Public Financial Management for PRSP - Deutsches Institut für ...

Public Financial Management for PRSP Implementation in Malawi
If the process of coding is finished, it is possible to see all statements and
comments that various stakeholders have made on a certain phenomena (that
was analytically coded accordingly). This allows for a very systematic and
detailed comparison of statements. The quotations for every code can be
looked at and compared with each other. However, at the same time it is still
possible to go back to the original transcript and see in which context the
person concerned made this statement. In the process of looking at the quotations
for each code, one can develop the various dimensions as well as the
reasons and effects of a particular phenomena that has been coded. The research
team decided to draw networks on the various relations it found.
Again, it is very helpful to conduct this analysis, which already involves a
certain degree of analytical discussion in teams. For most of the central
codes, the quotations were discussed by the team. By doing so, it was possible
to control each other’s interpretations and analysis of data and develop a
shared understanding of the data.
After or even while analysing each code the team also began to draw interrelations
between the various categories. The whole process of qualitative data
analysis is thus an analytical bottom-up process. It starts with very concrete
statements and by comparing, differentiating and interrelating them ends up
at a much higher analytical level. Inductive as well as deductive elements are
combined with each other in this process. The findings that are presented in
this report are all based on this systematic and detailed process of qualitative
analysis. It is important to keep in mind that the examples or concrete cases
only illustrate the analytical findings. They do not have the function to
‘prove’ the findings, but rather to make the reader understand the information
easier. The analytical findings themselves are based on a detailed analysis of
the data in its entirety.
Analytical framework
Before the team went to Malawi to do fieldwork there, it developed a rough
analytical framework to guide its analysis, based on the preliminary results
from the literature review. This framework proved to be useful. Therefore, it
is briefly outlined here. In a first step, the tam decided that the political economy
of transition should serve as the theoretical background for the analysis.
The second step was to develop some preliminary ideas and categories that
might be relevant for analysing the data in Malawi.
German Development Institute 165