Qualitative Data Analysis Systems Analytical Methods Qualitative Data Analysis Systems

Concepts to be covered this lecture Intro to QDAS Software N5: a "grounded theory"-based QDAS

What is Qualitative Research Focus groups Case Studies Delphi Method Content Analysis Action Research

Grounded theory: the process Initial reading and analysis accomanied by “open coding” of the text (attributing subjects and making annotations as the text is read) Progressively more complex coding and annotation of the text as ideas and initial theories are explored

Grounded Theory: the process Axial coding: building relationships between codes The role of QDAS systems: enhancing the process of coding and researching the material The risks: reification of the coding: the coding takes on a life and meaning of its own The benefits: the theories are at all times “grounded” in the underlying text, and the annotations are open to scrutiny

The role of QDAS software Follow a disciplined approach obtaining the research data Follow a disciplined approach to coding the results Free-form exploration of themes and ideas will then be easy QDAS is valuable in handling large document collections

Coding The importance of thinking through the coding strategy is important QDAS software like N5 allow free-form exploration of content Nevertheless, the larger the body of text, the more likely a consistent coding approach will yield valuable results

TEXT UNIT You can choose the underlying annotation unit at Lines Sentences * Paragraphs

VITAL DISTINCTIONS Whole-document coding Single text unit coding A category is assigned to the "whole contents" of a document Single text unit coding A category is assigned to a single text unit only (ie the category is really only relevant to that text unit only)

Coding & Analysis Phases: Phase 1: Open Coding Review: Building categories Phase 2: Coding and analysing by categories: "thematising" Review: Start building/reviewing against hypothesis Phase 3: Detailed analysis & conclusions

Thematising The coding of the key concepts Using a tools such as N5 allows the building of conceptual models above the original content, but grounded in that content Visual implementation of "boolean" logic helps build concepts

Types of codes - Descriptive "I think that copyright is a waste of time. I don't have to worry anyway because no one is prosecuted for what they do at home. I put lots of stuff up on Napster." This might be coded: ANTI PRONAPSTER

Types of codes - Interpretive Your analysis/judgement comes into play: "I think that copyright is a waste of time. I don't have to worry anyway because no one is prosecuted for what they do at home. I put lots of stuff up on Napster." Could be coded: NAÏVE-ANTI

Ways of coding Reading and coding each individual item Using search /find functions to locate documents and code them

Postulating a hypothesis Eg: Students favour freedom of copying over copyright restrictions But: our coding process is also about building our sense of the data and patterns of opinion and expression

Changing our hypothesis Our research focus and direction may change based on the data we have at hand. This is why the initial coding should be entirely freeform At an early stage, review the coding and look for consistent "categories" and labels Possibly: start tying in coding to relevant socially constructed codes

For example Our hypothesis might change to: "Students favour copyright protection but continue to use copyright-avoidance systems".

"Closure" Saving and using results: system closure The fact that QSR NUD*IST makes a new node with the answer to your search is an important feature of the program. It is designed to allow you to ask the question you wanted to ask, in the data context you want to focus on, and to save the answer so you can ask another question based on it. This ability to save answers as more data in your analysis system is a valuable aspect of QDAS software

Common Themes Information Retrieval concepts apply here: specificity and exhaustivity Boolean logic to refine your search for codes and concepts QDAS shares many concepts with contact management systems and Data Mining systems

Context: Grounded Theory The objective of QDAS software is to provide a record of the "process" through which the qualitative analysis has been arrived at Because the coding from ground up is visible, it can be interpreted and analysed to "prove" the hypothesis by others as well Risks: reification - we do not know our own inherent assumptions as we do the codification: eg what is the meaning of "black" and "white".

Popular systems Atlas/TI NUD*IST (N5/N6)

ATLAS/TI More intuitive user interface & hyperlinking between coding Better visualisation Can process audio and video data NUD*IST Flexible hierarchical structure Mutability & flexibility in coding: all structures (memos, codes) can form part of new conceptual structures. Total text based. Some limitations on coding (eg 1 memo per document)

N5 WALK THROUGH