Analyzing Qualitative Data Elizabeth Boyd, Ph.D. EPI 240

After the Interview You’ve interviewed 10 (or 20, or 30, or 100) people, now what? Transcription Coding Analysis

Transcription Written representation of the interview Types of transcription: “Cleansed” transcript “Just the words” “Jeffersonian” transcript

The “cleansed” transcript Dr. E: I’m deputy editor of Annals of Internal Medicine. I was associate editor from 1978 to 1999, and I was deputy editor from 1999 to My sub-specialty is pulmonary disease which I practice every day at the University of Pennsylvania. Most of the editors at Annals do practice, though not as extensively as I do. …

“Just the words” IR:So today is March seventh. I’m at Annals of Internal Medicine and I’ll be interviewing Dr. P.E. And for the record can you state your name and position? DrE: It’s P.E. I’m deputy editor of Annals of Internal Medicine. IR: Okay. And how long have you been working at Annals? DrE: Since It’s a long time. I was associate editor from 1978 to 1999 and I’ve been deputy editor from 1999 to 2003.

“Jeffersonian” transcript IR: So: today is March seventh, I’m at Annals of Internal Medicine and I’ll be interviewing doctor Pete Ernest. (0.4) A::nd um for the record can you state your name and position? IE: It’s Pete Ernest, I’m deputy editor of Annals of Internal Medicine. IR: Okay. And how long have you been working at Annals? (0.4) IE: Since nineteen seventy eight. It’s a lo::ng time. I was uh:: associate editor from nineteen seventy eight t nineteen ninety ni:ne, …

Which transcription method to use? Speed versus detail and accuracy What are you most interested in learning -- Content? Narrative? Interaction?/Context?

Coding Goal: To link specific quotes to analytic concepts and categories Some categories precede interviews Based on assumptions, literature Others emerge from data itself Unexpected observations, new insights Coding categories evolve through your interactions with the data

Coding: First steps Codes should stick closely to the data Preserve words/phrases Preserve events Portray viewpoints Suggest contexts

Sample transcript … DR: All righty. Are you taking your medicine? PT: Nope. DR: No? Why not? PT: Well, it’s a long story. DR: Tell me. I am interested in that long story. PT: All right- First of all, when I got the prescription, I recognized these pills as those little things I took years ago from my other doctor, and they didn’t work. I thought, well, maybe now. My system’s changed, maybe they’ll work this time. So I tried them. They didn’t. DR: Uh, what do you mean it didn’t? PT: I get uh very depressed and uh I wake up at night and my head is a real roaring mass -- sounds like a boiler factory, the noise is terrific. DR: Well that pill wasn’t for your boiler factory, that pill was for your blood pressure. PT: Well, I don’t know, but this is the- DR: Do you mean that the pill had that effect on you? PT: Yes, I wake up with a sweat. I didn’t drop them altogether, but I took like one every other day, and I finished the prescription, and I- DR: Now, when you took it every other day, did it give you that trouble at night?

PT: It still, uh,.. Well, felt like I should take something to control my pressure, so once in a while I‘ll have a guilt feeling and take a pill. And then I took a couple from my husband’s bottle, you know, he had the same. So, he was taking the medicine, I was taking the medicine, my son was taking the same medicine. I’ve had - DR: What’s he taking the same medicine for? PT: For pressure -- and I figured, well, one of us, we’re gonna start looking for uh weapons, uh, who’s gonna take the gun, who’s gonna take the knife - DR: Well, you’re all having the same reaction to it? PT: We’re all upset. So I stopped taking them, and then my husband called, you said he could stop, and then my son stopped them. DR: Now nobody’s taking them. PR: Mm- DR: How’s everybody’s blood pressure, eh? PT: (Laughing) I don’t know; I don’t take it. From: Eric J. Cassell. Taking with Patients, Volume 1: The Theory of Doctor-Patient Communication.

Coding: Initial phase Naming each line, segment Open-mind; avoid preconceptions Look for ACTIONS as well as topics Allow new ideas to emerge Codes are provisional Use gerunds to characterize -- “reporting” “naming” “complaining” “mourning” etc. “In vivo” codes: retaining the Ss words, phrases

How to avoid imposing preconceptions on data Achieve intimate knowledge of your data Understand how your respondents understand Don’t take for granted that you know/understand what your respondents are telling you Specify how your concepts help you understand your data

How to avoid imposing preconceptions on data If extant concepts do not add substance to your analysis, are not integral to your understanding, do not use them for the sake of using them. Recognize and reflect upon your own preconceived categories Whenever you want to say, “It is x,” ask “how, why is it so?”

Beginning analysis After initial coding, your analysis becomes selective, directed, and more conceptually motivated Select analytic categories of interest Compare across interviewees and observations Elaborate and expand each category Find boundary cases, deviant cases, typical cases

Analysis Final stage involves explaining how codes/categories may relate to one another -- formulating hypotheses, integrating into theory Looking for causes, contingencies, consequences, covariances, and conditions

A note on causality Causal relationships in qualitative data: A description of a visualizable sequence of events, with each event clearly leading to the next Description must be more than plausible -- it must be thorough and systematic

References Charmaz, Kathy. Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide Through Qualitative Analysis. Sage Publications