Data collection, Organization & Analysis in Qualitative Research

1. Data collection, Organization & Analysis in Qualitative Research Dr. Kishor Gaikwad Associate Professor, Department of History University of Mumbai

2. Is more better? “ I used to tell my residents that research was more like sculpture than painting…..Performing research resembles sculpting in marble, patiently chiselling away until the desired form appears. ……Knowledge emerged more from the act of discarding than from what one adds ….to the marble.” Joel Dimsdale Editor, Psychosomatic medicine January, 1996.

3. Why Choose Qualitative Methodology? • Quantitative methodology requires knowledge of mathematics and statistics, which I have no mastery over • Small samples are fine in qualitative research. • Quicker completion of studies is possible using qualitative research. Myths

4. Why Choose Qualitative Methodology? • Experimental research not possible for ethical reasons. • Relevant variables still not known. • Explore informal unstructured processes. • Goals unstated. *

5. Why Choose Qualitative Methodology? • unobtrusive • low reactivity • accepts unstructured material • context sensitive **

6. Why Choose Qualitative Methodology? • Delve into depth / complexities of process. • Espouse an “emic” epistemology rather than an “etic” one. • Get a holistic overview of the phenomenon being studied. • Obtain thick, vivid descriptions nested in context. ** *

7. Qualitative Methodology is best suited for Understanding : Meaning Context Process Identifying : Unanticipated phenomena Causal explanations Grounded theory A distinct shift from the positivist perspective

8. Steps involved • Choosing a question • Feasibility • Design options • Accessibility and ethics • Data collection options

9. You can choose from: • Narrative • Content • Discourse • Archives • Conversations • Observed behaviors • Rituals and practices, etc as material to be researched

10. Indepth/unstructured Structured Life histories Sampling: WHERE WHEN WHO WHAT Critical incident techniques Individual interviewing Focus Group Discussions QUALITATIVE DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES Use of documents and archival data Observation Historical analysis eg. *public reports * govt. documents * editorials * folklore * fiction, songs, poetry Content Analysis Casestudy Non-participative Participative

11. Data collection methods • Participant observation • Interview • Case study

12. Participant observation Characteristics • Emphasis on descriptives • Narrative is often the data • Meaning is the focus GOAL: To map out phenomena in entirety The emic/insider perspective

13. Choices to be made • ROLE:Participant / Onlooker • POSITION:Overt / Covert • REASON PORTRAYED : Real /Partial Explanation/ No explanation /False explanation • DURATION Limited / Long term • NUMBER OF OBSERVATIONS :Single / Multiple

14. 4 fold typology of participant observation The researcher plays an established participant role in the scene studied. Traditions : ethnography, and anthropology • Malinowski (1922): Trobriand Islands • India : Tribal cultures, health studies……. • Complete observer • Observer as participant • Participant as observer • Complete participant

15. Participative Inquiry could also take the form of Co-operative inquiry….. eg. Feedback about organizational practices • Participatory action research…. eg. Awareness about access issues

16. Critique of participant observation poorly defined research methods lack of rigour lack of precision low operationalization low reliability, validity low replicability ethical issues…..what is the portrayed role of the researcher.

17. Interview “….asking questions and getting answers is a much harder task than it may seem at first” • Individual, face to face, verbal interchange. OR • Group interviews, telephone surveys, even mailed questionnaires. • Single or multi-session

18. Whether to use a questionnaire? • Documentation • Quicker sampling • Standardization v/s • No qualitative exploration • More attrition • Less honest responding!

19. Purposes • Opinion polls • Marketing • Data collection for academic purposes • Therapeutic Trivia Pioneered by Charles Booth, in 1886, to survey economic and social conditions of people in London.

20. Types of interview • Structured Set of pre-established questions to guide the process, often with a limited set of response options • Semistructured Broad outline/skeleton of questions, interspersed with free conversation • Unstructured Free flowing process, open ended. Often combines with participant observation.

21. Issues • Access • Presentation of researcher’s role • Understanding language and culture • Choosing “informant” • Establishing rapport • Collecting empirical support • Ethical issues: informed consent, right to privacy, protection from harm

22. Case study “ some case studies are qualitative studies, some are not.” eg. Physician’s/psychologist’s examination “ cases may be simple or complex” Types: • Intrinsic • Instrumental

23. Approaches • Triangulation • employment of various procedures • redundancy of data gathering • multiple perceptions to clarify meaning Case comparisons • Cross case analysis • Emphasis on EACH case, as well as SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

24. DIFFICULTIES • Case selection • cases are rarely “chosen”,…… they are pre specified, often unique eg. illness, hostages. • sampling for typicality/uniqueness • Opportunity to learn Sampling WITHIN the case • CROSS case analysis • Ethics

25. Data organization and analysis Principle # 1: Data management is closely tied to data collection. “How do I analyze 1000 pages of interview transcripts I have collected?” “Never conduct research in such a way that you arrive at a situation where you have to ask such a question”.

26. How to store it? Principle # 2: How data is stored and retrieved is the heart of data management. Without a clear working scheme, data can be easily miscoded, mislabelled, mislinked and mislaid.

27. What to retain Principle # 3: Discard at your own peril! • Raw materialeg. notes, tapes • “Cleaned” data, eg transcriptions • Coded data and coding scheme • Data displayseg. Matrices, charts, networks • Documentation of step by step procedure • General chronological log, and Index.

28. There seem to be no “right” answers Principle # 3 : Choose your own means of managing the data Options: • QDA packages: Computerized softwares for qualitative data • Convert qualitative to numerical and graphic data

29. Seven Steps of Analysis Graphs Summary score sheet Av. score for each scale Scores for each factor Descriptors for each factor Individual child summary Log notes

30. Softwares • Text base eg. Organize notes into ‘records’ • Code and retrieve eg. Divide text into segments or chunks and code them • Theory builders eg. develop higher -order classifications and categories • Conceptual network builders eg. generates semantic networks, like “belongs to”, “leads to”, etc.

31. Some examples AQUAD100115.230@compuserve.com ATLAS/ ti muhr@cs.tu-berlin.de Kwalitan u211384@HNYKUN11 NUD*IST nudist@latcs1.lat.oz.au The ethnograph Qualis@mcimail.com

32. Alternatives Case analysis • Main themes, summary • Explanations, hypotheses • Alternative explanations • Any revisions, if necessary of plan • Revision, updating

33. Alternatives (contd.) Log notes vis a vis criteria Initiative (Pro-social behaviour) • Chooses to sit in the middle of the group • Moves towards teacher and/or activity • Amongst the first to participate • Imitates responses of children/teacher • Joins children in play or in a collective response such as clapping or laughing. Descriptor: L enjoys being with peers, claps and laugh with them, plays with them but only occasionally sits in the middle preferring to stay a little apart and takes a little time to enter an activity.

34. Alternatives (contd.) Data summary chart & score Try to enter the findings into a summary as you go forward in the research. Ensure that there is scope for conversion into at least a Likert scale, ensuring at least ordinal, preferable interval measurement assumptions. Let us look at an example

36. Alternatives (contd.) Marginal notes & thematic analysis These can prove useful as a coding aid, eg. • He is very angry with his mother and wants to kill her Anger &Hostility • She is feeling very lonely and thinks there is no point in going on livingDepression • They have quarreled, but they will talk it over and everything will be okay in the end. Optimism

37. Content analysis • A research technique for the objective, systematic, and quantitative description of the manifest content of a communication. • A qualitative analysis of symbols, meanings and messages.

38. Content analysis (contd.) ADVANTAGES:unobtrusive, low reactivity accepts unstructured material context sensitive can analyze large volumes of data low cost DISADVANTAGESpoor control over quality of documents incomplete documents presence of artifacts sampling bias recorder bias

39. Alternatives (contd.) Activity records Eg. • Surgical operation • Changing a car tyre • Planting a garden Now choose a theme and write your own activity record

40. Alternatives (contd.) Scatterplots: Career success High Moderate Low Ease of Admission High Moderate Low Select a classification and draw your own scatterplot

41. Alternatives (contd.) Sociograms Sandra Nikhil Javed Micky Archana Sushant Vineeta Kaustubh Choose any group and construct a scattergram

42. Alternatives(contd.):Graphical displays

43. In Qualitative research, in summary • Discover classes of events • Properties of each class • Organize data in order to do so • Generate categories, themes, patterns • Test emergent hypothesis • Search for alternative explanations • Report

44. Take care to evaluate your findings Parameters • Credibility • Confirmability • Meaning in context: Holistic approach • Recurrent patterning • Transferability • Generalizability to similar context

45. All the best ………….and thank you. “ You have to set the stage, organize your data, and organize your brain, so that you set the stage for having the insight.” Szent Gyorgyi, 1980.