Qualitative_data_analysis

WHAT IS QUALITATIVE DATA? 11
distance, pounds to measure expenditure, litres to measure volume and grams to
measure weight. Time, distance, expenditure, volume and weight can be thought of
as variables which can take on a range of different values. We don’t always agree on
how to measure our variables—we could have used kilometres, dollars, pints and
ounces. But the important point is that for each of these variables we can
confidently measure numerical differences in the values they can adopt. This is
possible because we can establish a unit of measurement agreed upon as a common
standard which is replicable, i.e. it can be applied again and again with the same
results (Blalock 1960).
While ‘quantities’ permeate our everyday life, they are most likely to be used in a
physical or physiological context, where measurement in terms of standard units is
well established. We readily accept conventional measures of time, space and
weight. Even in a physical context, though, we make qualitative as well as
quantitative assessments. Is the bus dirty? Is the meal appetizing? Is the view breathtaking?
These involve assessments for which we either cannot or do not use concepts
which can be measured in quantitative terms. In a psychological or social context,
we are much more likely to rely on qualitative assessment. Is this person
sympathetic? Is this city exciting? Is this book interesting? These are areas where we
tend to rely on qualitative assessment rather than on some quantitative measure.
By comparison with quantities, qualities seem elusive and ethereal. We often use
‘quality’ as a measure of relative worth, as when referring to a ‘quality performance’
or ‘a person of quality’, or asking whether something is of good or poor quality.
Suppose I have just watched a film and I am asked what I thought of it. What was
the film like? My evaluation will refer to the qualities of the film. Was it
entertaining, or profound? Did it make me laugh or cry? Was the plot plausible?
Were the characters convincing? Was the acting good? Was the script well crafted?
These questions are all concerned with what I made of the film. But my evaluation
of the film cannot be separated from how I understood and interpreted it. Quality is
a measure of relative value, but based on an evaluation of the general character or
intrinsic nature of what we are assessing. What was the story? What was the point of
the film? What values did it express? Did the film achieve what it set out to do? In
short, what did the film mean to me?
Whereas quantitative data deals with numbers, qualitative data deals with
meanings. Meanings are mediated mainly through language and action. Language is
not a matter of subjective opinion. Concepts are constructed in terms of an intersubjective
language which allows us to communicate intelligibly and interact
effectively (cf. Sayer 1992:32). Take the very idea of a film. The word derives from
the Old English word ‘filmen’ meaning a membrane, and in modern usage has been
extended to include a thin coating of light-sensitive emulsion, used in photography,
and hence to the cinema where it refers rather to what is recorded on film. The