Qualitative_data_analysis

Figure 11.5 Linking and categorizing complement each other
Figure 11.6 Linking two databits
LINKING DATA 167
additive and temporal (cf. Bliss 1983:156). Take the second databit we
distinguished on categorizing the data as an example.
[Mrs Sol Schwimmer is suing me because I made her bridge as I felt it and
not to fit her ridiculous mouth.]
In categorizing the data earlier, we ignored the distinction between the two parts of
this statement, and treated them as one bit of data. We simply categorized the databit
under ‘transposing’ and ‘tasks’ as an example of incongruous expectations of what
dental work requires. Now we may want to distinguish the two parts of the
statement, which Vincent differentiates into cause and effect by using the
conjunction ‘because’:
[Mrs Sol Schwimmer is suing me] [because] [I made her bridge as I felt it
and not to fit her ridiculous mouth.]
Once we start looking for links, the distinction between making the bridge and
being sued may seem more significant. Vincent’s despair does not arise directly from
making a bridge to suit himself rather than the patient, but rather as a result of
being sued in consequence. Linking data may therefore encourage us to use a more
detailed breakdown of the data, though it does not require this of us. There is no point
in making distinctions just for the sake of it. It only makes sense to distinguish between
Vincent’s action in making the bridge as he ‘felt it’ and Mrs Sol Schwimmer’s
decision to sue if this may possibly prove pertinent to our analysis.