Qualitative_data_analysis

62 QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS
of texts. Many people have found hypertext intriguing, but it has one critical
limitation: most people still read books, not computers!
Nevertheless, hypertext links are very useful during qualitative analysis, even if we
cannot incorporate them into a printed report of our research (Cordingley 1991).
For example, we can link data indexes directly to the relevant data, so that it can be
located easily. We can link categories used in the analysis to a dictionary of
definitions, so that we can always have direct access to how a category has been
defined. We can link any ‘bits’ of data we are analysing to the part of the text from
which they have been extracted, so that when making comparisons between
different bits of data we can always check on the data in its original context. We can
link summary results of analysis (e.g. a cell in a cross-tabulation table) with the data
to which the summary refers.
Linking data provides a powerful tool for identifying empirically relationships
between different parts of the data. We can link data which seems related in some
way; for example, we might link actions to consequences; or premises to
conclusions. Or we might link actions which seem inconsistent, or assumptions
which seem contradictory. We can then compare all the bits of data which have
been linked in some way, and perhaps refine our analysis or infer some connection
between categories from the results. Linking data in this way provides a powerful
method of grounding connections between categories in an empirically based
analysis of relationships within the data. Linking can also provide a useful tool for
narrative description and the analysis of processes within the data.
The results of qualitative analysis may be persuasively presented and vividly
documented, while the procedures upon which these results are based remain
cloaked in mystery. The sceptical reader is therefore unable to review critically the
relation between the original data and the final results. Computer-based analysis
offers the prospect of new standards in the reporting of qualitative research. The
computer can be programmed to take note of all the main decisions made during
analysis. For example, the evolution of key concepts can be ‘audited’; so that instead
of being presented with a conceptual fait accompli, readers can see for themselves
how concepts have been created, adapted or refined through the analytic process.
Because the computer can audit the analysis, the analyst can account more readily
for the main strategies pursued and shifts in direction which have occurred as the
analysis unfolds. Whereas earlier studies tended to present a pre-packaged finished
product, ready-made for consumption, a computer-based approach allows the
analyst to chart the interplay between data and concepts and preserve some sense of
other analytic possibilities.