Data and Analysis

Managing, Analyzing, and Interpreting Data Marshall, C. and Rossman, G. B. (2006) Designing qualitative research, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, Calif. CHAPTER 5 Recording and Managing Data Generic Data Analysis Strategies Analytic Procedures Organizing the Data Immersion in the Data Generating Categories and Themes Coding the Data Writing Analytic Memos Offering Interpretations Searching for Alternative Understandings Writing the Report or Representing the Inquiry Dialogues Between Learners Further Reading

Number of newspaper clippings and percent of total per year Table 10.3 Content analysis of 603 newspaper clippings covering Los Belvederes, 1982-1990 Main topic of newspaper clipping (including feature articles, brief reports, press releases, commentary, and letters to the editor) Number of newspaper clippings and percent of total per year 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988-1989 1990 Popular Mobilization1 Demands and/or claims re: land tenure, services and political action. Ecological arguments and projects calling for alternative (sustainable) development 14 45% 0% 40% 16 14% 24 21% 15 22% 7 10% 39 39% 562 37% 1 1% 21 25% 32% Diverse Topics (e.g., poverty, residential segregation) covered from a pro-colono perspective; Official declarations and politically conservative commentary concerning the politics of containment3 9 29% 8 26% 4 11% 17 49% 18% 56 48% 13 19% 32 13% 47 47% 9% 80 53% 45 56% 11 52% Total N = 603 31 35 117 67 99 151 81 22

Prefigured technical – Emergent Intuitive Continuum “Whether the researcher prefigures the analysis before collecting data, begins analyzing while collecting, or collects burst and analyzes later depends on the qualitative genre and assumptions of the study. Generating categories of data to collect, like cells in the matrix, can be an important focusing activity of the study. Tightly structured, highly organized, data-gathering and data analyzing schemes, however, often filter out the unusual in the serendipitous – the puzzle that it tended to and pursued would require a recasting of the entire research endeavor. Thus, a balance must be struck between efficiency and design flexibility” (p. 154). “In qualitative studies, data collection and analysis typically go hand-in-hand to build a coherent interpretation. The researcher is guided by initial concepts in developing understandings that she shifts or modifies as she collects and analyzes the data. Her overall strategy is closer to the interpretive code/subjectivist end of the continuum rather than the technical/objectivist end” (p. 155). Source: Marshall, C. and Rossman, G. B. (2006) Designing qualitative research, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, Calif.

Analysing and interpreting your findings Robson, C. (2007) How to do a Research Project: A Guide for Undergraduate Students, Blackwell Publishers, Madden, Mass. CHAPTER 6 What this chapter tries to do Preparing for analysis Quantitative (numerical) data Categorical variables Ordered categorical variables Summarizing and displaying categorical data Continuous variables Calculating summary statistics with continuous variables Calculating variability Displaying continuous variables Statistical tests and statistical significance Effect sizes Clinical significance What test do I use? Qualitative data Data reduction and organization An example ‐ the grounded theory approach to analysis Using specialist computer packages for qualitative data analysis Summary of qualitative data analysis Interpretation ‐ what is going on here? Further reading

Analyzing Case Study Evidence Yin, R. K. (2003) Case study research : design and methods, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, Calif. CHAPTER 5 An Analytic Strategy: More than Familiarity with Analytic Tools Specific Analytic Techniques Pressing for a High‐Quality Analysis