Excuses found: "premature definition of variables"
Currently reading:
Marshall (1985) presented the flexibility of qualitative research as one of its strengths. She argued that, in qualitative research, the researcher does not assume that (s)he knows, at the outset, the exact nature of the research question. Rather, qualitative research offers the opportunity of discovery. In fact, researchers vary considerably in the extent to which they formulate the precise nature of the research question in advance of the study. Most seek to avoid what Silverman (1993) referred to as “premature definition of variables”.
Ah, so this is what I've doing!