Analysing Qualitative Data

In my feed back from Paula on module 2 one of her suggestions was to research and find literature on Analysing Data.

My surveys through ‘Monkey Survey’ are now all complete and collected and so is my narrative interviews from video recordings.

I decided to read through two research documents on how to analyse Qualitative date, links shown below, that were recommended to be by a college lecturing in a European university.  Time is of the essence and the few pages in the link were easy to read, understand and digest.  

It was made very clear that I had collected too much data.  My survey questions number 10. At this moment, I am considering choosing only two or three important and relevant  questions and answers to analyse.

I will have to consider choosing answers that;

• focus and justify my inquiry question
• compare and link to any quotes or important points from literature I’ve read
• link with relevant key points in my narrative interviews.

Quotes and generalising. 

I’ve read that ‘quotes’ should be chosen carefully to directly support an argument and that permission is needed by the owners, but they need to remain anonymous... I am currently seeking my interviewees permission to quote them as many are globally known teachers and performers, successful and influential people in the world of Salsa and Middle Eastern Dance. They are leaders, carving the paths of these evolving dance styles, listening to what students and spectators want..

By quoting people you avoid generalising as the responses are original to the individual's own perspective.

One to one narrative interviews

My narrative interviews number four in total, two interviews per dance style, each lasting approximately forty minutes.

My concerns were about the length and in some interviews I had gone off track with the questioning as the conversations became more and more interesting and revealing..

Little had I realised how much music influences these dance from a historical prospective.  Both music and dance are intwined within the evolution of this Art.

My most exciting interviews were musicians although my inquiry focuses on the dance styles, I will however need to emphasize on the influence of the music.

For the written data its a process of ‘Noticing, Collecting and Thinking about interesting things.  It’s a continuous circle of going from any one of those words as a starting point to jumping to another many times over.  The best thing for me would be to physically cut up pieces of written interesting points and put them in individual piles then disassembling the piles into smaller piles.

Analysis is a breaking up, separating, disassembling of research materials into pieces, parts, elements or units.  With facts broken down into manageable pieces the researcher sorts and sifts them, searching for types, classes, sequences, processes, patterns and wholes.  The aim is to assemble or reconstruct the data in a meaningful or comprehensible fashion (Jorgensen, 1989:107).

Coding like colours or words to represent an argument, facts or points is recommended.  As you notice interesting data, code it.  I can see that it may be a messy and confusing solution for me but I will physically lay out these piles as having pieces of paper lying around seems to help me in seeing things more clearly.

At first data may appear to be a mass of confusing unrelated, accounts.  But by studying the coding (often I code the same materials several times just after collecting them), the researcher begins to create order  (Charmaz, 1983:114)  

From this, mapping could be used as we practiced in modules 1 & 2 or putting it into a table.

I think I have to be aware of how much coding will influence my analysis, seems to be the beginning of another process that could pulls you deeper into your data.

I found these two links very useful. 

http://learningstore.uwex.edu/assets/pdfs/g3658-12.pdf

ftp://ftp.qualisresearch.com/pub/qda.pdf

I look forward to comments, suggestions and ideas.