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Creswell, Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, 4e © 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson Education, Inc All rights reserved. Analyzing and Interpreting Qualitative Data Chapter 8
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Chapter 8, analyzing qualitative data

Apr 06, 2023

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Page 1: Chapter 8, analyzing qualitative data

Creswell, Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, 4e

© 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Analyzing and Interpreting Qualitative

Data

Chapter 8

Page 2: Chapter 8, analyzing qualitative data

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, 4e - CreswellISBN: 0132755912

© 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved.8-2

By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:

Identify the six steps in the process of analyzing and interpreting qualitative data

Describe how to prepare and organize the data for analysis

Describe how to explore and code the data Use codes to build description and themes Construct a representation and reporting of qualitative findings

Make an interpretation of the qualitative findings

Advance validation for the accuracy of your findings

Page 3: Chapter 8, analyzing qualitative data

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, 4e - CreswellISBN: 0132755912

© 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved.8-3

Six Steps in Analyzing and Interpreting Qualitative Data Preparing and organizing the data for analysis

Exploring the data through coding Using codes to develop description and themes

Representing the findings through narratives and visuals

Making an interpretation of the meaning of the findings

Conducting a validation of the accuracy of the findings

Page 4: Chapter 8, analyzing qualitative data

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, 4e - CreswellISBN: 0132755912

© 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved.8-4

The Process of Data Analysis

Codes the text fordescription to be usedin the research report

Codes the text forthemes to be usedin the research report

The researcher codes the data (locates text segments and assigns a code to label them)

The researcher prepares data for analysis(transcribes fieldnotes)

The researcher collects data (a text file, such as fieldnotes, transcriptions, optically scanned material)

The researcher reads through data (obtains general sense of material)

SimultaneousIteractive

Page 5: Chapter 8, analyzing qualitative data

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, 4e - CreswellISBN: 0132755912

© 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved.8-5

Preparing and Organizing the Data Develop a matrix or table of sources that can be used to organize the material

Organize material by type Keep duplicate copies of materials Transcribe data Prepare data for hand or computer analysis (and select computer program)

Page 6: Chapter 8, analyzing qualitative data

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, 4e - CreswellISBN: 0132755912

© 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved.8-6

Exploring the Data Obtain a general sense of the data by performing a preliminary exploratory analysis

Read through fieldnotes and interviews several times to get a sense of the interview and the observation

Write memos in the margins of interviews or fieldnotes of your initial reflections on the data

Consider whether more data are needed

Page 7: Chapter 8, analyzing qualitative data

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, 4e - CreswellISBN: 0132755912

© 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved.8-7

Coding the Data Read through all transcripts Start with one transcript Identify text segments. Ask, “What is this person saying?”

Bracket text segment Assign code word

One, two, or three words that describe what is being said

Terms from the literature can be used When possible use a participant’s actual words (in vivo code)

Practice lean coding (30–40 codes)

Page 8: Chapter 8, analyzing qualitative data

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, 4e - CreswellISBN: 0132755912

© 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved.8-8

Coding the Data (cont’d)

Include codes that describe the participants and site

Reduce redundancy Take out codes that are duplicate ideas Reduce to a manageable list (usually 25–30)

Collapse codes into themes, which are: The major ideas that emerge from the data The ideas the participants most frequently discuss, are unique or surprising, have the most evidence to support them, or those you might expect to find when studying the phenomenon

Usually number 5–7

Page 9: Chapter 8, analyzing qualitative data

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, 4e - CreswellISBN: 0132755912

© 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved.8-9

A Visual Model of the Coding Process in Qualitative Research

Reduce codes to5–7 themes

Initially readthrough data

Divide text into segmentsof information

Label segments ofinformationwith codes

Reduce overlap andredundancyof codes

Collapsecodes intothemes

Manypages of text

Manysegments of text

30–40codes

Codesreducedto 20

Page 10: Chapter 8, analyzing qualitative data

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, 4e - CreswellISBN: 0132755912

© 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved.8-10

Using Codes to Build Description Describe

People Events Activities Processes

Describe in detail

Page 11: Chapter 8, analyzing qualitative data

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, 4e - CreswellISBN: 0132755912

© 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved.8-11

The Incident and Response

The incident occurred on the campus of a large public university in a Midwestern city. A decade ago, this city had been designated an “all-American city,” but more recently, its normally tranquil environment has been disturbed by an increasing number of assaults and homicides. Some of these violent incidents have involved students at the university.The incident that provoked this study occurred on a Monday

in October. A forty-three-year-old graduate student, enrolled in a senior-level actuarial science class, arrived a few minutes before class, armed with a vintage Korean War military semiautomatic rifle loaded with a thirty-round clip of thirty caliber ammunition. He carried another thirty-round clip in his pocket. Twenty of the thirty-four students in the class had already gathered for class, and most of them were quietly reading the student newspaper. The instructor was en route to class.The gunman pointed the rifle at the students, swept it

across the room, and pulled the trigger. The gun jammed. Trying to unlock the rifle, he hit the butt of it on the instructor’s desk and quickly tried firing it again. Again it did not fire. By this time, most students realized what was happening and dropped to the floor, overturned their desks, and tried to hide behind them. After about twenty seconds, one of the students shoved a desk into the gunman, and students ran past him out into the hall and out of the building. The gunman hastily departed the room and went out of the building to his parked car, which he had left

Description builds from broad to narrow

Building a Descriptive Passage

Situate the readerin the placeProvide details

Detail to create a sense of “being there”Use of action verbsand vivid modifiersand adjectives

Type of Description

Page 12: Chapter 8, analyzing qualitative data

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, 4e - CreswellISBN: 0132755912

© 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved.8-12

Using Codes to Identify Themes Ordinary themes Unexpected themes Social science themes Layering and connecting themes

Page 13: Chapter 8, analyzing qualitative data

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, 4e - CreswellISBN: 0132755912

© 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved.8-13

Safety The violence in the city that involved university students and the subsequent gun incident that occurred in a campus classroom shocked the typically tranquil campus. A counselor aptly summed up the feelings of many: “When the students walked out of that classroom, their world had become very chaotic; it had become very random, something had happened that robbed them of their sense of safety.” Concern for safety became a central reaction for many informants. When the chief student affairs officer described the administration’s reaction to the incident, he listed the safety of students in the classroom as his primary goal, followed by the needs of the news media for details about the case, helping all students with psychological stress, and providing public information on safety. As he talked about the safety issue and the presence of guns on campus, he mentioned that a policy was under consideration for the storage of guns used by students for hunting. Within 4 hours after the incident, a press conference was called during which the press was briefed not only on the details of the incident, but also on the need to ensure the safety of the campus. Soon thereafter the university administration initiated an informational campaign on campus safety. A letter, describing the incident, was sent to the university board members. (One board member asked, “How could such an incident happen at this university?”)

Coding Used in Theme PassageTitle for themebased on words ofparticipant

Evidence for themes based on multipleperspectives ofparticipantsWithin themesare subthemes

Page 14: Chapter 8, analyzing qualitative data

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, 4e - CreswellISBN: 0132755912

© 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved.8-14

Representing the Findings

Comparison table: A table used to compare groups on one theme

Demographic table: A table of demographics on individual participants and/or research site

Hierarchical tree: A diagram that visually represents themes and their interconnections

Figures/diagrams: A visual depiction that shows the interconnections between themes

Drawings: Maps of the physical layout of the site

Page 15: Chapter 8, analyzing qualitative data

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, 4e - CreswellISBN: 0132755912

© 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved.8-15

Reporting the Findings Multiple perspectives for each theme

Metaphors and analogies Quotes Detail Tensions and contradictions

Page 16: Chapter 8, analyzing qualitative data

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, 4e - CreswellISBN: 0132755912

© 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved.8-16

Interpreting the Findings Interpretation is not neutral Reflect about the personal meaning of the data

Compare and contrast personal viewpoints with the literature

Address limitations of the study Make suggestions for future research

Page 17: Chapter 8, analyzing qualitative data

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, 4e - CreswellISBN: 0132755912

© 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved.8-17

Validating the Accuracy of the Findings Member checking: Asking members to check the accuracy of the account

Triangulation: Using corroborating evidence

External audit: Hiring the services of an individual outside the study to review the study