CHAPTER THIRTEEN ANALYSING DATA II: QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

ANALYSING DATA II: QUALITATIVE DATA

ANALYSIS

STAGES OF QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS

Miles and Huberman (1994) suggest that qualitative data analysis consists of three procedures:

1. Data reduction. This refers to the process whereby the mass of qualitative data you may obtain – interview transcripts, field notes, observations etc. – is reduced and organised, for example coding, writing summaries, discarding irrelevant data and so on.

At this stage, try and discard all irrelevant information, but do ensure that you have access to it later if required, as unexpected findings may need you to re-examine some data previously considered unnecessary. 

2. Data display. To draw conclusions from the mass of data, Miles and Huberman suggest that a good display of data, in the form of tables, charts, networks and other graphical formats is essential. This is a continual process, rather than just one to be carried out at the end of the data collection.

3. Conclusion drawing/verification. Your analysis should allow you to begin to develop conclusions regarding your study. These initial conclusions can then be verified, that is their validity examined through reference to your existing field notes or further data collection. 

CODING QUALITATIVE DATA

Coding is the organisation of raw data into conceptual categories. Each code is effectively a category or ‘bin’ into which a piece of data is placed.

As Miles and Huberman (1994, p.56) note:

Codes are tags or labels for assigning units of meaning to the descriptive or inferential information compiled during a study. Codes are usually attached to ‘chunks’ of varying size – words, phrases, sentences or whole paragraphs.

Codes should be:

• Valid, that is they should accurately reflect what is being researched.

• Mutually exclusive, in that codes should be distinct, with no overlap.

• Exhaustive, that is all relevant data should fit into a code.

STAGES OF DATA CODING

1. The data is carefully read, all statements relating to the research question are identified, and each is assigned a code, or category.

These codes are then noted, and each relevant statement is organised under its appropriate code. This is referred to as open coding.

2. Using the codes developed in stage 1, the researcher rereads the qualitative data, and searches for statements that may fit into any of the categories.

Further codes may also be developed in this stage. This is also referred to as axial coding.

3. Once the first two stages of coding have been completed, the researcher should become more analytical, and look for patterns and explanation in the codes.

Questions should be asked such as:

• Can I relate certain codes together under a more general code?

• Can I organise codes sequentially (for example does code A happen before code B)?

• Can I identify any causal relationships (does code A cause code B)?

4. The fourth stage is that of selective coding.

This involves reading through the raw data for cases that illustrate the analysis, or explain the concepts.

The researcher should also look for data that is contradictory, as well as confirmatory, as it is important not to be selective in choosing data.

You must avoid what is referred to as confirmation bias, or the tendency to seek out and report data that supports your own ideas about the key findings of the study.