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252 QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS<br />

Figure 15.4 Tree diagrams indicating different analytic emphases<br />

We may be able to base our diagrams on work we have already done in mapping<br />

our <strong>data</strong>. Indeed, as we have seen, the computer allows us to draw to scale the<br />

empirical scope of categories used in the <strong>analysis</strong>, so that our assessment of the analytic<br />

importance of any ‘branch’ of our <strong>analysis</strong> can be based on weighing its empirical as<br />

well as conceptual significance.<br />

These diagrams can aid us in organizing our <strong>analysis</strong> as well as selecting its main<br />

lines and deciding where pruning may be required. Another approach to selecting<br />

and organizing the main lines of <strong>analysis</strong> is through progressive summarizing. Again<br />

we can start by summarizing the main theme of our story, and progress from there<br />

through summaries of subsidiary themes. Trying to give a very brief summary of a<br />

theme is a useful method of focusing on and explicating what is crucial to our<br />

account. It is another method of assessing significance by identifying and isolating<br />

critical features, though in words rather than pictures. This may also help<br />

to integrate our <strong>analysis</strong> by indicating possible ways of connecting the various<br />

strands in our thinking. Although summarizing along these lines may be less direct<br />

and logical than using diagrams, language can also be richer in resonance and

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