Qualitative Data Analysis Approaches

Abstract

Whether researchers are using interviews, focus groups, or textual analysis, large amounts of data are produced. It can be daunting to manage and analyse the many thousands of words produced. The purpose of this chapter is to provide suggestions on how to move beyond describing what participants have said, to analysing the data. In this chapter researchers will learn more about the most common approaches to analysing qualitative data, namely, Grounded Theory, thematic and template analysis, discourse analysis and hermeneutics. Situations where each approach may be more suitable are suggested. By the end of the chapter readers should be able to identify which approach is appropriate to their data set. In addition, readers will be able to undertake robust analysis of their qualitative data.

CEO activism is not equal to CEO activism: a typology of executives' political statements

“…To mitigate the risk of subjectivity in this text analysis-based process, the authors strictly followed a clearly defined process as proposed by Sang and Sitko (2015). In the first step, they developed a posteriori codes for all level-dimensions and the cross-case pattern research.…”

Black women as coxswains: Allyship outcomes for Black and white women in a participatory action research counterspace project developed by Black women in higher education.

“…In the 1st phase , coparticipants wrote reflective narratives, ranging from 395 to 2,467 words, in response to a prompt asking them how they believed participating in the UAC had impacted them. After reading all of the narratives, each coparticipant was asked to use holistic coding (Saldaña, 2013) to analyze the narratives individually using an a priori (Sang & Sitko, 2014) analytical approach grounded in the four conference goals. Given the range of qualitative data analysis experience among coparticipants and the volume of data in relation to the limited time availability of some coparticipants (i.e., campus administrators), this analytical strategy was chosen because it allowed data to be more efficiently analyzed (Saldaña, 2013) by helping coparticipants focus their attention on developing a finite set of codes driven by the literature and theoretical framework that led to the development of the UAC (Sang & Sitko, 2014).…”

“…Template coding (Sang & Sitko, 2014) was used throughout the study by the first author in consultation with the other coparticipants. This approach employed several cycles of inductive, or a posteriori, coding and deductive, or a priori, coding to analyze the narratives and focus group transcripts.…”

Qualitative research: extending the range with flexible pattern matching

“…Although flexible pattern matching starts with an a priori development of codes/patterns/constructs from the literature, it also allows the a posteriori development of codes that are completely data-driven (Sinkovics 2018). In contrast, grounded theory starts with an inductive exploration of the data (Langley 1999;Sang and Sitko 2015), the literature is consulted during and after the coding process (Kenealy 2012). Although partly intertwined, flexible pattern matching and grounded theory differ in multiple aspects.…”