Qualitative_data_analysis

12 QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS
meanings which constitute the concept ‘film’ are embodied in changing social
practices such as the drive-in movie or the home video. What it may mean to make
or see a film has changed considerably over the past twenty years. My somewhat
dated dictionary defines films in terms of cinemagoing and has not yet caught up
with TV movies, never mind the video recorder. Because concepts are subject to
such continual shifts in meaning, we have to treat them with caution.
Meaning is essentially a matter of making distinctions. When I describe a film as
‘boring’, for example, I am making one or more distinctions: this situation is
‘boring’ and not ‘exciting’ or ‘stimulating’ or ‘interesting’ or ‘amusing’. Meaning is
bound up with the contrast between what is asserted and what is implied not to be
the case. To understand the assertion that a film is ‘boring’, I have to understand
the distinction being drawn between what is and what might have been the case.
Meanings reside in social practice, and not just in the heads of individuals. Going
to the movies expresses meaning, just as much as does reviewing them. The—‘social
construction’ of a night out at the cinema is a complex accomplishment in terms of
meaningful action. The cinema itself is not just a building, but one designed and
constructed for a particular purpose. Showing a film in the cinema is the
culmination of a complex sequence of meaningful actions, including the whole
process of producing, making, distributing and advertising the film. My ‘night out’
at the cinema is a comparable accomplishment, predicated upon social practices in
the form of transportation (I have to get to the cinema), economic exchange (I have
to buy a ticket) and audience behaviour (silence please!).
Such social phenomena are, in Sayer’s words, ‘concept-dependent’: unlike natural
phenomena they are not impervious to the meanings we ascribe to them (1992:30).
The film industry, the entertainment business, the transport system and the ‘night
out’ are social practices which can only be understood in terms of the meanings we
invest in them. To vary a stock example, when one billiard ball ‘kisses’ another, the
physical reaction that takes place is not affected by any meaningful behaviour on the
part of the billiard balls. But when one person kisses another, the reaction can only
be understood as meaningful behaviour. The natural scientist may worry about
what it means when one billiard ball kisses another, but only about what it means to
the scientist (e.g. in terms of force, inertia, momentum). The social scientist also has
to worry about what the kiss means for the persons involved.
As my example of the film suggests, in dealing with meanings we by no means
need to confine our attention to text. On the contrary, we should note the richness
and diversity of qualitative data, since it encompasses virtually any kind of data:
sounds, pictures, videos, music, songs, prose, poetry or whatever. Text is by no
means the only, nor is it always the most effective, means of communicating
qualitative information; in an electronic age, art and design have become powerful
media tools. The importance of image as well as text is not merely an aspect of