Qualitative Data Analysis

Qualitative data analysis

• In quantitative research, stats is used to find
patterns and relationships in data, and to
make inferences from this data to wider
populations.
• Scales of measurements for variables or
phenomena under study were critical in this
process
• In qualitative research, we usually have text,
not numbers, and therefore don’t need stats.
 Introduction
• In qualitative research you invariably end up
with a vast amount of data that needs to be
transcribed, analysed, interpreted and
presented.
• The processes used in data analysis and
interpretation are systematic and rigorous in
order to allow a thick, rich and detailed
description of meanings in presenting the
capstone of your study i.e. your findings
 Qualitative data analysis
• Preliminary process to analysis involves: data
collection, transcribing (or even translating)
and organizing the data orderly and
meaningfully for analysis
• Software like Nvivo is available for data
management and organizing not for analysis
• Unlike with SPSS in Quantitative Data, Nvivo
does not analyse but rather assists with the
coding and organization process
 Role of Transcription in analysis
of your data
• Builds theoretical sensitivity
• Brings the researcher closer to the data
• Provides a unique opportunity to critique and
improve on the interview process
• Process also allows researcher to asses validity
before analysis
• If the process is not done properly, researcher
before analysis phase goes back to the field
 Issues of Representation
• Whose transcription are you creating?
• Address issues of authority and representation
• Although generazability and representatvity are
not the aim in qualitative…it still is important to
be conscious as to whose narratives or voices
are being highlighted
• Research positionality…or demographic
disposition in relation to participants being
studies is also important to consider
 Role of the Researcher
• You make decisions before analysis based on
your:
• Epistemological perspective
• Approach to the problem
• Particular research questions
• In conclusion the analysis becomes an interplay
between the evidence gathered, theoretical
framework and Literature Review all
intertwining to answer the research question
 Aim of Analysis
Data Analysis: The goal is to analytically reduce
your data by:
• Producing summaries, abstracts, coding, and
memos
• Finding ways to your display data( matrices,
frequency counts, etc.)
• Draw conclusions and test their validity
• Remember: Analysis is an iterative (repetitive)
and ongoing process
Data collection and analysis
NB – Unlike in quantitative research, data
collection and analysis are not strictly
separate processes in qualitative research.
Analysis starts while collecting data! You might
collect more data after you have done some
initial analysis, and you will start having ideas
about what to make of your data before you
have finished collecting it all.
Steps for Qualitative Analysis (Taylor-Powell
and Renner, 2003:2)
• Step 1: Get to know your Data. Repeatedly re-
read transcripts, listen to tape recordings,
write down ideas and impressions as you do.
• Step 2: Focus on the Analysis: Keep in mind, at
all times the questions you wish to answer so
that you do not veer off track. Once you have
key questions you wish to answer written
down, it should indicate where to start.
Steps for Qualitative Analysis (Taylor-Powell
and Renner, 2003:2
• Step 3: Categorize the information. Read and re-read
information, identify coherent categories and
themes.
• Step 4: Identify patterns and connections between
categories/themes. As you categorize the data you
will start to identify emergent patterns within and
between the categories/themes. You can summarize
the all of the information pertaining to that theme,
highlighting differences, consistencies in how people
have provided their answers pertaining to that theme
Steps for Qualitative Analysis (Taylor-Powell
and Renner, 2003:2)
• Step 5: Interpretation. Use the themes you
have identified the data, together with the
relationships between them. Interpretation
occurs when we attach meaning and
significance to the analysis.
 Types of Qualitative Analysis
• Content Analysis
• Thematic Analysis
• Discourse Analysis
• Grounded Theory
 Content Analysis
• Widely used research technique in qualitative
data analysis
• Method of analyzing written, verbal or visual
communication messages
• Can be used inductively or deductively
• Is doing the word-frequency count. The
assumption made is that the words that are
mentioned most often are the words that
reflect the greatest concerns.
 Grounded Theory
• A research method in which the theory is developed
from the data, rather than the other way around.
That makes this an inductive approach, meaning that
it moves from the specific to the more general.
• The method of study is essentially based on three
elements: concepts, categories and propositions, or
what was originally called “hypotheses”. However,
concepts are the key elements of analysis since the
theory is developed from the conceptualization of
data, rather than the actual data.
 Thematic Analysis
• Thematic analysis- Focuses on identifiable
themes and patterns of living and/or
behaviour. From the conversations that take
place in a therapy session or those that are
encouraged for the sake of researching a
process, ideas emerge that can be better
understood under the control of a thematic
analysis.
 Discourse Analysis
• Discourse analysis focuses on talk and texts as
social practices, and on the resources that are
drawn on to enable those practices. For
example, discourse analytic studies of racism
have been concerned with the way descriptions
are marshalled in particular contexts to
legitimate the blaming of a minority group
• What discourses are used and how do they
shape identities, activities and relationships?