Qualitative_data_analysis

126 QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS
In general, it will involve going through the data case by case in a systematic way,
and deciding whether and how bits of data should be categorized. This requires
considerable concentration, in order to ensure that all the appropriate categories for
all the data have been considered. Though the computer allows the mechanical
aspects of this task to be performed expeditiously, so that all the analyst has to do is
select the data and the appropriate category or categories, it is also likely, even with
the aid of the computer, to prove a fairly long and demanding process.
Suppose we try to categorize the letters from Vincent to Theo. Let us try to
identify the decisions we may have to make in order to assign a category to a bit of
data. To do this, we must separate out and discuss sequentially decisions which in
practice may be simultaneous and mutually dependent, or taken in a different
order.
As we are focusing on the process of assigning categories, let us assume that we
have already devised some general categories with which to begin the analysis. As a
convenient starting point, let us use some of the categories we created earlier in
relation to the sketches by Victoria Wood. A preliminary category list might include
the categories in Illustration 9.3.
ILLUSTRATION 9.3
A PRELIMINARY CATEGORY LIST
Catharsis-sex
Catharsis-suffering
Catharsis-other
Incongruity-exaggerating
Incongruity-transposing
Incongruity-other
Values-confirming
Values-subverting
Victims-ridiculing
Victims-empathizing
Stereotypes
Let us assume that these categories have been reviewed in the light of the data, and
confirmed as a reasonable basis from which to launch our analysis.
The first thing we have to decide is where to begin. The overwhelming
temptation is, of course, to begin at the beginning. We have ten letters from
Vincent to Theo—why not begin with the first and then analyse each letter in
chronological order? To ‘begin at the beginning’ seems so natural that we may take
for granted our rationale justifying this decision; indeed, we may not realize we have
already taken a decision. However, the rationale lies in the chronological order of