Qualitative Analysis

1. Qualitative Analysis Workshop 5 ESRC Workshops for Qualitative Research in Management

2. Identification of training need • Current literature places great stress upon the methods used to go out and collect or generate the data, but there is much less written about the actual analytical techniques/ process. • There is much more training available for quantative software packages (eg SPSS) than for qualitative software packages).

3. Workshop aim: • To provide an introduction to the process of qualitative analysis and to use step by step examples to provide an idea of how to the process of qualitative analysis actually works. • To provide an introduction to Computer Aided Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS) and signpost further information sources.

4. Workshop objectives By the end of this workshop participants should: • Be familiar with the process of qualitative analysis may be conducted. • Be able to source further information on different approaches to analysis • Understand the basic function of qualitative software. • Be able to source further information on a variety of software packages.

5. Workshop outline • Introducing different approaches to qualitative data analysis Grounded Theory Discourse Analysis • Computer Aided Qualitative Data Software Analysis (CAQDAS). • Further sources on CAQDAS • Further information on qualitative data analysis

6. Approaches to qualitative data analysis. • Approaches to be covered: Grounded Theory Discourse Analysis

7. Grounded theory is……. • Theory which is derived inductively from the data which were systematically gathered and analyzed throughout the research process (Strauss and Corbin 1998). • Data collection, analysis and theory stand in a reciprocal relationship with each other. A researcher does not begin with a pre-conceived theory in mind, rather the researcher begins with an area of study and allows the theory to emerge from the data.

8. Grounded theory involves…. 1. An initial attempt to develop categories which illuminate the data. 2. Saturation of these categories with many appropriate cases in order to develop their relevance. 3. Developing these categories into more general analytical frameworks with relevance outside the setting. Glaser and Strauss (1967).

9. Glaser/Strauss split • Glaser’s (1978, 1998) position assumes an objective external reality, a neutral observer who discovers data and an objectivist rendering of the data. Therefore Glaser’s position is often perceived as close to traditional positivism (Charmaz 2000 ). • Strauss and Corbin argue for unbiased data collection, a set of technical procedures and the need for verification -therefore they also imply an objective external reality. • However, Strauss and Corbin also move away from traditional positivism through the acknowledgment that respondents views of reality may conflict with their own (See Strauss and Corbin 1998).

10. Glaser and Strauss (and Corbin) • Both realist in ontology and epistemology • Both follow the canons of objective reportage and engage in silent authorship and usually write about their data as distant experts (Charmaz 1994) thereby contributing to the objectivist stance.

11. Skills needed for the grounded theory research approach Important to minimise subjectivity by: • Maintaining an open disposition, a willingness to be surprised • Think comparatively; comparing incident to incident • Study multiple viewpoints of the phenomena in question • Researcher should periodically step back and ask ‘what is going on here?’

12. Phase 1 - Initial attempt to develop categories which illuminate the data. • Conceptual ordering / creating basic codes • Internal aspect- they must be meaningful in relation to the data • External aspect- they must be meaningful in relation to other categories (Dey 1993: 96-97).

13. Phase 1 - Initial attempt to develop categories which illuminate the data. • Open coding: the analytic process through which concepts are identified and their properties and dimensions discovered in the data (Strauss and Corbin 1998). • Microanalysis of the data • Progressive refocusing in light of the data

14. Phase 1 - Initial attempt to develop categories which illuminate the data. Categories: 1.Perceptions of management 2. Customer Aggression Put about how customer aggression is defined as anything frontliner or researcher perceives as such. Put about problems of definition and how this workshop does not aim to deal with this.

15. Phase 2- Saturation of categories with many appropriate cases and further development of categories • Axial Coding: further analysis and linking of the codes • Creating subcategories in categories • Linking categories according to properties and dimensions.

16. Axial coding: creating subcategories Perceptions of management subcategories: • Perceived in a positive way. • Perceived in a negative way • Perceived as neither positive or negative.

18. Axial coding: creating subcategories. • Customer Aggression Subcategories: • Verbal aggression • Physical aggression • Substance abuse and customer aggression • Lack of understanding and acknowledgement of customer aggression’

19. Phase 3 - Developing categories into general analytical frameworks with relevance outside the setting. • Selective coding: the process of integrating and refining categories. • Major categories are finally integrated to form a larger theoretical scheme.

20. Phase 3 - Developing categories into general analytical frameworks with relevance outside the setting. • In certain public sector workplaces, which deal with face to face interaction with potentially violent customers, the physical presence of management is desired by frontliners.

21. Phase 3: Developing categories into general analytical frameworks with relevance outside the setting • use of literature in this final stage of analysis in order to confirm findings and to illustrate where the research differs from the literature.

22. Criticisms of grounded theory • Failure to acknowledge theories which guide work at an earlier stage. • Rejoinder: Recognition of impossibility of tabular rasa. However, Strauss and Corbin acknowledge that every piece of research (quantitative or qualitative) has an element of subjectivity. Instead they stress the importance of taking appropriate measures to minimize the subjectivity in their analyses

23. Criticisms of grounded theory • Concentrating on the generation of theories at the expense of their quality and usefulness. A major problem of grounded theory is that if the researcher has no knowledge of the literature, they risk re-inventing the wheel. • Rejoinder: Strauss and Corbin (1998) argue that these procedures are supposed to be followed with creativity, flexibility and intelligence. They explain that it is the construction of new insights and understanding which are significant and useful that is at the heart of this method.

24. Criticisms of grounded theory • Postmodernists and poststructuralists dispute obvious and subtle positivistic premises assumed by grounded theory’s major proponents and within the logic of the method itself • Response: Creation of constructivist grounded theory which stresses emergent, constructivist elements such as an interpretive understandings of individual’s meanings

25. Further sources on Grounded Theory • Charmaz, K., (1994) Grounded Theory: Objectivist and Constructivist Methods in Denzin, N. and Lincoln, Y. (ed.) Handbook of Qualitative Research, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. • Glaser, B. and Straus, A. L. (1967) The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research, Chicago: Aldine • Strauss, A. and Corbin, J. (1998) Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory, Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

26. Workshop outline • Introducing different approaches to qualitative data analysis Grounded Theory Discourse Analysis • Computer Aided Qualitative Data Software Analysis (CAQDAS). • Further sources on CAQDAS • Further information on qualitative data analysis

27. Discourse analysis • Discourse analysis focuses on language as a social practice in its own right and is concerned with how individuals use language in specific social contexts • Enables researcher to gain an understanding of how individuals use language to construct themselves and the world around them • Enables researcher to understand why individuals use language to construct themselves and the world around them • Enables researcher to understand the ideological effects of individuals constructions.

28. Discourse analysis Huge variation in types of discourse analysis: ‘the only thing that commentators are agreed on in this area is that terminological confusions abound’ (Potter and Wetherall 1987:6) In approaches such as ethnomethodolgy and conversation analysis discourse is concerned with the more linguistic concerns of the structure of talk and the processes used by speakers to construct their worlds (Schwandt 2001). Foucauldian approaches consider discourses as systems of power/knowledge which are socially and culturally located and which construct subjects and their worlds (Gubrium and Holstein 2000).

29. Levels of discourse • Analysis at the micro, context specific level of discourse and the more macro level of Discourse. • Analysis of discourse as reflecting meaning or analysis of discourse as constructing meaning. (Alvesson and Karreman 2002).

30. Dimensions in discourse studies. Taken from Alvesson and Karreman (2002)

31. Critical discourse analysis • Language plays an active, constructive role. • Unit of analysis is language and not the individual. • Anti-essentialist -individuals draw on alternative versions of reality according to the situation. • (Marshall 1994).

32. Doing discourse analysis • Identification of interpretive repertoires • Identification of social constructions which have regulatory effects. • Consistency in discourse is not seen to illustrate some underlying reality, but is used to signpost a particular repertoire.

33. Doing discourse analysis Discourse can be confirmed by: • Referring to instances of its use in other texts • Illustrating its dominance in any specific socio-cultural context.

34. Doing discourse analysis • Analysis will focus on: • Force • Context • Hegemonic Struggle

35. Doing discourse analysis • Force of the text: • Understanding what it is trying to achieve • Relationship between repertoires

36. Doing discourse analysis • Importance of context of text production. • Interview transcripts usually involve an indication of previous comment or question.

37. Doing discourse analysis • Example of context of extract: • Request from the researcher for a story about a ‘difficult’ customer. • Neo-liberalist trend of service/customer orientation in the public sector.

38. Doing discourse analysis • Analysis of hegemony- extent to which a proposition is challenged or anticipated to be challenged. • Hegemonic struggle – when different ideologies compete for dominance.

39. Criticisms of discourse analysis • Accusation of moral nilhism: unethical acts are dismissed as having no material reality • Countered by argument that discourse analysis does not deny material reality, but focuses on the way our understandings of such practices are constructed through discourse.

40. Criticisms of discourse analysis • Voicing concerns for groups who do not consider themselves to be oppressed or disadvantaged. • Subversion of oppressive discourses may lead to alternative suppressive discourses for other social groups. • Difficulty of identifying interpretative repertoires when research is not independent of linguistic resources needed to construct discourse.

41. Further sources on Discourse Analysis Discourse Analysis • Dick, P., (2004) Discourse Analysis, in Cassell, G., and Symon, G., (eds) Essential Guide to Qualitative Methods in Organizational Research, London: Sage • Alvesson, M., and Karreman, D., (2002) Varities of Discourse: On the study of organizations through discourse analysis, 53(9): 1125-1149 • Fairclough, N., (2003) Analysing Discourse, Textual analysis for social research, New York; Routledge

42. Workshop outline • Introducing different approaches to qualitative data analysis Grounded Theory Discourse Analysis • Computer Aided Qualitative Data Software Analysis (CAQDAS). • Further sources on CAQDAS • Further information on qualitative data analysis

43. CAQDAS: Data organisation • An ‘indispensable tool for storage retrieval and manipulation of the text ‘(Kelle 1995). • Allows the researcher to sort the data into easily accessible categories to enable quick retrieval of data • Comparison of segments • Refinement and development of codes • Examples include NVivo, Atlas, ethnograph, hypersoft and code-a-text

44. What does CAQDAS actually do? Aids mechanical data management techniques such as: • Cutting and pasting into codes • Creating subcategories • Notes in the margin

45. Additional uses of CAQDAS • Atlas also allows the storage of audio recordings. • Code-a-text allows the researcher to work with sound, video and transcript concurrently. • Atlas also allows pictures to be scanned in and used as data, allowing handwritten notes to be scanned in this way.

46. Additional uses of CAQDAS • Hypersoft strives to avoid decontexualisation of data through hyperlinks. • Use of CD ROM to record research which could provide the opportunity for multiple readings of the text.

47. Debates surrounding CAQDAS • Assertion that software packages seem more suited for objectivist grounded theory than more social constructivist approaches (Charmaz 2000). • Accusations of overemphasis on coding and promote a superficial view of qualitative research (Coffrey et al 1996). • Use of computer fragments data

48. Debates surrounding CAQDAS • The central analytic task in qualitative research – understanding the meaning of text cannot be computerised. Using CAQDAS is no substitute for thinking hard about the meaning of data. (Seale 2000). • Only the more mechanical task of data management can be aided by a computer. • Use of software package reflects choices of the researcher.

49. In summary • Choose software to fit research not research to fit software!! • Overall CAQDAS tends to be used as tool for intelligent management of research data.

50. Conclusion ‘Qualitative enquiry depends, at every stage, on the skills training, insights, and capabilities of the inquirer. Qualitative analysis ultimately depends on the analytical intellect and style of the analyst’ (Patton 2004: 436).