Is Secondary Analysis Second Best? A case study of re-using qualitative data

Libby BishopESDS Qualidata, University of Essex

PACTE-CIDSP and GRETS Secondary Analysis in Qualitative Research:

Utopia and PerspectivesGrenoble

3-4 November 2005

Is re-using data different?

• Primary/secondary is a false dichotomy

• Secondary analysis raises issues critical for ANY qualitative inquiry:– Relationships with respondents– Co-construction of data– Consent: for use, for findings?– Context(s): local (setting and

people) and social

Can the growing consumption of convenience food be used to explore the discourse of “choice” as a key

value claimed by neo-liberalism?

• How are convenience foods defined?• What attitudes are expressed toward

convenience food?• Under what conditions are convenience

foods used? • What reasons are given for its use?• Is individual choice a reason?• How important is individual taste in

meal planning?• How do answers vary by: time period,

age, gender, employment status, class?• What attitudes are expressed about

sociality at meals?

Why Secondary Analysis?

• Appropriate for initial exploration (literature review with data)

• Benefits of historical perspective for social change

• It was “convenient”

First things first…

• Consent– No explicit permissions for

archiving, but– Licences, anonymised data, best

judgment

• Context– Good, but never enough– No insider advantage

Finding and assessing data:sample selection

• Initial choice: Mothers and Daughters

– Theoretically useful sub-sample (lower SES)

– Rich descriptions of food, especially “tins”

– But, limitations (generation, geography)

Mothers and Daughters questions

– Would you say that some people are naturally healthier than others?

– Do you have any sort of recipes that you have for keeping healthy?

– And any particular ideas for keeping children healthy?

Mothers and Daughters data excerpt

Nowadays they get a tin an’ there's nae [no] eggs in it an' the goodness is oot [out] o’ it. …The juice... there's nae the juice in it. Well, that's whit we find wi' the things nowadays an’ a, the richt good is out o' them... the body-buildin’ material… I mean, tinned soup, I would niver hae [have] it in the hoose…[house]

ID no.

ATTI-TUDE

REASONS GIVEN FOR ATTITUDE TOWARD TINNED FOOD USE OF TINS OK?

UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS?

  too expensive

taste home made more nourishing

home made better

other    

4g neg       good, plain food better

  yes tin of soup OK

7g neg couldn't afford it

    good, wholesome home made better

  yes when you're on your own

19g

neg cld never afford 4-5 tins

frozen doesn't taste right

body building material gone

  wouldn't give it to husband

yes maybe ok for daughter if in a hurry

28g

neg       home made more wholesome

no time for that, not for babies

yes what you eat when you're young for a start

41g

neg soup less expensive

        maybe more convenient

9gg

neg       soup better not artificial yes Oxo ok for soup; tin of beans ok, but not tin of soup

67g

neg cheaper better taste

  prefer home made

  no but people use it for convenience

Sample expansion and topic refinement: three threads…

• Findings from Blaxter: from soup to fish fingers?

• Individuated, desocialised meals– In research (de Vault 1999- “double

cooking”, Valentine 1999)– In the news: 43% of mothers make up

to three different meals per night

• Entering the theoretical fray:– Unpacking “convenience”– Challenging “choice”

Selected Edwardians questions: new focus on choice

– What members of the family were present for meals?

– Did your mother or father bake bread; make jam; bottle fruit or vegetables?

– Did they buy any tinned or dried vegetables or fruit?

– Could you choose what you wanted to eat from what was cooked or did you have to eat a bit of everything?

– Did all the family sit at the table for the meal?

Edwardians: could you choose at meals?

Yes No n/a TotProfessionals 0 5 1 6Employers&Managers

2 2 2 6

Clerical&Foremen 1 4 1 6Skilled Manual 3 5 0 8Semi-skilled Manual 1 6 1 8Unskilled Manual 1 3 0 4Unclassified 3 3 0 6Total 11 28 5 44

ALL data are constructed

• Blaxter and Patterson found moral accounts of food– I found multiple discourses of tins

and convenience

• Thompson found agents of social change– I found no pattern of choice at

meals by class

Conclusions

• Secondary analysis is being used as a proxy for other duels– positive/interpretive– naïve realism/hermeneutic– modern/post-modern– subjective understanding/

authorial authority

• Should SA be used? Yes, if it suits the research problem…