Women's Decision-Making And Factors Affecting Their Choice Of ...

argue that the inquiry can anticipate potential biases that may threaten the
trustworthiness of the information.
The bottom line in the two arguments about interview data is that
information is grounded in the context of its production. Caution is recommended
in the analysis of such data, but not total abandonment of the use of the method
(Hammersley and Atkinson 1995).
Qualitative Data Analysis
The analysis of data in a qualitative study is an ongoing process, and not a
one-time event. It is geared towards making sense of the data generated by
interviews, which have been described as voluminous, unstructured, and unwieldy
(Bryman and Burgess 1994). Data analysis occurs simultaneously with data
collection. In the adage of the mountaineer (Maxwell 1996), the experienced
researcher is likened to an experienced climber, who begins lunch immediately
after finishing breakfast and continues eating lunch as long as he is awake,
stopping briefly for dinner (Manning 1960). Maxwell (1996) maintains that in the
same way, the experienced researcher begins data analysis immediately after the
first interview, and continues to analyse as long as he or she is working on the
research, stopping briefly to write reports and papers.
The pattern of data collection-analysis-collection-analysis, ad infinitum is
the most significant feature of qualitative research (Erlandson, Harris, Skipper et
al 1993; Morse 1999b). It involves a cognitive work of inquiry, in the form of
observing patterns in the data and asking questions about the patterns. There is
construction of conjectures, deliberate selection of participants to collect data
about specific topics, to confirm or refute the conjectures, then continuing
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