Moving from Observation to

Analysis
Michele Griegel-McCord, 2014

Moving from Observation to Analysis

Observations

Analysis

List all of the details and

features of your subject

Focus on the WHY questions

that help explain your findings.

Be specific so that you have

concrete details to use as
evidence later

Look for patterns,

anomalies,
contradictions, implicit
meanings

Focus on reasons or answers

that go beyond the obvious.
Speculate why these findings
might matter? Why are they
significant?

Developing an Analysis
Start with youre the pattern, trend, opposition,
contradiction, aspect of your subject matter that you find
interesting and want to explore?
Provide concrete evidence to prove that your observation
is valid.

Personal experience
Published research
Quotes from experts
Your own field research
Textual evidence
Cultural evidence

Developing an Analysis
Consider the WHY and SO WHAT questions that are behind your
observation
How can you try to explain the trend/attitude/behavior?
Why is this significant? How will it impact the future?

Look for both immediate/obvious answers and less explicit/more subtle

reasons.
EXPLAIN YOUR THINKING. SHOW READERS HOW YOU ARE MAKING
LOGICAL CONNECTIONS BETWEEN IDEAS.
Dont assume that all people see the subject in the same way.
Show readers how you are connecting the dots.

Developing an Analysis
Look for support for your reasoning.
Provide evidence that the links you are making have validity.
Bring in other voices to support your reasoning.

Actively look for things that might contradict your

reasoning or alternative explanations.
Dont avoid things that dont fit your pattern
How can you make sense of the outlier?
Do you need to modify your claim or adjust your reasoning?