Qualitive data and thematic analysis

Question 1

What is quantitative data?

Answer 1

Information in numbers i.e quantities

Question 2

What are some positives of quantitive data?

Answer 2

• Easier to analyse because data is in numbers which can be summarised using descriptive statistics. This generally makes it easier to draw conclusions because for example you can see at a glance that men did better on a particular maths test than women
• Quantities are a more objective measure because measurements (height, test score) should be the same no matter who is doing the measuring and therefore are reliable. This gives the measurements greater crdibility because they are not biased by the person doing the measurements

Question 3

What are some negatives using quantitative data?

Answer 3

• May not express ppts precise thoughts/ feelings because the asnwers providied are fixed- there may not be an answer to represent what they think. Therefore the dat collected may be low in validity
• Oversimplifies reality and human experience because it suggests that there are simple answers. In other words it is a reductionist apprach, reducing human experiences to quanitities

Question 4

What is qualitive data?

Answer 4

Information in words or pictures, non numerical

Question 5

What are some positives of qualitive data?

Answer 5

• Represents the true complexities of human behaviour because thoughts and behaviours are not reduced to numbers. Thus it is holistic approach
• Provides rich details of how people think and behave because they are given a free range to express themselves. Therefore, higher in validity as the researcher is more likelely to be measuring the variable of interest

Question 6

What are some weaknesses of qualitive data?

Answer 6

• More difficult to detect patterns and draw conclusions because of the large variety of information collected, and beacuse words cannot easily be reduced to a few simple points
• Interpreting what people mean is likely to be subjective lowing credibility

Question 7

What is thematice analysis?

Answer 7

A technique used when analysing quanlitative data. Data is produced, for example from the transcripts of an interview or interviews and then themes or categories are identified. The researcher then goes back through the transcripts and notes where each theme/ category is found and might draw out a few examples. Thus responses can be oragnised according to these themes, patters, identifies and conclusions drawn

Question 8

What is grounded theory?

Answer 8

A bottom up techniwues used when analysing qualitative data. It is an emergent research process in which theoretical explannations emerge during the course of the investigation