Qualitative_data_analysis

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analyse humour from any number of perspectives—anthropological, linguistic, psychological, sociological and so on. This is a significant advantage in a text which is addressing methodological issues germane to a number of subjects and disciplines. Humour might be thought distracting, but in fact I want to reduce the distractions which can derive from using substantive topics and issues as exemplars. By using humour as the subject of analysis, I want to ensure that attention remains focused on how to analyse data, and not on what is being analysed. Needless to say, the examples used are not intended to be taken too seriously. My main examples, from Victoria Wood and Woody Allen, are chosen for their entertainment value rather than any academic import. Two other advantages accrue from using humour as a subject for analysis. Humour often turns on ambiguities in meaning, and therefore raises some of the central problems in analysing qualitative data. In particular, it precludes a merely mechanical approach to analysing data. Humour is also an experience which suffers from dissection: analysis kills humour, just as surely as vivisection kills the frog. This underlines the limits (and limitations) of analysis, which can describe, interpret and explain, but cannot hope to reproduce the full richness of the original data. Familiarity with the data is also important because it is a prerequisite of qualitative analysis. This presents a problem in teaching qualitative analysis, which typically deals with large volumes of data. My ‘solution’ is to teach analytic procedures through very limited sets of data, with which students can become thoroughly familiar. Although this has drawbacks, I think it gives more feel for what qualitative analysis is about. It avoids students being overwhelmed by a mass of material, and gives them more confidence that they can analyse data effectively. It also helps to focus on method, and counter the almost fetishistic concern with the sheer volume of material produced by qualitative methods. Using limited data in this way may seem like dancing on the head of a pin; but, after all, it is learning the dance that matters, and not the pin. xiii
Acknowledgements My thanks are due to Elisabeth Tribe of Routledge for her support, to my colleagues for their encouragement and assistance, and to the members of my family for their forbearance while I was writing this book. The author gratefully acknowledges permission to reproduce the following copyright extracts: Allen, Woody (1978) ‘If the Impressionists had been Dentists’ Without Feathers, London: Sphere. © Woody Allen 1972. Reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc. and Hamish Hamilton. Extracts from: Wood, Victoria (1985) Up to You, Porky: The Victoria Wood Sketch Book, London: Methuen; and Wood, Victoria (1990) Mens Sana in Thingummy Doodah, London: Methuen. © Victoria Wood. Reprinted by permission of the author. Illustration 1.1 on p. 2, from Tesch (1990:58), is reprinted by permission of the author.
Page 2 and 3: Qualitative data analysis Learning
Page 4 and 5: First published 1993 by Routledge 1
Page 6 and 7: Glossary 283 References 285 Index 2
Page 8 and 9: 9.1 Categorizing data—1 120 9.2 C
Page 10 and 11: 3.1 Personal ads 42 5.1 ‘The libr
Page 12 and 13: Preface A new book on qualitative d
Page 16 and 17: Q. What colour is snow? A. White. C
Page 18 and 19: INTRODUCTION 3 approaches, interest
Page 20 and 21: INTRODUCTION 5 qualitative methods.
Page 22 and 23: INTRODUCTION 7 First of all, I take
Page 24 and 25: INTRODUCTION 9 the purposes of anal
Page 26 and 27: WHAT IS QUALITATIVE DATA? 11 distan
Page 28 and 29: WHAT IS QUALITATIVE DATA? 13 contem
Page 30 and 31: WHAT IS QUALITATIVE DATA? 15 ‘ric
Page 32 and 33: classified. Take the example in Ill
Page 34 and 35: Figure 2.1 Describing a bit of data
Page 36 and 37: WHAT IS QUALITATIVE DATA? 21 home;
Page 38 and 39: Figure 2.4 Nominal variable with mu
Page 40 and 41: Figure 2.6 Interval variable with f
Page 42 and 43: ILLUSTRATION 2.2 EXAMPLE OF A GRADI
Page 44 and 45: WHAT IS QUALITATIVE DATA? 29 what a
Page 46 and 47: Chapter 3 What is qualitative analy
Page 48 and 49: 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
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Figure 3.6 Formal and substantive c
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WHAT IS QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS? 51 ne
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WHAT IS QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS? 53 If
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Figure 3.10 Qualitative analysis as
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Chapter 4 Introducing computers ‘
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ecording of an index of information
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Figure 4.1 A link between text held
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Computer transformations • Search
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Chapter 5 Finding a focus A Zen sto
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FINDING A FOCUS 67 Sheila The solic
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FINDING A FOCUS 69 to reflect upon
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For example, here are some question
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Transposition: Doctor: ‘I’m afr
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Figure 5.2 Main themes for analysin
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Chapter 6 Managing data Piles of pa
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MANAGING DATA 79 setting, by source
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MANAGING DATA 81 Interviewer Maybe
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Figure 6.1 Case documents kept in a
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MANAGING DATA 85 ‘Show the full r
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Chapter 7 Reading and annotating Ac
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• Official/bureaucratic commitmen
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READING AND ANNOTATING 91 women wer
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Techniques for interactive reading
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we can write our comment on a separ
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Figure 7.1 Relating data to key the
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READING AND ANNOTATING 99 may retur
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CREATING CATEGORIES 101 types of ph
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CREATING CATEGORIES 103 conceptual
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CREATING CATEGORIES 105 Categorizat
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Table 8.1 Alternative category list
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This is only a starting point. Our
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CREATING CATEGORIES 111 undertaking
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Figure 8.2 Weighing up the degree o
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CREATING CATEGORIES 115 Although co
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CREATING CATEGORIES 117 for an adeq
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CREATING CATEGORIES 119 well as con
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Figure 9.2 Categorizing data—2 Fi
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are entitled to expect some consist
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ASSIGNING CATEGORIES 125 we ought t
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ASSIGNING CATEGORIES 127 the data.
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have annotated this data. Suppose w
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ASSIGNING CATEGORIES 131 suddenly t
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• 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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