TOPIC 10ACTION RESEARCH: DATA ANALYSIS

QUALITATIVE DATA

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WHAT IS DATA ANALYSIS?

A complex process that involves moving back and forth between concrete bits of data and abstract

concepts between inductive and deductive reasoning between description and interpretation

Simply put: Data analysis is the process of making meaning from the data

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ANALYSING DATA IN TRADITIONAL RESEARCH

Analysis of data occurs primarily at two points during the process of a research study.

In traditional quantitative research studies, data analysis typically occurs following the completion of all data collection.

In traditional qualitative research studies, data analysis typically begins during data collection, continues throughout the remainder of the process of collecting data, and is completed following data collection.

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ANALYSING DATA IN ACTION RESEARCH

Action research combines these two approaches.

Johnson (2008) suggests that “as you collect your data, analyze them by looking for themes, categories, or patterns that emerge. This analysis will influence further data collection [and analysis] by helping you to know what to look for” (p. 63).

He continues by stating that there should also be a final stage of data analysis once everything has been collected. 4

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Is used to describe behaviours, actions, feelings, perceptions, and interaction among people

It assumes that respondents or people observed have unique views of their personal experiences or the surrounding environment.

Is used to help us understand lifestyles and cultural values, actions, and symbols.

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6 STEPS IN THE PROCESS OF ANALYSING & INTERPRETING QUALITATIVE DATA (CRESSWELL, 2012, P236-263)

Prepare and Organise the data for analysis Explore and Code the data Coding to build Description and Themes Represent and Report Qualitative Findings Interpret the findings Validate the Accuracy of the Findings

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CATEGORIES OF DATA COLLECTION Observation Interviews and questionnaires Documents Audiovisual materials

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

What the participant did. His or her appearance. Body language and affect ( how they appeared

to be feeling). The surrounding environment Interaction among two or more research

subjects. Your own reactions to the interview or

observation

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DATA TO BE ANALYZED WILL CONSIST OF:

Words recorded on tape or transcribed. Your notes. Documents or other pre-existing items.

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RICHARDSON (2000 AS CITED IN MONTCALM & ROYSE, 2002) IDENTIFIES FOUR TYPES OF NOTES YOU SHOULD KEEP ON YOUR RESEARCH.

Observational notes – description of what you saw, heard, and felt.

Methodological notes – what decisions did you make about doing the interview or observation and analysing your data.

Theoretical notes – your initial impressions or hypotheses.

Personal notes – statements reflecting what you are thinking or feeling about your work.

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1. HOW TO PREPARE AND ORGANISE THE DATA FOR ANALYSIS?

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Organise data Transcribe data Analyse by hand or computer - Use of Qualitative Computer Programmes

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ORGANISING DATA (CRESSWELL, 2012, P238)

In QR, data collected is extensive; for eg. 30-min interview will result in 20 pages of single-spaced transcription

Develop a matrix or a table of resources that can be used to help organise the data

Organise the material by type: all interviews/ observations/ documents/photographs/ other visual materials; you might also consider organising the materials by participant, site, location, or some combinations of these approaches

Keeping duplicate copies of all forms of data 14

TRANSCRIBING DATA

In QR, you collect data through interviewing or writing fieldnotes during observations

You have to listen to the tapes & read the notes to begin the process of data analysis.

As a general rule of thumb, it takes 4 hours to transcribe 1 hour of tape.

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TRANSCRIBING DATA

TranscriptionTranscription is the process of converting audiotape recordings or fieldnotes into text data.

All words, expressions and sounds (for e.g: pauses (“[pause]”) or “[laughter]”, other noise “[telephone rings]” or “[inaudible]”) during the interview need to be transcribed in order to capture and provide all the details of an interview.

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HINTS FOR TAPED INTERVIEWS

Use and external microphone Use a telephone pick up device Avoid possible loud noise interference As interviewers – induce slower, distinct

speech Use new high quality tapes or good well

maintained recording equipment Think clearly about the format you want for

your printed transcription

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ANALYZE BY HAND OR COMPUTER

Hand analysis Researchers read the data, mark it by hand and

divide it into parts Use color coding to mark the parts of the text Cutting and pasting text sentences onto cards

Computer analysis Researchers use qualitative computer program

to facilitate the process of storing, analysing, sorting and representing or visualizing the data

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2. HOW TO EXPLORE AND CODE THE DATA?

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Explore the general sense - Agar (1980) suggested that…”you read

the transcripts in their entirety several times. Immerse yourself in the details, trying to get a sense of the interview as a whole before breaking it into parts”

Code the data

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DEVELOPING DESCRIPTIONS & THEMES FROM THE DATA (CASE STUDY APPROACH)

Coding data Developing a description from the data Defining themes from the data Connecting and interrelating themes

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A VISUAL MODEL OF THE CODING PROCESS IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Reduce Codes to5-7 Themes

Initially readthrough data

Divide text into segmentsof information

Label segments of informationwith codes

Reduce Overlap andredundancyof codes

Collapsecodes intothemes

ManyPages of Text

ManySegments of Text

30-40codes

Codesreducedto 20

WHERE TO START – BASIC OR “FIRST LEVEL” CODING (ESTABLISHMENT OF CATEGORIES)

Creation of data transcript. Organizing this transcript into units of analysis – easiest way is to do this question by question in your interview guide (assumes that you have asked all of most of the questions to each of the respondents).

Choose a unit of analysis in a written document or transcript. This might be a whole interview, page, paragraph, sentence, phrase, or word.

Across all respondents, count the number of times a particular word, similar phrase or sentence occurs.*

Establish categories for similar phrases or thoughts. Put together a frequency table to indicate how many

times this common element occurs or simply describe how many times it occurred in your narrative

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CODING DATA

Open Coding Assign a code word or phrase that accurately

describes the meaning of the text segment Line-by-line coding is done first in theoretical

research More general coding involving larger segments of

text is adequate for practical research (action research)

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AXIAL CODING The process of looking for categories that cut across all

data sets After this type of coding, you have identified your

themes You can’t classify something as a theme unless it cuts

across the preponderance of the data

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CATEGORISINGTHE NEXT STEP IS MAKING COMPARISON ACROSS CATEGORIES AND AMONG QUESTIONS (AXIAL OR SECOND LEVEL CODING)

Are there similarities among the categories

Does one category precede another Do two categories occur at the same

time in the same statement Are there overlaps among the

categories Are there obvious patterns or themes Can a hypothesis be generated about

cause and effect relationships (based on these patterns). 27

CLUSTERING

After open coding an entire text, make a list of all code words

Cluster together similar codes and look for redundant codes

Objective: reduce the long list of codes to a smaller, more manageable number (25 or 30)

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PRELIMINARY ORGANIZING SCHEME

Take this new list of codes and go back to the data Reduce this list to codes to get 5 to 7 themes or

descriptions Themes are similar codes aggregated together to

form a major idea in the database Identify the 5-7 themes by constantly comparing the

data (Constant Comparative Analysis)

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3. HOW DO YOU USE CODES TO BUILD DESCRIPTION AND THEMES?

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DESCRIPTION

A detailed rendering of people, places, or events in a setting in qualitative research

Codes such as “seating arrangements,” “teaching approach,” or “physical layout of the room,” might all be used to describe a classroom where instruction takes place

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NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION

From the coding and the themes, construct a narrative description and possibly a visual display of the findings for your research report

Use the assigned format

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CONSTRUCTING THE NARRATIVE

Identify dialogue that provides support for themes

Look for dialogue in the participants’ own dialect

Use metaphors and analogies Collect quotes from interview data or

observations Locate multiple perspectives & contrary

evidence Look for vivid detail Identify tensions and contradictions in

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The Incident and ResponseThe incident occurred on the campus of a large public university in a

Midwestern city. A decade ago, this city had been designated an “all-American city,” but more recently, its normally tranquil environment has been disturbed by an increasing number of assaults and homicides. Some of these violent incidents have involved students at the university.

The incident that provoked this study occurred on a Monday in October. A forty-three-year-old graduate student, enrolled in a senior-level actuarial science class, arrived a few minutes before class, armed with a vintage Korean War military semiautomatic rifle loaded with a thirty-round clip of thirty caliber ammunition. He carried another thirty-round clip in his pocket. Twenty of the thirty-four students in the class had already gathered for class, and most of them were quietly reading the student newspaper. The instructor was en route to class.

The gunman pointed the rifle at the students, swept it across the room, and pulled the trigger. The gun jammed. Trying to unlock the rifle, he hit the butt of it on the instructor’s desk and quickly tried firing it again. Again it did not fire. By this time, most students realized what was happening and dropped to the floor, overturned their desks, and tried to hide behind them. After about twenty seconds, one of the students shoved a desk into the gunman, and students ran past him out into the hall and out of the building. The gunman hastily departed the room and went out of the building to his parked car, which he had left

Description builds from broad to narrow

Coding Used in a Descriptive Passage

Situate the readerin the place

Provide details

Detail to create a sense of “being there”

Use of action verbsand vivid modifiersand adjectives

WHY THEMES?

It is best to write a qualitative report providing detailed information about a few themes rather than general information about many themes

ThemesThemes can also be referred to as CategoriesCategories

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NAMING THE THEMES OR CATEGORIES

The names can come from at least three sources: The researcher The participants The literature

Most common: when the researcher comes up with terms, concepts, and categories that reflect what he or she sees in the data

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THEMES SHOULD… Reflect the purpose of the research Be exhaustive--you must place all data in a

category Be sensitizing--should be sensitive to what is in

the data i.e., “leadership” vs. “charismatic leadership”

Be conceptually congruent--the same level of abstraction should characterize all categories at the same level For instance, you wouldn’t have produce, canned

goods, and fruit

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TYPES OF THEMES

Ordinary: themes a researcher expects Unexpected: themes that are surprises and

not expected to surface Hard-to-classify: themes that contain ideas

that do not easily fit into one theme or that overlap with several themes

Major & minor themes: themes that represent the major ideas, or minor, secondary ideas in a databaseMinor themes fit under major themes in the write

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SafetyThe violence in the city that involved university students and the subsequent gun incident that occurred in a campus classroom shocked the typically tranquil campus. A counselor aptly summed up the feelings of many: “When the students walked out of that classroom, their world had become very chaotic; it had become very random, something had happened that robbed them of their sense of safety.” Concern for safety became a central reaction for many informants.When the chief student affairs officer described the administration’s reaction to the incident, he listed the safety of students in the classroom as his primary goal, followed by the needs of the news media for details about the case, helping all students with psychological stress, and providing public information on safety. As he talked about the safety issue and the presence of guns on campus, he mentioned that a policy was under consideration for the storage of guns used by students for hunting. Within 4 hours after the incident, a press conference was called during which the press was briefed not only on the details of the incident, but also on the need to ensure the safety of the campus. Soon thereafter the university administration initiated an informational campaign on campus safety. A letter, describing the incident, was sent to the university board members. (One board member asked, “How could such an incident happen at this university?”)

Coding Used in Theme Passage

Title for themebased on words ofparticipant

Evidence for themesbased on multipleperspectives ofparticipants

Within themesare sub-themes

4. HOW DO YOU REPRESENT AND REPORT FINDINGS?

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REPRESENTING FINDINGS

Create comparison table Develop a hierarchical tree diagram Present figures Draw a map Develop a demographic table

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REPORTING FINDINGS

Primary form – a narrative discussion Author summarizes in detail the findings

from their data analysis No set form

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USEFUL HINTS Include dialogues that provide support for

themes State the dialogue in the participants native

language / regional or ethnic dialect Use metaphors and analogies Report quotes from interview data or from

observation of individuals Report multiple perspectives and contrary

evidence Write in vivid detail Specify tensions and contradictions in

individual experiences 43

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5. HOW DO YOU INTERPRET FINDINGS?

INTERPRETATION

Means the researcher steps back and and forms some larger meaning about the phenomenon based on personal views, comparisons with past studies, or both.

In other words, QR is an interpretive research where you have to make sense of your findings.

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Summarize findings Convey Personal Reflections Make comparisons to the Literature Offer Limitations & Suggestions for Future

Research

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FUTURE RESEARCH SUGGESTED

Researchers make recommendations for future research“In addition, further research is needed to determine

outcomes for a diversified culture of students, including, but not limited to African-American students and students diagnosed with AD/HD. Research is also needed to examine and validate existing frameworks before professing any general claims concerning the outcomes for students engaged in service learning activities” (Terry, 2003).

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6. HOW DO YOU VALIDATE THE ACCURACY OF YOUR FINDINGS?

RELIABILITY OR DEPENDABILITY

From a quantitative perspective, reliability refers to the extent to which research findings can be replicated

From a qualitative perspective, dependability, (reliability) in qualitative research is not based on outsiders getting the same results, but that outsiders concur that, given the data collected, the results make sense. In other words, the results are dependable and consistent (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).

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VALIDATING THE ACCURACY OF FINDINGS

At the end, the qualitative researcher validates the finding by determining the accuracy or credibility of the findings. Methods include: Prolonged engagement & persistent observation in the

field Triangulation Peer Review Clarifying researcher bias Member Checking Rich, thick description External Audit

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WE ENHANCE RELIABILITY OF OUR DATA ANALYSIS BY:

Comparing our categories to pre-existing frameworks.

Having an additional person redo the analysis. Comparing notes from more than one source. Using more than one type of qualitative data in our

analysis (observation, interviews, document analysis).

Supplementing the qualitative analysis with information from another quantitative source (for example, a survey).

Keeping a record (audit) of how you established data categories and identified themes.

Establishing a feedback loop so that participants can verify whether or not the analysis is accurate enough to reflect their views. 51

FINALLY, SOME ADVICE… Try not to become overwhelmed at the

anticipation of analysing your data, especially if you have experienced stress, frustration,and confusion.

The analysis of action research data is typically much less complex and detailed than in other, more formal research studies (Fraenkel & Wallen, 2003).

In addition,do not feel that it is a requirement for you to analyse the data; you are certainly free to enlist the help of other teachers, administrators, or data analysts (Creswell, 2005).

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THANK YOU….53

TUTORIAL QUESTION54

REFER TO YOUR TUTORIAL 8

Problem / Issue:Poor class control during group work

Task 1: What are your sources of information?Task 2: What are your data collection tools?Task 3: In small groups, design a questionnaire

that you plan to administer to teachers regarding the issue.

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TUTORIAL 10

Based on the data collection method that you have chosen, discuss the codes and themes that you wish to use.

Here are some samples of AR. Discuss the data analysis used by the respective researchers.

http://e-flt.nus.edu.sg/v4n12007/shen.pdf http://iteslj.org/Articles/Snell-Interaction.html http://dppd.ubbcluj.ro/adn/article_6_2_3.pdf

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