lecture 3- qualitative data analysis

Question 1

braun and clarkes (2006)- step 1

Answer 1

1. familiarize yourself with the data

• doing the interviews (what was your impression of the interview)
• transcribing the interviews (re-familiarize yourself with what was said and how it was said)
• read each transcript carefully
• reading all of the transcripts together (if you have more than one interview; this allows you to get a sense of the data as a whole

make notes about anything that you find interesting in this stage

Question 2

braun and clarkes (2006) - step 2

Answer 2

2. generating initial codes

• you code segments of text that cannot be broken down further into meaningful units.
• code everything (dont assume some things are unimportant
• coding is usually done several times- initially the coding is fairly semantic, staying on the surface, using participants own words. in a second round of coding, more interpretation (and collapsing) can be done.
• when you’re done, write out your full list of all the codes

you can code by hand (using pen and paper, or word) or NVivo

Question 2

what is the definition for a code?

Answer 2

a code is a brief phrase that ‘summarizes’ what a particular section of the transcript ‘is about’

• its a descriptive label

Question 3

step 4

Answer 3

4. reviewing themes

• check that each theme has enough data to support it
  -> if not, it may not really be a theme in its own right, you may have to discard it

-check that the codes for each theme are not too diverse
-> if so, you may have to split the theme into two (or more) themes

-make sure each theme is distinct (no overlap between themes)
- sometimes several themes can become subthemes within one overarching theme

• after you’ve done all this, think about whether your themes accurately capture what your participants have said (+context, +how they have said it, if relevant)

Question 3

step 6

Answer 3

6. producing the report

• (re-)watch the report video
  General guidelines:

Writing up means ‘telling the story of your data’:

• You need to provide enough evidence (quotes) that your themes adequately capture the essence of your data
• Do not just paraphrase your participants; you need to tell a story, convince the reader that your research question should be answered in a certain way, move beyond description to interpretation

Question 4

step 3

Answer 4

3. generating themes

• ‘sorting’ the codes into groups (themes)
• you’re starting to analyse your data here, and are considering how certain codes might group together to form an overarching theme
• not all codes fit into a group (ie into a theme)- its ok to have a theme called ‘other’ - maybe you can find a home for these codes later

something else you can do at this stage:
some themes themselves can group together into a new theme- in that case the original themes themselves will now be called ‘subthemes’

Question 5

step 5

Answer 5

5. defining and naming themes

• For each theme, write a summary of ‘what the theme is about’, its essence.
• You do this by looking at the quotes from participants on which the theme is
  based.
• Paraphrase what participants said and tell the reader what is interesting about
  these things.
• Use a few literal quotes as examples for each theme
• Make sure the names of each theme are clear: short phrases are best, avoid
  single-word names!
• Then, think about how each theme relates to other themes