Qualitative_data_analysis

Figure 4.1 A link between text held in separate locations
INTRODUCING COMPUTERS 61
‘cuts’ through the data. Reading the data in a sequential way then becomes only one
possibility amongst many.
Using the computer’s search facilities, we can not only read the data differently,
we can extract information from the data relevant for our analysis. We can find out
how often a keyword appears in the text. We can list information about where each
keyword appears. We can extract the contextual data for each keyword: for example,
a number of characters either side of the keyword, or each sentence or paragraph in
which it is located.
Search procedures are useful not only with unstructured data, but also with data
which we have categorized in some way. We can search the categorized data for all
the bits of data assigned to a category or combination of categories. We can organize
these searches on logical lines, to test out various hunches or hypotheses we may
have about the data. We can compare how one category varies with another and
check for associations between them. For some analysts, the ability to interrogate
data and revise conceptualizations through searching and retrieving categorized data
promises to introduce a new flexibility and rigour into qualitative analysis (Richards
and Richards 1991).
The computer also allows us to create new pathways through our data. Using the
computer we can create links between different parts of our data. Let us take an
example which is very simple to understand. Suppose you want to check on what I
mean by ‘links’ in a glossary of concepts used in the text. In this book you would
have to turn to the glossary and look up the word ‘links’. Using the computer, I can
create a computer link between the word ‘links’ in the text and the word ‘links’ in
the glossary, so that you can go directly from one to the other just by selecting the
word ‘links’ in the text.
This kind of link is known as a ‘hypertext’ (or ‘hypermedia’) link, and with it you
can do all sorts of clever tricks, linking information in one place with relevant
information held elsewhere in the data. Early visionaries believed hypertext systems
would transform the way we handle information, liberating us from traditional
logical and sequential forms and permitting a more creative and associative reading