W3 L2: Lab Report

  • 2000 words

  • no introduction

  • analysis and discussions only

  • methods - analytical procedure - dont need to describe how we collected data bc we didnt

  • discussion should be shorter

  • analysis (findings/ results) still need back up research

  • read methodological papers

  • read data set - take some additional notes

  • TA - thematic analysis

  • analyse childfree dataset

  • facebook comments posted in response to a clip from the official faceboook page of new zealand current affairs show seven sharp

  • form a short film introducing prespectives and experiences of a single woman and a straight couple who have deliberately chosen not to have children

data

  • march 2014

  • comments obtained 2 days after the clip was posted

  • total of 186 posts: 151 comments, 35 replies (response to a comment)

  • main comment or response to a comment matters

  • natualistic/ natural occuring data

  • quote comments

  • focus on meanings expressed in comments

research question

Q. What is the nature of contemporary meaning-making around voluntary not having children?

  • question may evolve during analysis

reading data

  • anotating about:

  1. comments making sense

  2. why might they be making sense?

  3. what different ways do they make sense?

  4. what assumptions do they make in decribing the world?

  5. what kind of world is ‘revealed’ through their account?

  • NOTES ARE NOT THE FINDINGS - they help familiarising with data

  • work on research question - need for asjustments? is it secific and alighned with analysis?

code

  • one comment might have more than one code

  • use Nvivo or word (comment function)

  • code - word or short sentence that captures the content and meaning in the specific passage in the dataset

examples of coding:

comment example

  • self-awareness - semantic coding

  • evironmental reasons

  • reasons - too broad

  • moral reasons - latent coding

  • not the same as being childless

themes

  • presented in analysis

  • after codes - developped from the codes

  • agregating codes that have a similar meaning

  • sometimes use thematic maps - helps visualise findings (but not needed)

word count

  • analytical procedure - 400 (how analysis was done)

  • analysis - 1200

  • discussion - 400

  • references

  • appendices

analytical procedure - 400w

  • how analysis was done

  • how did you familiarise data

  • notes done

  • how was coding made - preestablished? new?

  • research questions - has it evolve?

  • demonstrate reflexibility around analytical procedure

  • identify codes and themes developed - and whether they are semantic or latent + example

  • mention appendices when describing phases

analysis - 1200w

  • introductory paragraph - mentioned if themes were dropped

  • use 2-3 themes - subheadings

  • use emperical evidence + theoretical support for analytical interpretations

  • each data extract should be preceded by a short paragraph

- info abput extrcat, contextual info about comments’ origin (main reply or not)

  • each extract should be followed by extensive analytic paragraph

- comment on elements of data extract + explanation of how they constitute evidence for the theme you have identified

- support analytical interpretations with relevant literature

- analytical paragraph should be longer than the data extract it analyses

discussion - 400w

  • 1 p summary of main findings + possible implications

  • strenghts + limitations of methods used

  • consider the use of interviews to address your research question and 2-3 ethics issues to consider in an interview-based study

  • no subheadings

appendices

  • representing procedural steps

  • initial notes, list of codes + idea associated with each one, screenshots on Nvivo or others, initial thematic maps