QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS

• Qualitative data analysis is a process of gathering, structuring and interpreting qualitative data to understand what it represents.
• Interviews can be structured (closed-ended questions) or unstructured (open-ended questions).
• Qualitative data is non-numerical and unstructured. Qualitative data generally refers to text, such as open-ended responses to survey questions or user interviews, but also includes audio, photos and video.
• Qualitative Data Analysis Methods

  1. Grounded Theory Analysis

  2. Narrative Analysis

  3. Discourse Analysis

  4. Thematic Analysis
• Thematic analysis is used to deduce the meaning behind the words people use. This is accomplished by discovering repeating themes in text.
• Often, the outcome of thematic analysis is a code frame that captures themes in terms of codes, also called categories. So, the process of thematic analysis is also referred to as “coding.”
• Conducting Thematic Analysis

  1. Gather the data from the research participants or informants
  2. Transcription (Transcribe)
  3. Understand the data
  4. Development of Initial Coding
• Gather the data from the research participants or informants

  ▪ Interviews

  ▪ Observation

  ▪ Unstructured survey

  ▪ Questionnaires (open-ended question)

  ▪ Focus group discussion

  ▪ Archives (existing texts or documents)
• Transcription (Transcribe)

  ▪ In qualitative research, transcription is the process of transforming verbal data collected through interviews, focus groups, or field observations into a written format.

  ▪ Record the interview but be mindful of confidentiality and privacy

  ▪ Listen to the recording and start transcribing. Follow a certain transcription style
• Understand the data

  ▪ At this stage, you have to understand the data set. You need to read the entire data instead of reading the small portion. If you do not have the data in the textual form, you have to transcribe it.
• Development of Initial Coding

  For manual coding, you can follow the steps given below:

  ▪ Please write down the data in a proper format so that it can be easier to proceed.

  ▪ Use a highlighter to highlight all the essential points from data. ▪ Many as many points as possible.

  ▪ Take notes very carefully at this stage