Qualitative_data_analysis

40 QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS
opportunities and rewards where we least expect them. Even if our purposes are
clear, it does not follow that we can anticipate all the consequences of our action,
nor that our actions will secure the intended consequences. Thus President
Gorbachev initiated policies in the Soviet Union which culminated in its demise, a
result which was far from his original intentions.
In focusing on process, then we shift attention from context and intention to
action and consequence. In doing so, we need to take account of the material as well
as social conditions and consequences of behaviour (Sayer 1992:33). The evolution
of the Soviet Union into a Commonwealth of Independent States is affected by
material conditions, such as the abundance of nuclear weapons and the shortage of
food, as well as by nationalist ideologies and ethnic rivalries. Such material factors
are not independent of how society produces and perceives them, but neither are
they reducible to their social significance. If I die of hunger, I die.
• Meanings are context-dependent
• Meanings are always negotiable between different observers
• In social science we can ask subjects what they mean
• Subjects intentions are not always a reliable guide to interpretation
• Process involves analysing changes over time
• Change can be analysed through phases, key incidents or the
complex interplay of factors
• Material as well as social factors affect change
Qualitative description is likely to encompass all these elements in its effort to
provide an adequate basis for interpretation and explanation of social action. One
distinctive feature of description is its integrative function. By summarizing data, for
example, we strip away unnecessary detail and delineate more clearly the more
central characteristics of the data. Moreover, it is in pulling together and relating
these central characteristics through a reasoned account that description acquires its
unity and force. The terms of a description may have little meaning except as
integral aspects of the story as a whole. We ‘tell a story’ about the data, and use a
range of techniques—such as summarizing events, focusing on key episodes,
delineating roles and characters, setting out chronological sequence—to construct an
illuminating narrative.