Qualitative Data and Analysis

In Today’s Lecture
1) We will learn briefly about association with knowledge and
research paradigms in context of qualitative data
2) We will briefly review what is qualitative data and process of
data collection?
3) We will learn about analyzing and interpreting qualitative
data
4) We will learn about Computer Assisted Software for
Qualitative Data
5) Important concepts : Reliability /Validity/
Generalisability/Triangulation/Reflexivity
 Understanding our association
with knowledge
• There are different ways of knowing
• To understand some of the assumptions
underpinning these different ways of knowing
• To recognize that in order to judge the contribution
and ‘validity’ of research, we must understand its
knowledge base
 Terms to know
• Ontology: The branch of metaphysics that deals with
the nature of being. What is /what exists?
• Epistemology: The branch of philosophy that studies
the nature of knowledge, its pre suppositions and
foundations, “How do we know what we know”?
 The main epistemological
positions
• Objectivism : The belief that there is objective truth and that
appropriate methods of inquiry can bring in accurate and
certain knowledge of that truth
• Constructionism: The belief that all knowledge and therefore
all meaningful reality is constructed by human beings as they
engage in the world they are interpreting
• Subjectivism: The belief that knowledge is generated from the
mind, without reference to reality .Gaining knowledge about
the world is done through introspection.
 Interpretivist Research
• Interpretivist/Qualitative approaches stems from
constructionist/ subjectivist epistemology
• Interpretivist research seeks meanings and
motivations behind behavior as well as well as
through behavioral facts and implications via
researcher’s own actions, words and ideas.
QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS
REMEMBER GOOD ANALYSIS
BEGINS WITH
GOOD DATA
The Process of Qualitative Data Collection
Quantitative Qualitative
Generally use probability sampling Non-probability sampling
Need permission to conduct study Need permission and greater access
Use questionnaire, close end survey Interview, observation, documentation
Generally use pre-designed instruments Develop own protocols

Source: Cresswell, 2005

 Sources of Qualitative Data
• Participant observation field notes
• Informal and semi structured interviews
• Focus group discussions
• Open ended questions (interview or questionnaire)
• In – depth case study (mixture of interviews, observations,
records)
• Participants’ notes and diaries
• Audio – visual modes (advertisements, graffiti, wall
paintings)
- (Coolican, 2014)
 Points about your transcript
• It must always be included with your qualitative research
report unless specifically instructed not to do so.
• It must be absolutely verbatim – exactly what the participant
said
• May or my not include linguistic features, usually emotional
accompaniments are useful
• It should always include lines from every one,
including the interviewer and the respondent.
• Should always contain line numbers
 Qualitative Data Analysis
What are you trying to do ?
• Understand participants’ meanings, understandings,
patters of behaviour
• Interpret, explain, explore participants’ meanings
and actions
• To develop or generate a theory
• Analytic induction: To develop and verify or test
propositions
 Analysis of Qualitative Data
• When does analysis begin ?
• Data sense begins when in the field and forms the
beginning of the analysis through field notes (Recording,
Tracking and Insights are all part of analysis)
• Avoid premature conclusions
• Too much focus on analysis while field work is on is also
not recommended
• With end of data collection begins formal Analysis
phase.
 Basic Analytic Process
• Organize the data
• Generate categories, themes and patterns
• Examine the emergent patterns against the data
• Search for alternative explanations of the data
• Write it all up
• STARTS BEING INTIMATELY FAMILIAR WITH YOUR
DATA
 Coding
Coding: the analytic process through which the qualitative data
that you have gathered are reduced, rearranged, and integrated
to form theory.
• Coding is the process of segmenting and labeling text to form
description and broad themes in the data.
• Steps:
– Read through the text data
– Divide the text into segments of information
– Label the segments of information with codes
– Reduce overlap and redundancy of codes
– Collapse codes into themes
Categorization: is the process of organizing, arranging,
and classifying coding units.

THICK DESCRPITIONS, are foundations of qualitative

analysis and reporting
Computer Aided Analysis of Qualitative Data
NUD*IST
NVIVO 8
WINIMAX
ETHNOGRAPH
Code – A- Text
ATLAS.ti
CAQDAS (Computer Assisted Qualitative Data
Analysis Software)
The Ethnograph

Organize material into themes with coding in NVivo

9 | NVivo Tutorial Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9eTvP3E5TE
 What are themes
• Prominent patterns of participants meanings,
actions, or responses to situations.
 What is Thematic Analysis
The goal is to “actively enter the worlds of native
people and to render those worlds understandable
from the standpoint of a theory that is grounded in
behaviors, languages, definitions , attitudes,
and feelings of those studied (Denzin 1971, cited in
Owen 1984)
 Good analysis and meaningful
interpretation
• Follow and report ‘systematic’ procedures
• Look for regularities and irregularities in the data
• Use checklists and comparisons to make sense of the
data
• Think what you really understand from the data
• Check how the results ‘fit’ the theory or other data
and ask why?
• Show evidence, prove it
 Reliability in Qualitative Research
• Reliability ‘relates to whether a particular instrument,
administered repeatedly, would yield the same result
each time’, and it is therefore also referred to as
‘stability of response’ (Hall & Hall, 2004, p. 98).
• Debatable in Qualitative research ?
• It rather refers to making the process of research
transparent and visible through detailed description For
this research it meant careful recording and transcribing
of the data, and maintaining detailed and exhaustive
field notes. ROBUST METHODOLOGY
 Validity in Qualitative Research
Validity refers to the extent to which the qualitative research results:
– Accurately represent the collected data (internal validity)
– Can be generalized or transferred to other contexts or settings
(external validity).
– Simply put TRUST
Validity is established if the ‘informant is part of the problem areas
and he/she is given the opportunity to speak freely according to
his/her own knowledge structures’ (Stenbacka, 2001, p. 552)
– Validity can be improved upon by accurate recording of events,
engaging with multiple methods and structured analysis
(Silverman, 2011).
Generalisability, reflexivity and
Triangulation
Reflexivity :

Process of sense making of taken for granted

codes. It is to move beyond mere description to
understanding, contextualizing and interpreting in
‘social, political or ethical context’ and offering
critical analysis (Bell & Taylor, 2013, p. 132).
Triangulation:

- Stake (2005, p. 454) defines triangulation as

‘process of using multiple perceptions to clarify
meaning, verifying the repeatability of an
observation or interpretation’.

- It helps generate single proposition, but in

addition to convergent understanding triangulation
allows emergence of varied perspectives and
voices in the study (Mathison, 1988; Piekkari et
al., 2010; Stake, 2005).