Transcript Data Analysis I Univariate Analysis Week 6

Analytic Technique:
Qualitative Data Analysis
Research Methods for Public
Administrators
Dr. Gail Johnson
Dr. G. Johnson,
www.ResearchDemystified.org
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The Research Process
 Planning
 Do
 Collect
the Data
 Analyze the Data
 Report
Dr. G. Johnson,
www.ResearchDemystified.org
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Analyzing Qualitative Data
 This is a process of making sense of non-
numeric data
Data from:
 Narrative documents (speeches,
newspapers, diaries, reports, etc)
 Open-ended interviews
 Open-ended questions on a survey
Dr. G. Johnson,
www.ResearchDemystified.org
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Analyzing Qualitative Data
Data From
 Focus groups transcripts
 Diaries
 Unstructured observations
 Videos, TV, You-Tube, etc
Dr. G. Johnson,
www.ResearchDemystified.org
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Qualitative Data Analysis
 The goal is to identify common themes
 Requires a solid plan, attention to detail, good
organization and sufficient time
 Whether the analysis is done by computer or by
hand, it is necessary to develop a coding scheme
so the data can be systematically organized and
analyzed
 Computer software can help locate and organize
data according to the coding scheme you create
Dr. G. Johnson,
www.ResearchDemystified.org
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Qualitative Data Analysis
 But the analysis—that is, making sense of
the data, discovering the story the data
reveals—is done by the researchers
 The greatest concern is bias!
 Paradigm
blinders: hard to recognize things you
don’t expect
 Danger: to a hammer, everything is a nail
Dr. G. Johnson,
www.ResearchDemystified.org
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Qualitative Data Analysis:
General Process
 Maintaining the Thread
 Review
the data, make notes as you go along
 Read again once all the data collection is
completed
 Organize the data—according to research
questions, by date, by geographic location—what
makes sense given the situation
Dr. G. Johnson,
www.ResearchDemystified.org
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Basic Activities
 Identify common words, ideas, themes
 Develop spread sheet or write on cards
 Keep track of where they are located
 Identify “quotable quotes”—that is, quotes that
highlight the key issues: general views, divergent
views, a range views

Make sure you know exactly where they are located so
someone else can check to make sure you got the quote
right
Dr. G. Johnson,
www.ResearchDemystified.org
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Qualitative Data Analysis:
General Process
 Code the data
 Identify common word, issues, themes and go through
the material and label them according to that coding
scheme


You may go through the material several times
Sometimes a major theme emerges at the end and you will
need to go back through to see if it was present in the earlier
data
 Software is available that may help
 Researchers might use spread sheets, index cards,
or color coding of documents
Dr. G. Johnson,
www.ResearchDemystified.org
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Ensuring Quality in
Qualitative Data Analysis
 Ensure inter-rater reliability
 Like content analysis, the researchers should review the
same material and apply the coding scheme
 Then review and determine if there are difference
 Discuss, revise the coding scheme if necessary and
retrain the coders
 Repeat this test until there is agreement in the coding
 Compare results
 Work out differences
 Then code all the material
Dr. G. Johnson,
www.ResearchDemystified.org
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Qualitative Data Analysis:
General Process
 Interpreting the data
 Subjective, making sense of the data
 Review the common themes and note whether
there are systematic differences in views based
on the characteristics of the people
 Are there any seeming relationships between
the themes or characteristics?
 What are the major points that emerge from the
analysis?
Dr. G. Johnson,
www.ResearchDemystified.org
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Qualitative Data Analysis:
General Process
 What about minor points?
 Sometimes an uncommon theme stands out
 The researchers need to explain why a minority view
might be important
 Present in context: one minority view should not be
given equal weight to the views of many others
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
Be mindful of the distortion that can occur when attempting to
“be fair”: always indicate when it is a minority view and be
careful that it does not trump the majority views
Presenting a unique view can be important or it might just be a
ploy for attention—just as it is in real life
Dr. G. Johnson,
www.ResearchDemystified.org
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Qualitative Data Analysis
General Process
 Interpret the data
 Reality
check: do others agree?
 Share preliminary drafts with stakeholders or
a small group of the participants to explore
the issues you have discovered
 Share final draft with experts and cold
readers
Dr. G. Johnson,
www.ResearchDemystified.org
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Affinity Diagram
 A group process for analyzing qualitative
data:
 Research
team reviews the material
 In silence, write down each idea, key work or
theme on a sticky note
 In silence, post on wall
 In silence, sort into similar categories
 Once the sticky notes are organized, discuss
Dr. G. Johnson,
www.ResearchDemystified.org
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Affinity Diagram
 Identify common themes
 The Affinity Diagram tool is a quick way to set up
a coding framework
 It is also a great way to identify the major themes
and topics in the final article or report


It has the advantage of capturing all ideas before the
discussion begins
Everyone’s ideas have equal value when posted
Dr. G. Johnson,
www.ResearchDemystified.org
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Writing Up Results
 Focus on major themes.
 “A number of participants said.”
 “Some” said X, while others said Y.
 Avoid generalizations: if not everyone was
asked to comment about a particular practice,
you do not know if the five who commented
represented the views of others or were just the
only ones that thought this practice was
important.
Dr. G. Johnson,
www.ResearchDemystified.org
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Writing Up Results
 Provide
a range of perspectives.
 Some said “….” while others said “…..”
 Highlight interesting perspectives even if only
said by one or two people.
But be sure not to give more undue importance and
be clear that it was just a few
 A few offered unique views: “….”
 These might be important because “…..”

Dr. G. Johnson,
www.ResearchDemystified.org
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Writing Up Results
 Do not try to report numbers or percents unless
everyone was counted in exactly the same way
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For example, 10 people out of the 20 who you
interviewed commented that they liked the training
program.
But unless you asked all 20 people, you do not know
what the other 10 people thought.
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It would be a mistake to report that 50% of those interviewed
liked the training program.
Maybe the other 10 liked it too but had other things they
wanted to talk about.
You do not know what everyone thinks unless you ask
everyone the exact same
question!
Dr. G. Johnson,
www.ResearchDemystified.org
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My Views About
Qualitative Data Analysis

Qualitative data tells a narrative story
 It can provide depth, richness and insights in
ways that quantitative data cannot
 Allows researchers to their knowledge and
expertise to make sense of the data
 It is deceptively difficult and can be
overwhelming if there is a lot of data
Dr. G. Johnson,
www.ResearchDemystified.org
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My Views About
Qualitative Data Analysis
 Some researchers like the richness and its
non-numeric nature
 Others wish they had check-a-box data
because it is so much easier and less time
consuming to analyze
Dr. G. Johnson,
www.ResearchDemystified.org
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My Views About
Qualitative Data Analysis
It can be like a Rorschach test –an inkblot that
some see as a butterfly and others see as maple
leaf
 Remember: reasonable people can read the same
material and have very different interpretations.
It is important to explore those differences to
gain a deeper understanding rather than to win
the argument

Dr. G. Johnson,
www.ResearchDemystified.org
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Dr. G. Johnson,
www.ResearchDemystified.org
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