Qualitative Data Analysis Approaches

Flashcards on qualitative data analysis approaches.

General foundation of qualitative data analysis

Data analysis spiral

Narrative Study

A family of methods that interpret texts in a storied form, prioritizing structure, chronology, and meaning in personal stories to understand events, turning points, and epiphanies in an individual’s experience.

Key Process of Narrative Analysis

Collecting narratives, retelling/structuring narratives, chronologically rewriting stories, analyzing context/settings, and developing themes/meaning.

Literary-oriented Narrative Analysis

Plot structure analysis and three-dimensional space approach.

Chronological Narrative Analysis

Biographical analysis and identifying patterns and meaning making.

Plot structure analysis

Analyzing text for characters, setting, problem, actions, and resolution.

Three-dimensional space approach

Interaction (personal and social), continuity (past, present, future), and situation (physical and social setting).

Biographic analysis

This method reconstructs an individual’s life course by identifying significant experiences.

Identifying Patterns and Meaning Making

Narratives are examined through similarities, differences, change, and coherence.

Riesman’s Four Analytical Strategies

Thematic analysis, structural analysis, dialogic/performance analysis, and visual analysis.

Thematic analysis

Focuses on recurring themes, patterns, and meanings within the narrative.

Structural analysis/discourse analysis

Focuses on the form and linguistic features of the narrative, examining sentence structure, voice pitch, and metaphors.

Dialogical/performance analysis

Views storytelling as a collaborative, social act shaped by interactions with the audience, including tone, gestures, and emotions.

Visual Analysis

Incorporates photographs, drawings, videos, or other visual materials into narrative research.

Phenomenological Approach

Seeks to understand the essence of a lived experience by analyzing detailed personal accounts from individuals.

Steps to conduct Phenomenological analysis

Describe personal experiences (bracketing), list significant statements (horizonization), group statements into themes, create textural/structural descriptions, and write a composite experience.

List of Significant Statements (Horizonization)

Examining interviews and identifying key statements that reflect the phenomenon, giving each statement equal weight.

Group statements into meaning units (Themes)

Categories for meaningful patterns in statements.

Textural description

Describes the experience in detail, incorporating direct participant quotes.

Structural experience

Explores the context and setting in which the phenomenon occurs.

Composite experience

Integrates textural and structural descriptions into a universal essence, summarizing the phenomenon.

Grounded Theory

Building theory.

Grounded theory analysis consists of three steps

Open coding, axial coding, and selective coding.

Open coding

Identifying categories and subcategories based on participants’ responses until data saturation is reached.

Axial Coding

Identifying causal relationships between categories using Strauss and Corbin’s coding paradigm (causal conditions, phenomenon, strategies, context, consequences).

Selective coding

Develops a core category and builds a story connecting all categories, forming a theoretical model with propositions or hypotheses .

Ethnographic Data Analysis Method

Description, analysis, and interpretation.

Description

The foundation of ethnographic research, presenting vivid details of the setting, people, and activities without personal interpretations.

Analysis

Sorting and organizing data, searching for patterns, comparisons, and systematic relationships.

Interpretation

Explains why patterns exist and their broader significance, connecting findings to larger cultural and economic forces.

Case Study Steps

Description: Establishing the case and its settings. Analysis: Categorical analysis, direct interpretation, pattern recognition and cross-case analysis. Interpretation: Drawing meaning from the case.

Description in Case Study

Providing a detailed description of the case and its context.

Categorical aggregation

Looking for recurring themes across different sources.

Direct interpretation

Focusing on a single case in depth.

Pattern recognition

Finding relationships between two or more themes.

Cross-case analysis

Comparing two or more cases.

Interpretation in Case Study

Making sense of the findings through generalizations and theoretical connections.