Qualitative_data_analysis

Chapter 15
Producing an account
‘The novel is the most effective instrument for a criticism of society
and social arrangements that we possess’
(Allan Massie 1991)
What you cannot explain to others, you do not understand yourself. Producing an
account of our analysis is not just something we do for an audience. It is also
something we do for ourselves. Producing an account is not just a question of
reporting results; it is also another method of producing these results. Through the
challenge of explaining ourselves to others, we can help to clarify and integrate the
concepts and relationships we have identified in our analysis. The techniques of
producing an account —drawing diagrams, tabulating tables and writing text—are
similar to those we have used already in analysing the data. To produce an account,
we have to incorporate these disparate elements into a coherent whole. In doing so,
we can reassess the shape and significance of the separate parts. When we write, for
example, the discipline of producing an account which is ordered, sequential and
detailed can stimulate our thinking in fresh and original ways.
Producing an account is therefore another tool in our analytic tool-kit. As the
ultimate product of the analytic process, it provides the overall framework for our
analysis. We can also produce ‘interim’ accounts at various stages in the process. Its
value lies in the obligation it imposes upon us to produce an accessible and acceptable
report of our analysis. For an account to be accessible, it has to be clear and
coherent, unencumbered by needless digressions, convoluted arguments and
distracting detail. For an account to be acceptable, it has to be convincingly
grounded conceptually and empirically, so that it both makes sense in itself and
makes sense of the data.
We have already indicated some of the features of such an account in the
previous chapter on corroborating evidence. An account is the equivalent of
‘summing up’ in a trial before the jury reaches its verdict. We have to confront all
the evidence, not just the bits that fit our analysis. We have to consider alternative