Qualitative Data Analysis & Software

By
Dr. Abebe Megerso
(Ph.D, MPH/Epid., BSc/PH, Asst. Prof. of Epidemiology)

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 Session Outlines

– Qualitative Data Analysis,

– Qualitative Data analysis software,

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 Qualitative Analysis
• Qualitative data analysis is perhaps the most difficult & integral part
of a qualitative study.
• It is the process of turning qualitative data to information that can’t be
measured numerically into insights.
• On the whole, qualitative analysis has fewer set customs to follow than
quantitative analysis, as it:
 does not rest upon probabilistic interpretations;
 does not necessarily seek “generalizability”; &
 is often an ongoing process that informs the course of data
collection during a study.

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 Terms in Qualitative Data Analysis
• Code (characteristics): A single item or event in a text
– Similar to an individual response to a variable or indicator in quantitative research,
• Coding: the process of attaching labels to lines of text so that the
researcher can group & compare similar or related pieces of information, 
Data reduction,
• Coding sorts: compilation of similarly coded blocks of text from different
sources into a single file or report,
• Concepts or themes: Idea categories that emerge from grouping of
lower-level data points,
• Theory: A set of interrelated concepts, definitions, & propositions that
presents a systematic view of events or situations by specifying relations
among variables,
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 Features of Qualitative data analysis

• Analysis is Circular not Linear (unlike in quantitative research,

this part takes 80-90% of the time)
• Iterative & Progressive: ongoing,
• Data collection & analysis is simultaneous,
• Complex & Time Consuming
– Volume of data - ensure all data are used
– Flexibility, interactive nature
– Interpretation & meaning,
• Level of analysis varies

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 Benefits of Qualitative data analysis
• Deep Insight: Qualitative data analysis allows for a deep understanding of
complex patterns & trends by uncovering underlying meanings,
motivations, & perspectives.
• Flexibility: It offers flexibility in data interpretation, allowing researchers to
explore emergent themes & adapt their analysis to new insights.
• Contextual Understanding: Qualitative analysis enables the exploration
of contextual factors, providing rich context to quantitative findings &
uncovering hidden dynamics,
• Participant Voice: It amplifies the voices of participants, allowing their
perspectives & experiences to shape the analysis & resulting
interpretations.

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 Challenges of Qualitative data analysis
• Data Overload & Management: Qualitative data often comprises large
volumes of text or multimedia, posing challenges in organizing,
managing, & analyzing the data effectively.
• Reliability & Validity: Ensuring the reliability & validity of qualitative
findings can be complex, as there are fewer standardized measures
compared to quantitative analysis, requiring meticulous attention to
methodological rigor.
• Time-Intensive Nature: Qualitative data analysis can be time-
consuming, involving iterative processes of coding, categorizing, &
synthesizing data, which may prolong the research timeline & increase
resource requirements.

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Qualitative vs Quantitative data analysis

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 Qualitative Data Analysis Types
• Most common types of analytic approaches:
 Content/Domain Analysis
 Thematic Analysis
 Grounded theory/Constant comparative
 Narrative/Biographical analysis
 Other Analysis (Reading materials shared)
o Phenomenological (IPA)
o Discourse analysis
o Ethnographic/cultural
o Metaphorical/ hermeneutical …
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 Content Analysis (CA)
• Content analysis is a qualitative data analysis method that
systematically analyses a text to identify specific features or
patterns.
• It focuses on analyzing recorded communications from artifacts
such as news papers, abstracts from books, blogs etc.
• The data is first coded, which means assigning it labels or
categories.
• Content analysis is a prevalent qualitative data analysis method,
as it is relatively quick & easy to do & can be done by anyone
with a good understanding of the data.
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 Content Analysis …
• Advantages of content Analysis
 Rich insights: Content analysis can provide rich, in-depth
insights into how participants feel about the phenomenon, &
their motives,
 Easily replicable: Once you have developed a coding
system, content analysis is relatively quick & easy because
it’s a systematic process.
 Affordable: Content analysis requires very little investment
since all you need is a good understanding of the data, & it
doesn’t require any special software.
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 Content Analysis …
• Disadvantages of content Analysis
 Time-consuming: Coding the data is time-consuming,
particularly if you have a large amount of data to analyze.
 Ignores context: Content analysis can ignore the context in
which the data was collected which may lead to
misinterpretations.
 Reductive approach: Some people argue that content
analysis is a reductive approach to qualitative data because
it involves breaking the data down into smaller pieces.

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 Thematic Analysis (TA)
• Thematic analysis is a popular qualitative data analysis method
that identifies patterns, themes & meanings in a data set.
• The process of thematic analysis involves coding the data,
which means assigning it labels or categories,
• It can be used to determine whether a piece of writing is
positive, negative, or neutral.
• It can be inductive (common) or Deductive:
 Inductive – coded, themes & categories emerge from the data,
 Deductive - coded, themes & categories prepared before hand,

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 Thematic Analysis …

• The advantages of thematic analysis:

 Doesn’t require training: Anyone with little training on how to
label the data can perform thematic analysis.
 It’s easy to draw important information from raw data:
o Surveys or customer interviews can be easily
converted into insights with the help of labeling.
 An effective way to process large amounts of data if done
automatically: you may need software tools.

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 Thematic Analysis …

• The disadvantages of thematic analysis:

 Doesn’t capture complex narratives: If the data isn’t coded
correctly, it can be difficult to identify themes since it’s a
phrase-based method.
 Difficult to implement from scratch because a perfect approach
must be able to merge & organize themes in a meaningful
way, producing a set of themes that are not too generic & not
too large.

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 Grounded theory analysis
• Grounded theory analysis is a method that involves the constant
comparative method, meaning qualitative researchers analyze &
code the data while collecting them,
• The grounded theory approach is useful for researchers who
want to understand how participants interact while discussing the
phenomenon.
• It can also be used to generate hypotheses about how
participants will behave in the future.

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 Grounded theory analysis …
• Advantages & disadvantages of ground theory analysis
 The advantages of ground theory analysis
 Based on actual data, qualitative analysis is more accurate than
other methods that rely on assumptions.
 Analyze poorly researched topics by generating hypotheses.
 Reduces the bias in interpreting qualitative data as it’s analyzed &
coded as it’s collected.
 The disadvantages of ground theory analysis
 Overly theoretical
 Requires a lot of objectivity, creativity, & critical thinking

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 Narrative analysis

• Analyzing qualitative data with narrative analysis & involves

identifying, analyzing, & interpreting research participants’
stories.
• The input can be in the form of participant interviews,
testimonials, or other text data.

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 Narrative analysis …
• The advantages of narrative analysis
 Provide a rich form of data: The stories people tell give a deep
understanding of participants’ concerns & perspectives.
 Collects unique, in-depth data based on participants’ interviews or
testimonials.
• The disadvantages of narrative analysis
 Hard to implement in studies of large numbers.
 Time-consuming: Transcribing participants’ interviews or testimonials
is labor-intensive.
 Hard to reproduce since it relies on unique customer stories.

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Data Analysis: The spiral nature

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Data Analysis the Spiral …

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Four Basic Steps in Qualitative data Analysis
• All qualitative data analysis involves the same four essential
steps:
1. Raw data management- ‘data cleaning’
2. Data reduction I & II – ‘coding’, ‘chunking’,
3. Data interpretation – ‘coding’, ‘clustering’
4. Data representation – ‘telling the story’,
‘making sense of the data for others’

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 Step 1: Raw Data Management

• What is raw data management?

– The process of preparing & organizing raw data into meaningful units
of analysis:
• Text or audio data transformed into transcripts,
• Image data transformed into videos, photos, charts,

– As you review your data, you find that some of it is not usable or
relevant to your study…

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 Step II: Data Reduction I

• Get a sense of the data holistically, read several times

(immersion),
• Classify & categorize repeatedly, allowing for deeper
immersion,
• Write notes in the margins (memoing),
• Preliminary classification schemes emerge, categorize raw data
into groupings (chunking),

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 Step II: Data Reduction II
– The process of reducing data from chunks into clusters &
codes to make meaning of that data:
• Chunks of data that are similar begin to lead to initial clusters &
coding:
– Code – a label given for significant piece of information in the data,
– Clusters – assigning chunks of similarly labeled data into clusters &
assigning preliminary codes
– Codes – refining, developing code books, labeling codes, creating
codes through 2-3 cycles

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 Coding Process
• Coding if the initial process in analysis & its objective is to label
& group the data before we reach the themes,
• It helps to ensure that your analysis is valid & approached
systematically,
• Initial coding may include as many as 30 codes,
• Reduce codes once, probably twice, by line-by-line coding step
(the second step)
• Reduce again to & refine to codes that are mutually exclusive &
include all raw data that was identified as usable,
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 Coding approaches
• Deductive (A Priori coding)
– Codes derived from literature, theoretical frames,
– The down side – you can miss out some important points as you use
pre defined codes,
• Inductive (grounded)
– Codes derived from the data by using code names drawn from
participant quotes or interpretation of the data,
 “Its like magic” is a phrase that could form the basis for a code category
 Used when researcher studies new topic where there are no a priori
theories,

• One can also use mix of the two called hybrid coding,
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 Types of Coding
• In Vivo coding
 Using participants own words as they are,
• Process coding
 Action based coding indication movement or action using gerund like jumping or
running etc. also for non verbal data,
• Descriptive coding
 This the common method that uses a word to encapsulate a general idea/concept
in the segment of text,
• Structural coding
 This involves coding based on specific structural attribute of the data set (who,
what, where, how)
• Value coding
 This involves developing codes that related to participants vies; like I think, I feel
that etc.
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 Coding Levels
• Descriptive to Interpretative to Pattern Coding
– Moves from summary to meaning to explanation,
OR
• Open to Axial to Selective Coding
– Moves from initial theory to developing relationships between codes for
emerging theory,
OR
• First cycle to second cycle coding
– Moving from describing the data units to inferring meaning

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 Step III: Data Interpretation & Themes

• ‘Chunks’ of related data that have similar meaning are coded

in several cycles,
• Once coded, those ‘chunks’ become clustered in similar theme
categories,
• Create meaning for those clusters with labels,
• Themes emerge from those clusters,
• Interpret themes to answer research questions,

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 Themes
• Like codes, themes have labels/types:
 Ordinary themes – themes that a researcher might expect to
find
 Unexpected themes – themes that are surprises
 Hard-to-classify themes – themes that contain ideas that do
not easily fit into one theme or that overlap
 Major & minor themes – themes that represent the major ideas
& the minor secondary ideas

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 Step IV: Data Representation

• Interpretation or analysis of qualitative data simultaneously

occurs,
• Researchers interpret the data as they read & re-read the
data, categorize & code the data & inductively develop a
thematic analysis,
• Themes become the story or the narrative,

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Computer Application software for Qualitative Data
Analysis
• Computer Application software are just aids, but no a
replacement for human mind, they do not do the analysis,
– They are to ease the burden of cutting & pasting by hand, creation &
insertion of codes in to text files, indexing, construction of hyperlinks,
& selective retrieval of text segments,
– But, relying too much on computers shortcuts will impede the
process by distancing the researcher from the text,

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 Qualitative Data Analysis Software …

• Qualitative Data Analysis Software provides tools to assist with

qualitative research,
• Most of the software are useful for ease of organizing the
qualitative data, so that the data analyst will save time for the
actual analysis,

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 Choice of the Software
• The choice to use manual, simple or more complex software
depends on:
– Type & amount of the data to be analyzed,
– Time to learn Vs. time to analyze,
– Level of analysis (Simple or detailed),
– Desired “closeness” to the data,
– Any desired quantification of results,
– Individual or working as a team,
– Any cost constraints or access to the software,

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 Common qualitative software
• Commercial:
– Atlas ti 6.0 (www.atlasti.com)

– NVivo (https://help-nv.qsrinternational.com/20/win/Content/about-
nvivo/installation.htm)

– HyperRESEARCH 2.8 (www.researchware.com)

– MaxQDA (www.maxqda.com)

– QSR Nvivo (www.qsrinternational.com)

– Weft QDA (www.pressure.to/qda) …

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Some of the Top Free Qualitative Data Analysis
Software
• Ms Word • Visão, Aquad,
• FreeQDA, Open Code • Weft QDA,
• QDA Miner Lite, • Cass&re,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v • CATMA,
=TLoMllTCqtc&t=618s&pp=ygUDUU RB
• Compendium,
• RQDA,
• ELAN,
• ConnectedText,
• Tosmana,
• fs/QCA

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 QDA Miner Lite
• QDA Miner Lite is a free computer assisted qualitative analysis
software, which can be used for the analysis of textual data such as
interview & news transcripts, open-ended responses, etc. as well as for
the analysis of still images.
• It offers basic features such as:
– Importation of documents from plain text, RTF, HTML, PDF as well as data
stored in Excel, MS Access, CSV, tab delimited text files,
– importation from other qualitative coding software such as Altas.ti,
HyperResearch, Etnograph, from transcription tools like Transana &
Transcriber as well as from Reference Information System (.RIS) files.
• It also provides intuitive coding…

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Features of Qualitative Data Analysis Software

• Content Search:
– This feature allows users to conduct qualitative research using the
research methods mentioned in the above section.
– The most effective software tools use a wide range of search
methods to gather qualitative data.
– They can extract content from video sources, audio files, text
documents, graphics, & other sources of qualitative data.

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Features of Qualitative Data Analysis Software ...

• Data Visualization & Reporting:

– The best qualitative data analysis software programs allow users to
visualize all forms of electronic data including interviews, surveys,
pictures videos, & bibliographical data.
– Most qualitative data analysis applications allow data analysists to
create reports depending on the needs of the organization.
– Even non-technical users can create line charts, scatter plots, &
geographical maps.

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 Features of Qualitative Data Analysis Software ...

• Storing & Coding:

– QDA software also includes coding tools that allow data analysts &
other software users to perform different forms of coding such as
keyword & text coding.
– They allow you to systematically code data in different formats &
categories.

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Features of Qualitative Data Analysis Software ...

• Data Linking:
– This feature allows users to form clusters, networks or categories of
data.
• Data Mapping:
– QDA software makes it possible to map data to support theories &
depict findings.

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 Qualitative data Analysis software Demo
• QDA miner lite example

• Link to important tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnaDZASZjCo&list=PLSOjmgd2Fg_lnKkrsBhz3MuITC1U9pH5C

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Thank you
!!!

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