UNIT 17 ANALYSIS OF QUALITATIVE DATA

Structure
17.1 17.2 17.3 17.4 17.5 Introduction Objectives Nature of Qualitative. Data Sources of Qualitative Data Collection Deciding Data Analysis Strategies
17.5.1 Ongoing Analysis Versus Analysis at the End 17.52 Structured and Open-ended Analysis 17.5.3 Analysis Related to Qualitative Genre

17.6

Components of Qualitative Data Analysis 17.6.1 Data Reduction 17.6.2 Data Display 17.6.3 Drawing and Verifying Conclusion Let Us Sum Up Unit-end Activities Points for Discussion

17.7 17.8 17:9

17.10 Suggested Readings

17.1 1 Answers to Check Your Progress

17.1 INTRODUCTION
Analysis and interpretation of data is the most crucial phase in social science research. But, the challenge faced by the social science researcher is to make sense of a massive amount of data, reduce the volume of information, identify significant patterns, and construct a framework for communicating the essence of what the data reveal. In case of qualitative data "few agreed on canons for these data analysis, in the sense of shared ground rules for drawing conclusions and verifying their sturdiness" (Miles and Huberman, 1984). There are no formulae for determining significance. There are no ways of perfectly replicating the researcher's analytical thought processes. There are no straightforward tests for reliability and validity. In short, there are no absolute rules except to do the very best with our full intellect, to fairly represent the data and communicate what the data reveals given the purpose of the study. This does not mean that there are no guidelines to assist in analyzing qualitative data. But guidelines and procedural suggestions are not rules. Applying guidelines requires judgement and creativity. Because each qualitative study is unique, the analytical approach used will be unique. Because qualitative inquiry depends at every stage on the skills, training, insights, and capabilities of the researcher, qualitative analysis ultimately depends on the analytical intellect and style of the analyst. The human factor is both the great strength and the fundamental weakness of qualitative inquiry and analysis. 77

Data Analysis and interpretation

In this unit, you will be provided with the knowledge of nature of qualitative data, sources of qualitative data collection, how to decide data analysis strategies and components of qualitative data analysis.

17.2 OBJECTIVES
After studying this unit, you will be able to: discuss the complexities involved in the analysis of qualitative data; identify and discern quantitative and qualitative data; describe the variety of sources through which qualitative data can be collected; list the qualitative data analysis strategies; explain the uniqueness of different data analysis strategies; and analyze data using qualitative techniques.

17.3 NATURE OF QUALITATIVE DATA

In Unit 14 you were told that there are two types of data: (i) quantitative and (ii) qualitative. In quantitative data, numerical values are assigned to the characteristics or properties of objects or events, according to logically accepted rules. Whereas, in qualitative data no such numerical values are assigned and the description or narration of events or situations are taken as they are. As you already know quantitative data describe an empirical event or phenomenon in a numerical system with the help of different scales of measurement: nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio. Nominal scales of measurement are used when a set of objects among two or more categories is to be differentiated on the basis of certain clearly known characteristics, such as gender, nationality etc. The ordinal scales of measurement correspond to quantitative classification of a set of objects done with the help of ranking on a continuum. The interval scale of measurement is based on equal units of measurement. It includes how much or how little of a given characteristic or attribute is present. Ratio scale is the highest level of measurement. Since this scale assumes the existence of absolute zero, this type of measurement is almost non-existent in educational and psychological measurement. Qualitative data consists of 'detailed descriptions' of situations, events, people, interactions, observed behaviours, still or moving images and artifacts. These data are also available in the form of 'direct quotations' from people about their attitudes, beliefs, and thoughts; 'excerpts' or 'entire passages' from documents, correspondence records and case histories. In addition to these, verbal data gathered through open ended questionnaires, observations, and interviews are also mostly qualitative in nature. It may be noted that all these data are not usually immediately accessible for analysis, but require some processing. Raw field notes needs to be corrected, edited, typed; tape recordings need to be transcribed and corrected; video filming needs to be technically edited, and so on.

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Check Your Progress Notes :a) Space is given below for your answer.
b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
1.

Analysis of Qualitative Data

State briefly the nature of qualitative data.

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2. Give three examples of qualitative data.

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3.
State any two characteristics of qualitative data.

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17.4 SOURCES OF QUALITATIVE DATA COLLECTION

The main source of qualitative data collection is the 'Field' or 'Research Site'. When a researcher enters the field, practically every aspect of the field provides scope for qualitative data collection. For example, the people and their interaction patterns, the social event / s, the cultural practices, the language and literature, the art and artifacts, the general ambiences of the research site and the researcher's field notes and diary. Apart from these, the archieval materials also form another major source of data collection.

17.5 DECIDING DATA ANALYSIS STRATEGIES

Analysis of qualitative data is the process of systematically organizing the information collected from the field. In a study typically following qualitative approach, data analysis is a fixed stage 1 step and the data analysis techniques are more or less decided in advance. Whereas in a qualitative study, deciding about the data analysis strategies is very crucial and much depends upon the thinking and creativity of the researcher. There is typically not a precise point at which data collection ends and analysis begins. However, before taking any decision about qualitative data analysis strategies, the researcher makes a review of the following:

Data Analysis and Interpretation

i)
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The conceptual framework of the study. The research questions raised in the study.

iiii The- strategy for research and design adopted.

Thus, the above review sets the stage for deciding about qualitative data analysis strategies. The qualitative data analysis strategies are based on several decisions which include: (i) Ongoing Analysis versus Analysis at the End; (ii) Structured or Open-ended Analysis; and (iii) Analysis Related to Qualitative Genre.

17.5.1 Ongoing Analysis Versus Analysis at the End

In terms of when the researcher formally starts analyzing, there are basically two options available to him - ongoing analysis or analysis at the end of data gathering. In the ongoing analysis phase, the analysts fonnally~reflectabout the data, ask analytic questions and write analytic notes throughout the study. Those who analyse at the end, wait until all (or most) of data are gathered and then begin the task of asking analytic questions. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. More experienced field workers tend to analyse as they go. The beginners try to do some analysis as the study unfolds because it makes the final analysis easier and less daunting. However, in either case, Rossman and Rallis (1998) have suggested the following points which may be kept in view by a researcher:

Keep your questions in mind. Remember what you are trying to learn about. Moditjl your data gathering based on what you are learning, not chance. Ask analytic questions as you go along. Write all the time. Note hunches, thoughts, impressions; write analytic notes. Talk your ideas through with people. Read and read and read what others have said about the topic. Practice good management skill for keeping the data organized and accessible. Discipline yourself to log the day's activities, noting the date, what you did, names, times, and places. These points are invaluable suggestions which will facilitate ongoing analysis or analysis at the end.
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Check Your Progress Notes :a) Space is given below for your answer.

b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.
4.

What are the points to be kept in mind before deciding about Data Analysis Strategies?

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5.

What does a researcher do at the:

i)

Analysis o f Qualitative Data

Ongoing analysis state

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i Analysis at the end.

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17.5.2 Structured and Open-ended Analysis
Another decision to be made is how structured or open-ended is the analysis. In a structured strategy, analytic categories have been identified at the conceptualization and design phase. Open-ended analysis, in contrast, pose grand questions, are open to the unexpected, and let the analytic direction of the study emerge as it progresses. For example, suppose you are engaged in a study of School Improvement Programme. In this study, the structured analytic categories would be as follows:
School Improvement Programme

Structured Analytic Impinging Internal Adoption Categories Factors Context Decision

Cycle of Outcomes Transformations

In the same example, if you have decided to use open ended analysis strategies the procedure would be as follows:
School Improvement Programme

Impinging Factors
What are the assumptions or characteristics of this innovative programme?

How far does the External Context - the community or district education office, act as an impinging factor?

Internal Context
What is the prior history of innovations in this school? To what extent do the demographic factors affect the school innovation programme? What are the organizational rules, norms, work arrangements, practices within the class and the school at large?

Adoption Decision
Do the school authorities have concurrence regarding the decisions to be
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Data Analysis and Interpretation

What are the support systems made available for implementation?

Cycle of Transformations

How frequently does the school plan for improvement?

Outcomes

To what extent is the school improvement programme institutionalized? What are the perceived gains and losses - individual and institutional? What are the side effects - positive, negative, anticipated and unanticipated? Depending upon the responses to the above categories, further categorieb and themes will emerge. Forecasting or closely stipulating analytic categories does not occur with open-ended studies. In practice, studies fall somewhere along a continuum, as with the assumptions you make about social science and society. Most studies are more or less either open-ended or structured; few are all one way or the other.
Check Your Progress Notes :a) Space is given below for your answer.

b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.

6. What is the main difference between structured analysis and open-ended analysis?

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17.5.3 Analysis Related to Q~~alitative Genre

Analysis is also shaped bq t'sc genre framing your study. For example, phenomenological studies are + . erl-ended, searching for themes of meaning in participant's lives. Broad cate3t-l-tcs are sought, with sub themes to elaborate the topography of meaning. A feri,iikl,.l phenomenological study would search for the deep meaning of women's e; ,:criences - what are women's experiences of pairiarchy, what role does oppression play in their lives, specific instances of discrimination and so on. Ethnc:!raphic studies usually begin with broad domains for gathering data that then shapc analysis; they are balanced between structure and openness. Case studies are nnicluely intended to capture the complexity of a particular event, programme, individual or place. They focus holistically on the organisation or individual. Analysis, then. proceeds L;gically and systematically from decisions made earlier on; it does not begin at ,t;lne point in the study. Decisions made about the specific strategy, assumptions almut knowledge and truth, and the genre most congruent with thesc decisions. al! forecast analysis. Whether you analyse as you go on or hold off untli thc eild o t a study; whether you have stipulated analytic categories at the concept~lalization stage or let them emerge; whatever the qualitative genre framing the study, the process of analyses are similar.

Check Your Progress Notes : a) Space is given below for your answer.
b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.

Analysis of Qualitative Data

7. Give an example to show how analysis is shaped by the genre framing the
study.

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17.6 COMPONENTS OF QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS

Once the data analysis strategy is decided, the next task to be done involves three concurrent flows of activity - data reduction, data display, and drawing conclusion and verification ( Miles Huberman, 1994). It may be mentioned here that these three activities are by no means exclusive and that they form a part of data analysis strategies. Brief explanations of those activities are as follows:

17.6.1 Data Reduction

It refers to the process of selecting, focusing, simplifying, abstracting, and transforming the data that appear in written - up field notes or transcriptions. Data reduction is not something separate from analysis. It is a part of analysis. Data reduction is a form of analysis that sharpens, sorts, focuses, discards, and organizes data in such a way that meaningful conclusions can be drawn and verified.

17.6.2 Data Display

The second major flow of analysis activity is data display. Generally, a display i s an organized, compressed assembly of information that permits conclusion drawing and action. Looking at display helps us to understand what is happerling and to do something - either analyse further or take action - based on that understanding As with data reduction, the creation and use of displays is not separate from analys~s, it is a part of analysis. Designing a display - deciding on the rows and columns of a matrix for qualitative data and deciding which data, In nhicli lim. s1:c~lld be entered in the cells - are analytic activities.

17.6.3 Drawing and Verifying Conclusion

The third stream of analysis activity is conclusion drawing and verification. From the start of data collection, the researcher in the field makes notes about the activities and their explanations. Subsequent1y;these notes revaal some possible configurations from where tentative conclusions are draw11and they are verified and cross checked, while in the field, to check about the credibility of those conclusions. Given below is an example to illustrate how the above three actibitic~
hr~,?
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Note: The example given below is only one interaction paftcrr, t:, event which has been presented.

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Data Analysis and Interpretation

Field Note Date : 241611 986 Time: 8 a.m. Place: Thuamul

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Rampur

Event: A school drop out working as a labourer in a construction site.

Rohit is a school dropout of VI1 standard. I met him earli.er in his house and wanted to talk to him, but he was shy and refused to talk. I then decided to observe him, how he spends / utilizes his time and in the process find out the reasons of his dropping out. It is a construction site. One individual (who I don't know) is giving directions to a group of people (Rohit included) to attend to some task. In the mean time, he calls Rohit, gives him some money and sends him to fetch tea for him from a nearby teastall. On his return, he stares at him (why I don't know), scolds him and sends him to the same teastall again and after some time Rohit returns, speaks something to him and goes back to the work he was doing. On my enquiring, the gentleman explained that Rohit had committed some error in calculating and as a result, he had scolded him. Also, he expressed surprise that despite having studied upto Std. VII, Rohit did not know even simple calculation! Meanwhile, I had some other discussion with him (though it was not on my agenda) and by then he ordered all people working at the site for a lunch break. It was about 12.00 noon when I left the place. The field note presented above contains a wide variety of information pertaining to my task. For the purpose of my analysis, I may not need them all. So through the process of data reduction the following text has been arrived at.

Date: 241611 986

Time: 8 a.m.

Place: Thuamul - Rampur

Event: A school dropout working as a labourer in a construction site.

Rohit is a school dropout of Std. VII. When questioned by the investigator, he refused to divulge the reasons for his dropping out. Consequently, the investigator wanted to observe him to know how he utilizes his time. Rohit was engaged as a labourer in a construction site. One day he got a scolding (from the owner perhaps) for committing a calculation mistake. The owner's perception was that a VIIth standard student was not supposed to commit errors in simple calculation. What is meant by simple calculation - no clarity exists. If the above transcribed field note is presented in the form of data display then the text appears somewhat like this.

Date : 24/6/1986

Time: 8 a.m.

Place: Thuamul - Rampur

Event : A school dropout working as labourer in a construction site.

Name of the individual Dropout at which class Current Engagement Other than as a labourer, what was the work he was engaged in due to which he got a scolding?

- Rohit
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VIIth Labourer at a construction site

- Fetching tea from the teastall

Qualitative Data

Why was he at fault? What was the perception of the owner? What is simple calculation? Did the owner verify whose fault it was? What did Rohit have to say?

No information VIIfh standard educands are not supposed to commit mistakes in simple calculation No clarity

No information No information

Thus, the data display presented above reveals some tentative conclusions that Rohit is a school dropout of VIIth standard engaged as a labourer in a construction site. One day, due to an error in calculation, he was ridiculed by the owner. In the absence of adequate information, it is very difficult to say whether he knows calculation or not and whether it is because of this lack of mathematical knowledge that he left the school. Such tentative conclusions, help the investigator to probe further till all the unanswered questions are answered in order to arrive at a final conclusion about one aspect of Rohit's dropout behaviour.

Check Your Progress

Notes : a) Space is given below for your answer.

b) Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this unit.

8.

State the meaning of the following: i) Data Reduction

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ii) Data Display

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iii) Conclusion

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Data Analysis and Interpretation

17.7 LET US SUM UP

In this unit, we discussed the challenges faced by the social and behavioural science researcher in doing qualitative analysis of data; the necessity of skills, training, insights, and capabilities of the researcher in analyzing qualitative data, and the human factor which is both a great strength and weakness of qualitative inquiry and analysis. Also, we have discussed the meaning and characteristics of qualitative data, the sources and the points to be kept in mind while deciding about qualitative analysis strategies. The main points of discussion in the entire unit are as follows: We have a few agreed - on canons for qualitative data analysis. There are no absolute rules for qualitative analysis of data except to do the very best with one's full intellect and fairly represent the data. Qualitative analysis ultimately depends on the analytical intellect and style of the analyst. Data are mainly of two types - Quantitative and Qualitative. Quantitative data describes an empirical event or phenomenon in a numerical system with the help of different scales of measurement - nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio. Qualitative data consists of detailed descriptions of situations, events, people, interactions, and observed behaviours. The main source of qualitative data is the field or research site. Other than people and their socio-cultural interaction patterns, the art, literature and artifacts too are the sources of qualitative data collection. In addition, archieval material also serves as a source. Decision about qualitative data analysis strategies is dependent upon the conceptual framework of the study, the attendant research questions, and the strategy for research and design. There are three alternatives available for deciding qualitative data analysis strategies. They are, (i) Ongoing Analysis Versus Analysis at the end, (ii) Structured or Open-ended Analysis, and (iii) Analysis Related to Qualitative Genre. The decision about data analysis is followed by three concurrent flows of activity viz, Data Reduction, Data Display, and Drawing Conclusion and Verification. Data reduction is the process of selecting, focusing, simplifling, abstracting, and transforming the data that appear in the field notes. Data display is an organized, compressed assembly of information that permits drawing of conclusion and action. Conclusion drawing and verification stems from data display which is verified and cross-checked while the researcher is in the field.

17.8 UNIT-END ACTIVITIES

1.

ldentifjl three dropout cases in your locality at school level. Observe them and display their data in qualitative terms.

2.

Observe children who do not attend school and prepare a display record of these children.

Analysis of Qualitative Data

17.9 POINTS FOR DISCUSSION

Take the following points for discussion with your counsellor.
1)

Analysis of Qualitative data or Qualitative analysis of data - Are they the same or are they different? Discuss

2) Why is it necessary for the beginner to try to do some analysis as the study unfolds? 3) Can there be any other way to decide about qualitative data analysis strategies?

17.10 SUGGESTED READINGS

Denzin, Normann K. and Lincoln, Y. S. (eds.) (1994): Handbook of Qualitative Research. New Delhi: Sage Publications. Patton, Michael, Quinn (1990): Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods. New Delhi: Sage Publications. Rossman, GB., and Rallis, S.F. (1998) Learning in the Field -An Introduction to Qualitative Research. New Delhi: Sage Publications. Tesch, Renota (1990): Qualitative Research: Analysis Types and Sofmare Tools. London: The Falmer Press.
- An

Miles, Mattew. B. and Hubarman, A. Michael (1994): Qualitative Data Analysis Expanded Source Book. 2nded., New Delhi: Sage Publications.

17.1 1 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1. Qualitative data is the detailed descriptions of situations, events, people, interactions, and observed behaviours. Quotations, ii) Narration of experiences by an Individual, iii) Responses to an open-ended question.

2. i)

3. Qualitative data are words, that is, language in the form of extended text. They are at times direct quotations from people, excerpts or entire passages from records and documents. 4. The conceptual framework of the study, the attendant research questions, and the strategy for research and design. The Ongoing analyst formally reflects about data, asks analytic questions, and writes analytical notes.

5. i)

ii) Those who analyse at the end, wait until all (or most) of the data are gathered and then begin the task analytic questions.

6.

In structured analysis the analytic categories are identified at the conceptualization and design phase where as in the open - ended analysis the analytic direction emerges as the study progresses.
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Data Analysis and Interpretation

7. For instance, a feminist phenomenologic study would search for the deep
meaning of women's experiences. The conceptual framework would seek information pertaining to women's experiences of patriarchy, how oppression plays out in their lives and so on.
8.

i)

Data Reduction refers to the process of selecting, focusing, simplifying, abstracting, and transforming the data that appear in the field notes. permits conclusion drawing and action.

ii) Data Display is an organized, compressed assembly of information that

iii) Conclusion drawing and verification stems from display which is crosschecked while the researcher is in the field.