Inferring and Explaining

Patterns and Themes

from Data
Q4 – W6
Inference
is using observation and
background to reach a logical
conclusion.
 Patterns & Themes
 Pattern according to Merriam-Webster.com, it is
something that happens in a regular and repeated
way
 A theme is generated when similar issues and ideas
expressed by participants within qualitative data are
brought together by the researcher into a single
category or cluster.
This ‘theme’ may be labeled by a word or expression
taken directly from the data or by one created by the
researcher because it seeims to best characterize the
essence of what is being sad.
Techniques to Identify Themes in
Qualitative Data
1. Word Repetitions - We begin with word-based techniques.
Word repetitions, key- indigenous terms, and key-words-in-
contexts (KWIC) all draw on a simple observation—if you want
to understand what people are talking about, look at the
words they use. Word repetitions can be analyzed formally
and informally. In the informal mode, investigators simply read
the text and note words or synonyms that people use a lot. A
more formal analysis of word frequencies can be done by
generating a list of all the unique words in a text and counting
the number of times each occurs.
2. Indigenous categories - Another way to find
themes is to look for local terms that may sound
unfamiliar or are used in unfamiliar ways.
Patton (1990:306, 393-400) refers to these as
"indigenous categories" and contrasts them
with "analyst- constructed typologies."
Grounded theorist refers to the process of
identifying local terms as in vivo coding (Strauss
1987:28-32, Strauss and Corbin 1990:61-74)
3. Key-words-in-context (KWIC) - Are closely
associated with indigenous categories. KWIC is
based on a simple observation: if you want to
understand a concept, then look at how it is
used. In this technique, researchers identify key
words and then systematically search the
corpus of text to find all instances of the word
or phrase. Each time they find a word, they
make a copy of it and its immediate context.
Themes get identified by physically sorting the
examples into piles of similar meaning.
4. Compare and Contrast - The compare and
contrast approach is based on the idea that
themes represent the ways in which texts are
either similar or different from each other.
Glazer and Strauss (1967:101_116) refer to this
as the "constant comparison method.”
5. Social Science Queries - Besides identifying
indigenous themes— themes that characterize
the experience of informants— researchers are
interested in understanding how textual data
illuminate questions of importance to social
science. Spradley (1979:199–201) suggested
searching interviews for evidence of social
conflict, cultural contradictions, informal
methods of social control, things that people
do in managing impersonal social relationships,
methods by which people acquire and
maintain achieved and ascribed status, and
information about how people solve problems.
Strategies on How to Infer Data
1. Thematic Analysis
Braun and Clarke (2006) define thematic analysis as:
“A method for identifying, analyzing
and reporting patterns within data.”
Thematic analysis is a widely used method of analysis in
qualitative research. In 2006 Braun and Clarke published an
article that described to novice researchers how to use
thematic analysis in a step-by-step manner. Braun and Clarke
(2006) state that thematic analysis is a foundational method of
analysis that needed to be defined and described to solidify its
place in qualitative research.
The 6 Steps of Thematic Analysis:
Step 1. Familiarization with the data: This phase
involves reading and re-reading the data, to
become immersed and intimately familiar with its
content. This might involve transcribing audio,
reading through the text and taking initial notes,
and generally looking through the data to get
familiar with it.
Step 2. Coding: This phase involves generating labels
(codes!) that identify important features of the data that
might be relevant to answering the research question. It
involves coding the entire dataset, and after that,
collating all the codes and all relevant data extracts,
together for later stages of analysis
Example of Interview Transcript
with Codes
Examples of Tabular Representation
of Codes and Themes
 The 6 Steps of Thematic Analysis:
3. Searching for themes: This phase involves examining the codes and
collated data to identify significant broader patterns of meaning
(potential themes). It then involves collating data relevant to each
candidate theme, so that you can work with the data and review the
viability of each candidate theme.
The 6 Steps of Thematic Analysis:
4.Reviewing themes: This phase involves checking the
candidate themes against the dataset, to determine
that they tell a convincing story of the data, and one
that answers the research question. In this phase,
themes are typically refined, which sometimes involves
them being split, combined, or discarded.
 The 6 Steps of Thematic
Analysis:
5. Defining and naming themes: This phase involves
developing a detailed analysis of each theme, working out
the scope and focus of each theme, determining the
‘story’ of each. It also involves deciding on an informative
name for each theme. 6.Writing up: This final phase
involves weaving together the analytic narrative and data
extracts, and contextualizing the analysis in relation to
existing literature.
The 6 Steps of Thematic Analysis:
6.Writing up: This final phase involves weaving
together the analytic narrative and data extracts,
and contextualizing the analysis in relation to
existing literature.
 Qualitative Data Analysis
QDA is the range of processes and procedures
whereby we move from the qualitative data that have
been collected into some form of explanation,
understanding or interpretation of the people and
situations we are investigating.
 Techniques in Collecting
Qualitative Data
1. Observation - Observational data refer to the
raw materials an observer collects from
observations, interviews, and materials, such as
reports, that others have created. - Data may be
recorded in several ways: written notes, sketches,
tape recordings, photographs, and videotapes.
Interviewing – Hold interview as it collects data
from various people from different places, cultures
and etc.

Documents – Try finding information from written

documents and other types of data available.
Example:
Interviewer: Do we request school facilities to DepEd?
Principal: Yes, of course
Interviewer: How do we request school facilities to DepEd?
Principal: The Annual Improvement Plan should present our requirement for
facilities in our school, from there, we will go to our Superintendent, and we will
write all the needs for our school if DepEd can provide, or to MOOE (Maintenance
and Other Operating Expenses)
Interviewer: How do they approve it? Do you need to show some outlines, plans or
pictures for the project?
Principal: It is a must to show the annual improvement plan. If it is approved, next is
to do the request letter, once it is approved, DepEd will send monitoring on the
necessity, once it is confirm and they have available funds, they will provide the
budget.
Interviewer: Do the PTA Officers or Students have some contribution? If so, what
are they?
Principal: Definitely, they have, we have the authorized PTA fee, from that fund we
can have other needs to be addressed, also from authorized voluntary fee for our
other needs
Group Output
Using the same grouping in PR1.
conduct an interview to gather
research data. Then, analyze these
data using coding. Plot the data using
Transcript Code and Tabulation Data