Qualitative Data Analysis

AEF 801
Research Methods and Project
Management
Mary.Brennan@ncl.ac.uk
18/2/2005
 Session Aim and Objectives

• Aim
To introduce students to the analysis of qualitative data
• Objectives
By the end students will have an appreciation of:
1 The principles of analysing qualitative data
2 The Qualitative Analytical Process
3 Qualitative Data Management Tools
4 How to present qualitative results
Part1: Theory
Part 2: Qualitative Analysis: A worked example
 Qualitative Research
• Qualitative research is an interdisciplinary,
transdisciplinary, and sometimes counterdisciplinary field.
It crosses the humanities and the social and physical
sciences. Qualitative research is many things at the same
time. It is multiparadigmatic in focus. Its practitioners are
sensitive to the value of the multimethod approach. They
are committed to the naturalistic perspective, and to the
interpretative understanding of human experience. At the
same time, the field is inherently political and shaped by
multiple ethical and political positions.
• Nelson et al’s (1992, p4)
 Qualitative Inquiry
• Purpose
The purpose of qualitative inquiry is to produce findings. The Data
Collection process is not an end in itself. The culminating activities of
qualitative inquiry are analysis, interpretation, and presentation of findings.
Challenge
To make sense of massive amounts of data, reduce the volume of
information, identify significant patterns and construct a framework for
communicating the essence of what the data reveal
Problem
‘…have few agreed-on canons for qualitative data analysis, in the sense of
shared ground rules for drawing conclusions and verifying sturdiness’
Miles and Huberman, 1984)
The Creativity of Qualitative Inquiry

• ‘..the human element of qualitative inquiry is both

is strength and weakness - its strength is fully
using human insight and experience, its weakness
is being so heavily dependent on the researcher’s
skill, training, intellect, discipline, and creativity.
The researcher is the instrument of qualitative
inquiry, so the quality of the research depends
heavily on the qualities of that human being’
(Patton, 1988)
The Science and Art of Qualitative
Inquiry(Patton, 1988)
• The Science
The scientific part is systematic, analytical,
rigorous, disciplined, and critical in perspective
• The Art
The artistic part is exploring, playful,
metaphorical, insightful, and creative
The Critical and Creative Thinker
• ‘Just as creative thinkers want to be creative, critical thinkers, it
seems , want to be critical, or at least to be certain. Yet the critical
attitude and the creative attitude seem to be poles apart…On one hand,
there are those who are always telling you why ideas won’t work but
who never seem able to come up with alternatives of their own; and,
on the other hand, there are those who are constantly coming up with
ideas but seem unable to tell good from bad. There are people in
whom both attitudes are developed to a high degree…, but even these
people say they assume only one of these attitudes at a time. When
new ideas are needed, they put on their creative caps, and when ideas
need to be evaluated, they but on their critical caps’
• (Anderson, 1980:66)
 Critical Thinking
• Critical Thinking
‘Critical Thinking calls for a persistent effort to examine any belief or supposed
form of knowledge in the light of the evidence that supports it and the further
conclusions to which it tends’ (Glaser, 1941)
or more simply!
Critical Thinking means weighting up the arguments and evidence for and against.
• Key points when thinking critically are (Glaser, 1941):
– Persistence: Considering an issue carefully and more than once
– Evidence: Evaluating the evidence put forward in support of the belief or
viewpoint
– Implications: Considering where the belief or viewpoint leads; what conclusions
would follow; are these suitable and rational; and if not, should the belief or
viewpoint be reconsidered
 Analytical Thinking
Analytical Thinking involves additional processes:
• Standing back form the information given
• Examining it in detail from many angles
• Checking closely whether each statement follows logically from what went before
• Looking for possible flaws in the reasoning, the evidence, or the way that conclusions
are drawn
• Comparing the same issues from the point of view of other writers
• Being able to see and explain why different people arrived at different conclusions
• Being able to argue why one set of opinions, results or conclusions is preferable to
another
• Being on guard for literary or statistical devices that encourage the reader to take
questionable statements at face value
• Checking for hidden assumptions
• Checking for attempts to lure the reader into agreements
 Guidance for Creative Thinking

1 Be open
2 Generate Options
3 Divergence before convergence
4 Use multiple stimuli
5 Side track, zig-zag, and circumnavigate
6 Change patterns
7 Make Linkages
8 Trust yourself
9 Work and Play at it
The Credibility of Qualitative Analysis

The credibility for qualitative inquiry depends on three distinct

but related inquiry elements:
1 Rigorous techniques and methods for gathering high-quality
data that is carefully analysed, with attention to issues of
validity, reliability, and triangulation
2 The credibility of the researcher, which is dependent on
training, experience, track record, status, and presentation of
self
3 Philosophical belief in the phenomenological paradigm, that is,
a fundamental appreciation of naturalistic inquiry, qualitative
methods, inductive analysis and holistic thinking
 A Credible Qualitative Study

A credible qualitative study needs to address the

following issues:
1 What techniques and methods were used to ensure
the integrity, validity, and accuracy of the findings
2 What does the researcher bring to study in terms
of qualifications, experience, and perspective
3 What paradigm orientation and assumption
undergrid the study
 Qualitative Research:
Common Features of Analytic Methods
(Miles and Huberman, 1994)
1 Affixing codes to a set of field notes drawn from data collection
2 Noting reflections or other remarks in margin
3 Sorting or shifting through the materials to identify similar phrases,
relationships between themes, distinct differences between subgroups
and common sequences
4 Isolating patterns and processes, commonalties and differences, and
taking them out to the filed in the next wave of data collection
5 Gradually elaborating a small set of generalisations that cover the
consistencies discerned in the data base
6 Confronting those generalisations with a formalised body of
knowledge in the from of constructs or theories
 Principles of Analysing
Qualitative Data
1 Proceed systematically and rigorously (minimise human
error)
2 Record process, memos, journals, etc.
3 Focus on responding to research questions
4 Appropriate level of interpretation appropriate for situation
5 Time (process of inquiry and analysis are often
simultaneous)
6 Seek to explain or enlighten
7 Evolutionary/emerging
 The Analysis Continuum

Descriptive
Raw Data Interpretation
Statements
The Qualitative Analytical
Process
 1. Analysis Considerations

1 Words
2 Context (tone and inflection)
3 Internal consistency (opinion shifts during groups)
4 Frequency and intensity of comments (counting, content
analysis)
5 Specificity
6 Trends/themes
7 Iteration (data collection and analysis is an iterative
process moving back and forth)
 2. The Procedures

1 Coding/indexing
2 Categorisation
3 Abstraction
4 Comparison
5 Dimensionalisation
6 Integration
7 Iteration
8 Refutation (subjecting inferences to scrutiny)
9 Interpretation (grasp of meaning - difficult to describe
procedurally)
 The Qualitative Analytical Process
(Adapted from descriptions of Strauss and Corbin, 1990, Spiggle
1994, Miles and Huberman, 1994)

Components Procedures Outcomes

Data Reductions Coding Description

Categorisation
Abstraction
Data Display Comparison
Dimensionalisation
Integration
Conclusions &
Interpretation Explanation/
Verification
Interpretation
 Qualitative Data Management Tools

• QSR NUD.IST
(Non-numerical unstructured data indexing searching and theorising)
• Enables efficient data management by supporting the
processes of indexing, searching and hence data theorising
• Creates an environment to store and explore data and
ideas, it does not determine the research approach.
• The major advantage of the package is that it enables an
efficient and flexible approach to rigorously and
systematically analysing qualitative data.
SAFEFOOD Interactive Workshops
A worked example
Preliminary qualitative data analysis
(information to be provided)
 QSR NUD.IST
• The QSR NUD.IST software tools are incorporated into two
interlocking systems; a document system and an index system
• Document Database
• Enables text to be stored, edited and retrieved; memos to record ideas
can be attached to text; and word and phrase searches can be
conducted on the documents
• Index Database
• Enables the researcher to: code the data; conduct multiple concept or
coded category searches thereby providing responses to research
questions and theory development; and provides the means to record
ideas about the data through memos attached to the various indices