Qualitative Data Analysis 101

Tutorial: 6 Analysis Methods +

Examples
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=j9A3ceOBihM
Objectivism (objective reality) constructivism
(subject and object will construct reality with
interaction), subjectivism (subject imposes
reality on the object)

Ontology: Reality: singular, multiple, both

singular and multiple
Epistemology: How to know (measured,
interpreted, both measured and interpreted)
Methodology: Quantitative or qualitative or
mixed-method
Research Philosophy: Positivism,
constructivism, pragmatism.
Methods: (Data collection) Interview,
questionnaire, observation, (primary
data/secondary data)
(Population, Sampling: Probability (random
sampling, systematic sampling, and stratified
sampling.) or non probability (convenience
sampling, judgment sampling, purposive
sampling, quota sampling, and snowball
sampling.)
(cross-sectional, longitudinal)
Methods: Data Analysis: (Quantitative
Analysis Method) (Qualitative Analysis
Method)

Introduction
We are going to explore the six most popular
methods one at a time so that you can make
the best choice for your qualitative data
analysis. We will also cover some useful tips
and tricks as well as some common pitfalls to
avoid when you are undertaking qualitative
analysis.
We need to understand qualitative data so let
us take a step back and ask the question:
What is qualitative data?
Qualitative data refers to pretty much any
data that is not numbers in other words it is
not stuff that you measure using a fixed scale
or complex statistics or mathematics. So, if it
is not numbers then what is it? It is words.
Sometimes yes, qualitative data can and often
does take the form of interview transcripts
documents and open-ended survey responses,
but it can also involve the interpretation of
images and videos in other words. Qualitative
data is not just limited to text-based data.
Qualitative data vs quantitative data
How is that different from quantitative data
well simply put qualitative research focuses
on words, descriptions, concepts or ideas
while quantitative research focuses on
number and statistics. Qualitative research
investigates the softer side of things to
explore and describe, while quantitative
research focuses on the hard numbers to
measure differences between variables and
the relationships between them.
If you think qualitative is probably easier
than quantitative. Well, it is not quite in
many ways qualitative data can be incredibly
challenging and time consuming to analyze
and interpret at the end of your data
collection phase which takes a lot of time. You
will likely have pages and pages text-based
data or hours upon hours of audio to work
through. You might have subtle nuances of
interactions or discussions that have danced
around in your mind, or that you have
scribbled down in messy field notes making
sense of all of this is no small task, and you
should not underestimate it. So, long story
short qualitative analysis can be a lot of
work.
We will look at the six most popular analysis
methods, these qda methods can be used on
primary data you have collected yourself or
secondary data that is already been published
by someone else. So, without further delay let
us get into it the 6 most popular qualitative
data analysis methods.
Let us start by outlining the analysis
methods:
1. Qualitative Content Analysis
2. Narrative Analysis
3. Discourse Analysis
4. Thematic Analysis
5. Grounded Theory
6. IPA

Qualitative content analysis

Content analysis is a qda method called

qualitative content analysis or just content
analysis for short. Content analysis is
possibly the most common and
straightforward qda method. At the simplest
level, content analysis is used to evaluate
patterns within a piece of content. For
example, words phrases or images or across
multiple pieces of content or sources of
communication. For example, a collection of
newspaper articles or political speeches with
content analysis you could for instance
identify the frequency with which an idea is
shared or spoken about. Like the number of
times a Kardashian is mentioned on Twitter
or you could identify patterns of deeper
underlying interpretations. For instance by
identifying phrases or words in tourist
pamphlets that highlight India as an ancient
country. Because content analysis can be used
in such a wide variety of way. It is important
to go into your analysis with a very specific
question and goal or you will get lost in the
fog.
With content analysis, you will group large
amounts of text into codes, summarize these
into categories, and possibly even tabulate
the data to calculate the frequency of certain
concepts or variables. Because of this, content
analysis provides a small splash of
quantitative thinking with a qualitative
method naturally.
While content analysis is widely useful, it is
not without drawbacks. One of the main
issues with content analysis is that it can be
very time consuming as it requires lots of
reading and reading of the text also. Because
of its multi-dimensional focus on both
qualitative and quantitative aspects, it is
sometimes accused of losing important
nuances in communication. Content analysis
also tends to concentrate on a very specific
timeline and doesn't take into account what
happened before or after that timeline. This
is not necessarily a bathing though just
something to be aware of so keep these
factors in mind if you are considering content
analysis. Every analysis method has its
drawbacks so do not be put off by these just
be aware of them right let us take a look at
the next qda method i.e. narrative analysis.
Narrative analysis
Next in line, we have a powerful qualitative
analysis method called narrative analysis. As
the name suggests, narrative analysis is all
about listening to people telling stories and
analyzing what that means. Since stories
serve a functional purpose of helping us
make sense of the world. We can gain insights
into the ways that people deal with and make
sense of reality by analyzing their stories and
the ways they are told you could. For
example, use narrative analysis to explore
whether how something being said is
important. For instance, the narrative of a
prisoner trying to justify their crime could
provide insight into their view of the world
and the justice system. similarly analyzing
the ways entrepreneurs talk about the
struggles in their careers or cancer patients
telling stories of hope could provide powerful
insights into their mindsets and perspectives
in other words narrative analysis is about
paying attention to the stories that people tell
and more importantly the way they tell them
of course the narrative approach has its
weaknesses just like all analysis methods
sample sizes are generally quite small due to
the time-consuming processor capturing
narratives because of this along with the
multitude of social and lifestyle factors which
can influence a subject narrative analysis can
be quite difficult tore produce in subsequent
research this means that it's difficult to test
the findings of some of this research similarly
research bias can have a strong influence on
the results here so you need to be particularly
careful about the potential biases that you
can bring into your analysis when using this
method nevertheless narrative analysis is still
a very useful qualitative method just keep
these limitations in mind and be careful not
to draw broad conclusions.
Discourse Analysis
Discourse is simply a fancy word for written
or spoken language or debate so discourse
analysis is all about analyzing language
within its social context. In other words,
analyzing language such as conversation,
speech etc within the culture and society it
takes place. For example, you could analyze
how a janitor speaks to a cooler, and how
politicians speak about terrorism. To truly
understand these conversations or speeches
the culture and history of those involved in
the communications is important. For
example, a janitor might speak more casually
with the coin a company that emphasizes
equality among workers, similarly a
politician might speak more about terrorism
if there was a recent terrorist incident in the
country. So, as you can see by using discourse
analysis you can identify how culture, history
or power dynamics to name a few affect the
way concepts are spoken about. So, if your
research aims and objectives involve
understanding culture or power dynamics,
discourse analysis can be a powerful method
because there are many social influences, on
how we speak to each other. The potential use
of discourse analysis is vast, of course, this
also means it is important to have very
specific research questionnaires or questions
in mind when analyzing your data and
looking for patterns and themes or you might
end up going down a winding rabbit hole.
Discourse analysis can also be very time-
consuming, as you need to sample the data to
the point of saturation. In other words, until
no new information and insights emerge, but
this is of course part of what makes discourse
analysis such a powerful technique. keep
these factors in mind when considering this
qda method.

So far, we have covered content analysis

narrative analysis which analyzes stories and
discourse analysis which analyzes
conversations and interactions.

Thematic analysis
The thematic analysis looks at patterns of
meaning in a data set, for example, a set of
interviews or focus group transcripts.
Actually, thematic analysis takes bodies of
data which are often quite large and groups
them according to similar ties – in other
words, themes. These themes help make sense
of the context and derive meaning from it.
Let us take a look at an example with
thematic analysis you could analyze100
reviews of a popular suspires Taranto find
out what patrons think about the place by
reviewing the data you would then identify
the themes that crop up repeatedly within the
data for example fresh ingredients or friendly
wait staff so as you can see thematic analysis
can be pretty useful for finding out about
people’s experiences views and opinions
therefore if your research aims and objectives
involve understanding people’s experience or
view of something thematic analysis can be a
great choice systematic analysis is a bit of an
exploratory process it’s not unusual for your
research questions to develop or even change
as you progress through the analysis while
this is somewhat natural in exploratory
research it can also be seen as a disadvantage
asset means that the data needs to be re-
reviewed each time research question is
adjusted so basically thematic analysis can be
quite time consuming but for a good reasons
keep this in mind if you choose to use
thematic analysis for your project and budget
extra time For unexpected adjustments right
let's hop on to the next qda method of choice
grounded theory
Grounded Theory
Grounded Theory is a powerful qualitative
analysis method where the intention is to
create a new theory or theories using the data
at and through a series of tests and revisions.
For example, you could try to develop a
theory about what factors influence students
to watch a YouTube video about qualitative
analysis. The important thing with grounded
theory is that you go into the analysis with an
open mind and let the data speak for itself
rather in existing hypotheses or theories in
your analysis. In other words, your analysis
must develop from the ground up hence the
name is grounded theory. You start with a
general overarching question about a given
population for example graduate students.
Then you begin to analyze a small sample
like five graduate students in a department at
a university. Ideally, this sample should be
reasonably representative of the broader
population. You would then interview these
students to identify what factors led them to
watch the video. After analyzing the
interview data, a general hypothesis or
pattern could emerge. You might notice that
graduate students are more likely to read a
post about qualitative methods if they are
just starting on their dissertation journey or
if they have an upcoming test about research
methods. From here you'll look for another
small sample maybe five more graduate
students in different departments and see
whether this pattern or this hypothesis holds
true for them. If not you'll look for more
commonalities and adapt your theory
accordingly as this process continues, the
theory develops. What is important with
grounded theory is that the theory develops
from the data not from some preconceived
idea. You need to let the data speak for itself
so what are the drawbacks of grounded
theory well some do argue that there's a
tricky circularity to grounded theory for it.
To work in principle you should know as
little as possible regarding the research
question and population this helps you
reduce the amount of biasing your
interpretation; however, in many
circumstances, it's also thought to be very
unwise to approach a research question
without knowledge of the current literature.
So, basically, it's a bit of a chicken or egg
situation. Regardless, the grounded theory
remains a popular and powerful option it can
be a very useful method when you're
researching a topic that is completely newer
and has very little existing research about it.
It allows you to start from scratch and work
your way from the ground.
Interpretative phenomenological analysis
(IPA)
interpretive phenomenological analysis ipa
okay no let's just stick with ipa okay ipa is
designed to help you understand the personal
experiences of as objector example a person
or a group people concerning a major life
event inexperience or a situation this event or
experience is the phenomenon or phenomena
that makes up the p in ipa these phenomena
may range from relatively common
experiences such as motherhood or being
involved in a car accident to those which are
extremely rare for example someone's
personal experience in refugee camps ipa is a
great choice if your research involves
analyzing people’s personal experiences of
something that happened to them it’s
important to remember that ipa is subject
centered it's focused on the experience this
means that while you'll likely use coding
system to identify commonalities it is
important not to lose the depth of experience
or meaning by trying to reduce everything to
codes also keep in mind that since your
sample size will generally beery small with
ipa you often will not be able to draw a broad
conclusions about the generalize ability of
your findings but that's okay as long as it
aligns with your research aims and objectives
now another thing to beware of with ipa is
personal bias while researcher bias can creep
into all forms of research self-awareness is
critically important with ipa as it can have a
major impact on there sults for example a
researcher who was victim of a crime himself
could insert his own feelings of frustration
and anger into the way that he interprets the
experience of someone who was kidnapped so
if you're going to undertake ipa you need to
beery self-aware or you could muddy the
analysis keep these limitations and pitfalls in
mind and you will have a powerful analysis
tool in your arsenal
How to choose the right qualitative analysis
method
All right so there we have it the six most
popular qualitative data analysis methods
that we work with here at grad coach this
point you're probably asking yourself the
question how do i choose the right one well
selecting the right qualitative analysis
method largely depends on your research
aims objectives and questions in other words
the best tool for the job depends on what
you're trying to build for example perhaps
your research aims to analyze the use of
words and what they reveal about the
intention of the storyteller and the cultural
context of the time perhaps your research
aims to develop an understanding of the
unique personal experiences of people that
have experienced a certain event or perhaps
your research aims to develop insight
regarding the influence of a certain culture
on its members as you can see all of these
research aims are distinctly different and
therefore different analysis methods would be
suitable for each one also remember that
each method has its own strengths
weaknesses and general limitations no single
analysis method is perfectos it often makes
sense to adopt more than one method this is
called triangulation but thesis also quite time
consuming as we've seen these approaches all
make use of coding and theme generating
techniques but the intent and approach of
each analysis method differs quite
substantially so it is really important to come
into your research with a clear intention
before you even start thinking about which
analysis method or methods to use start by
reviewing your research aims objectives and
research questions to assess what exactly
you're trying to find out then select a method
that fits never pick a method just because you
like it or have experience using it your
analysis method or analysis methods must
align with your broader research aims and
objectives
Recap
okay so let's quickly recap on the six methods
firstly we looked at content analysis
straightforward method that blends little bit
of quant into a primarily qualitative analysis
then we looked at narrative analysis which is
about analyzing how stories are told next up
was discourse analysis which is about
analyzing conversations and interactions
then we moved on to thematic analysis which
is about identifying themes and patterns from
there we went south with grounded theory
which is about starting from scratch with a
specific question and using the data alone to
build a theory in response to that question
and finally we looked at ipa which is about
understanding people’s unique experiences of
a phenomenon now of course these aren’t the
only approaches to qualitative data analysis
but they are a great starting point if you're
just dipping your toes into the waters of
qualitative research for the very first time if
you do want to learn about other qualitative
data analysis methods drop us a comment
below if you enjoyed the video please hit the
like button and leave a comment if you
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