Ch. 11. Qualitative Data Analysis and Findings

Chapter 11:
Data Analysis and Findings: Examining

What Was Found in a Qualitative Study
Understanding Research:
A Consumer’s Guide
Edition 2
Vicki Plano Clark and John Creswell
© (2015, 2010) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

How do you identify the qualitative data
analysis in a qualitative study?
• Usually in the Method section, immediately following
the discussion of the data collection procedures
• May be under subheading of Data Analysis to help you
find the information
Plano Clark & Creswell. Understanding Research: A Consumer's Guide, Second Edition. Chapter 11 - slide 2
© 2015, 2010 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved
What are the characteristics of qualitative
data analysis?
• Systematic: a rigorous and thoughtful process to uncover
detailed descriptions and larger patterns about the central
phenomenon
• Inductive or bottom-up: researcher works from all the detailed
data up to a few general patterns (e.g., codes and themes)
• Interpretive: qualitative researchers make personal assessments
throughout the process to determine a description that fits the
situation or themes that capture the major categories of
information
• Dynamic: qualitative researchers often implement the different
activities simultaneously and iteratively
• Iterative: researchers cycle back and forth between data
collection and analysis to ensure they develop the best
understanding
What are the steps for qualitative data
analysis?
• Step 1: Preparing the data
• Step 2: Exploring the data
• Step 3: Coding the data
• Step 4: Developing description and themes
• Step 5: Validating the findings
How do your prepare qualitative data for
analysis?
• Create digital copies (such as scanning a document)
• Transcribe audio recordings and field notes
– Verbatim means that the researcher types all spoken words
as well as unspoken events
• Prepare summaries of the collected data
– For cases where interview was not recorded or resources for
transcription are limited
• Organize the database to facilitate the analysis
process
How do you explore qualitative data?
• Read transcripts and field notes through several times

• Become familiar with the information
• Form some initial ideas about the data
• Create memos, a record of their thoughts and ideas
about the data
– Short phrases, ideas, concepts, or hunches
– Document interpretations throughout the process
– A record of the researcher’s personal reflections
• Organize the data and consider whether more data
are needed
What are codes?
• Codes are labels used to describe the meaning of a

segment of text or an image in relation to the study’s
central phenomenon
• Codes represent the researcher’s interpretations of the
data
How do you code qualitative data?
• May start with specific topics of interest as codes to

identify the data that relates to those topics
• May read the data and create codes based on their
interpretation of the meaning of the data
• Codes may be phrased in standard academic terms
• Codes may be participant’s actual words, which are
called in vivo codes
How do you manage the coding process?
• By hand
– Highlight segments of text with different colors
– Cut and paste text segments onto cards (with scissors and
tape!)
• Use a computer program
– Electroniclly assign labels or codes to the data
– Facilitates searching through the data and locating text
assigned to specific codes
What are themes?
• Also called categories

• Similar codes aggregated together to form a major
idea about the central phenomenon
• Larger patterns in the data that have emerged from
the analysis
How do you develop themes?
• Refine codes and build findings
• Also called analytic induction, constant comparison, or
thematic development
• Consists of three stages:
– Develop description
– Build themes
– Relate multiple themes
How do you develop description?
• Build a detailed rendering of people, places, or events

that provide the context for a qualitative research
study
• Transport the reader to a research site or help the
reader visualize a person
How do you build themes?
• Reduce the number of codes to about 20 by
combining redundant ideas
• Merge codes into five to seven broader, yet related
categories which represent the most important ideas
about the central phenomenon
How do you relate multiple themes?
• Layer themes
– Depict themes using embedded levels (major
themes and sub-themes)
• Interconnect themes
– Larger order of ideas (e.g. chronological)
– Sequence of relationships (e.g. theoretical model)
• Develop a visual model to depict the connections
How do you validate qualitative findings?
• Use strategies used to ensure the accuracy and

credibility of the findings as part of the analysis
process
• Attended to any ideas found in the data that did not
seem to fit the list of codes
• Four forms frequently reported by qualitative
researchers:
– Bracketing
– Triangulation
– Member checking
– Auditing
What is bracketing?
The researcher
• Reflects on his or her own views and experiences
related to the study’s central phenomenon
• Describes these perspectives in writing
• Works to set them aside (or “bracket” them) during the
analysis process
What is triangulation?
• Corroborating evidence about a finding

• Different individuals
• Different types of data
What is member checking?
• One or more participants check the accuracy of the

findings
• Asking participants (in writing or in an interview) about
– The accuracy of the report
– Whether the description is complete and realistic
– If the themes are appropriate
– If the interpretations are fair and representative of their
perspectives
What is auditing?
• A second researcher independently codes some of the

data to see whether there is agreement as to the
major ideas found in the data
• Peer review: discussing the research process with a
knowledgeable colleague to review the data collection
and analysis procedures as they unfold during the
study
• External audit: a formal procedure when an individual
outside the study reviews the research then reports, in
writing, the strengths and weaknesses of the project
What are the key characteristics of
qualitative research findings?
• Typically found in the Results section, immediately
after the Method section
• May be called results or findings
• May include:
– Findings which report description
– Findings which report themes
– Tables and figures which convey additional details and
complexity
– Findings which fit the study’s research design
What are descriptive findings?
• Key results that provide information about the context

for the study
• Better understand the study’s central phenomenon
• Consider whether the results might be relevant to and
useful for your own context
• May include:
– A broad-to-narrow description
– Vivid details
– Focus on facts and what occurred
– Action words
– Participant quotes
What are thematic findings?
• Typically researchers report five to seven themes

• Convey the major ideas and the complexity of the
central phenomenon
• Major headings within the findings section are typically
themes
• May include:
– Sub-themes within each major theme
– Multiple perspectives and contrary evidence
– Participant quotes as evidence
– Inclusion of literary devices such as metaphors, analogies,
and tensions
How are tables and figures used to report
qualitative findings?
• Provide details beyond what is in the text
• Convey the complexity of the findings in concise visual
• May include:
– Demographic tables: Relate the important characteristics of
the settings and participants
– Map figures: Display important details of a setting and how
those details relate to the study’s description and themes
– Comparison tables: show different perspectives about a
theme based on a grouping characteristic (e.g. gender)
– Hierarchical tree figures: display how themes combine
together to form larger ideas about the central phenomenon
– Thematic figures: identify the major themes and how the
themes relate to each
How do the report of findings differ in
relation to the research design?
• General qualitative approach
– A simple report of the themes that emerged from the study
• Narrative approach
– A chronological retelling of the participant’s story, a description of the
context, and themes that emerged
• Case study approach
– An in-depth description of each case, themes that emerged, and
themes across cases (if multiple cases were studied)
• Ethnographic approach
– A detailed description of how a group behaves, thinks, or talks as
well as the context, or setting of the group
• Grounded theory approach
– The themes (or categories) that emerged, a display of the
interconnections among the themes, and a discussion of the theory
that emerged, and the hypotheses (or propositions) suggested by
these connections
How do you evaluate data analysis and
findings in a qualitative study?
Indicators of Indicators of
Quality criteria
higher quality lower quality
The analysis  Verbatim transcripts  Only summaries or
process used and scans of all data incomplete data
rigorous  Read data to get a  Started coding without
qualitative sense of the whole first reading
procedures  Recorded personal  Did not record
interpretations personal
 Developed and interpretations
assigned codes based  Used predetermined
on meaning codes that did not
 Built results from come from the data
refined codes  Unclear how results
were built from data
Quality criteria
Strategies were  Used at least three  Did not employ
used to validate strategies to ensure multiple strategies to
the findings credibility such as ensure credibility of
bracketing, findings
triangulation, member
checking, or audits
The findings  Important contexts are  Description of context
include a described with rich is boring and dry,
description of detail, broad-to-narrow provides little detail, or
people, places, form, action words, is not even included
or events in the participant quotes,
study and visual
representations
Quality criteria
The findings  Five to seven themes  Too few or too many
include reported themes reported
appropriate  Themes convey major  Themes lack
themes about ideas and complexity subthemes, include
the central using sub-themes, only common
phenomenon multiple perspectives, perspectives, have
contrary evidence, insufficient evidence in
participant quotes, the form of quotes, or
literary devices to do not include literary
suggest researcher’s devices that suggest
interpretations, and the researcher’s
comparison tables interpretations
Quality criteria
The findings  Reports relationships  Reports themes without
relate multiple among themes, explaining how they
themes to multiple layers of relate to each other,
each other categories, does not adequately
interconnecting describe or depict
themes, or a sequence relationships
 Conveys relationships  Relates themes in a
in text and with a figure, way that is inconsistent
and develops with research design
relationships consistent
with research design
Quality criteria
The data  Analysis was  Analysis was
analysis inductive, interpretive, deductive, objective,
represents a and dynamic process fixed, or linear process
good qualitative  Credible and accurate  Results were not
process results emerged strongly tied to data
based on data
The findings  Findings provide rich  Findings provide
provide a good and detailed superficial answers or
exploration of information that do not clearly answer
the central answers study’s study’s research
phenomenon research questions questions

Ch. 11. Qualitative Data Analysis and Findings

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Chapter 11:

Data Analysis and Findings: Examining

Vicki Plano Clark and John Creswell

© (2015, 2010) by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

• Read transcripts and field notes through several times

• Codes are labels used to describe the meaning of a

• May start with specific topics of interest as codes to

• Also called categories

• Build a detailed rendering of people, places, or events

• Develop a visual model to depict the connections

• Use strategies used to ensure the accuracy and

• Corroborating evidence about a finding

• One or more participants check the accuracy of the

• A second researcher independently codes some of the

• Key results that provide information about the context

• Typically researchers report five to seven themes

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