170 Designing Research

ADDITIONAL READINGS
Babbie, E. (1990). Survey research methods (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Earl Babbie provides a thorough, detailed text about all aspects of survey design. He
reviews the types of designs, the logic of sampling, and examples of designs. He also dis-
cusses the conceptualization of a survey instrument and its scales. He then provides use-
ful ideas about administering a questionnaire and processing the results. Also included
is a discussion about data analysis with attention to constructing and understanding
tables and writing a survey report. This book is detailed, informative, and technically ori-
ented toward students at the intermediate or advanced level of survey research.

Campbell, D. T., & Stanley,). C. (1963). Experimental and quasi-experimental designs

for research. In N. L. Gage (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (pp. 1-76).
Chicago: Rand-McNally.

This chapter in the Gage Handbook is the classical statement about experimental
designs. Campbell and Stanley designed a notation system for experiments that is still
used today; they also advanced the types of experimental designs, beginning with fac-
tors that jeopardize internal and external validity, the pre-experimental design types,
true experiments, quasi-experimental designs, and correlational and ex post facto
designs. The chapter presents an excellent summary of types of designs, their threats to
validity, and statistical procedures to test the designs. This is an essential chapter for stu-
dents beginning their study of experimental studies.

Fink, A. (2002). The survey kit (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
"The Survey Kit," is composed of multiple books and edited by Arlene Fink. An
overview of the books in this series is provided in the first volume. As an introduction
to the volumes, Fink discusses all aspects of survey research, including how to ask
questions, how to conduct surveys, how to engage in telephone interviews, how to
sample, and how to measure validity and reliability. Much of the discussion is oriented
toward the beginning survey researcher, and the numerous examples and excellent
illustrations make it a useful tool to learn the basics of survey research.

Fowler, F.). (2002). Survey research methods. (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Floyd Fowler provides a useful text about the decisions that go into the design of a
survey research project. He addresses use of alternative sampling procedures, ways of
reducing nonresponse rates, data collection, design of good questions, employing
sound interviewing techniques, preparation of surveys for analysis, and ethical issues
in survey designs.

Keppel, G. (1991). Design and analysis: A researcher's handbook (3rd ed.). Englewood
Cliffs, Nj: Prentice-Hall.
Geoffrey Keppel provides a detailed, thorough treatment of the design of experi-
ments from the principles of design to the statistical analysis of experimental data.
Overall, this book is for the mid-level to advanced statistics student who seeks to under-
stand the design and statistical analysis of experiments. The introductory chapter pre-
sents an informative overview of the components of experimental designs.
 Quantitative Methods 171

Lipsey, M. W. (1990). Design sensitivity: Statistical power for experimental research.

Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Mark Lipsey has authored a major book on the topics of experimental designs and
statistical power of those designs. Its basic premise is that an experiment needs to have
sufficient sensitivity to detect those effects it purports to investigate. The book explores
statistical power and includes a table to help researchers identify the appropriate size of
groups in an experiment.

Neuman, S. B.. & McCormick, S. (Eds.). (1995). Sing/e-sul>ject experimental research:

Applications for literacy. Newark. DE: International Reading Association.
Susan Neuman and Sandra McCormick have edited a useful, practical guide to the
design of single-subject research. They present many examples of different types of
designs. such as reversal designs and multiple-baseline designs. and they enumerate
the statistical procedures that might be involved in analyzing the single-subject data.
One chapter, for example, illustrates the conventions for displaying data on line graphs.
Although this book cites many applications in literacy, it has broad application in the
social and human sciences.
 ~CHAPTER NINE

Qualitative Procedures

Q ualitative procedures demonstrate a different approach

to scholarly inquiry than methods of quantitative research.
Qualitative inquiry employs different philosophical assump-
tions; strategies of inquiry; and methods of data collection. analysis. and
interpretation. Although the processes are similar. qualitative proce-
dures rely on text and image data, have unique steps in data analysis.
and draw on diverse strategies of inquiry.
In fact. the strategies of inquiry chosen in a qualitative project have a
dramatic influence on the procedures, which, even within strategies. are
anything but uniform. Looking over the landscape of qualitative proce-
dures shows diverse perspectives ranging from social justice thinking
(Denzin & Lincoln, 2005). to ideological perspectives (Lather, 1991), to
philosophical stances (Schwandt. 2000). to systematic procedural guide-
lines (Creswell. 2007; Corbin & Strauss. 2007). All perspectives vie for cen-
ter stage in this unfolding model of inquiry called qualitative research.
This chapter attempts to combine many perspectives. provide
general procedures. and use examples liberally to illustrate variations in
strategies. This discussion draws on thoughts provided by several authors
writing about qualitative proposal design (e.g .. see Berg. 2001: Marshall
& Rossman, 2006; Maxwell, 2005: Rossman & Rallis, 1998). The topics in a
proposal section on procedures are characteristics of qualitative
research, the research strategy, the role of the researcher, steps in data
collection and analysis. strategies for validity, the accuracy of findings.
and narrative structure. Table 9.1 shows a checklist of questions for
designing qualitative procedures.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

For many years. proposal writers had to discuss the characteristics of qual-
itative research and convince faculty and audiences as to their legitimacy.
Now these discussions are less frequently found in the literature and there
is some consensus as to what constitutes qualitative inquiry. Thus, my sug-
gestions about this section of a proposal are as follows:
173
174 Designing Research

Table 9.1 A Checklist of Questions for Des1gn1ng a Quoiitat1ve Procedure

Are the basic characteristics of qualita~ve studies mentioned?

Is the specific type of qualitative strategy of inquiry to be used

in the study mentioned? Is the history of, a definition of. and
applications for the strategy mentioned?

Does the reader gain an understanding of the researcher's role in

the study (past historical, social, cultural experiences, personal
connections to sites and people, steps in gaining entry, and
sensitive ethical issues)?

Is the purposeful sampling strategy for sites and individuals identified?

Are the specific forms of data collection mentioned and a
rationale given for their use?

Are the procedures for recording informafton during the data

collection procedure mentioned (such as protocols)?

Are the data analysis steps identified?

Is there evidence that the researcher has organized the data for
analysis?

Has the researcher reviewed the data generally to obtain a sense

of the informaffon?

Has coding been used with the data?

Have the codes been developed to form a description or to

identify themes?

Are the themes interrelated to show a higher level of analysis and

abstraction?

Are the ways that the data will be represented mentioned-such as

in tables, graphs, and figures?

Have the bases for interpreting the analysis been specified

(personal experiences, the literature, questions, action agenda)?

Has the researcher mentioned the outcome of the study

(developed a theory, provided a complex picture of themes)?

Have multiple strategies been cited for validating the findings?

e Review the needs of potential audiences for the proposaL Decide

whether audience members are knowledgeable enough about the char-
acteristics of qualitative research that this section is not necessary.
e If there is some question about their knowledge, present the basic char-
acteristics of qualitative research in the proposal and possibly discuss a
 Qualitative Procedures 175

recent qualitative research journal article (or study) to use as an example

to illustrate the characteristics.
• Several lists of characteristics might be used (e.g .. Bogdan & Biklen.
1992; Eisner. 1991; Hatch. 2002; LeCompte & Schensul. 1999;
Marshall & Rossman. 2006). but I will rely on a composite analysis of
several of these writers that I incorporated into my book on qualitative
inquiry (Creswell, 2007). My list captures both traditional perspectives
and the newer advocacy, participatory, and self-reflexive perspectives of
qualitative inquiry. Here are the characteristics of qualitative research,
presented in no specific order of importance:
• Natural setting-Qualitative researchers tend to collect data in the field
at the site where participants experience the issue or problem under
study. They do not bring individuals into a lab (a contrived situation),
nor do they typically send out instruments for individuals to complete.
This up close information gathered by actually talking directly to people
and seeing them behave and act within their context is a major charac-
teristic of qualitative research. In the natural setting, the researchers
have face-to-face interaction over time.
• Researcher as key instrument-Qualitative researchers collect data
themselves through examining documents, observing behavior, or
interviewing participants. They may use a protocol-an instrument
for collecting data-but the researchers are the ones who actually
gather the information. They do not tend to use or rely on question-
naires or instruments developed by other researchers.
• Multiple sources of data-Qualitative researchers typically gather
multiple forms of data, such as interviews, observations, and docu-
ments, rather than rely on a single data source. Then the researchers
review all of the data, make sense of it, and organize it into categories
or themes that cut across all of the data sources.
• Inductive data analysis---Qualitative researchers build their patterns,
categories, and themes from the bottom up, by organizing the data into
increasingly more abstract units of information. This inductive process
illustrates working back and forth between the themes and the database
until the researchers have established a comprehensive set of themes. It
may also involve collaborating with the participants interactively, so that
participants have a chance to shape the themes or abstractions that
emerge from the process.
• Participants' meanings-In the entire qualitative research process, the
researcher keeps a focus on learning the meaning that the participants
hold about the problem or issue, not the meaning that the researchers
bring to the research or writers express in the literature.
• Emergent design-The research process for qualitative researchers is
emergent. This means that the initial plan for research cannot be
176 Designing Research

tightly prescribed, and all phases of the process may change or

shift after the researcher enters the field and begins to collect
data. For example, the questions may change, the forms of data
collection may shift, and the individuals studied and the sites vis-
ited may be modified. The key idea behind qualitative research is
to learn about the problem or issue from participants and to
address the research to obtain that information.
• Theoretical lens--()ualitative researchers often use lens to view
their studies, such as the concept of culture, central to ethnogra-
phy, or gendered, racial, or class differences from the theoretical
orientations discussed in Chapter 3. Sometimes the study may be
organized around identifying the social, political, or historical con-
text of the problem under study.
• lnterpretive--()ualitative research is a form of interpretive inquiry
in which researchers make an interpretation of what they see,
hear, and understand. Their interpretations cannot be separated
from their own backgrounds, history, contexts, and prior under-
standings. After a research report is issued, the readers make an
interpretation as well as the participants, offering yet other inter-
pretations of the study. With the readers, the participants, and the
researchers all making interpretations, it is apparent how multiple
views of the problem can emerge.
• Holistic account-Qualitative researchers try to develop a complex
picture of the problem or issue under study. This involves reporting
multiple perspectives, identifying the many factors involved in a sit-
uation, and generally sketching the larger picture that emerges. A
visual model of many facets of a process or a central phenomenon
aid in establishing this holistic picture (see, for example, Creswell &
Brown, 1992).

STRATEGIES OF INQUIRY

Beyond these general characteristics are more specific strategies of inquiry.

These strategies focus on data collection, analysis, and writing, but they
originate out of disciplines and flow throughout the process of research
(e.g., types of problems, ethical issues of importance: Creswell, 2007b).
Many strategies exist, such as the 28 approaches identified by Tesch (1990).
the 19 types in Wolcott's (2001) tree, and the 5 approaches to qualitative
inquiry by Creswell (2007). As discussed in Chapter 1, I recommend that
qualitative researchers choose from among the possibilities, such as narrative,
phenomenology, ethnography, case study, and grounded theory. I
selected these five because they are popular across the social and health sci-
ences today. Others exist that have been addressed adequately in qualitative
books, such as participatory action research (Kemmis & Wilkinson, 1998) or
 Qualitative Procedures 177

discourse analysis (Cheek, 2004). For the five approaches, researchers

might study individuals (narrative, phenomenology); explore processes,
activities, and events (case study, grounded theory); or learn about broad
culture-sharing behavior of individuals or groups (ethnography).
In writing a procedure for a qualitative proposal, consider the following
research tips:

• Identify the specific approach to inquiry that you will be using.

e Provide some background information about the strategy, such. as
its discipline origin, the applications of it, and a brief definition of it (see
Chapter 1 for the five strategies of inquiry).
• Discuss why it is an appropriate strategy to use in the proposed study.
• Identify how the use of the strategy will shape the types of questions
asked (see Morse, 1994, for questions that relate to strategies), the form of
data collection, the steps of data analysis, and the final narrative.

THE RESEARCHER'S ROLE

As mentioned in the list of characteristics, qualitative research is interpre-
tative research, with the inquirer typically involved in a sustained and
intensive experience with participants. This introduces a range of strategic,
ethical, and personal issues into the qualitative research process (Locke
et al., 2007). With these concerns in mind, inquirers explicitly identify
reflexively their biases, values, and personal background, such as gender,
history, culture, and socioeconomic status, that may shape their interpreta-
tions formed during a study. In addition, gaining entry to a research site and
the ethical issues that might arise are also elements of the researcher's role.
• Include statements about past experiences that provide background
data through which the audience can better understand the topic, the setting,
or the participants and the researcher's interpretation of the phenomenon.
e Comment on connections between the researcher and the participants
and on the research sites. "Backyard" research (Glesne & Peshkin, 1992)
involves studying the researcher's own organization, or friends, or immedi-
ate work setting. This often leads to compromises in the researcher's ability
to disclose information and raises difficult power issues. Although data col-
lection may be convenient and easy, the problems of reporting data that are
biased, incomplete, or compromised are legion. If studying the backyard is
necessary, employ multiple strategies of validity (as discussed later) to create
reader confidence in the accuracy of the findings.
e Indicate steps taken to obtain permission from the Institutional
Review Board (see Chapter 4) to protect the rights of human participants.
Attach, as an appendix, the approval letter from the IRB and discuss the
process involved in securing permission.
178 Designing Research

o Discuss steps taken to gain entry to the setting and to secure permis-
sion to study the participants or situation (Marshall & Rossman, 2006). It is
important to gain access to research or archival sites by seeking the approval
of gatekeepers, individuals at the research site that provide access to the
site and allow or permit the research to be done. A brief proposal might need
to be developed and submitted for review by gatekeepers. Bogdan and Biklen
(1992) advance topics that could be addressed in such a proposal:
• Why was the site chosen for study?
• What activities will occur at the site during the research study?
• Will the study be disruptive?
• How will the results be reported?
• What will the gatekeeper gain from the study?
0 Comment about sensitive ethical issues that may arise (see Chapter 3,
and Berg, 2001). For each issue raised, discuss how the research study will
address it. For example, when studying a sensitive topic, it is necessary to
mask names of people, places, and activities. In this situation, the process
for masking information requires discussion in the proposal.

DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES

Comments about the role of the researcher set the stage for discussion of
issues involved in collecting data. The data collection steps include setting
the boundaries for the study, collecting information through unstructured
or semistructured observations and interviews, documents, and visual
materials, as well as establishing the protocol for recording information.
0 Identify the purposefully selected sites or individuals for the proposed
study. The idea behind qualitative research is to purposefully select par-
ticipants or sites (or documents or visual material) that will best help the
researcher understand the problem and the research question. This does
not necessarily suggest random sampling or selection of a large number of
participants and sites, as typically found in quantitative research. A discus-
sion about participants and site might include four aspects identified by
Miles and Huberman (1994): the setting (where the research will take
place), the actors (who will be observed or interviewed), the events (what
the actors will be observed or interviewed doing), and the process (the
evolving nature of events undertaken by the actors within the setting).
0 Indicate the type or types of data to be collected. In many qualitative
studies, inquirers collect multiple forms of data and spend a considerable
time in the natural setting gathering information. The collection proce-
dures in qualitative research involve four basic types, as shown in Table 9.2.
 Qualitative Procedures 179

Table 9.2 Qualitative Data Collection Types. Opt1ons. Advantages. and L1m1tat10ns

Data Collection Options Within Advantages of Limitations of

Types Types the Type the Type

Observations • Complete • Researcher has • Researcher

participant- a first-hand may be seen
researcher experience with as Intrusive.
conceals role participant. • Private
• Observer as • Researcher Information
participant-role can record maybe
of researcher is information as observed that
known it occurs. researcher
• Participant as • Unusual aspects cannot report.
observer- can be noticed • Researcher
observation role during may not
secondary to observation. have good
participant role • Useful in exploring attending and
• Complete topics that observing skills.
observer- maybe • Certain
researcher uncomfortable participants
observes without for participants (e.g., children)
participating to discuss. may present
special
problems
in gaining
rapport.

Interviews • Face-to-face- • Useful when • Provides

one-on-one, In- participants indirect
person interview cannot be Information
• Telephone- directly observed. filtered through
researcher • Participants can the views of
Interviews by provide historical Interviewees.
phone information. • Provides
• Focus group- • Allows researcher information in
researcher control over a designated
Interviews the line of place rather
participants questioning. than the
in a group natural field
• E-mail internet setting.
Interview • Researcher's
presence
may bias
responses.
• Not all people
are equally
articulate and
perceptive.

(Continued)
180 Designing Research

Table 9.2 (Continued)

Data Collec~on Options Within Advantages of Limitations of

Types Types the Type the Type

Documents • Public • Enables a • Not all people

documents. such researcher to are equally
as minutes of obtain the articulate and
meetings. or language perceptive.
newspapers and words of • May be
• Private participants. protected
documents. such • Can be accessed information
as journals. at a time unavailable
diaries, or letters convenient to to public
researcher-an or private
unobtrusive access.
source of • Requires the
information. researcher to
• Represents data search out
which are the information
thoughtful in that in hard-to-find
participants have places.
given attention to • Requires
compiling them. transcribing
• As written or optically
evidence, it saves scanning for
a researcher the computer
time and expense entry.
of transcribing. • Materials may
be incomplete.
• The
documents
may not be
authentic
or accurate.

Audio-Visual • Photographs • May be an • May be

Materials • Videotapes unobtrusive difficult to
• Art objects method of Interpret.
• Computer collecting data. • May not be
software • Provides an accessible
• Film opportunity for publicly or
participants to privately.
directly share • The presence
their reality. of an observer
• It is creative in (e.g.,
that it captures photographer)
attention visually. maybe
disruptive
and affect
responses.

NOTE: This table Includes material taken from Merriam (1998), Bogdan & Biklen (1992). and Creswell
(2007).
 Qualitative Procedures 181

• Qualitative observations are those in which the researcher takes

field notes on the behavior and activities of individuals at the
research site. In these field notes, the researcher records, in an
unstructured or semistructured way (using some prior questions
that the inquirer wants to know), activities at the research site.
Qualitative observers may also engage in roles varying from a non-
participant to a complete participant.
• In qualitative interviews, the researcher conducts face-to-face
interviews with participants, interviews participants by tele-
phone, or engages in focus group interviews, with six to eight
interviewees in each group. These interviews involve unstruc-
tured and generally open-ended questions that are few in number
and intended to elicit views and opinions from the participants.
• During the process of research, the investigator may collect qual-
itative documents. These may be public documents (e.g., newspa-
pers, minutes of meetings. official reports) or private documents
(e.g., personal journals and diaries, letters, e-mails).
• A final category of qualitative data consists of qualitative audio
and visual materials. This data may take the form of photographs,
art objects, videotapes, or any forms of sound.
• In a discussion about data collection forms, be specific about the
types and include arguments concerning the strengths and weaknesses of
each type. as discussed in Table 9.2.
• Include data collection types that go beyond typical observations
and interviews. These unusual forms create reader interest in a proposal
and can capture useful information that observations and interviews may
miss. For example, examine the compendium of types of data in Table 9.3
that can be used, to stretch the imagination about possibilities, such as
gathering sounds or tastes, or using cherished items to elicit comments
during an interview.

DATA RECORDING PROCEDURES

Before entering the field. qualitative researchers plan their approach to

data recording. The proposal should identify what data the researcher will
record and the procedures for recording data.

e Use a protocol for recording observational data. Researchers often

engage in multiple observations during the course of a qualitative study
and use an observational protocol for recording information while
observing. This may be a single page with a dividing line down the middle
to separate descriptive notes (portraits of the participants, a reconstruction
of dialogue, a description of the physical setting, accounts of particular
182 Designing Research

Table 9 3 A List of Qualrtotrve Dolo Collecllon Approaches

Observations

, Gather field notes by conducting an observation as a participant.

, Gather field notes by conducting an observation as an observer.
, Gather field notes by spending more time as a participant than as an observer.
, Gather field notes by spending more time as an observer than as a participant.
, Gather field notes first by observing as an outsider and then moving into the
setting and observing as an Insider.

Interviews

, Conduct an unstructured, open-ended Interview and take interview notes.

, Conduct an unstructured, open-ended interview, audiotape the interview, and
transcribe it.
, Conduct a semistructured interview, audiotape the interview.. and transcribe the
interview.
• Conduct a focus group interview, audiotape the interview, and transcribe lt.
• Conduct different types of interviews: email. face-to-face, focus group, online
focus group. telephone interviews

Documents

• Keep a journal during the research study.

• Have a participant keep a journal or diary during the research study .
• Collect personal letters from participants.
• Analyze public documents (e.g., official memos, minutes. records, archival
material).
• Examine autobiographies and biographies.
• Have participants take photographs or videotapes (i.e., photo elicitation).
• Chart audits
• Medical records

Audio-visual Materials

• Examine physical trace evidence (e.g .. footprints in the snow).

• Videotape or film a social situation or an individual or group.
• Examine photographs or videotapes.
• Collect sounds (e.g., musical sounds, a child's laughter, car horns honking).
• Collect e-mail messages.
• Collect cell phone text messages.
• Examine possessions or ritual objects.
• Collect sounds, smells, tastes, or any stimuli of the senses.

SOURCE: Adapted from Creswell (2007).

events, or activities) from reflective notes (the researcher's personal

thoughts, such as "speculation, feelings, problems, ideas, hunches,
impressions, and prejudices" Bogdan & Biklen, 1992, p. 121). Also written
on this form might be demographic information about the time, place, and
date of the field setting where the observation takes place.
 Qualitative Procedures 183

e Use an interview protocol for asking questions and recording

answers during a qualitative interview. This protocol includes the follow-
ing components:
• A heading (date, place, interviewer, interviewee)
• Instructions for the interviewer to follow so that standard proce-
dures are used from one interview to another
• The questions (typically an ice-breaker question at the beginning
followed by 4-5 questions that are often the subquestions in a
qualitative research plan, followed by some concluding statement
or a question, such as, "Who should I visit with to learn more
about my questions?"
• Probes for the 4-5 questions, to follow up and ask individuals to
explain their ideas in more detail or to elaborate on what they
have said
• Space between the questions to record responses
• A final thank-you statement to acknowledge the time the inter-
viewee spent during the interview (see Creswell, 2007)
e Researchers record information from interviews by making hand-
written notes, by audiotaping, or by videotaping. Even if an interview is
taped, I recommend that researchers take notes, in the event that record-
ing equipment fails. If audiotaping is used, researchers need. to plan in
advance for the transcription of the tape.
e The recording of documents and visual materials can be based on
the researcher's structure for taking notes. Typically, notes reflect infor-
mation about the document or other material as well as key ideas in the
documents. It is helpful to note whether the information represents pri-
mary material (i.e., information directly from the people or situation under
study) or secondary material (i.e., secondhand accounts of the people or
situation written by others). It is also helpful to comment on the reliability
and value of the data source.

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Discussion of the plan for analyzing the data might have several compo-
nents. The process of data analysis involves making sense out of text and
image data. It involves preparing the data for analysis, conducting differ-
ent analyses, moving deeper and deeper into understanding the data
(some qualitative researchers like to think of this as peeling back the lay-
ers of an onion), representing the data, and making an interpretation of
the larger meaning of the data. Several generic processes might be stated
184 Designing Research

in the proposal that convey a sense of the overall activities of qualitative

data analysis, such as the following drawn from my own thoughts
(Creswell, 2007) and those of Rossman and Rallis (1998):

e It is an ongoing process involving continual reflection about

the data, asking analytic questions, and writing memos throughout the
study. I say that qualitative data analysis is conducted concurrently with
gathering data, making interpretations, and writing reports. While inter-
views are going on, for example, the researcher may be analyzing an
interview collected earlier, writing memos that may ultimately be
included as a narrative in the final report, and organizing the structure of
the final report.
e Data analysis involves collecting open-ended data, based on asking
general questions and developing an analysis from the information sup-
plied by participants.

e Often we see qualitative data analysis reported in journal articles and

books that is a generic form of analysis. In this approach, the researcher
collects qualitative data, analyzes it for themes or perspectives, and reports
4-5 themes. I consider this approach to be basic qualitative analysis; today
many qualitative researchers go beyond this generic analysis to add a pro-
cedure within one of the qualitative strategies of inquiry. For example,
grounded theory has systematic steps (Corbin & Strauss, 2007; Strauss &
Corbin, 1990, 1998). These involve generating categories of information
(open coding), selecting one of the categories and positioning it within a
theoretical model (axial coding), and then explicating a story from the
interconnection of these categories (selective coding). Case study and ethno-
graphic research involve a detailed description of the setting or individuals,
followed by analysis of the data for themes or issues (see Stake, 1995;
Wolcott, 1994). Phenomenological research uses the analysis of significant
statements, the generation of meaning units, and the development of
what Moustakas (1994) calls an essence description. Narrative research
employs restorying the participants' stories using structural devices, such
as plot. setting, activities, climax, and denouement (Clandinin & Connelly,
2000). As these examples illustrate, the processes as well as the terms dif-
fer from one analytic strategy to another.

e Despite these analytic differences depending on the type of strategy

used, qualitative inquirers often use a general procedure and convey in the
proposal the steps in data analysis. An ideal situation is to blend the
general steps with the specific research strategy steps. An overview of
the data analysis process is seen in Figure 9.1. As a research tip, I urge
researchers to look at qualitative data analysis as following steps from the
specific to the general and as involving multiple levels of analysis.
 Qualitative Procedures 185

- InterPreting the Meaning of

.Themes/Descriptions I
i
Interrelating Themes/Description
(e.g., grounded theory, ·case·study)

i i
Themes Desc~iption
I I
Validating the
i i
Coding the Data
Accuracy of the -
(hand or computer)
Information

i
R~ading Through All Data
I
i
Organizing and Preparing
Data for Analysis

i
Raw Data (transcripts,
fieldnotes, images, etc.)

Figure 9.1 Data Analysis in Qualitative Research

This figure suggests a linear. hierarchical approach building from the

bottom to the top, but I see it as more interactive in practice; the various
stages are interrelated and not always visited in the order presented. These
levels are emphasized in the following steps;

Step l. Organize and prepare the data for analysis. This involves tran-
scribing interviews. optically scanning material. typing up field notes, or
sorting and arranging the data into different types depending on the
sources of information.
Step 2. Read through all the data. A first step is to obtain a general sense
of the information and to reflect on its overall meaning. What general
ideas are participants saying? What is the tone of the ideas? What is the
impression of the overall depth, credibility. and use of the information?
Sometimes qualitative researchers write notes in margins or start record-
ing general thoughts about the data at this stage.
186 Designing Research

Step 3. Begin detailed analysis with a coding process. Coding is the

process of organizing the material into chunks or segments of text before
bringing meaning to information (Rossman & Rallis, 1998, p. 171). It
involves taking text data or pictures gathered during data collection, seg-
menting sentences (or paragraphs) or images into categories, and labeling
those categories with a term, often a term based in the actual language of
the participant (called an in vivo term).

Before proceeding to Step 4, consider some remarks that will provide

detailed guidance for the coding process. Tesch (1990, pp. 142-145) pro-
vides a useful analysis of the process in eight steps:
l. Get a sense of the whole. Read all the transcriptions carefully.
Perhaps jot down some ideas as they come to mind.
2. Pick one document (i.e., one interview)-the most interesting one,
the shortest, the one on the top of the pile. Go through it, asking
yourself, "What is this about?" Do not think about the substance of
the information but its underlying meaning. Write thoughts in the
margin.
3. When you have completed this task for several participants, make a
list of all topics. Cluster together similar topics. Form these topics
into columns, perhaps arrayed as major topics, unique topics, and
leftovers.
4. Now take this list and go back to your data. Abbreviate the topics as
codes and write the codes next to the appropriate segments of the
text. Try this preliminary organizing scheme to see if new categories
and codes emerge.
5. Find the most descriptive wording for your topics and turn them into
categories. Look for ways of reducing your total list of categories by
grouping topics that relate to each other. Perhaps draw lines between
your categories to show interrelationships.
6. Make a final decision on the abbreviation for each category and
alphabetize these codes.
7. Assemble the data material belonging to each category in one place
and perform a preliminary analysis.
8. If necessary, recode your existing data.

These eight steps engage a researcher in a systematic process of analyz-

ing textual data. Variations exist in this process. As a research tip,
I encourage qualitative researchers to analyze their data for material that
can address the following:

e Codes on topics that readers would expect to find, based on the past
literature and common sense
 Qualitative Procedures 187

• Codes that are surprising and that were not anticipated at the begin-
ning of the study
• Codes that are unusual, and that are, in and of themselves, of con-
ceptual interest to readers (e.g .. in Asmussen and Creswell, 199 5, we iden-
tified retriggering as one of the codes/themes in the analysis that suggested
a new dimension for us to a gunman incident on campus and that seemed
to connect with experiences of others on campus)
• Codes that address a larger theoretical perspective in the research

As an alternative conceptualization, consider the list by Bogdan and

Bilden (1992, pp. 166-172) of the types of codes that they look for in a
qualitative database:

e Setting and context codes

e Perspectives held by subjects
• Subjects' ways of thinking about people and objects
e Process codes
e Activity codes
e Strategy codes
e Relationship and social structure codes
• Preassigned coding schemes

One further issue about coding is whether the researcher should

(a) develop codes only on the basis of the emerging information collected
from participants, (b) use predetermined codes and then fit the data to
them, or (c) use some combination of predetermined and emerging codes.
The traditional approach in the social sciences is to allow the codes to
emerge during the data analysis. In the health sciences, a popular
approach is to use predetermined codes based on the theory being exam-
ined. In this case, the researchers might develop a qualitative code book.
a table or record that contains a list of predetermined codes that researchers
use for coding the data. This code book might be composed with the names
of codes in one column, a definition of codes in another column, and then
specific instances (e.g .. line numbers) in which the code was found in the
transcripts. Having such a codebook is invaluable when multiple
researchers are coding the data from different transcripts. This codebook
can evolve and change during a study based on close analysis of the data,
even when the researcher is not starting from an emerging code perspec-
tive. For researchers who have a distinct theory they want to test in their
projects, I would recommend that a preliminary code book be developed for
coding the data and permit the codebook to develop and change ba~ed on