Qualitative_data_analysis

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MANAGING DATA 85 ‘Show the full reference for the selected question’—or words to that effect— typically menu items are rather less verbose. Another area where this facility can save work is indexing cases. Rather than compiling our own index of cases, the computer can do it for us. If we decide to amend a case reference, the computer can locate the appropriate reference in the index and amend it accordingly. We don’t have to do a thing. A case index is useful, of course, for keeping track of data; but with the computer, we can also use it to locate cases immediately within the filing system. Once again, the computer does the work, and we no longer have to rummage through the filing cabinet looking for the right file. One way of making data more manageable is to reduce it. This is another procedure which provokes a certain amount of anxiety amongst analysts. If we can reduce the amount of data we have to work with, then we can concentrate on what is important and our analysis should become more efficient. There is little point in reading through more than once any data which is clearly irrelevant to the analysis. Why not eliminate it—or at least, summarize it? The reason lies in a natural reluctance to ‘tamper’ with the data, and concern over what may or may not become relevant as the analysis unfolds. Today’s irrelevant digression may contain tomorrow’s illuminating insight. This uncertainty encourages a natural caution when it comes to dispensing with data. Once again, the computer can come to our rescue. Using the computer, we can reconcile our interest in efficiency with our concern over relevance; we can reduce the data without risk. Data which is clearly irrelevant at the outset of the analysis can be summarized; a page of tangents can be reduced to one pithy synopsis. The computer allows us to do this ‘without risk’, because we can instantly locate or restore the original data if we wish. This is possible because the computer can make a direct connection between our summary and the original data, assuming that we always work with a copy of the data and keep the original material stored on a separate disk. The virtue of summarizing data is not only in the greater efficiency with which we can subsequently deal with the data. Summarizing is not just an investment: it can have an immediate pay-off, for it also obliges us to consider the question of relevance at the very outset of our analysis. In deciding whether or not data is ‘relevant’ we have also to decide what it is (ir)relevant for. The purposes and parameters of the analysis are implicit in these decisions, and we can clarify them by considering carefully the criteria upon which decisions about relevance are based. From this point of view, there may be analytic benefits from summarizing data irrespective of how much data we have or how relevant it all appears. It is only if we ignore the underlying analytic issues that summarizing may seem a tedious and mechanical chore.
86 QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS This eulogy extolling the virtues of managing data on the computer must be coupled with a warning and a reservation. The reservation relates to the memory limitations of existing card/field systems, which can require compromises in how data is stored. The card/field system offers more control over the data, but it is not designed to handle the massive volumes of data typical of qualitative research, and the amount of data which may be stored in any one field may be limited. The warning is a familiar one: data held electronically must be ‘backed up’ in case something goes wrong. The analyst’s nightmare of a crashed hard disk, with all data lost, can and does happen. The only safeguard is to ensure that all the data held on disk has been copied. The time this takes is trifling; the discipline it requires is tremendous!
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Qualitative data analysis Learning
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First published 1993 by Routledge 1
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Glossary 283 References 285 Index 2
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9.1 Categorizing data—1 120 9.2 C
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3.1 Personal ads 42 5.1 ‘The libr
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Preface A new book on qualitative d
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analyse humour from any number of p
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Q. What colour is snow? A. White. C
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INTRODUCTION 3 approaches, interest
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INTRODUCTION 5 qualitative methods.
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INTRODUCTION 7 First of all, I take
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INTRODUCTION 9 the purposes of anal
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WHAT IS QUALITATIVE DATA? 11 distan
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WHAT IS QUALITATIVE DATA? 13 contem
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WHAT IS QUALITATIVE DATA? 15 ‘ric
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classified. Take the example in Ill
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Figure 2.1 Describing a bit of data
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WHAT IS QUALITATIVE DATA? 21 home;
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Figure 2.4 Nominal variable with mu
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Figure 2.6 Interval variable with f
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ILLUSTRATION 2.2 EXAMPLE OF A GRADI
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WHAT IS QUALITATIVE DATA? 29 what a
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Chapter 3 What is qualitative analy
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Figure 3.2 Three aspects of descrip
Page 50 and 51: WHAT IS QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS? 35 co
Page 52 and 53: WHAT IS QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS? 37 en
Page 54 and 55: WHAT IS QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS? 39 Th
Page 56 and 57: CLASSIFICATION WHAT IS QUALITATIVE
Page 58 and 59: nature; photograph preferred but no
Page 60 and 61: WHAT IS QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS? 45 vi
Page 62 and 63: WHAT IS QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS? 47 Fi
Page 64 and 65: Figure 3.6 Formal and substantive c
Page 66 and 67: WHAT IS QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS? 51 ne
Page 68 and 69: WHAT IS QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS? 53 If
Page 70 and 71: Figure 3.10 Qualitative analysis as
Page 72 and 73: Chapter 4 Introducing computers ‘
Page 74 and 75: ecording of an index of information
Page 76 and 77: Figure 4.1 A link between text held
Page 78 and 79: Computer transformations • Search
Page 80 and 81: Chapter 5 Finding a focus A Zen sto
Page 82 and 83: FINDING A FOCUS 67 Sheila The solic
Page 84 and 85: FINDING A FOCUS 69 to reflect upon
Page 86 and 87: For example, here are some question
Page 88 and 89: Transposition: Doctor: ‘I’m afr
Page 90 and 91: Figure 5.2 Main themes for analysin
Page 92 and 93: Chapter 6 Managing data Piles of pa
Page 94 and 95: MANAGING DATA 79 setting, by source
Page 96 and 97: MANAGING DATA 81 Interviewer Maybe
Page 98 and 99: Figure 6.1 Case documents kept in a
Page 102 and 103: Chapter 7 Reading and annotating Ac
Page 104 and 105: • Official/bureaucratic commitmen
Page 106 and 107: READING AND ANNOTATING 91 women wer
Page 108 and 109: Techniques for interactive reading
Page 110 and 111: we can write our comment on a separ
Page 112 and 113: Figure 7.1 Relating data to key the
Page 114 and 115: READING AND ANNOTATING 99 may retur
Page 116 and 117: CREATING CATEGORIES 101 types of ph
Page 118 and 119: CREATING CATEGORIES 103 conceptual
Page 120 and 121: CREATING CATEGORIES 105 Categorizat
Page 122 and 123: Table 8.1 Alternative category list
Page 124 and 125: This is only a starting point. Our
Page 126 and 127: CREATING CATEGORIES 111 undertaking
Page 128 and 129: Figure 8.2 Weighing up the degree o
Page 130 and 131: CREATING CATEGORIES 115 Although co
Page 132 and 133: CREATING CATEGORIES 117 for an adeq
Page 134 and 135: CREATING CATEGORIES 119 well as con
Page 136 and 137: Figure 9.2 Categorizing data—2 Fi
Page 138 and 139: are entitled to expect some consist
Page 140 and 141: ASSIGNING CATEGORIES 125 we ought t
Page 142 and 143: ASSIGNING CATEGORIES 127 the data.
Page 144 and 145: have annotated this data. Suppose w
Page 146 and 147: ASSIGNING CATEGORIES 131 suddenly t
Page 148 and 149: • What generally constitutes a
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Databits Categories 5. Now she is u
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Chapter 10 Splitting and splicing T
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Using Hypertext linking, whenever n
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SPLITTING AND SPLICING 141 databits
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Category Subcategories Suffering Di
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Figure 10.1 Levels of subclassifica
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ILLUSTRATION 10.5 SUBDIVIDING DATAB
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Figure 10.2 Initial relationships b
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If we want to make this change, it
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Figure 10.5 Reassessing relationshi
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SPLITTING AND SPLICING 155 Although
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Figure 10.8 Comparing subcategories
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Figure 10.9 Shifting the analytic e
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Chapter 11 Linking data Categorizin
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Figure 11.2 Multiple hyperlinks bet
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example, we may ask what it is abou
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Figure 11.5 Linking and categorizin
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Figure 11.7 An explanatory link bet
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Table 11.2 Multiple links between d
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our reasons for making decisions an
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Figure 11.11 Conditional and causal
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Chapter 12 Making connections Imagi
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Figure 12.1 The difference between
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Table 12.1 Concurrence between cate
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Table 12.4 Boolean operators for ca
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From Table 12.6 we can tell that mo
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Notice how this cross-tabulation co
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substantive connections between cat
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Figure 12.5 Following a trail of di
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Figure 12.7 Retrieving chronologica
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This approach is very exploratory,
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MAKING CONNECTIONS 197 Table 12.10
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MAKING CONNECTIONS 199 a consequenc
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Chapter 13 Of maps and matrices A n
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Table 13.1 Comparing information ac
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OF MAPS AND MATRICES 205 [In a calm
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Table 13.5 Data indices by case and
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Table 13.7 Recoding data to express
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Table 13.11 Cross-tabulating ‘occ
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Figure. 13.4 The history of the uni
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Figure 13.7 Incorporating detail by
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Figure 13.10 Comparing differences
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Figure 13.13 Adjusting scope of mos
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Figure 13.17 Comparing strength of
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Figure 13.20 Identifying positive a
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OF MAPS AND MATRICES 225 undercurre
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Chapter 14 Corroborating evidence
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CORROBORATING EVIDENCE 229 There is
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CORROBORATING EVIDENCE 231 describe
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CORROBORATING EVIDENCE 233 of these
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Figure 14.1 Concurrence between cat
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CORROBORATING EVIDENCE 237 possibil
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CORROBORATING EVIDENCE 239 that the
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CORROBORATING EVIDENCE 241 seductiv
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CORROBORATING EVIDENCE 243 research
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Chapter 15 Producing an account ‘
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PRODUCING AN ACCOUNT 247 An analysi
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Figure 15.2 The whole is greater th
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Figure 15.3 Tree diagrams represent
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PRODUCING AN ACCOUNT 253 associatio
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worrying unduly about the connectio
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Figure 15.5 Different writing strat
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PRODUCING AN ACCOUNT 259 the vibrat
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Figure 15.7 Procedures for assignin
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PRODUCING AN ACCOUNT 263 consistent
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Table 15.1 Databits assigned to cat
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Table 15.3 Distribution of response
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PRODUCING AN ACCOUNT 269 To be subj
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PRODUCING AN ACCOUNT 271 analysts t
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Figure 16.3 Analysis as an iterativ
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CONCLUSION 275 empirical analysis o
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Appendix 1 ‘If the Impressionists
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APPENDIX 1 279 though it had been o
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Appendix 2 Software The reader look
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Glossary Associating categories the
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References Allen, Woody (1978) ‘I
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REFERENCES 287 Sperber, Dan and Wil
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Capra, F. 29, 64, 99 case studies 1
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Galtung, J. 14 Geer, B. 7, 8, 29, 5
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connections; description qualitativ
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