Analysis and write-up of qualitative data

Data

• Transcripts• Observations of nonverbals• Contextual information

– Specifics of contact– Historical info

• Verbatim of written material, speeches, etc.• Info on observer

The problem with qualitative data

• Often a mass of data with no rules for the researcher to apply

• There are no pre-defined categories, dimensions, etc. to tally up

• The language used by interviewees, etc. has multiple meanings and interpretations– Analysis is inherently subjective

Types of analysis

• Dialectical analysis– Search for the most powerful conflicts in the

data

• Metaphor analysis– Identifiy metaphors and how they vary

• Fantasy theme analysis– Looks at the stories shared among people

Grounded theory and analysis

• Grounded theory is the most common form of organized qualitative data analysis – Developed as a means to bring rigor and

therefore greater acceptance of qualitative methods in social science (sociology)

Grounded theory is:

• “An inductive, comparative, and interactive approach to inquiry that offers several open-ended strategies for conducting emergent inquiry.”– Charnaz

Educational Research 2e: Creswell

How did grounded theory develop?

• 1967 Glaser and Strauss book The Discovery of Grounded Theory

• 1990, 1998 Strauss and Corbin prescriptive form with predetermined categories and concerns about reliability and validity

• 2000 Charmaz introduces “Constructivist” method

Educational Research 2e: Creswell

Key characteristics of grounded theory designs

• A process approach• Theoretical sampling• Constant comparative method• Series of coding and recoding data• Memoranda• Theory generation

Role of the researcher• The researcher serves as both data collection

instrument and analysis method– The two are linked—adjust data collection as analysis

leads in certain ways

• The researcher is trying to develop theory—induction– Theory built upward from the data (“grounded”), not

downward from premises to theory to hypotheses to testing

– Keeps theory close to the data– Avoids imposing inappropriate theory on ‘reality’

Coding

• Three stages:– Open coding

• Coding line-by-line original data into codes that the researcher determines to be valuable

– Extremely subjective

– Axial coding• Combining original codes into major categories and

defining subcategories and their relations to the majors

– Restricted coding• Identifying relationships among codes and

categories

Educational Research 2e: Creswell

Zig-zag approach to data collection and analysis

Data Collection Data Analysis

Close to SaturatedCategories

ThirdInterview

SecondInterview

FirstInterview

More RefinedCategories

RefinedCategories

PreliminaryCategories

TowardSaturation ofCategories

Coding for what is happening

So part of it has been good because I can see that I'm not the only one that has good days and bad days, everybody does.

They might not be physical, as much as psychological, but everybody has kind of good days and bad days, as moods and things too.

Identifying a positive

Recognizing other people’s good and bad days

Qualifying their good and bad days

Viewing good and bad days as universal

Example from Charnaz

Comparing Statements: Sara Shaw—Taking a broader view beyond self

So part of it has been good because I can see that I'm not the only one that has good days and bad days, everybody does.

They might not be physical, as much as psychological, but everybody has kind of good days and bad days, as moods and things too

Seeing beyond self

Discerning the content of good and bad days

Comparing statements: Nancy Swensen dealing with her illness on a bad day and her mother with

Alzheimer’s—Being caught in chaos

And if I’m trying to get dinner ready and I’m already feeling bad, she’s in front of the refrigerator. Then she goes to put her hand on the stove and I got the fire on. And then she’s in front of the microwave and then she’s in front of the silverware drawer. And-and if I send her out she gets mad at me. That’s when I have really a really bad time.

Making a bad day worse

Escalating chaos

See also,Arthur Frank

(1995): “The Chaos Nar-rative

Comparing responses to bad days: Marty—

Dealing with bad days

We’re [a friend who has multiple sclerosis] kind of like mutual supporters for each other. And when she has her bad days or when we particularly feel “poor me,” you know, “Get off your butt!” You know, we can be really pushy to each other and understand it.

Reciprocal supporting

Having bad days

Disallowing self-pity

Issuing reciprocal orders

Taking the criticism

Realizing that once bad days have become good days—John

What used to be bad days [laughing] now are good days …but the quality of things, I think, is declining, you know, from , say a couple of years ago when I didn’t think about it that much. And there would be isolated days when I had a lot of congestion and things like that. But that’s all.

Shifting criteria of good and bad days

Defining declining health

Comparing past and present

• “Eventually, new data . . . add little to the development of new descriptive categories. At this point, the categories are considered “saturated.” The researcher then reviews the theoretical memoranda and conceptualizes higher level (more abstract) generalizations that subsume the initial set of categories yet are grounded in them.”– P. 282

Educational Research 2e: Creswell

Memoranda

• “Memos are notes the researcher writes throughout the research process to elaborate on ideas about the data and the coded categories. In memos, the researcher explores hunches, ideas, and thoughts, and then takes them apart, always searching for the broader explanations at work in the process.”

• The grounded theory generated in this manner reflects the researcher’s development of categories of meaning and the relationships she perceives among them. It should also provide some explanation for those relationships.– Usually not “higher-order” theory, but “mid-

level” theory

• One test of the theory is to have the interviewees react to it. Does it make sense to them? Do they think it reflects the world as they see it?

• The theory developed through this method should be compared to the scholarly literature to see how it fits within the field. Does it add, support, contradict? The researcher should provide his thoughts about how the grounded theory should be interpreted with regard to existing theory.

Write-up

• Write-up of a grounded theory study follows more of a narrative format than traditional quantitative research reports. While the concerns of the researcher that led to the study usually open the piece, they are often more closely tied to the researcher, personally, than in quantitative studies.

• The discussion of the scene to be studied is often quite detailed, while a theoretical literature review is limited or absence. The methods and results are more integrated and the author will often discuss the evolution of her thinking over time, tying it to particular findings in narrative format—over time.

• Evidence is often provided in direct quotes and examples, and the development of the researcher’s thinking over time is commonly revealed.

• The latter portion may discuss a comparison of the grounded theory with existing theory to a greater extent than is often the case.

Write-up and presentation

• Provide a detailed description of the data collection methods– Describe the subjects and context carefully

Educational Research 2e: Creswell

Evaluating a grounded theory study

• Does the researcher gather extensive data so as to develop a detailed conceptual theory as well saturated in the data?

• Does the model emerge through phases of coding? (e.g. initial codes to more theoretically oriented codes or open coding to axial coding to selective coding)?

• Does the study show how the researcher validated the evolving theory by comparing it to the data, examining how the theory supports or refutes existing theories in the literature, or checking theory with participants?– Creswell

Educational Research 2e: Creswell

Evaluating a grounded theory study• Is there an obvious connection between the

categories and the raw data?• Is the theory useful as a conceptual

explanation for the process being studied?• Does the theory provide a relevant

explanation of actual problems and a basic process?

• Can the theory be modified as conditions change or further data are gathered?