Introduction To Qualitative Data Analysis

Introduction to Qualitative Data
Analysis
By
Olunifesi Suraj (PhD)
Dept of Mass Communication,
University of Lagos
What is qualitative research?
“Development of concepts which help us to
understand social phenomena in natural (rather
than experimental) settings, giving due emphasis
to the meanings , experiences and views of the
participants.”
Pope & Mays BMJ 1995;311:42-45

Dimensions of qualitative methods
Understanding context
• How economic, political, social, cultural,
environmental and organizational factors
influence health
Understanding people
• How people make sense of their experiences of
health and disease
Understanding interaction
• How the various actors involved in different
public health activities interact each other
Basic difference between Qualitative and Quantitative
Qualitative Quantitative
Purpose To describe a situation, To measure magnitude-
gain insight to particular How widespread is a
practice... practice...
Format No pre-determined Pre-determined response

response categories categories, standard
measures
Data In-depth explanatory data Wide breadth of data

from a small sample from large statistically
representative sample
Analysis Draws out patterns from Tests hypotheses, uses

concepts and insights data to support
conclusion
Result Illustrative explanation & Numerical aggregation in

individual responses summaries, responses are
clustered
Sampling Theoretical Statistical

Analytical Approaches to Qualitative and Quantitative
Quantitative Qualitative
Research question Fixed/Focused Broader, contextual,

flexible
Expected outcome Identified in advance Usually not

predefined, emergent
research question
Hierarchy of phases Linearity Circular
Confounding factors Controlled during Searched in the field

design & analysis
Time dimension Slower Rapid to slower

Data collection method to Qualitative and Quantitative
Quantitative Qualitative
Sampling Random sampling Open ended and less

structured protocols
(Flexible)
Tools Structured data Depend on

collection interactive interviews
instruments
Result Produce results that Produce results that

generalize, compare give meaning,
and summarize experience and views
Required Concepts in Designing qualitative research
Concept Description
Natural Participants are free from any control & data are
setting collected in their natural environment
Holism The whole is more than the sum, take magnitude of

contextual factors in to account
Human as a Researcher is involved in every step being responsive,

research flexible, adaptive and good listener
instrument
Emergent Study design emerges as further insights are gained
Design through data collection and analysis
Saturation or A stage where additional interview or observation is

redundancy not believed to add new information-enough is
enough!
Common qualitative study designs
Study Design Description
Ethnography Portrait of people- study of the story and culture of
a group usually to develop cultural awareness &
sensitivity
Phenomenology Study of individual’s lived experiences of events-e.g.
the experience of AIDS care
Grounded Going beyond adding to the existing body of

Theory knowledge-developing a new theory about a
phenomenon-theory grounded on data
Participatory Individuals & groups researching their own personal
Action Research beings, socio-cultural settings and experiences
Case Study In-depth investigation of a single or small number of

units at a point (over a period) in time. E.g.
Evaluation of s service
Sampling in Qualitative research
AIM:
To generate a sample which allows understanding the
social process of interest
TECHNIQUE:
• Purposive sampling- selection of the most productive
sample to answer the research question
• Ongoing interpretation of data will indicate who should
be approached, including identification of missing voices
SIZE:
• The one that adequately answers the research question-
until new categories, themes or explanations stop
emerging from the data
• Depend on available time and resources
Sampling techniques in qualitative research
 Snow ball / Chain Sampling
 Extreme / Deviant case sampling
 Homogeneous sampling
 Maximum variation sampling
 Convenience sampling
 Opportunistic sampling
What is qualitative data?
• Data that are not easily reduced to

numbers
• Data that are related to concepts,
opinions, values and behaviours of
people in social context
• Transcripts of individual interviews
and focus groups, field notes from
observation of certain activities, copies
of documents, audio/video recordings...
Types of Qualitative Data
• Structured text, (writings, stories, survey
comments, news articles, books etc)
•Unstructured text (transcription, interviews,

focus groups, conversation)
•Audio recordings, music
•Video recordings (graphics, art, pictures,

visuals)
Qualitative data collection methods
Methods Brief Description
Observation The researcher gets close enough to study subjects
to observe (with/without participation) usually to
understand whether people do what they say they
do, and to access tacit knowledge of subjects
Interview This involves asking questions, listening to and
recording answers from an individual or group on a
structured, semi-structured or unstructured format
in an in-depth manner
Focus Group Focused (guided by a set of questions) and
Discussion interactive session with a group small enough for
everyone to have chance to talk and large enough to
provide diversity of opinions
Other methods Rapid assessment procedure (RAP), Free listing, Pile
sort, ranking, life history (biography)
Required Concepts in Designing qualitative research
Types of Examples
Questions
Hypothetical If you get the chance to be an HIV scientist, do you
think you can discover a vaccine for HIV?
Provocative I have heard people saying most evaluations are
subjective-what do you think?
Ideal In your opinion, what would be the best solution for
eliminating gender-based violence?
Interpretative What do you mean by good?
Leading Do you think prevention is better than cure?
Loading Do you watch that culturally degrading TV show on
condom use?
Multiple Tell me your three favourite authors, the book you
like best by each author, and why you like those
books?
Focus of Qualitative questions
• Experience: When you told your manager that
the project has failed, what happened?
• Opinion: What do you think about the role of
evaluation for program improvement?
• Feelings: When you got to know that the project
was a success, how did you feel?
• Knowledge: Tell me about the different ways of
promoting PME?
• Input: When you have lectures on evaluability
assessment, what does the instructor tell you?
Preparing transcript
Transcribe word by word (verbatim)
Consider non-verbal expressions
Try to do the transcribing yourself
 Be patient-Time consuming
Preparing Metadata(Log)
Project/research title
Date of data collection
Place of data collection
ID-code of informant(s)
Research team
Method of data collection
Documentation type: Tape recorder,
notes and observations

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Introduction to Qualitative Data

Pope & Mays BMJ 1995;311:42-45

Format No pre-determined Pre-determined response

Data In-depth explanatory data Wide breadth of data

Analysis Draws out patterns from Tests hypotheses, uses

Result Illustrative explanation & Numerical aggregation in

Sampling Theoretical Statistical

Research question Fixed/Focused Broader, contextual,

Expected outcome Identified in advance Usually not

Confounding factors Controlled during Searched in the field

Time dimension Slower Rapid to slower

Sampling Random sampling Open ended and less

Tools Structured data Depend on

Result Produce results that Produce results that

Holism The whole is more than the sum, take magnitude of

Human as a Researcher is involved in every step being responsive,

Saturation or A stage where additional interview or observation is

Grounded Going beyond adding to the existing body of

Case Study In-depth investigation of a single or small number of

• Data that are not easily reduced to

•Unstructured text (transcription, interviews,

•Audio recordings, music

•Video recordings (graphics, art, pictures,

Consider non-verbal expressions

Try to do the transcribing yourself

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