AREA: QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS

Overview: This article reviews the use and role of qualitative research.

Understanding the role of qualitative data research (QI) is useful for researchers. To fully appreciate qualitative research it is important to recognise the similarities and differences with quantitative research (1,2). Qualitative research is typically concerned with unearthing the meanings of social experience, for example through identifying basic social processes. Quantitative studies tend to emphasise the measurement and analysis of causal relationships between variables rather than processes (3). There are many 'isms' and a vast range of styles associated with QI (2). QI cross-cuts disciplines, fields and subject matters, so that researchers can easily adopt the associated research methods without necessarily having a theoretical grounding or analytic perspective (3, 4). Denzin and Lincoln (3) offer a robust definition of qualitative research, which emphasises its broad scope and usage as:

... a situated activity that locates the observer in the world. It consists of a set of interpretive, material practices that make the world visible. These practices transform the world. They turn the world into a series of representations, including field notes, interviews, conversations, photographs, recordings and memos to the self. At this level, qualitative research involves an interpretive, naturalistic approach to the world. This means that qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or to interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them (Denzin and Lincoln 2000 p 3).

There are several well noted similarities in approach and methods across the various disciplines and paradigms. Typically there is personal involvement with informants in a natural setting, in which the researcher seeks an egalitarian relationship with the participant. To achieve this, researchers usually engage in intensive interviewing and/or participant observation. In this sense the researcher becomes the 'research instrument'.

Consequently, carrying out qualitative research involves an element of self-reflection in regard to the researcher's conduct during data collection and analysis and use of a field diary is common. Unlike quantitative studies, QI is not guided by a hypothesis testing, deductive style. Instead there is openness to new and unexpected discoveries 'emergent' or 'induced' from the data. This openness to the unexpected is coupled with a willingness to redirect the research as new insights emerge.

All qualitative data analysis involve some form of coding and categorising of descriptive data. Descriptive data can be in the form of interview transcripts, historical documents, letters, emails, diaries, and responses to surveys.

Choosing methods of data collection

Interviews and observation are the tools of data collection associated with qualitative inquiry. The research question posed will generally dictate the method(s) of data collection to be used. Interviews have become the mainstay of many qualitative studies and they have been deployed so extensively for gathering information within and beyond research that use of the phrase " interview society" resonates in the work of prominent social scientists (3,5).

The interview owes its popularity to a general belief that it is a reliable and trustworthy means of collecting data. Fontana and Frey (3, page 646) for example, write that there is "inherent faith that the results are trustworthy and accurate and that the relation of the interviewer to respondent that evolves in the interview process has not unduly biased the account".

Within health care research, for example, the interview is regarded as both an appropriate method and a preferred mode of communicating with users of health services (6). There are many types of qualitative interview from which to choose. Qualitative interviews can generally be classified in terms of their structure (structured, semi-structured, or unstructured) and number of participants (one-to-one or group). Each type of interview is associated with a specific interviewing style. Extensive coverage of interviewing styles can be found in Denzin and Lincoln's 'Handbook of Qualitative Research' (3).

The method of observation in QI refers to the direct eyewitness accounts of everyday social action, to capture the richness of social experience. Observation can be either direct or unobtrusive. The problem with direct observation is that people know they are being watched and may play to their audience. However, continuous monitoring should capture any of these alterations. Whilst unobtrusive observation eliminates a play on one's audience it can pose serious ethical questions. One frequently cited case study is the Humphrey's 1975 publication of the 'Tea-room Trade Study' (7). Posing as a lookout, Humphreys observed hundreds of homosexual acts among men in St Louis. Such deception would not be permissible today.

Analysing qualitative data

Most researchers who have not got a theoretical grounding in QI will opt for a simple but effective form of data analysis, such as thematic coding, or content analysis. Both analytic styles are concerned with content i.e. what was said, and there is little theoretical debate about form i.e. the way in which it was said. Within these analytic styles it is common for researchers to quantify the frequency of response to an identified code or theme.

Researchers wishing to look in-depth at both content and form may consider approaches such as narrative analysis, discourse analysis. Such analytic styles are generally guided by a larger backdrop to the research, a theoretical framework e.g. hermeneutics. To pursue these analytic styles a greater knowledge of the field of QI is essential.

Further reading

Denzin & Lincoln (3) provide an informed and scholarly overview of QI. H Russell Bernard's 'research methods in cultural anthropology' although dated, remains a key text for teaching, an updated text by Bernard is also available (8). Bernard (7) provides a reliable source of information on methods of social observation. Streubert & Carpenter provide a very accessible text written specifically for nursing professionals, an updated version of this text is also available (9). Schwandt's 'dictionary of qualitative inquiry' is an indispensable resource for any qualitative researcher (10).

References

1. Streubert H. and Carpenter D. (1995). Qualitative research in Nursing: Advancing The Humanistic Imperative. Philadelphia: JB Lippincott company.

2. Silverman D. (1997). Qualitative Research: Theory, Method and Practice. London: Sage.

3. Denzin N. K. & Lincoln Y. S. eds. (2000). Handbook of Qualitative Research. London: Sage.

4. Powers B. A. & Knapp T. R. (1995). 2^nd edition. A Dictionary of Nursing Theory and Research. London: Sage.

5. Atkinson J. M. and Silverman D. (1997). Kundera's Immortality: the interview society and the invention of self. Qualitative Inquiry 3, 3.

6. Silverman D. (1998). The open-ended interview and its alternatives. Social Sciences in Health 4(2) 104-118.

7. Bernard R. H. (1988). Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology. London: Sage.

8. Bernard H R (2000). Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Thousand Oaks California: Sage.

9. Streubert H. & Carpenter D. (1995). Qualitative Research in Nursing: Advancing the Humanistic Imperative. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company.

10. Schwandt T. A. (2001). Dictionary of qualitative inquiry, second edition. London, Sage.