Qualitative_data_analysis

154 QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS
Along with ‘temperament’, we introduced these categories to capture something
of the substance of Woody Allen’s humour in the stereotypes which he uses of
dentists and artists. In subscribing to stereotypes we accept unduly fixed (and often
false) images whose comfortable familiarity makes them easy targets of humour. The
dentists Woody Allen presents are moody, poverty-stricken, and impractical; and in
these respects, they conform to our stereotypical image of the artist. However,
before we give undue weight to this category, we may reflect further upon its
applicability. Does the data we have retrieved really sustain this conceptualization?
On reviewing the databits assigned to ‘task’ (Illustration 10.6) we may begin to
entertain doubts. The databits are certainly concerned with differences between
artistic and dental work, but it is less obvious that they also reflect stereotypes of
artistic and dental tasks. When we associate artists and poverty, for example, we
know that we are accepting a common image of artistic endeavour which may be
misleading—hence the stereotyping. However, some of the databits we assigned to
the category ‘task’ do not really invoke this kind of fixed imagery. They merely
express the characteristics of artistic work—such as the priority of aesthetic
considerations—which look ridiculous when transposed to a dental context. Take
Seurat’s method of cleaning one tooth at a time. Seurat’s artistic method involved
painting by placing individual dots of colour on the canvas. Transposed to a dental
setting, this technique assumes an absurd character. However, although we may
acknowledge that artists tend to develop individual styles and techniques, this hardly
constitutes a ‘stereotype’ of artistic work. The same is true of specialization,
improvization, revision, and signing or displaying artistic work. All become rather
ridiculous when transposed to the dental context, but none really expresses
‘stereotypes’ in the sense of a fixed and possibly false image of what artists are about.
At this point, we might want to retrace our steps, and consider where this
category came from. It emerged initially in our analysis of Victoria Wood’s ‘In the
Office’ sketch, with its succession of stereotypical images of women’s concerns over
diet, dress and so on. Then when we considered Vincent’s first letter, the image of
the depressed artist confirmed the relevance of stereotypes, which we went on to
divide between ‘temperament’ and ‘task’, before including other occupational
charactistics. If we review how we defined these categories, we find no clear
distinction drawn between stereotypical and non-stereotypical characteristics. This
may have been partly because the category ‘stereotype’ was not defined with
sufficient clarity.
Stereotype: Include any data which seems to invoke stereotypical images.
A stereotype is an ‘unduly fixed’ image which may or may not be accurate
but is applied regardless
Note that not all fixed images are stereotypes.