Research Methodology_Chapter 6.Pdf

Chapter 6 Analyzing Qualitative Data Chapter 6 Qualitative Research Methods Often, qualitative data is associated with an interpretive philosophy because researchers tend to explore the subjective and[.]

Chapter 6:

Qualitative

Research

Methods

Often, qualitative data is associated with an interpretive philosophy because researchers tend

to explore the subjective and socially constructed meanings of the participants of the research

Social constructionism means that meanings are dependent on people’s interpretations of events that occur around them

Because qualitative data depend on interpretation, they are usually more complex than quantitative data.

Chapter 6:

Qualitative

Research

Methods

6.1 Approach to analysis 6.2 Preparing for data analysis 6.3 Tips for the analysis

6.4 Generic Approache to analysis 6.5 Inductive procedures

6.6 Deductive approaches

6.1

Approach

to analysis

Researches begin from using either an inductive or a deductive approach

When using a deductive approach, one seeks to use existing theory

On the other hand, an inductive approach requires one to build up a theory that is adequately grounded in the data.

6.2

Preparing for

data analysis

Qualitative research interviews are normally audio-recorded and then transcribed, which means that they are reproduced as written (usually with use of a word processor) account using the actual words

Along with the actual words, a researcher also must note down the tone in which they were said as well as the non-verbal communication of the interviewee

The researcher should also make sure that the transcription is accurate by correcting for errors,

6.3 Tips for the analysis

There are many ways of recording information to

supplement notes and transcripts:

• Interim summaries – these can be made during the

analysis and outline what you have found so far,

whether you trust your findings and what you need to

do to improve the quality

• Transcript summaries – these compress long

statements into shorter ones in which the key element

of what was said is rephrased in a couple of words

• Document summary – describes the goal of a

document and lists a few key points

3.3 Tips for

the analysis

There are many ways of recording information to supplement notes and transcripts:

• Self-memos – these record ideas that occur

to the researcher about any aspect of the research

• Research notebook – this is alternative to record ideas about the research

• Reflective diary – in this the researcher writes his reflections about his experiences

of undertaking the research, what he has learnt, and how he will seek to apply his learning as the research progresses.

6.4 Generic approache to analysis

In this section the generic approach to analyzing qualitative data will be provided This approach consists of five aspects:

• Categorizing data: creating categories into which the data will be divided

• Unitizing data: the units of data are attached to the appropriate categories that you have devised

• Examining relationships and creating categories: analyzing the rearranged data.

• Developing testable propositions: the existence of relationships need to

be tested if one can conclude that there is a relationship, by developing testable propositions This could be done by seeking alternative

explanations and negative examples.

• Drawing conclusions: interpreting and analyzing the data

6.4 Generic approache to analysis

• According to Miles and Huberman (1994) the process

of analysis consist of three concurrent processes: data

reduction, data display, and drawing conclusions

• With data reduction they mean summarizing and

simplifying the collected data and/or selectively

focusing on specific parts of these data

• Data display focusses on organizing and assembling the

data into summary diagrams or other visual displays

All data that is not summarized or reduced is called

‘extended text’ Data displays allow the researcher to

make comparisons between aspects of the data and to

explore relationships, key themes, patterns and trends

6.5 Inductive procedures

• Grounded Theory Method

• Template analysis

• Analytic Induction

• Narrative Analysis

• Discourse Analysis

Grounded Theory Method

• The goal of grounded theory methods is to use an inductive approach to develop a grounded theory around the key category that emerges from the data Different kinds of coding could be used to analyze the data:

• Initial or open coding - the disaggregation of data into smaller units

• Focused coding - reanalyzing the data in order to test which

of the initial codes may be used to categorize larger units of data

• Axial coding - the process of discovering relationships between categories

• Labelled selective coding - the integration of categories around a core category in order to generate a theory.

Grounded Theory Method

• When conducting grounded theory research it could be helpful to use theoretical sampling to find a sample

• Theoretical sampling is choosing samples following analysis of initial data to further develop analytical categories and concepts

• In order to this one it is important to constantly compare the collected data with the categories and concepts being used

• Theoretical sampling is used until theoretical saturation

is reached.

Template analysis

• A template is a list of the codes or categories for the themes

discovered from the collected data

• This type of analysis uses both a deductive and an inductive

approach in order to analyze the codes

• Other than in Grounded Theory, Template Analysis permits

prior specification of codes to analyze data, while Grounded

Theory tries to hold everything as purely inductive as

possible

• Also, Grounded Theory is more structured than Template

Analysis Just as in Grounded Theory data are both coded

and analyzed to discover themes, patterns and relationships

The template approach enables the researcher to display the

codes and categories hierarchically.

Analytic Induction

• This is the process of collecting and analyzing of strategically selected cases in order to empirically establish the causes of a particular phenomenon

• An explanation is developed by extensively examining the process being explored This is done through repeated cycles of developing and testing propositions

• Unlike Grounded Theory, this approach focuses more on existing knowledge and theory than on participant’s data

Narrative Analysis

• Using this approach, a researcher collects data through narratives such as experiences of the participants

• Narratives cannot be easily fragmented since the essence of the story might be lost in the process

• Instead, the narratives need to be either left intact, or they need to be ‘re-storied’, into new narratives in a more coherent form

Discourse Analysis

• This is a general term that covers a very wide variety of

approaches to the analysis of language

• It also explores how and why individuals’ language is

used by individuals in particular social contexts

• Put differently, this approach explores how language

(discourse) in the form of speech an text

reproduces/changes the social world (Phillips 2002)

• Researchers who use this approach are often subjective

ontologists

6.6 Deductive approaches

• Pattern matching

• Explanation building

Pattern matching

This approach is concerned with

predicting a pattern of results

based on theoretical propositions in order to explain

what the researcher expects to

find from analyzing the data

In order to do this the researcher will need to develop

a conceptual or analytical framework, using existing theory, and test the adequacy

of this framework as a method

to explain the findings.

Explanation building

This approach involves an attempt to build an explanation by collecting data

and analyzing them, rather than testing a predicted

explanation

This approach is similar to Grounded Theory but is designed to test a theoretical proposition while Grounded

Theory is designed to construct a theory inductively.