Qualitative_data_analysis

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we can write our comment on a separate sheet, and clip it to the sheet with the data. But this is a clumsy method of doing what the computer can achieve with elegance. This is another way in which the computer allows us to keep things ‘separately and yet together’. Using the computer, we can file our memo separately, leaving the data undisturbed, while at the same time linking our memo directly to precisely that part of the data we are commenting on. Then when we are analysing that part of the data, we can ask the computer to locate and display our memo. Or if we are reading our memos separately, we can ask the computer to locate and display the part of the data we are commenting on. We can keep the data pristine, without losing the connection between data and memo; the computer allows us to do both. In Illustration 7.3, for example, I have used an asterisk to link memos to particular points in the data. By selecting the word preceding the asterisk, the computer can immediately locate the appropriate memo which may be filed elsewhere. Similarly, by selecting the memo number, the computer can immediately locate the data to which the memo refers. ILLUSTRATION 7.3 LINKING MEMOS AND DATA Data Memos Connie Like deodorants* They work for a certain amount of time and then bang —#8212;people are backing away with handbags* over their noses. Beattie You’re not ponging* too badly at the minute, Connie. READING AND ANNOTATING 95 1. I remember how we used to jeer at ‘S.T.’ in primary school. Body odour is a taboo topic—hence that advert whispering ‘B.O.’. So the humour here is cathartic. 2. Also element of ‘incongruity’ in sudden handbag retreat. This is stuff of farce—a ‘ludicrously improbable event’. Is farce one aspect of incongruity? Note that ‘handbags’ underlines ‘body odour’ as a female preoccupation. 3. We don’t expect people to make frank comments on how we smell. And what kind of reassurance is this? ‘Ponging’ is good—‘smelling’ wouldn’t work nearly as well; in fact it might not work at all. Why not?
96 QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS Another advantage in recording memos this way is that we can retain the spontaneity which is a feature of creative endeavour. Without the computer, a separate memo might mean writing out the date, the references for the file and the data, and perhaps even extracts from the data being commented on. With the computer, we can escape this chore and concentrate entirely on recording what we are thinking. Don’t be misled by my reference to spontaneity in memo writing. We should not confuse spontaneity and simultaneity. Like Archimedes and Newton, we can expect ideas to make a sudden and unexpected appearance. But ideas rarely come on cue. There is no need to panic if we are not overwhelmed by stimulating insights the moment we work through part of the data. They may come later—in my experience usually when they are least welcome, in the wee small hours of the morning! Hence the back of the envelope. We can relate our memos to the data. How do we relate them to our analysis? If we have to explore an unknown desert island, one thing we might do, as we traverse the island this way and that, is draw a map. We may want to acquire some sense of the island’s topography—to outline its main physical features, to locate barren and fertile areas, to identify various paths across it—and to find the hidden treasure. However crude it may be, our map becomes our guide to further exploration. Much the same applies to exploring data. By mapping out our observations and ideas, we can provide a guide for further and more systematic analysis. A map is a diagram based on our memos. It integrates disparate elements to make a common theme; it pulls together different themes to make a composite picture. Graphic representation allows us to see and question the connections between different parts of the whole. At this stage, it is a tentative business, oriented to puzzles and possibilities, not to a finished product. Suppose we want to map out our memos of the ‘In the Office’ sketch. We might consider how various aspects of the sketch relate to the idea of humour as incongruity or catharsis (Figure 7.1). Through mapping we can relate data systematically to particular ideas. Suppose we want to explore the use of incongruity a bit further. In one of our memos, we noticed a farcical element in the data. We can connect all the elements in the sketch which rely on farce for effect. We can use the same technique to map our ideas to data across different cases. Take the dialogue about the news. This evokes several stereotypes of women: they don’t take public and political issues seriously, being immersed in mundane everyday concerns; they are obsessed with appearance— clothes, hair, make-up; they are prone to gossip at the expense of other women. We can begin to see ways of analysing this data in terms of stereotypes in humour. When we encounter similar examples in other sketches, we can recognize them
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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
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WHAT IS QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS? 35 co
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WHAT IS QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS? 37 en
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WHAT IS QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS? 39 Th
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CLASSIFICATION WHAT IS QUALITATIVE
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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 100 and 101: MANAGING DATA 85 ‘Show the full r
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 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
Page 150 and 151: Databits Categories 5. Now she is u
Page 152 and 153: Chapter 10 Splitting and splicing T
Page 154 and 155: Using Hypertext linking, whenever n
Page 156 and 157: SPLITTING AND SPLICING 141 databits
Page 158 and 159: 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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