Page 110 - DLIS401_METHODOLOGY_OF_RESEARCH_AND_STATISTICAL_TECHNIQUES

Unit 7: Data Analysis and Interpretation

7.1.5 Collecting and Organising Data Notes

The means of collecting and recording data through interviews and the possible pitfalls are
well documented elsewhere but in terms of subsequent analysis, it is essential that you have
a complete and accurate record of what was said. Do not rely on your memory (it can be very
selective!) and either tape record the conversation (preferably) or take copious notes. If you
are taking notes, write them up straight after the interview so that you can elaborate and
clarify. If you are using a tape recorder, transcribe the exact words onto paper.
However you record the data, you should end up with a hard copy of either exactly what was
said (transcript of tape recording) or nearly exactly what was said (comprehensive notes). It
may be that parts of the interview are irrelevent or are more in the nature of background
material, in which case you need not put these into your transcript but do make sure that they
are indeed unnecessary. You should indicate omissions in the text with short statements.
You should transcribe exactly what is said, with grammatical errors and so on. It does not look
very authentic if all your respondents speak with perfect grammar and BBC English! You may
also want to indicate other things that happen such as laughter.
Each transcript or set of notes should be clearly marked with the name of the interviewee, the
date and place and any other relevant details and, where appropriate, cross-referenced to
clearly labelled tapes. These transcripts and notes are not normally required to be included in
your dissertation but they should be available to show your supervisor and the second marker
if required.

You may wonder why you should go to all the bother of transcribing your audiotapes. It is
certainly a time-consuming business, although much easier if you can get access to a transcription
machine that enables you to start and stop the tape with your feet while carrying on typing.
It is even easier if you have access to an audio-typist who will do this labour intensive part
for you. The advantage of having the interviews etc. in hard copy is that you can refer to them
very quickly, make notes in the margins, re-organise them for analysis, make coding notations
in the margins and so on. It is much slower in the long run to have to continually listen to
the tapes. You can read much faster than the tape will play! It also has the advantage, especially
if you do the transcription yourself, of ensuring that you are very familiar with the material.

7.1.6 Content Analysis

Analysis of qualitative data is not simple, and although it does not require complicated statistical
techniques of quantitative analysis, it is nonetheless difficult to handle the usually large amounts
of data in a thorough, systematic and relevant manner. Marshall and Rossman offer this
graphic description:

“Data analysis is the process of bringing order, structure and meaning to the mass
of collected data. It is a messy, ambiguous, time-consuming, creative, and fascinating
process. It does not proceed in a linear fashion; it is not neat. Qualitative data
analysis is a search for general statements about relationships among categories of
data.”— Marshall and Rossman,
Hitchcock and Hughes take this one step further:
“…the ways in which the researcher moves from a description of what is the case
to an explanation of why what is the case is the case.”
Content analysis consists of reading and re-reading the transcripts looking for similarities and
differences in order to find themes and to develop categories. Having the full transcript is
essential to make sure that you do not leave out anything of importance by only selecting
material that fits your own ideas. There are various ways that you can mark the text:

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