1. Data Analysis and Representation
Chapter 8
Data Analysis
and
Representation
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

2. Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e
Key Questions
What are the common data analysis strategies used in qualitative research?
How might the overall data analysis process be conceptualized in qualitative research?
What are specific data analysis procedures used within each approach to inquiry, and how do they differ?
What are the procedures available in qualitative computer analysis programs, and how would these procedures differ by approaches to qualitative inquiry?
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

3. Three Analysis Strategies
Analytic Strategy
Madison (2005)
Huberman & Miles (1994)
Wolcott (1994b)
Sketching ideas
Write margin notes in fieldnotes
Highlight certain information in description
Taking notes
Write reflective passages in notes
Summarize field notes
Draft a summary sheet on fieldnotes
Getting feedback on ideas
Working with words
Make metaphors
Identify codes
Abstract coding or concrete coding
Write codes, memos
Reduce codes into themes
Identify salient themes or patterns
Note patterns and themes
Identify patterned regularities
8.3
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

4. Three Analysis Strategies (cont.)
Analytic Strategy
Madison (2005)
Huberman & Miles (1994)
Wolcott (1994b)
Count frequency of codes
Relating categories
Factoring, noting relations among variables, building a logical chain of evidence
Relate to analytic framework in literature
Contextualize in framework from literature
Create a point of view
For scenes, audience, readers
Display the data
Create a graph or picture of the framework
Make contrasts and comparisons
Display findings in tables, charts, diagrams, and figures; compare cases; compare with a standard
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e
8.4

5. The Data Analysis Spiral
Account
Matrix, trees
Propositions
Representing
Visualizing
Context,
Categories
Comparisons
Describing
Classifying
Interpreting
Reflecting
Writing notes
Across questions
Reading
Memoing
Files,
Units,
Organize
Data
Managing
Data Collection
(text, images)
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e
8.5

6. Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e
Data Management
Organize data into file folders or computer files
Make back-up copies of the data
Construct an organizational plan so that the data is easy to locate
Convert files into text units (e.g., word, sentence, story)
Computer programs can facilitate data management and storage of data ,
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

7. Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e
Reading and Memoing
Read entire transcripts several times to get an overall meaning
Make notes in the margins of transcripts, field-notes or photographs as you read to note key phrases, ideas, or concepts
These notes can become part of the database for analysis
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

8. Describing, Classifying, and Interpreting
Code the data to describe the context of the setting
Develop codes or categories that describe what is being talked about or seen in a visual image (e.g., photograph)
Develop only about codes (“lean coding”)
Codes can be counted to see how frequently they appear in the data
Preexisting or a priori codes can sometimes come from the literature
Codes can originate from the researcher or can be in vivo codes which are the exact words of the participants ,
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

9. Describing, Classifying, and Interpreting
Code segments to look for
Codes that represent information that researchers expect to find before the study
Codes that represent surprising information the researchers did not expect to find
Codes that represent information that is conceptually interesting or unusual to researchers
Use codes to develop larger themes
Themes are the broad general ideas that come from the coding process
Limit themes to 5-7 that have sub-themes to support the themes (“winnowing the data”)
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

10. Describing, Classifying, and Interpreting
Using a postmodern perspective, theme may be formed during data analysis to:
Dismantle a dichotomy to expose a false distinction
Examine silences noting who or what is excluded
Attend to disruptions and contradictions to learn where the texts fail to make sense
Focus on the element most peculiar to the text
Interpret metaphors as a rich source for multiple meanings
Analyze double entendres that point to an unconscious subtext
Separate group-specific and more general sources of bias by reconstructing the text with substitution of its main elements
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

11. Describing, Classifying, and Interpreting
All qualitative research is interpretive.
Interpretation of the data involves making sense of the data
It is based on researcher hunches
It can be based on social science constructs
It can be based on personal views that are contrasted with social science constructs
The process of interpretation involves forming larger meanings of what is happening in the situations or sites
Post modern and interpretive researchers view these interpretations as tentative, inconclusive, and questioning ,
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

12. Representing, Visualizing
Researchers package the findings as text, tables, or figures
Matrix tables can be used to compare men and women in terms of themes or categories
Tree or hierarchical diagrams can be used to represent the levels of abstraction in the analysis
Axial coding diagrams in grounded theory studies illustrate the parts in the process being studied
Hypotheses or propositions in grounded theory studies specify the relationships among the categories
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

13. Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e
Analysis Within the Approaches to Inquiry: Narrative (Clandinin & Connelly 2000)
Analysis centers on the story to be told
Chronology
Epiphanies (turning points)
Options for analysis
Focus on the five elements of plot structure (characters, setting, problem, actions, and resolution)
Three dimensional space approach focusing on interaction (personal and social), continuity (past, present, future), and situation (physical places or the storytellers’ places) ‘ ‘ ‘
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

14. Analysis Within the Approaches to Inquiry: Narrative
Common elements to both approaches
Collecting personal stories
Retelling stories based on narrative elements such as the five elements approach or three dimensional space approach
Rewriting the story into a chronological sequence
Incorporating the setting or place of the participant’s experiences
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

15. Analysis Within the Approaches to Inquiry: Narrative
Identifying life experiences in biographical research (Denzin 1989b)
The participant constructs a journal or sketch of his or her life
The researcher looks for life-course stages or experiences to develop a chronology
The researcher looks for contextual materials
The researcher asks the participant to expand on sections of stories and theorize about his or her life
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

16. Analysis Within the Approaches to Inquiry: Narrative
Identifying life experiences in biographical research (cont.)
The narrative segments and categories are isolated and meanings are determined
The researcher reconstructs the story and identifies the factors that have shaped the life
The final case includes the processes of the individual’s life, the theories that relate to these life experiences, and unique and general features of life
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

17. Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e
Analysis Within the Approaches to Inquiry: Phenomenology (Moustakas 1994)
The researcher describes personal experiences with the phenomenon (bracketing)
Develop a list of significant statements that are non-overlapping and have equal worth about how individuals are experiencing the topic (horizonalization)
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

18. Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e
Analysis Within the Approaches to Inquiry: Phenomenology (Moustakas 1994)
Collapse the statements into meaning units or themes
Write a description of what the participants in the study have experienced (textual description)
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

19. Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e
Analysis Within the Approaches to Inquiry: Phenomenology (Moustakas 1994)
Write a description of how the experience happened (structural description)
Write a composite description of the phenomenon that incorporates both the textual and structural descriptions
This is the essence of the experience
It is the culmination of the study
It is a long paragraph that tells the reader what the participants experienced with the phenomenon and how or in what context they experienced it
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

20. Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e
Analysis Within the Approaches to Inquiry: Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin 1998)
Open coding
Researcher examines and codes the text and develops categories
Researcher attempts to saturate the categories
Researcher dimensionalizes the categories by creating subcategories called properties that represent multiple perspectives on the categories and presents the dimensionalized categories on a continuum typically in a table that contains each of the dimensionalized categories
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

21. Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e
Analysis Within the Approaches to Inquiry: Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin 1998)
Axial coding
Researcher identifies a single category from the open coding list as the central phenomenon of interest (central category)
Researcher uses the remaining categories to form a coding paradigm consisting of the causal conditions, intervening conditions, context, strategies, and consequences that relate to the central category
The coding paradigm presents a theoretical paradigm of the process that is being studied ,
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

22. Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e
Analysis Within the Approaches to Inquiry: Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin 1998)
Selective coding
The researcher creates a conditional matrix based on the axial coding paradigm (This is seldom seen in studies)
This matrix is used to help the researcher visualize the range of conditions and consequences related to the phenomenon
The researcher generates propositions (hypotheses) from the theory. These hypotheses could be tested using empirically quantitative methods
The researcher forms a storyline connecting the categories
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

23. Analysis Within the Approaches to Inquiry: Ethnography (Wolcott 1994b)
Description
Describe the culture-sharing group and setting
Present the facts without interpretation
Present the facts in an interesting way
Can chronicle a day in the life of the group or individual
Can focus on a critical or key event or develop a story complete with plots and characters that can focus in the interaction between groups or showing different perspectives through the viewpoints of the participants
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

24. Analysis Within the Approaches to Inquiry: Ethnography (Wolcott 1994b)
Sorting through the materials
Developing a description, identifying themes (searching for patterned regularities), and making interpretation
Building taxonomies and comparison tables
Comparing cultural groups to others or evaluating the group according to standards
Connecting the culture-sharing group and broader theoretical frameworks
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

25. Analysis Within the Approaches to Inquiry: Ethnography (Wolcott 1994b)
Interpretation
The researcher probes the question, How does the culture-sharing group work?
The researcher goes beyond the data to draw inferences from the data or turns to theory to provide structure for interpretations
The researcher personalizes interpretations
The researcher may also develop an interpretation though poetry, fiction, or performance
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

26. Analysis Within the Approaches to Inquiry: Case Study (Stake 1995)
Description of the case and its setting
If there is a chronology of events, find evidence for each step
Determine how the case or incident fits into the larger situation
Approaches to analysis and interpretation
Categorical aggregation: the researcher collects instances from the data to look for issue-relevant meanings
Direct interpretation: the researcher looks at a single instance and draws meaning from it
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

27. Analysis Within the Approaches to Inquiry: Case Study (Stake 1995)
Approaches to analysis and interpretation
Cross-case analysis: the research studies two or more cases to look for similarities between the two
Naturalistic generalizations: the researcher notes what can be learned for individuals or a larger population from the case
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

28. Computer Use in Qualitative Data Analysis
Advantages of using qualitative analysis software
provides a means to store data
provides an organized filing system
Helps the researcher locate material easily
Allows the researcher to look at the data more closely
The researcher can visualize the relationship among codes and themes with concept mapping features
Memos can be created, associated with codes and themes, and can easily be retrieved
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

29. Computer Use in Qualitative Data Analysis
Disadvantages of using qualitative analysis software
Time must be spent learning the software
Perceived discomfort introduced by the computer between the researcher and data
Perception that the data and organizational structures are set by the software and can’t be changed
Software documentation is sometimes confusing
Some programs may not have the features the researcher needs
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

30. Common Packages Available
NVivo7: (
Atlas.ti: (
HyperRESEARCH (
Ethnograph: (
Qualrus: (
MAXqda (
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

31. Comparing Software Packages
BASIC
FEATURES
ATLAS.TI
NVIVO
HYPERRESEARCH
MAXQDA2
Platform
Windows
Mac/
Import text files X
Import image files
Import audio and
video files
Concept mapping
Allows for team
work
Export report to
Excel or SPSS
Text file
Memoing
Drag and drop
coding
Text searching
8.31
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

32. Ways Computer Programs Facilitate Qualitative Data Analysis
Helps store and organize data
Helps locate text or image segments
Helps locate quotes or segments associated with codes in large databases
Facilitates comparing codes
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

33. Ways Computer Programs Facilitate Qualitative Data Analysis
Facilitates forming themes
Creates a visual concept map of themes and codes
Facilitates writing, storing and attaching memos
Helps create a template that fits the analysis
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

34. Data Analysis and Representation
Chapter 8
Data Analysis
and
Representation
Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e