Qualitative_data_analysis

Figure 2.1 Describing a bit of data as a ripple in the flow of experience
WHAT IS QUALITATIVE DATA? 19
intended: we can be interested in recognizing and denoting something as a
‘singularity’, in the sense of a unique bit of data. A singularity can also mean something
unusual, rare, or even extraordinary—in other words, something which ‘stands out’
as worthy of attention. Think of how a figure stands out against the background of
a painting. Perhaps more appropriately, think of a ripple or eddy in a flowing stream
(Bohm 1983:10). In describing a singularity—such as observing what happened
today at school—we identify a ripple in the stream of experience (Figure 2.1).
A singularity is a single constellation of observations which constitutes the
identity of a person or object, or the history of a unique event (or sequence of
events). But like the ripple in the stream, it cannot be abstracted from the wider flow
of experience in which it is implicated. The figure depends upon the background; to
recognize an exception, we have to understand the rule. Description depends on
recognizing patterns of events. For example, what is this ‘school’ where this unique
sequence of events occurred? What is a ‘teacher’ and what does ‘doing maths’ mean?
We identify things—events, processes, even people—by attending to their
characteristics, and by recognizing the boundaries which separate these ‘things’ from
the flow of experience in which they are implicated. For this to be possible, these
characteristics have to be stable over time. We have to compare observations
between different bits of data, and classify these observations according to their
distinctive characteristics.
For example, to recognize something as a ‘school’ we have to have some measure
of agreement on a set of characteristics which define the boundaries of what can or
cannot count as a ‘school’. We may think of it as a building designed or used for a
particular purpose; or as a social institution with a characteristic set of social relations,
and perhaps even a characteristic ‘ethos’. In describing something as a ‘school’, we
implicitly classify it as belonging to a group of observations which we have named
‘schools’. This demarcates the concept ‘school’ from other kinds of observations,
such as ‘hospitals’, ‘banks’ or ‘swimming pools’. A concept is an idea which stands