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Analysis And Interpretation Worksheet
Week eight final assignment
RES/724 v6
Analysis and Interpretation Worksheet
Part I: Analysis and Interpretation
Interview Data:
1. Select an appropriate analytic procedure to code your interview data.
https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/24614_01_Saldana_Ch_01.pdf
2. Code your data using a qualitative data analysis program or by hand in a separate document. This process must identify: (1) codes and themes, (2) sub-codes, (3) categories, and (4) subcategories.
a. Discuss your approach to coding the interview data. What procedure(s) did you select? Justify your response.
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3. Examine the results of your analytic procedure(s).
a. Identify 2 or 3 initial assertions based on your interpretation of the interview data. Discuss how you arrived at each assertion.
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b. Synthesize your initial assertions into a key assertion about the central phenomenon in your mock study.
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Observation Data:
1. Review the Observation Guide you completed in Week 6, paying attention to your field notes and detailed narrative passages.
2. Compose 2 or 3 analytic memos triggered by your field notes.
a. Memo 1:
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b. Memo 2:
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c. Memo 3:
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3. Compose a meta-memo that synthesizes the primary elements from your analytic memos into a new whole.
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4. Examine the results of your analytic procedure(s).
a. Identify 2 or 3 initial assertions based on your interpretation of the observation data. Discuss how you arrived at each assertion.
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b. Synthesize your initial assertions into a key assertion about the central phenomenon in your mock study.
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Part II: Reflection
Write a 700- to 1,050-word reflective essay about your experience applying qualitative research methods and the knowledge you have gained from this course. Include your essay in the space below.
The strength of qualitative research method gained from this course is the ability to provide complex textual descriptions of how people experience a given research issue. It provides information about the “human” side of an issue that is, the often-contradictory behaviors, beliefs, opinions, emotions, and relationships of individuals. It seeks to understand a given research problem or topic from the perspectives of the local population it involves. Qualitative research is especially effective in obtaining culturally specific information about the values, opinions, behaviors, and social contexts of populations. In the qualitative methods are also effective in identifying intangible factors, such as social norms, socioeconomic status, gender roles, ethnicity, and religion, whose role in the research.
Although findings from qualitative data can often be extended to people with characteristics similar to those in the study population, gaining a rich and complex understanding of a specific social context or phenomenon typically takes precedence over eliciting data that can be generalized to other geographical areas or populations. In this sense, qualitative research differs slightly from scientific research in general. One advantage of qualitative methods in exploratory research is that use of open-ended questions and probing gives participants the opportunity to respond in their own words, rather than forcing them to choose from fixed responses, as quantitative methods do. Qualitative research is conversational, it is important for data collectors to maintain clear boundaries between what they are told by participants and what they tell participants. The three most common qualitative methods, explained in detail in their respective modules, are participant observation, in-depth interviews, and focus groups. Each method is particularly suited for obtaining a specific type of data.
Participant observation is appropriate for collecting data on naturally occurring behaviors in their usual contexts. In-depth interviews are optimal for collecting data on individuals ‘personal histories, perspectives, and experiences, particularly when sensitive topics are being explored. Focus groups are effective in eliciting data on the cultural norms of a group and in generating broad overviews of issues of concern to the cultural groups or subgroups represented. Even if it were possible, it is not necessary to collect data from everyone in a community in order to get valid findings. In qualitative research, only a sample (that is, a subset) of a population is selected for any given study.
The study’s research objectives and the characteristics of the study population (such as size and diversity) determine which and how many people to select. In this section, we briefly describe three of the most common sampling methods used in qualitative research: purposive sampling, quota sampling, and snowball sampling. As data collectors, you will not be responsible for selecting the sampling method. The explanations below are meant to help you understand the reasons for using each method. Conversation is a social act that requires give and take. As qualitative researchers we “take” a lot of information from participants and therefore can feel a strong need to “give” similar information in return.
People also enjoy talking about what they hear and learn, and researchers are no different. It may be tempting to pass along seemingly inconsequential information from one participant to another. Strategies for protecting confidentiality are described throughout in each of the method modules. But some situations will require unique strategies. The ways in which confidentiality might be breached should be carefully considered before data collection begins and explicit strategies be put in place for protection. The research question is always of secondary importance.
This means that if a choice must be made between doing harm to a participant and doing harm to the research, it is the research that is sacrificed. Fortunately, choices of that magnitude rarely need to be made in qualitative research. But the principle must not be dismissed as irrelevant, or we can find ourselves making decisions that eventually bring us to the point where our work threatens to disrupt the lives of the people we are researching. Another advantage of qualitative methods is that they allow the researcher the flexibility to probe initial participant responses that is, to ask why or how. The researcher must listen carefully to what participants say, engage with them according to their individual personalities and styles, and use “probes” to encourage them to elaborate on their answers.
Coding: https://getthematic.com/insights/coding-qualitative-data/
https://getthematic.com/insights/3-best-practices-for-coding-open-ended-questions/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3848812/