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Qualitative_data_analysis

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Figure 13.7 Incorporating detail by including subcategories<br />

Figure 13.8 Adjusting for the empirical scope of categories<br />

OF MAPS AND MATRICES 215<br />

much <strong>data</strong> the category has embraced. We must decide for ourselves the conceptual<br />

implications of variations in scope.<br />

If we adjusted Figure 13.7 to take account of the scope of the categories, we might<br />

produce Figure 13.8 instead.<br />

Now the scope of the categories is reflected in the size of the shapes which<br />

represent them. Twice as much <strong>data</strong> has been assigned to the category ‘discomfort’<br />

as to the other subcategories of ‘suffering’, so it appears as twice their size on the<br />

map.<br />

Issues of scope may (or may not) be trivial in relation to a single case, but if we<br />

generalize across all our cases the differences may assume a greater analytic<br />

significance. To compare the scope of different categories, we have to have some<br />

sort of standard in terms of which to make comparisons. As noted earlier, we cannot<br />

use the total number of <strong>data</strong>bits as a basis for comparison, because this number is<br />

essentially arbitrary. Instead, we can relate the number of <strong>data</strong>bits to the number of<br />

cases, which is a fixed number unaffected by the complexity or progress of our

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