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Analysis Pointers

INFO 272. Qualitative Research Methods 21 April 2009. Analysis Pointers. Outline. Weak and Strong Analysis Fallacies of Interpretation. Weak analysis. Analytical findings should not simply reflect the initial constructs/concepts from your interview guide

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Analysis Pointers

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  1. INFO 272. Qualitative Research Methods 21 April 2009 Analysis Pointers

  2. Outline • Weak and Strong Analysis • Fallacies of Interpretation

  3. Weak analysis • Analytical findings should not simply reflect the initial constructs/concepts from your interview guide • Your analysis is not simply an exercise in verification

  4. Example: Voices of the Poor • A massive, multi-national World Bank, qualitative interview project • Interview guide emphasizes ‘well-being’ and findings suggest that “again and again people distinguished between well-being and wealth.”

  5. Strong analysis: Close attention to language • What distinctive terms does the interviewee introduce? • How do they divide up the social (and material) world into elements? • What relationship is posited between these elements?

  6. Strong analysis: Typologies and Taxonomies • Gospel • Worship • Praise (faster beat) • Hi-life • Hip-life • Francophone • Gbeho • Hip-hop (American) • Rap (American) • R&B (American) • Kuul, Kulz, Cool • Celine Dion • Westlife(?) • Old School, Old Skuul, Old Skull • Phil Collins • Also contains Hi-life (but not hip-life) • acapella • Instrumental • Country Music • Reggae • Regular • Bob Marley • Lover’s Rock (i.e. Celine Dion, I will always love you, reggae style) [from interviews about music in Accra, Ghana]

  7. Strong analysis: mapping out the diversity of instances • What are all the different forms of Internet scam stories – ‘success stories’ ‘protection stories’ ‘victimization stories’ • Maintaining contradictions and inconsistencies and counter-examples (the social world is messy)

  8. Strong analysis: ‘how’ questions • Not “what is the relationship between two variables?” – causation or correlation questions • Instead “How does this system work?” –process questions

  9. Strong analysis: checking saying against doing • What people say is often not what they do • Even if you don’t carry out observation within an interview transcript you can relate an interviewees concrete examples in interviews to their statements about general attitudes, opinions

  10. Fallacies of Interpretation • The fallacy of the missing middle • “Internet Scammers: Robin Hood or Common Criminal?” • Suggesting a dichotomy between two terms that are not mutually exclusive or collectively exhaustive [Boyce, Chap. 18, Bauer and Gaskell]

  11. Fallacies of Interpretation • The adversarial fallacy • That among two sides in a conflict, one is innocent and the other guilty (or truthful and fallacious) • Triangulation of multiple perspectives is not for the purpose of establishing an external truth or for ‘taking sides’ [Boyce, Chap. 18, Bauer and Gaskell]

  12. Fallacies of Interpretation • Imputing motive and (in general) mind reading • You can’t definitively read motive from observed behavior • You only know what people’s intentions are when they tell you (and even this is imperfect)

  13. Fallacies of Interpretation • The fallacy of disproportionate evidence • Available evidence is uneven • The State generates more documentation than ordinary people. • What perspectives are missing from your data? [Boyce, Chap. 18, Bauer and Gaskell]

  14. Final Word • Stay close to your data! • Read and re-read your transcripts, fieldnotes, and any other data! • Don’t forget to code!

  15. Workshop • Iteration • Beyond Interviews • Intervention Ideas • Questions/Problems

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