MTE 3113

ACTION RESEARCH 1
(PRIMARY MATHEMATICS)
METHODOLOGY
TOPIC 5
ANALYZING QUALITATIVE DATA
(2 hours)
Educational Research
Procedure
1. Choosing a research problem
2. Determining the research objective
3. Determining the research questions
4. Determining the research hypotheses
5. Reviewing the literature
6. Planning the research design
7. Determining the sampling procedure
8. Constructing the research instrument
9. Constructing the validity and reliability
of the instrument
10. Determining the data collection
procedure
11. Collecting data
12. Analyzing and interpreting the data
13. Reporting the results and findings
Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Lit. review
Chapter 3 Methodology
Chapter 4 Findings
Chapter 5 Conclusion
Analyzing and interpreting
data
Theres a world of difference between truth and facts.
Facts can obscure the truth.
- Maya Angelou
Things arent always what we think!
Six blind men go to observe an elephant. One feels the side and thinks the
elephant is like a wall. One feels the tusk and thinks the elephant is a like a
spear. One touches the squirming trunk and thinks the elephant is like a
snake. One feels the knee and thinks the elephant is like a tree. One
touches the ear, and thinks the elephant is like a fan. One grasps the tail and
thinks it is like a rope. They argue long and loud and though each was partly
in the right, all were in the wrong.
For a detailed version of this fable see:
http://www.wordinfo.info/words/index/info/view_unit/1/?letter=B&spage=3

Blind men and an elephant
- Indian fable
Analysis
Begins before you start the
qualitative research,
Continues (during data collection)
throughout the effort, unlike many
quantitative studies
(After data collection) develop ideas
and test them against your
observations,
modify ideas as you gather more
material and reflect on it
The Analysis Continuum
Raw Data
Descriptive
Statements
Interpretation
General Principles

Inductive patterns emerge from
data


Cyclical analysis moves back and
forth between collecting and
managing data, and drawing
conclusions

Six Ways to Discover Patterns
1. Frequencies
2. Magnitudes
3. Structures
4. Processes
5. Causes
6. Consequences
Analysis Considerations
1 Words
2 Context (tone and inflection)
3 Internal consistency (opinion shifts during groups)
4 Frequency and intensity of comments (counting,
content analysis)
5 Specificity
6 Trends/themes
7 Iteration (data collection and analysis is an iterative
process moving back and forth)
The Procedures
Content analysis steps:
1. Transcribe data (if audio taped)
2. Read transcripts
3. Highlight quotes and note why important
4. Code quotes according to margin notes
5. Sort quotes into coded groups (themes)
6. Interpret patterns in quotes
7. Describe these patterns
The Procedures
1 Coding/indexing
2 Categorisation
3 Abstraction
4 Comparison
5 Dimensionalisation
6 Integration
7 Iteration
8 Refutation (subjecting inferences to scrutiny)
9 Interpretation (grasp of meaning - difficult to describe
procedurally)
THEMES
A
N
A
L
Y
S
I
S

Analytic Methods
Data collection

Data reduction

Data display

Drawing & verifying conclusions
The Qualitative Analytical Process
(Adapted from descriptions of Strauss and Corbin, 1990, Spiggle
1994, Miles and Huberman, 1994)
Components Procedures Outcomes
Data Reductions
Data Display
Conclusions &
Verification
Coding
Categorisation
Abstraction
Comparison
Dimensionalisation
Integration
Interpretation

Description
Explanation/
Interpretation
Levels of Analysis
defining & describing items,
making empirical statements about
objects & phenomena
meaning & meaning interactions,
tracing interconnections with items &
patterns
patterns, grouping items & making
linkages
Managing Data

Expanded accounts
Memos
Codes
Data displays
Expanded Accounts

filling in the details of condensed field
notes.

Condensed account initial phrases, single words,
unconnected sentences that are recorded
Expanded account details, things not initially written
down are filled in
Memos

notes written by a researcher
suggesting explanations for the
content of expanded accounts.

conceptual epiphanies
Memo
is.. the theorizing write-up of ideas about
codes and relationship as they strike
the analyst while coding it can be a
sentence, a paragraph or a few pages..
It exhausts the analysts momentary
ideation based on the data with
perhaps a little conceptual elaboration.
(Glasers, 1978, p 83-84)
Codes
Codes (abbreviation or symbol
applied to a segment of words,
or paragraph in order to
classify it)
Codes are..

labels for assigning meaning attached
to phrases and/or paragraphs in
expanded account.

Devise start list of codes
Prepare a code book
Open Coding
Initial classification and labeling of
concepts in qualitative data analysis.
Codes are suggested by researchers
examination and questioning of the
data.
Hand coding
qualitative
data
Question
The key process in the analysis of
qualitative social research data is
____________.
A. predicting
B. analyzing
C. writing
D. coding
Answer: D
The key process in the analysis of
qualitative social research data is
coding.
Data Displays

visual chart that systematically
presents information.
Data Display Types

Matrix connections among meanings
of information

Network lines connecting events
Strategies for Making
Conclusions
Clustering
Subsuming particulars into the general
Counting
Seeing plausibility
Making metaphors
Verifying Conclusions

Checking for data quality
Representativeness (member
checking)
Researcher effects

Testing explanations
Replication of findings
Rival explanations
Holistic Understanding

Constructs broader
applications of data themes

Grounded theory
conceptual rules that emerge
from the data

THANK YOU