Page 111 - DLIS401_METHODOLOGY_OF_RESEARCH_AND_STATISTICAL_TECHNIQUES

Methodology of Research and Statistical Techniques

Notes Coding paragraphs – This is where you mark each paragraph with a topic/theme/category
with an appropriate word in the margin.
Highlighting paragraphs/sentences/phrases – This is where you use highlighter pens of different
colours or different coloured pens to mark bits about the different themes. Using the example
above, you could mark the bits relating to childcare and those relating to pay in a different
colour, and so on. The use of coloured pens will help you find the relevant bits you need when
you are writing up.

With both the above methods you may find that your categories change and develop as you
do the analysis. What is important is that you can see that by analysing the text in such a way,
you pick up all the references to a given topic and don’t leave anything out. This increases the
objectivity and reduces the risk of you only selecting bits that conform to your own preconceptions.
You then need to arrange the data so that all the pieces on one theme are together. There are
several ways of doing this:

Cut and put in folders approach
Make several copies of each transcript (keeping the master safe) and cut up each one according
to what is being discussed (your themes or categories). Then sort them into folders, one for
each category, so that you have all together what each interviewee said about a given theme.
You can then compare and look for similarities/differences/conclusions etc. Do not forget to
mark each slip of paper with the respondent’s name, initials or some sort of code or you won’t
be able to remember who said what. Several copies may be needed in case one paragraph
contains more than one theme or category. This is time consuming and messy at first, but
easier in the long run especially if you have a lot of data and categories.
Card index system
Each transcript must be marked with line numbers for cross-referencing purposes. You have
a card for each theme or category and cross-reference each card with each transcript so that
you can find what everyone has said about a certain topic. This is quicker initially but involves
a lot of referring back to the original transcripts when you write up your results and is usually
only suitable for small amounts of data.

Computer analysis
If you have access to a computer package that analyses qualitative data (e.g. NUDIST) then
you can use this. These vary in the way they work but these are some of the basic common
principles. You can upload your transcripts created in a compatible word-processing package
and then the software allows you to mark different sections with various headings/themes. It
will then sort all those sections marked with a particular heading and print them off together.
This is the electronic version of the folders approach! It is also possible to use a word-processing
package to cut and paste comments and to search for particular words.
There is a great danger of subjective interpretation. You must accurately reflect the views of
the interviewees and be thorough and methodical. You need to become familiar with your
data. You may find this a daunting and stressful task or you may really enjoy it sometimes so
much that you can delay getting down to the next stage which is interpreting and writing up!
Presenting qualitative data in your dissertation
This would normally follow the topics, themes and categories that you have developed in the
analysis and these, in turn, are likely to have been themes that came out in the literature and
may have formed the basis for your interview questions. It is usually a mistake to go through
each interviewee in turn and what they said on each topic. This is cumbersome and does not
give the scope to compare and contrast their ideas with the ideas of others.

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