Qualitative_data_analysis

124 QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS
broken down within each example, and a sharp contrast between the two. In the
first example, bits are narrowly defined in terms of relatively small ‘units of meaning’
with the break between one bit and another often—but not always—demarcated by
the end of a sentence. Each bit conveys a distinct element within the narration. In
the second example, bits are defined more broadly in terms of larger ‘units of
meaning’ which embrace distinct episodes within the text, the first concerning the
lamentable business of Mrs Schwimmer’s bridge and the second the frailties of
Cézanne.
Although I have presented a clear division between different bits of data, it is
possible to overlap the different bits, so that one bit starts within another. In
Illustration 9.2, for example, the second bit of data, demarcated by the double
brackets, overlaps with the first.
ILLUSTRATION 9.2
OVERLAPPING BITS OF DATA
[Will life never treat me decently? I am wracked by despair! [[My head is
pounding.] Mrs Sol Schwimmer is suing me because I made her bridge as I
felt it and not to fit her ridiculous mouth.]]
Whenever we divide data into bits in this way, meaning is lost because the data is
abstracted from its context. This is true, regardless of the size of the bits of data we
identify. For example, the import of the episode with Cézanne can only be
understood fully in the context of the preceding account of the incident with Mrs
Sol Schwimmer. Even if we had taken the whole letter as our bit of data, this can only
be fully understood within the context of the series of letters which Vincent writes
to his brother Theo. This loss of meaning is inescapable. On the other hand, the
bits of data also acquire a new meaning, in relation to other bits of data with which
we implicitly or explicitly compare them.
Our choice between alternative methods of breaking up the data may be dictated
by how fine-grained we want our analysis to be, and how narrowly or broadly
focused our categories are. We may be concerned not to include too much
information within a single bit of data, leading to a proliferation of assigned
categories for each databit. On the other hand, we may be reluctant to adopt too
narrow an approach, if this means we lose some sense of the overall meaning of the
data. When we break the date up too finely we may lose important contextual
information about the data. This problem is less severe where the computer allows us
to retrieve instantly the context of any bit of data, but we will still want to respect
the ‘integrity’ of the data. However we choose, once having chosen a particular path