Chapter 17

Analyzing and Reporting Qualitative Data

Goals of Qualitative Analysis

• Reduce the data to meaningful units that can be described, interpreted, reported

• To organize and produce structure to the data collected

• To draw out the meaning from the information and develop themes

The Challenges of Qualitative Analysis

• No single standard or guideline for the analytic process

• Enormous quantity of data is generated that must be reviewed and summarized

• Balancing rich description with focus and length limitations

Some General Steps

• Prepare the data for analysis

• Conduct the analysis by developing an in-depth understanding

• Represent the data in reduced form

• Make an interpretation of the larger meaning of the data

Constant Comparison

A method of analysis that involves the review of data as they are gathered and comparison of new data to what

has been interpreted, in order to support reject earlier conclusions.

Common Qualitative Analytic Styles

• Template analysis

• Editing analysis

• Immersion / crystallization

The Phases of Qualitative Analysis

• Comprehending

• Synthesizing

• Theorizing

• Recontextualizing

Analytic Processes

• Organize and catalog the data

• Review the data for initial impressions

• Identify a classification system

• Develop codes and a codebook

• Evaluate the coded data to identify overall themes

• Report the themes with supporting quotes

Specific Processes: Phenomenology

• Reflection on the data

• Explication of themes

• Discernment of patterns that form the “essence of the experience”

Specific Processes: Grounded Theory

• Generate categories of meaning

• Position each category in a theoretical model demonstrating relationships

• Create a story from the interconnectedness of the categories

• Add informants as the theory unfolds to illuminate and/or refute specific conclusions

Specific Processes: Ethnography

• Triangulation of multiple sources of information

• Use of thick description to draw conclusions

Criteria for Trustworthiness

• Credibility

• Dependability

• Confirmability

• Transferability

Reporting Qualitative Results

• Themes are reported with supporting information– Descriptive codes that make up the theme– Verbatim reports from informants

• Quotes are selected for representativeness, not as single anecdotes

Possible Types of Codes

• Setting and context codes• Perspective codes• Subjects ways of thinking• Process codes• Activity codes• Strategy codes• Relationship codes• Social structure codes