Qualitative_data_analysis

170 QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS
Table 11.1 Result of linking and categorizing two databits
Figure 11.9 Inferring an explanatory link between two databits
regard Vincent’s despair as a result of his being sued, even though he does not make
an explicit link between the two?
[Will life never treat me decently? I am wracked by despair! My head is
pounding.]
[Mrs Sol Schwimmer…]
It seems plain that Vincent intends his statement about being sued to be understood
as an explanation of his physical and mental suffering, even though he doesn’t make
this explicit (Figure 11.9). We can legitimately infer this meaning from the context,
although other interpretations are possible—for example Vincent could simply be
making two quite independent statements without meaning to imply any link
between them. In making such inferences, therefore, we must proceed with caution,
and recognize that our grounds are less secure than when a link has been referred to
explicitly in the data.
Our second databit, Mrs Sol Schwimmer’s litigation, is now linked to two other
databits—as an explanation of Vincent’s despair, in turn explained by Vincent’s
artistic endeavours (Table 11.2). We can link one bit of data to as many others as
we like.
There is no reason why we should confine links to bits of data which appear
sequentially in the text. For example, we may decide that Vincent’s despair is
linked, not only to the episode with Mrs Sol Schwimmer, but also to his experience
of sharing an office with Cézanne. Here again linking encourages us to pay more
attention to the internal dynamics within the data, and differentiate between parts of
the data we previously regarded as a whole. We might therefore also record the links
noted in Table 11.3.