Chapter 23 & 24 Flashcards
Types of documents
Personal documents, organizational documents, mass media outputs, and virtual outputs
Scott’s (1990) criteria for assessing the quality of documents
1) Authenticity: Is the evidence genuine and of unquestionable origin?
2) Credibility: is the evidence free from error and distortion?
3) Representativeness: is the evidence typical of its kind, and, if not, is the extent of its untypicality known?
4) Meaning: is the evidence clear and comprehensible?
Approaches to analyzing data
- Qualitative content analysis
- Semiotics
- (Historical Analysis) - Not so important
Documents
are forms of material that can be read, have not been produced specifically for the purposes of research, are preserved so that they become available for analysis, and are relevant to the concerns of the business researcher
Qualitative Content analysis
typically entails applying predefined categories to sources and extracting themes from the documents.
Semiotics
The science of signs and analysis of symbols in everyday life. The way messages are communicated as a system of cultural meanings
Denotative (message) and connotatie codes (cultural context)
General strategies for qualitative data analysis
Analytical induction
Grounded theory
Analytical induction
an approach to the analysis of data in which the researcher seeks universal explanations of phenomena by pursuing the collection of data until no cases that are inconsistent with the hypothetical explanation (deviant or negative cases) of a phenomenon is found
Process of analytical induction
A rigorous search for a universal explanation of phenomena:
- Rough definition of research question
- Hypothetical explanation
- Data collection (examination of cases)
- If any deviant cases found, redefine or reformulate hypothesis
- Continue until all cases fit hypothesis
Grounded theory
‘theory that was derived from data, systematically gathered and analyzed through the research process. In this method, data collection, analysis, and eventual theory stand in close relationship to one another’ (Strauss and Corbin 1998: 12)
Two central features of grounded theory are that it is concerned with the development of theory out of data and the approach is iterative or recursive as it is sometimes called, meaning that data collection and analysis proceed in tandem, repeatedly referring back to each other
Iterative process
Repetitive interplay between data collection and analysis / theory building
Tools of grounded theory
1) Theoretical sampling
2) Coding
3) Theoretical saturation
4) Constant comparison (between concepts and indicators)
Theoretical sampling
The process of data collection for generating theory whereby the analyst jointly collects, codes, and analyzes his data and decides what data to collect next and where to find them, in order to develop his theory as it emerges. The process of data collection is controlled by the emerging theory, whether substantive or formal.
It is concerned with the refinement of ideas, rather than boosting sample size.
Types of coding
1) Open coding: ‘breaking down, examining, comparing, conceptualizing and categorizing data’ (Strauss and Corbin, 1990: 61)
2) Axial coding: ‘data are put back together in new ways after open coding, by making connections between categories’ (1990: 96)
3) Selective coding: ‘selecting the core category, systematically relating it to other categories, validating those relationships, and filling in categories that need further refinement and development’ (1990: 116).
Theoretical saturation
The key idea is that you carry on sampling theoretically until a category has been saturated with data. This means (a) no new or relevant data seems to be emerging regarding a category, (b) the category is well developed in terms of its properties and dimensions demonstrating variation, and (c) the relationships among categories are well established and validated (Strauss and Corbin, 1998)
