Qualitative Analysis as a Public Event: The Documentation of Category Development Procedures

Abstract

Although the use of qualitative methods has increased greatly in popularity, many still question the defensibility of the qualitative orientation. It is argued here that questions concerning the credibility and status of qualitative inquiry are related to the privatization of qualitative analysis. The particular area of qualitative analysis I focus on is the process of category development. It is my argument that qualitative researchers must make all aspects of their analysis open to public inspection. In order to achieve this objective, I propose a two-dimensional model designed to facilitate the documentation of procedures used to generate categories. The domain representing the first dimension specifies the various components or actions associated with the development of categories. The second domain addresses the temporal aspects of category development. The intersection of these two analytical domains forms a two-dimensional table that may be used to document the nature of the analytical actions employed in a given study. An empirical example is presented with the intention of illustrating the utility of the approach. The implications of this approach, and some possible criticisms, are considered. 3 The frequent absence of specificity and detail in data analysis procedures should not be seen as something peculiar to the qualitative orientation. In the case of multiple regression analysis, for example, investigators commonly neglect to provide detailed information on underlying assumptions (e.g., absence of specification error, linearity, homoscedasticity, multicollinearity, etc.). It so happens that the absence of detail and specificity is less conspicuous, though no less serious, in the case of qualitative analysis. 254

Relationships among Attitudes, Coping Strategies, and Achievement in Doctoral-Level Statistics Courses: A Mixed Research Study

“…The locus of typology development was investigative, arising from the intellectual constructions of the researchers (Constas, 1992). The sources for naming codes and locus of typology (i.e., theme) development were literature (i.e., based on Ramirez et al's (2010) reframing of the EVM) and investigative (i.e., stemming from the intellectual constructions of the researchers (Constas, 1992)) within an iterative process involving both a priori and a posteriori coding. More specifically, abductive coding was used that involved an interactive process of deductive coding and inductive coding.…”

“…The extracted themes were compared to the quantitative information-namely, the CSIS scores and quantitative demographic information (e.g., number of prior mathematics courses)-to assess levels of triangulation. Because quantitative data were used as a validation technique, in addition to being empirical the verification component of categorization was technical (Constas, 1992). The verification approach was accomplished a posteriori (Constas, 1992).…”

“…Because quantitative data were used as a validation technique, in addition to being empirical the verification component of categorization was technical (Constas, 1992). The verification approach was accomplished a posteriori (Constas, 1992).…”

“…Further, the verification component of categorization was empirical (Constas, 1992). The extracted themes were compared to the quantitative information-namely, the CSIS scores and quantitative demographic information (e.g., number of prior mathematics courses)-to assess levels of triangulation.…”

The State of Information Systems in Australian Universities – South Australia Report

“…Existing documentary and archival material was also gathered to supplement the interview data and to provide some triangulation of observations. Data gathered from interviews and questionnaires were then analysed using thematic analysis, so that qualitative data collected from participants and quantitative data collated from other sources could be integrated more effectively (Boyatzis 1998;Constas, 1992;Dixon-Woods, Agarwal, Jones, Young and Sutton 2005). The themes which formed the basis for this analysis were primarily those of the overall study's theoretical framework (reported in Ridley (2006)) and are therefore not specifically related to the UniSA environment, but rather designed to provide comparability across States within a national study.…”