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Qualitative_data_analysis

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200 QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS<br />

Each of the procedures we have considered in this chapter depends on combining<br />

evidence of empirical association between categories with a conceptual appraisal of<br />

connecting mechanisms. The difference between them lies mainly in precedence and<br />

priority. The procedure for analysing association between categories puts regularity<br />

first on the agenda, but then requires conceptual appraisal of the <strong>data</strong> to confirm<br />

whether or not connnecting mechanisms are operating. The procedure for analysing<br />

categories connected through linked <strong>data</strong> puts the conceptual appraisal of<br />

connecting mechanisms first, and then requires some assessment of the regularity<br />

with which these occur in the <strong>data</strong>. While neither approach has a monopoly of virtue,<br />

connecting categories through linking <strong>data</strong> has advantages worth noting. First of all,<br />

it allows for information about possible connections between bits of <strong>data</strong> to be<br />

observed directly during the initial <strong>analysis</strong> of the <strong>data</strong>, rather than trying to identify<br />

these post hoc following observed association between categories. Secondly, it allows<br />

this evidence to be recorded systematically, so that it can retrieved and analysed<br />

thoroughly and comprehensively. By comparison, to go beyond observations of<br />

associations between categories without the evidence of linked <strong>data</strong>, we may once<br />

again have to fall back on impressionistic and unsystematic procedures characteristic<br />

of more traditional <strong>analysis</strong>.

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