Theory (rhetoric) and the Theory of Values, which will guide the precategory systems adopted. We could either rely on other theories or dispense with them, seeking to build categories a posteriori and test a new theoretical model. However, it is important to be aware that we can hardly observe a phenomenon without being based on some theory, even if rudimentary, because our mental schemas and implicit theories guide our way of interpreting the world (GONDIM; BENDASSOLLI, 2014). An important note here is that the coding was done by marking words or sequences of words that could be representing one of the six Spranger values and also the seven rhetorical ones by Boltanski and Thévenot. It was necessary to do an initial training of the judges to align the coding system, given the complexity in the inferential process, starting from the short verbal statements characteristic of Twitter, for allocation into the abstract categories of the two theoreticalconceptual systems.

RECIMA21 -REVISTA CIENTÍFICA MULTIDISCIPLINAR ISSN 2675-6218 ACTIVE LEARNING IN THE TEACHING OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH: APPLICATION PROPOSAL Sonia Maria Guedes Gondim, Ana Carolina de Aguiar Rodrigues, Daniela Campos Bahia
The training for coding and allocation in the category system becomes essential in the development of the future qualitative researcher, since the software to qualitative analysis only offers support, not exempting the active role of the researcher in these processes. In our example, the complexity increases because the values are presented in a hierarchical way in our cognitive system, making some more prominent than others, depending on contextual factors of personal life (STRYKER;SERPE, 1982). This means that in some cases two or more values are displayed in the same statement by the manager. The training helps the judge refine the inferential process

Build the way of presenting the data
Qualitative research in general creates a huge amount of data that needs to be presented in a way the reader can more easily capture the meanings and senses supported by the theories used as lenses for analysis. This requires from the researcher a synthesis effort that does not mask the possibilities of revealing idiosyncrasies captured by the data analysis. Thus, qualitative studies require a great deal of creativity and imagination from researchers to maintain the balance between giving voice to the study participants and the interpretation, analysis, and synthesis carried out by the researcher. In the teaching process proposed here, this moment requires an understanding of the logic of the treatment of qualitative data. By sharing the way, they present the data, students will encounter the limits and potential of the paths chosen.   It is also worth considering that the proposal of a model based on comprehension of the data helps in the theoretical refinement regarding the phenomenon and guides future studies, either for purposes of testing hypotheses derived from the model, or for delving further into aspects of the phenomenon not yet fully understood (EISENHARDT, 1989). This is a complex instance of decision making. It requires recognizing the type of data and what is the best way to represent it, not only for the purpose of demonstrating results, but for an effort of theoretical synthesis, parsimonious and with great heuristic potential. The use of schemas and figures offers greater power to contribute to this direction, which requires a long process in the treatment and reorganizing the data. It is an effort that involves gradual inferential processes, starting from the literalness of the discourse, to reach more abstract levels with greater complexity. However, such complexity needs to be translated into a simplified and parsimonious model intended to offer qualified theoretical and empirical contributions. Note. In %. The graph includes the categories that represented more than 20% of the discourse per month, or what is needed to composse at least 60% of the discourse per month. could represent the level 2 interpretive leaps that we noted in Figure 1. Observe that the effort is to try to offer an interpretation that allows us to understand how the discourse or rhetoric of public and private managers (our phenomenon) are manifested over time, opening new possibilities to articulate and integrate: the theoretical bases used as anchors, the empirical data collected, and other theoretical contributions.
The construction of a theoretical model in qualitative studies serves not only to corroborate hypotheses, even if category systems previously anchored in theories are used, but also to expand the capacity to understand how the phenomenon is manifested, offering new paths to be explored in future studies. The interpretation of the results in the model introduces the theory of the social role (George Mead, Jacob Moreno, Talcott Parsons) with heuristic potential to help us understand why rhetoric and discourse can be specific to those who take on roles as public or private managers, regardless of the level of their performance. The social role and the pressures of the environment can contribute to the manifestation of discourse and rhetoric specific to managers (public or private) that vary over time given the contingent pressures, especially in periods of crisis.
The theoretical model for data interpretation presents clues about the response to two of the theoretical hypotheses that guided the study: the one regarding differences between the discourse of public and private managers and the one regarding disparities between rhetoric and the manifestation of values. For the first, we found signs of corroboration, unlike the second. Instead of disparities, the signs are that there is an interrelation between rhetoric and values, whose axis of articulation is the social role of the manager.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS
In this article we discussed a model of how to organize a methodological decision-making path for studies with a qualitative design. In proposing this model, we highlighted the flexible and reflective nature that characterizes the construction of a qualitative research project. Based on a real example, we sought to demonstrate, in a didactic way, which steps are necessary for the construction of a comprehensive analysis of a given phenomenon.
The teaching-learning process of the model is directed towards the interface between active experimentation and concrete experience, with the teacher of qualitative methods assuming the role of coach (KOLB et al., 2014). It is the responsibility of this teacher to structure the studies program in such a way that students can fulfill each stage of the decision-making process of qualitative research by practicing decision-making and reflecting on it, seeking the necessary knowledge to justify their decisions. Program activities can be planned in an interspersed manner.
Classes focused on conceptual aspects can be completed with guidance on practical activities to be presented in a group in the subsequent class, in which immediate feedback from the teacher would be received, followed by plenary discussion. Although this workshop format ends up requiring great mastery and skill in teaching to give immediate feedback after the teams present the results of the task, it ensures better processual learning, as students become aware of the points to be improved.
We believe that the way in which this teaching model was presented brings important contributions to the training of researchers since the teaching process makes use of active learning and seeks to reach more complex levels of the cognitive domain of learning proposed by Bloom (analysis, synthesis, and judgment), surpassing the more basic levels (identification, comprehension, and application). Therefore, instead of offering doctoral students defined options of techniques for collection and analysis of the information to be used, they step up to a leading role, as one capable of constructing the entire research process, substantiating it.
In addition, we anchor these choices in two different conceptual frameworks, which allow the researcher, in possession of the same data, to simultaneously make use of different category systems. This proposed processual model clearly shows the malleability of qualitative research and allows doctoral students to exercise their ability to group by similarities, assessing the same object from different perspectives.
The first challenge of qualitative research is seen in the multiplicity of possibilities to construct the methodological path. Such diversity places the researcher in the dilemma of choosing which data collection and analysis strategies provide better comprehension of the studied phenomenon. Thus, when we offer a logical path in the construction of a course, proposing alternatives, we hope to contribute so that the doctoral students train their skills to make choices in a reasoned way, not being restricted only to their research topic.
The second major challenge concerns the training of professors and advisors themselves.
Qualitative methods teachers need to be able to instill doubts in the doctoral students about the options adopted, encouraging them to seek alternatives that are more promising for the successful development of the research. In addition, they need to make use of experiences to offer qualified feedback to the doctoral students after presenting the conclusion of the tasks provided for in the discipline's schedule of activities.
As the main limitation of this essay, we highlight that, due to the need for further study and teaching in the presentation of the teaching-learning model, it was not possible to explore other alternatives, especially in relation to the sources of data collection. The use, for example, of images, photographs, videos, posts on other social networks, etc. could be adopted to bring new analysis perspectives to the problem. However, we see that once the steps and stages that guide the teaching of methodological decisions in qualitative research are understood, the model can be applied to other different problems.