Qualitative Data Analysis
Prepared using openly available materials
Qualitative Data Analysis
• Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA) is the range of
processes and procedures whereby we move from
the qualitative data that have been collected, into
some form of explanation, understanding or
interpretation of the people and situations we are
investigating.
• QDA is usually based on an interpretative philosophy.
The idea is to examine the meaningful and symbolic
content of qualitative data.
(http://onlineqda.hud.ac.uk/Intro_QDA/what_is_qda.php)
Qualitative Data
• Transcripts of individual interviews and focus
groups or field notes, copies of documents,
audio and video recordings from observation
of certain activities.
• Data that are related to concepts, opinions,
values and behaviors of people in a social
context.
• Data that are not easily reduced to numbers.
Field Notes
Example
Types of Qualitative Data
• Structured text (writings, stories, survey
comments, news articles, books etc).
• Unstructured text (transcription, interviews,
conversation etc).
• Audio recordings
• Video recordings (graphics, art, pictures,
visuals).
Preparing Meta Data
• Project/ research title
• Date of data collection
• Place of data collection
• ID-code of informants
• Research team
• Method of data collection
• Documentation type: Tape record, notes and
observations
QDA Approaches
Deductive Approach
• Using your research questions to group the data and
then look for similarities and differences.
• Used when time and resources are limited.
• Used when qualitative research is a smaller
component of a larger quantitative study
Inductive Approach
• Used when qualitative research is a major design of
the inquiry.
• Using emergent framework to group the data and
then look for relationships.
The Process of QDA
• Organize the data
• Identify framework
• Sort data into framework
• Use the framework for descriptive analysis
• Second order analysis
Organize the Data
• Transcribe the data
• Translate the data.
• Data cleaning.
• Label the data (Structuring & Familiarizing).
Identify the framework
• Framework will structure, label and define
data.
• Explanatory – Guided by the research
question.
• Exploratory-Guided by the data.
• Framework = Coding plan.
Sort Data Into Framework
• Code the data.
• Modify the Framework.
• Data entry if use computer packages.
Use Framework in Descriptive Analysis
• Arrange the responses in categories and,
• Identify recurrent themes.
• Note: Stop here if research is exploratory.
Second Order Analysis
• Identify recurrent themes.
• Notice patterns in the data.
• Identify respondent clusters (Search for
causality and identify related themes).
• Build sequence of events.
• Search data to answer research questions.
• Develop hypotheses and test.
Some Qualitative Data Analysis Softwares
• Atlas ti (www.atlasti.com)
• HyperRESEARCH (www.researchware.com)
• Max QDA (www.maxqda.com)
• QSR Nvivo (www.qsrinternational.com)
• Weft QDA (www.pressure.to/qda)
• Open code (www8.umu.se)
Coding
• A major step in analyzing qualitative data is
coding speech into meaningful categories,
enabling you to organize large amounts of text
and discover patterns that would be difficult
to detect by just reading observer
commentary.
• Always keep the original copy of observer
commentary.
Developing Codes
• Coding is a process for categorizing your data.
Develop a set of codes using both codes that
you predefine and ones that emerge from the
data.
• Predefined codes are categories and themes
that you expect to see based on your prior
knowledge.
Coding Process
Coding Your Data
• Closely review and code your data. If possible, have
more than one person code the data to allow for
different perspectives on the data.
• As you proceed you may find that your initial codes
are too broad. Create subcategories of your codes as
needed. Or you may find that you have created codes
that are too detailed and that attempt to capture
every possible idea.
• In that case consider how you can pull categories
together into a broader idea.
…Contd
• Coding is a process of reducing the data into
smaller groupings so they are more
manageable.
• The process also helps you to begin to see
relationships between these categories and
patterns of interaction.
Finding themes, patterns, and relationships
• A theme is generated when similar issues and ideas
expressed by participants within qualitative data are
brought together by the researcher into a single
category or cluster.
• This ‘theme’ may be labelled by a word or expression
taken directly from the data or by one created by the
researcher because it seems to best characterize the
essence of what is being said.
• Look for similarities and differences in different sets
of data and see what different groups are saying.
• Look through your list of codes, and identify
those that would inform this categories of ‘the
community’. Then look back through the
interview transcript and see if there are any
other references that you have missed.
Summarizing your data
• After you have coded a set of data, such as
transcripts of interviews or questionnaire responses,
write a summary of what you are learning.
• Similarly, summarize the key themes that emerge
across a set of interview transcripts. When available,
include quotations that illustrate the themes.
• With your data coded and summarized you are ready
to look across the various summaries and synthesize
your findings across multiple data sources.
Organizing Data for Analysis
Drawing Diagrams
• A useful tool for showing relationship among
themes is called Diagramming.
• Diagram is a plan, sketch, drawing, or outline
designed to demonstrate or explain how
something works or to clarify the relationship
between the parts of a whole.
• The diagrams such as Network diagram, Flow
charts
