Qualitative Data Analysis

Qualitative Data Analysis

Qualitative data refers to non-numeric information such as

interview transcripts, notes, video and audio recordings, images
and text documents.
TYPES:
Qualitative data analysis can be divided into the following five categories:
• 1. Content analysis. This refers to the process of categorizing verbal or
behavioural data to classify, summarize and tabulate the data.
• 2. Narrative analysis. This method involves the reformulation of stories
presented by respondents taking into account context of each case and
different experiences of each respondent. In other words, narrative
analysis is the revision of primary qualitative data by researcher.
• 3. Discourse analysis. A method of analysis of naturally occurring talk
and all types of written text.
• 4. Framework analysis. This is more advanced method that consists of
several stages such as familiarization, identifying a thematic framework,
coding, charting, mapping and interpretation.
• 5. Grounded theory. This method of qualitative data analysis starts with
an analysis of a single case to formulate a theory. Then, additional cases
are examined to see if they contribute to the theory.
Ethnography
1. Ethnographic research is probably the most familiar and applicable type of
qualitative method.
2. In ethnography, you immerse yourself in the target participants’
environment to understand the goals, cultures, challenges, motivations, and
themes that emerge.
3.Ethnography has its roots in cultural anthropology where researchers
immerse themselves within a culture, often for years.
4. Rather than relying on interviews or surveys, you experience the
environment first hand, and sometimes as a “participant observer.”

For example, one way of uncovering the unmet needs of customers is to

“follow them home” and observe them as they interact with the product.
You don’t come armed with any hypotheses to necessarily test; rather, you’re
looking to find out how a product is used.
• 2. Narrative
• The narrative approach weaves together a sequence of events,
usually from just one or two individuals to form a cohesive story.
• You conduct in-depth interviews, read documents, and look for
themes; in other words, how does an individual story illustrate
the larger life influences that created it.
• Often interviews are conducted over weeks, months, or even
years, but the final narrative doesn’t need to be in chronological
order. Rather it can be presented as a story (or narrative) with
themes, and can reconcile conflicting stories and highlight
tensions and challenges which can be opportunities for
innovation.
Phenomenological
When you want to describe an event, activity, or phenomenon, the
aptly named phenomenological study is an appropriate qualitative
method. In a phenomenological study, you use a combination of
methods, such as conducting interviews, reading documents, watching
videos, or visiting places and events, to understand the meaning
participants place on whatever’s being examined. You rely on the
participants’ own perspectives to provide insight into their motivations.

Like other qualitative methods, you don’t start with a well-formed

hypothesis. In a phenomenological study, you often conduct a lot of
interviews, usually between 5 and 25 for common themes, to build a
sufficient dataset to look for emerging themes and to use other
participants to validate your findings.
For example, there’s been an explosion in the last 5 years in online
courses and training. But how do students engage with these courses?
While you can examine time spent and content accessed using log data
and even assess student achievement vis-a-vis in-person courses, a
phenomenological study would aim to better understand the students
experience and how that may impact comprehension of the material.
Grounded Theory
• Whereas a phenomenological study looks to describe the essence of an activity
or event, grounded theory looks to provide an explanation or theory behind the
events.
• You use primarily interviews and existing documents to build a theory based on
the data. You go through a series of open and axial coding techniques to identify
themes and build the theory. Sample sizes are often also larger—between 20 to
60—with these studies to better establish a theory.
• Grounded theory can help inform design decisions by better understanding how a
community of users currently use a product or perform tasks.

• For example, a grounded theory study could involve understanding how software
developers use portals to communicate and write code or how small retail
merchants approve or decline customers for credit.
Case Study
Made famous by the Harvard Business School, even mainly quantitative
researchers can relate to the value of the case study in explaining an
organization, entity, company, or event. A case study involves a deep
understanding through multiple types of data sources. Case studies can
be explanatory, exploratory, or describing an event.
Qualitative data analysis can be conducted
through the following three steps:
• Step 1: Developing and Applying Codes. Coding can be explained
as categorization of data. A ‘code’ can be a word or a short phrase
that represents a theme or an idea. All codes need to be assigned
meaningful titles. A wide range of non-quantifiable elements such as
events, behaviours, activities, meanings etc. can be coded.
• There are three types of coding:
1.Open coding. The initial organization of raw data to try to make
sense of it.
2.Axial coding. Interconnecting and linking the categories of codes.
3.Selective coding. Formulating the story through connecting the
categories.
• Coding can be done manually or using qualitative data analysis
software such as
• NVivo, Atlas ti 6.0, HyperRESEARCH 2.8, Max QDA and others.
The following table contains examples of research titles, elements to be coded and identification of relevant codes:
Qualitative data coding
Elements to be
Research title Codes
coded
Born or bred:
revising The Born leaders
Great Man Made leaders
Leadership
theory of Leadership
practice
leadership in effectiveness
the 21st century
A study into
Wholly-owned
advantages and
subsidiaries
disadvantages
Joint-ventures
of various entry
Market entry Franchising
strategies to
strategies Exporting
Chinese market
Licensing

Philanthropy
Impacts of CSR Supporting
programs and charitable
initiative on courses
brand image: a Ethical
Activities,
case study of behaviour
phenomenon
Coca-Cola Brand
Company UK. awareness
Brand value
An investigation
into the ways of Viral messages
customer Customer
relationship retention
management in Popularity of
Tactics
mobile social
marketing networking sites
environment
Step 2: Identifying themes, patterns and
relationships.
• Unlike quantitative methods, in qualitative data analysis there
are no universally applicable techniques that can be applied to
generate findings.
• Analytical and critical thinking skills of researcher plays significant role
in data analysis in qualitative studies. Therefore, no qualitative study
can be repeated to generate the same results.
• Nevertheless, there is a set of techniques that you can use to identify
common themes, patterns and relationships within responses of
sample group members in relation to codes that have been specified
in the previous stage.
Specifically, the most popular and effective methods of qualitative data
interpretation include the following:

Word and phrase repetitions – scanning primary data for words and phrases
most commonly used by respondents, as well as, words and phrases used
with unusual emotions;
Primary and secondary data comparisons – comparing the findings of
interview/focus group/observation/any other qualitative data collection
method with the findings of literature review and discussing differences
between them;
Search for missing information – discussions about which aspects of the
issue was not mentioned by respondents, although you expected them to be
mentioned;
Metaphors and analogues – comparing primary research findings to
phenomena from a different area and discussing similarities and differences.
Step 3: Summarizing the data.
• At this last stage you need to link research findings to hypotheses or
research aim and objectives. When writing data analysis chapter, you
can use noteworthy quotations from the transcript in order to
highlight major themes within findings and possible contradictions.
• It is important to note that the process of qualitative data analysis
described above is general and different types of qualitative studies
may require slightly different methods of data analysis.