Types of

Qualitative Analysis
1. CONTENT ANALYSIS

It is a procedure for the categorization of

verbal or behavioral data for the purpose of
classification, summarization and tabulation.
The content can be analyzed on two levels
Descriptive: What is the data?
Interpretative: What was meant by the data?
  Analyzing brand mentions on social
media to understand your brand's
reputation

 Reviewing customer feedback to

Some other evaluate (and then improve) the
customer and user experience (UX)
examples of
content  Researching competitors’ website
analysis pages to identify their competitive
advantages and value propositions
include:
 Interpreting customer interviews and
survey results to determine user
preferences, and setting the direction
for new product or feature
developments
2. NARRATIVE ANALYSIS

Narratives are transcribed experiences

Every interview/ observation has narrative aspect –
the researcher has to sort-out and reflect up on
them, enhanced them and present them in a
revised shape to the reader
The core activity in narrative analysis is to
reformulate stories presented by people in different
contexts and based on their different experiences.
3. DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

A method of analyzing a naturally occurring talk

(spoken interaction) and all types of written texts.
Focus on ordinary people method of producing and
making sense of everyday social life: How language
is used in every situations
3. DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

 Sometimes people express themselves in a

straightforward way
 Sometimes people express themselves vaguely and
indirectly
 The analyst must refer to the context then
interpreting the message as the same phenomenon
can be described in a number of different ways
depending on context
4. FRAMEWORK ANALYSIS

Familiarization: Transcribing & reading the data

Identifying a thematic framework: Initial coding
framework which is developed both from a prior
issues and from emergent issues
Coding: Using numerical or textual codes to
identify specific piece of data which correspond to
different themes
4. FRAMEWORK ANALYSIS

Charting: Charts created using headings from

thematic framework (can be thematic or by case)
Mapping and interpretation: Searching for
patterns, associations, concepts and explanations in
the data
5. GROUNDED THEORY
ANALYSIS

 Starts with an examination of a single case from a

‘pre-defined’ population in order to formulate a
general statement about a population, a concept or
a hypothesis
 Then the analyst examines another case to see
whether it fits the statement
 If it does, a further case is selected
5. GROUNDED THEORY
ANALYSIS

 If it doesn’t fit there are two options:

Either the statement is changed to fit both cases
The definition of the population is changed in such a
way that the case is no longer a member of the newly
defined population
 Then another case is selected and the process
continues
5. GROUNDED THEORY
ANALYSIS

 In such a way one should be able to arrive at a

statement that fits all cases of a population-as-
defined
 This method is only for a limited set of analytic
problems: those that can be solved with some
general overall statement
6. THEMATIC ANALYSIS

o It helps you identify, categorize, analyze, and

interpret patterns in qualitative study data, and can
be done with tools.
o Can only be applied to qualitative data, and focuses
on identifying patterns and themes.
 Types of Thematic Analysis

 Inductive (data-driven)
An inductive approach involves allowing the data to determine your
themes.

 Deductive (theory-driven)
A deductive approach involves coming to the data with some
preconceived themes you expect to find reflected there, based on theory
or existing knowledge.

 Hybrid (combines inductive and deductive)

Step 1: Familiarization

 The first step is to get to know our data. It’s important

to get a thorough overview of all the data we collected
before we start analyzing individual items.
 This might involve transcribing audio, reading through
the text and taking initial notes, and generally looking
through the data to get familiar with it.
Step 2: Coding

Next up, we need to code the data. Coding

means highlighting sections of our text –
usually phrases or sentences – and coming
up with shorthand labels or “codes” to
describe their content.
 Step 2: Coding

 Let’s take a short example

text. Say we’re researching
perceptions of climate change
among conservative voters
aged 50 and up, and we have
collected data through a
series of interviews. An
extract from one interview
looks like this:
 Step 2: Coding

 In this extract, we’ve

highlighted various phrases in
different colors corresponding
to different codes. Each code
describes the idea or feeling
expressed in that part of the
text.
 Step 2: Coding
 At this stage, we want to be thorough: we go
through the transcript of every interview and
highlight everything that jumps out as
relevant or potentially interesting. As well as
highlighting all the phrases and sentences
that match these codes, we can keep adding
new codes as we go through the text.
 After we’ve been through the text, we collate
together all the data into groups identified by
code. These codes allow us to gain a a
condensed overview of the main points and
common meanings that recur throughout the
data.
 Step 3: Generating themes

Next, we look over the codes we’ve

created, identify patterns among
them, and start coming up with
themes.
Themes are generally broader than
codes. Most of the time, you’ll
combine several codes into a single
theme. In our example, we might
start combining codes into themes
like this:
 Step 3: Generating themes

At this stage, we might decide that

some of our codes are too vague or
not relevant enough (for example,
because they don’t appear very often in
the data), so they can be discarded.
Again, what we decide will vary
according to what we’re trying to find
out. We want to create potential themes
that tell us something helpful about the
data for our purposes.
Step 4: Reviewing themes

Now we have to make sure that our themes

are useful and accurate representations of the
data. Here, we return to the data set and
compare our themes against it. Are we missing
anything? Are these themes really present in
the data? What can we change to make our
themes work better?
 Step 5: Defining and naming
themes
 Now that you have a final list of themes, it’s time to name
and define each of them.
 Defining themes involves formulating exactly what we mean
by each theme and figuring out how it helps us understand
the data.
- Interpreting themes in context
- Considering research questions, literature, and
theory
- Drawing conclusions and recommendations
 Step 6: Writing up
Finally, we’ll write up our analysis of the data. Like all
academic texts, writing up a thematic analysis
requires an introduction to establish our research
question, aims and approach.
We should also include a methodology section,
describing how we collected the data (e.g. through
semi-structured interviews or
open-ended survey questions) and explaining how we
 Step 6: Writing up
The results or findings section usually
addresses each theme in turn. We describe how
often the themes come up and what they
mean, including examples from the data as
evidence.
Finally, our conclusion explains the main
takeaways and shows how the analysis has