RESEARCH

METHODS

FEBIHA
KHAN
 DATA FINDINGS
 The key data sources that were central to your key
findings and conclusions. With this in mind, you
need to;

 Identify your key sources. The date of them, why

they are valid, how you sourced them and how you
defined and selected the key themes within it (if
relevant) or the key data that allowed you to detail
your core findings.

 (It is likely that you will have 4-5 key sources that
gave you your best information and so these are
those that you discuss in this section). Within this
section, also detail whether the data was qualitative
 DATA FINDINGS

 Detail the data findings from your sources (not just

the key ones but all data that you are reporting on)
deliver your findings against your objectives.
Within this discussion, discuss the techniques and
methods that allowed you analyse the data to
deliver your findings. Explore whether these
techniques worked for your objectives.
 DATA ANALYSIS
 Start explaining your data analysis. (If your analysis was
done thematically, then detail the key themes generated and
taken forward and the number of sources used in defining
these key themes. If your analysis is quantitative, explain
your analysis and clearly explain why your statistical
approach is valid and appropriate for your findings).
 Discuss your findings through each research
objective/question. As such, ensure you USE headings in this
section with your numbered research objectives, so your
discussion is tied back neatly to each of them in order.
 Where you have not fully answered an objective, offer what
you can and detail why you couldn’t find the data (it is not
acceptable to say “I didn’t have time” or “I couldn’t find the
data” as you have been working on this research for WEEKS)
 Qualitative Data Analysis

 Grounded Theory

 Coding
1. Steps
2. Considerations
3. Problems
 Grounded Theory

 Theory is derived from the data, which are

systematically gathered and analysed

 Iterative process
 Repetitive interplay between data collection and
analysis/theory building

 Developments in grounded theory

 Straussian model is more prescriptive
 Term used loosely by researchers today
 Tools of grounded theory

 Theoretical sampling

 Coding
 begins during the initial stages of research
 important first step in generating theory

 Theoretical saturation

 Constant comparison (between concepts/indicators)

 Outcomes of grounded theory
 Concepts (produced by open coding)

 Categories (higher level of abstraction)

• core categories

 Properties (attributes of a category)

 Hypotheses (initial hunches)

 Theory
• explanation of relationships between concepts
• substantive or formal theory
Processes and Outcomes in Grounded
theory

Bell et al (2022)
 Criticisms of grounded theory

1. Researcher cannot suspend awareness of theories and

concepts (Bulmer, 1979)
2. Funding proposals require clear statement of aims, theories
and research questions
3. Time consuming
4. Does not necessarily produce a theory - usually specific
explanations of substantive issues
5. Confusing use of terms ‘concepts’ and ‘categories’
6. Fragments data - loss of context and narrative flow (Coffey &
Atkinson, 1996)
7. Competing accounts of what is involved
 Considerations in Developing
Codes
 Of what general category is this item of data an instance?
 What does this item of data represent?
 What is this item of data about?
 Of what topic is this item of data an instance?
 What question about a topic does this item of data
suggest?
 What sort of answer to a question about a topic does this
item of data imply?
 What is happening here?
 What are people doing?
 What do people say they are doing?
 What kind of event is going on?
 Steps and Considerations in Coding

1. Code as soon as possible

2. Read through your initial set of transcripts
3. Do it again !!
4. Review your codes
5. Consider more general theoretical ideas in relation to codes and
data
6. Any one item or slice of data can and often should be coded in
more than one way
7. Do not worry about generating what seem to be too many codes
8. Keep coding in perspective – it is not analysis
 Problems with Coding

 Losing the context of what was said (extracting sections

of data)

 Fragmentation of data - loss of narrative flow (Coffey &

Atkinson, 1996)

 Narrative analysis as a solution? (Riessman, 1993)

 Risk of only providing descriptive account of data rather

than theorizing.
Secondary Analysis of Qualitative Data
 Secondary analysis offers rich opportunities, not least because the
tendency for qualitative researchers to generate large and unwieldy
sets of data means that much of the material remains under-explored.

 But it may be hard to understand the original context and there may
be ethical issues concerning participant permissions.

 The UK Data Service (incl Qualidata) is an archival resource centre,

established in 1994 and can be a useful reference point:

 https://ukdataservice.ac.uk/help/other-data-providers/other-data-
providers-qualitative-data/
 Preparing Data for Analysis

Key issues

1. Transcribing qualitative data

2. Using electronic textual data, including scanned

documents

3. The interactive nature of the process

 Types of Qualitative Analysis Process

Main types

1. Summarising (condensation) of meanings

2. Categorising (grouping) of meanings

3. Structuring (ordering of meanings using narrative)

Saunders et al. (2009)

Dimensions of Qualitative Analysis
Process
 Categorising Data

Points to consider

1. Deriving categories

2. ‘Unitising’ data

3. Recognising relationships and developing categories

4. Developing testable propositions

5. Qualifying your qualitative data

 Deductively based analytical procedures

Procedures applicable to qualitative analysis

 Pattern matching

 Explanation building
Other Inductively Based Analytical Procedures

Procedures applicable to qualitative

analysis

 Data display and analysis

 Template analysis
 Analytic induction
 Grounded theory – open, axial and selected
coding
 Discourse analysis
 Narrative analysis
 Using CAQDAS for Qualitative Analysis,
e.g. Nvivo, NuDIST, Delve

Summary of functions

 Structure of work
 Closeness to data and interactivity
 Explore the data
 Code and retrieve
 Project management and data organisation
 Searching and interrogating
 Writing memos, comments and note
 Output

Lewins and Silver (2007)

 Summary 1

 Qualitative data result from the collection of non-standardised

data that require classification and are analysed through the
use of conceptualisation

 Qualitative analysis can involve summarising, categorising and

structuring data

 The process of data analysis and collection is necessarily

interactive (and subjective)
 Summary 2

 Aids to analysis include interim summaries, self-memos

and maintaining a researcher diary

 Qualitative analysis procedures can be related to using

either a deductive or inductive approach

 Computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software

(CAQDAS) such as NVivo can help with project
management and data organisation
 What is NVivo?

 An example of CAQDAS (computer assisted

qualitative data analysis software);

 The successor to NUD*IST (non-numerical

unstructured data*indexing, structuring and
theorizing);

 A computer programme for organising data from

in-depth interviews etc, into appropriate
categories;
 A semi-automated version of cutting, pasting, and
photocopying lots of loosely related pieces of text.
 Why you should use NVivo

Because..........................
• Many professional researchers use it;
• You learn a valuable transferable skill;
• Otherwise, you would rely on traditional methods of
cutting and pasting;
• It helps you to ˝see the wood for the trees˝.
 You should use NVivo......

When............

• Your data set is sufficiently large;

• You have data from focus groups and in-
depth interviews;
• You need to code your data, because of its
extent and complexity.
 What could you use instead of
NVivo?

 A notepad, a scissors and a photocopier, if you

have a small number of cases;

 Microsoft Word™, or a similar word-processing

programme, using the bookmark feature and
multiple documents.
 What you will still need to do, even when
using NVivo

• Keep a perfect record of all interviews and

focus group meetings (on audio or video tape);
• Make transcripts of all of these and of all
other external sources of data;
• Type up all notes, memos, references and
catalogue details;
• Read all your data;
• Code your data.
The essential elements of NVivo

• Entering Data: Direct, or Import;

• Dealing with Nodes;
3.Coding Data;
4.Searching for Text Strings and
Relationships.
 What is Thematic Analysis(TA)?

 “Thematic analysis is a method for identifying, analysing and

reporting patterns (themes) within data. It minimally organises
and describes your data in (rich) detail. However, frequently it goes
further than this, and interprets various aspects of the research topic”.

 “Thematic analysis is a poorly demarcated, rarely acknowledged, yet

widely used qualitative analytic method …..”

 More recently: “TA has recently been recognized as a method in its

own right” (Joffe, 2012: 210)

 For more on Thematic Analysis, see Bryman and Bell 4E, 2015
pp 599 - 601
 THEMATIC ANALYSIS
 The key is to look for
- Patterns
- Categories or types of information

 To make sense of the data

 Establish the real situation looked at from many

perspectives

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