QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS

Dr. PRADEEP K. MESHRAM

Case I A, 25 years was admitted to the hospital (Thane) four years back under a detention order by the Police. Educated till grade V, she was working as a compounder in a private clinic earning Rs.500/- p.m. prior to being admitted in the hospital. Her primary diagnosis as mentioned in the hospital case records was schizophrenia with a history of 10 years.

 The

mental status examination (MSE) at the time of admission stated that she was conscious, talkative, argumentative, suspicious, had persecutory delusions and partial insight into her illness. She received ECTs and medication on admission and is currently on maintenance medication. Her present MSE reveals that she has fair insight into her illness and need for medication, talk is relevant, coherent and there are no delusions or hallucinations. She feels she has recovered and is keen to go home.

She is currently working as a helper patient in the hospital looking after women patients and assisting the attendants. Prior to admission to this hospital, she had received treatment from a Municipal Hospital in Mumbai, a village in Kerala (from where she hails) and also from indigenous healers at a temple and mosque.

 Originally

from Kerala, her parents along with her younger brother and herself had settled in Mumbai several years ago. Her father owned a tea stall near CST station in Mumbai but kept shifting the location of his stall and home to find better business and cheaper accommodation. At the time of admission, her brother younger by five years was in an orphanage pursuing his studies. A has little information about him and her father who came to meet her twice during the last four years. He had suffered a paralytic attack,

was hospitalized and has since then no contact with her. As mother is also admitted to the same hospital and she says there is family history of mental illness. Besides her mother and herself, her maternal and paternal aunts are also suffering from mental illness. Hospital case records mention that both the mother and daughter were being sexually abused on the streets of Mumbai and were found by the police who admitted them.

Her family history reveals that her father was an alcoholic and would regularly beat up her mother. Her brother and she used to steal money to buy food and run away from school to go on bus and train rides. When her father found out about their exploits he would beat them up too. They had no extended family support either in Mumbai or in Kerala as her maternal grandmother did not like As mother to visit Kerala and stay with them. Her memories about her mothers illness go back to her school days when her mother used to have a lot of tension, become sick and behave in an odd manner. A feels that because of the tension, she too became sick and now has landed in the hospital.

PRINCIPLES OF DATA ANALYSIS

People differ in their experiences and understandings of reality; how participants define a situation may not reflect assumptions made by the researcher

PRINCIPLES OF DATA ANALYSIS CONTD.

A

social phenomenon cannot be understood outside its own context Theory both guides qualitative research and is a result of it Exceptional cases may yield insight into a problem or new leads for further inquiry Understanding of human behaviour emerges slowly and nonlinearly

QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS: STEPS

READING I. In the field Questioning INTERPRETING II. At the desk Verifying CODING

REDUCING

DISPLAYING

ANALYSIS DURING DATA COLLECTION

Important as, identify data gaps; test new hypotheses on the way If done at the end, makes analysis into an overwhelming task that demotivates and reduces quality of work Ideally, data collection and analysis should interweave

separate data of different stakeholders if two or more methods used, separate data from each method for each stakeholder Create homogenous sources of data When writing the narratives, chronological; present/past; sectorwise; cause/effect; back and forth The writing structure should be the same for comparative analysis, include all data

READING

reading and rereading texts and reviewing notes, is data adequate; content; note quality of the transcripts. Begin to identify patterns: possible relationships; contradictory responses; gaps in understanding

OUR ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT DATA

data in the form of handwritten field notes, tape recordings, Focusing on words and we assume that the words involved have been refined one step beyond their form at the point of data collection, so that these are clear to any reader or co-worker The basic raw data are subjected to more processing before they are available for analysis All notes have to be transcribed on paper first before analysis

DATA PREPARATION
Transcription takes time Transcription is an interpretive process Level of transcription depends on the objectives of study Do the transcription yourself Dangers of superficial coding, missing contextual details, what happened before and after Hence, knowing and reading data very important Writing a creative activity, not mechanical When working in a team, transcription a must

2. g. Growth in education, knowledge

Through the organization, Dinesh took admission in the fifth standard in the municipal school. (In the school leaving certificate, his age is shown to be lower than his actual age). Later, he joined classes for tenth standard, but he found it very difficult and could not clear it Nafisa reflected that initially education was not emphasized in Saathi activities, there were no support provided in terms of providing education within the agency premises. In the agency, they felt a need for education The organization staff shared that she had limited education and problems selecting options while doing the NOS course. She remained free for long amounts of time and thus she may have started losing interest. Nafisa herself said that at home, she hardly could meet anyone or move out. The level of education was also low The organization staff shared that education through NOS as a program has been started one-year back and still being improved upon

METADATA

Data about data Information about your data : notes, outlines used Information about the details of your data : how study was done, biographical info . about your respondents. Date of interview Biographical details about the respondent Topic and circumstances of interview Name of interviewer Source of field notes relevant to the interview Linked documents [earlier contacts] Initial ideas for analysis Pseudonym of person interviewed

CONTACT SUMMARY SHEET:

A single sheet containing a series of focusing or summarizing questions about a particular field contact Need to be clear about what you need to know quickly Based on research questions; themes; areas of high and low density Essentially quotes or sentences

HOW DOES ONE USE THE SUMMARY

SHEET
guide planning for the next contact to suggest new or revised codes to help with communication and coordination with co-workers to reorient oneself to the contact to serve as a basis for analysis needs to be simple, focus on the primary issues

CODING
Process of identifying passages that exemplify certain thematic ideas and give them a label the code. Classifying words. Derived from research questions, key concepts, themes Working with words have multiple meanings

Need to move from mere descriptive codes [activities done together] to a more categorical, analytic and theoretical level of coding [have these decreased, why] Concept driven coding Conceptual map; secondary data; hunches . build up a list of thematic ideas. But these would be amended as study goes on Data driven coding Start with no codes open coding. Done by advocates of grounded theory Usually a mixture of both done Can be descriptive, explanatory, interpretive

DEFINITIONS OF CODES
A must Name better than a number If possible , do double coding with another person. A good reliability check Reliability = number of agreements total number of agreements + disagreements Not every piece of material needs to be coded When to code? Iterative process. Always code the previous set of field notes before the next trip to the site Have the codes on a single sheet for easy reference

MATRICES
Are

an aid Checklist Matrix for identifying Domains of concepts Each data should have a concept label Use concept labels which are theoretically correct.[ e.g., perception] If new concept , then need to define Concepts are not derived till checklist matrix is completed Checklist matrix need not be included in the report

CHECKLIST MATRIX
Data which is not directly used, should not be excluded. Can use as background data Representing data in the narratives, is an act of responsibility Narratives in first person [I] only when individual is the unit of analysis When analyzing, avoid global statements - look for shades of differences, behaviours, details of interventions

CHECKLIST MATRIX
Variable label Value of variable [for each case] Nature of project by Community based NGO health project Types of target groups Women, youth and children Location of project In a rehabilitated community Approach of project Preventive and curative

Personnel involved

Time of intiation

1988

Beliefs about the project Women have to be the focus to meet health needs of family Programmes Outreach

EVENT- LISTING MATRIX

List of events CN 1 CN 2 CN-3 1 [What]2345 List of events as these occurred [ e.g., demolitions, ] When strong process dimension in the narratives All narratives may not show the same events then in the master list, not available Never used alone leads to critical incident

MATRICES
Critical incident Only critical incidents HOW was it critical should be depicted in the matrix PROCESS OUTCOME MATRIX TIME ORDERED MATRIX ROLE ORDERED MATRIX EFFECT OF AN EVENT MATRIX

CASE ANALYSES

Construction Construction Construction Construction

of of of of

self family political ideology stress-coping experience

DISPLAYING

A spatial format that presents information systematically to the user. For qualitative researchers, the typical mode is narrative text. However, this runs into pages, not in order, loosely knit. Hence, need creative forms for this purpose. Then explore each thematic area, first displaying in detail the information relevant to each category. The major themes and the subthemes. [ e.g. theme: for arranged marriages or love marriages [a few for either] ; subthemes: reasons; experience; feelings; values ;]

Home Maternal adoptive family, visited biological family intermittently, conservative values, religious, cohesive and caring though formal and located in insecure downtown area.

Friends Close group, understanding, dependent, frank and modern attitude towards boy-girl friendships.

School Liked its environment, behavior less reserved at school and felt the moral behavior of some girls was lacking.

Individual characteristics Behavior home: sensitive, obedient, stays to herself, quiet, asocial, follows the moral behavior expected by family; school : talkative, jovial, academic, can not play because of breathing problem, modern outlook, conflict between what society says and what she feels, bossy, lacks confidence, not participative, performance anxiety; general: timid, liked traveling, watching television and spending time with friends, wanted to become a doctor, patient and forgiving. Beliefs religious beliefs were molded by family, moral behavior influenced by religion, believed religion was significant, religiosity measured by rituals followed and God determines death. Dealing with emotions misses her own family and upset when someone criticises without any reason, generally even tempered, dealt with difficult emotions by sharing with friends but not dependent on family.

DATA REDUCTION
Reduce this information to its essential points. Distilling the information to make visible the most essential concepts and relationships Happens after all the data is in and you are familiar with their content Visual devices help in this process: one approach is to develop matrices, diagrams, for each thematic area

Outgoing Territori al Close, cohesive, communica tive Close but non communica tive Not close Amir level one Political Sania level three Unclear Zubin level four Zubeida level one Territo rial

Dual Polit ical Uncl ear Territo rial Sabina level three Bilal level three Nafis a level three Feroz level one

Reserved Polit ical Unclear

Khushi level two

Omar level three

WITHIN SITE ANALYSIS

A single site can be an individual, group, organization, community The importance of display: narrative alone can be cumbersome. , dispersed, vague, spread out over many pages Unlike quant. Data, which can compute large numbers in a matter of seconds, the Qualitative . researcher has to hand craft all such data displays Can be matrices, charts, figures. These depend on what the researcher wants to analyse Must be standardized, as to be used for all units of analysis If a concept is not on a format sheet, cannot be compared with another unit or concept Can have many kinds of displays for the same set of concepts

CROSS CASE MATRIX CONSTRUCTION OF SELF

Case 1 Characteristic s
Friendly, confident, intelligent

Case 2
Shy, lacks confidence

Case 3
Friendly, popular, avg intelligence

Case 4
Sensitive, emotional, confident

Case 5
Self conscious, low confidence, less intelligent

Case 6
Shy, reserved, dependent on others, sensitive, low confidence Communicative

Behavior at home Behavior at school

Communic ative

Quiet

Communicativ e

Communicati ve

Quiet

Participati ve

Participative

Participative

Participative

Quiet, non participative

Non participative

Beliefs

Morality based on religion Expressive

Morality based on religion

Conservative, stereotypes

Source of strength, morality Expressive

Strong belief in sins and retribution Withdraws, non expressive

Destiny, sins, retribution

Dealing with emotions

Non expressive, anxiety, anger

Expressive

Withdraws, shares with very few

STRUCTURED CONCEPTS:
SELF
Self perception Characteristics Dealing emotions with School Beliefs

Outgoing

Amir Zubin Sania

Extrovert, friendly, social, intelligent, confident

Expressive, shared with others and relied upon religious beliefs.

Participative, close peer group, positive attitude towards teachers.

Influenced by Koran, could not follow all the rituals, idea of morality based on religion, gender stereotypy.
Believed in God and rituals, based on Koran, believed in religious explanations.

Dual

Nafisa Zubeida Bilal

Reserved

Quiet at home and talkative in school, not social, lacks confidence and intelligent.

Non expressive, shares sometimes with friends.

Less inhibited, close group of friends, participates in sports. Either did not like school or liked it because of friends, small peer group, nonparticipative.

Khushi Sabina Omar Feroz

Quiet, shy, lacked confidence, not social, average intelligence.

Non expressive and withdrawn, sometimes dependent on friends.

Belief in God, religious identity, rituals were a sign of religiosity, believed in destiny, afraid of death, moral behaviour dependent on beliefs.

DEVELOPING HYPOTHESES

as you organize data around themes, you start forming hypotheses hunches about the data that you want to investigate further. web as interconnected, and not stand alone. One also tries to validate or reject emerging conclusions Do the categories that I have developed make sense? What pieces of information contradict my emerging ideas? What pieces of information are missing or underdeveloped? What other opinions should be taken into account? How do my own biases influence the data and analysis? Does it include process and explanations of how and why concepts occur

DEVELOPING WEB OF HYPOTHESES

Begin with the smallest unit/concept from the checklist matrix Need to do tangible and process simultaneously in analysis Tangible: series of matrices and /or diagrams to identify relationships between 2 or more concepts Process, quality of analysis creative skills selecting concepts develop skill of weaving in minute details to maximum divergence in findings. Divergence : looking a t a phenomenon [ e.g. poor] in different contextual situations which give rise to different behaviours Develop web of hypotheses for all concepts to finally build a causal network chart

WEB OF HYPOTHESES:
LEVELS OF EXPOSURE AND STRESS-COPING
Levels of exposure

One (serious injuries) Two (child and father injured) Three (moderate injuries) Four (no injuries)
Self Family

Very serious injuries produced marked changes in beliefs and attitude as compared to moderate to no injuries. Injury to self and family was associated with more distress compared to minimal physical injuries.

Stress-coping experience

Stress reactions Coping efforts Familys reactions Social support Changes in self

WEB OF HYPOTHESES: FAMILY AND STRESS-COPING

Family

Close, cohesive and communicative Close but non communicative Not so close or communicative

Self Levels of exposure Political ideologies

Children from close but non communicative families perceived less distressing stress reactions and changes in self and in their family as compared to those from not so close families.
Children from close, cohesive and communicative families perceived facilitative family reactions and social support as compared to children from not so close families.

Stress-coping experience

Stress reactions Coping efforts Familys reactions Social support Changes in self

COMPLETE DATA STRUCTURING

Raw

Data [ fragmented, stand alone data] Narratives [ to include all data] Concept development Domains of patterns in concepts Concepts Web of hypotheses Process explanations

THE FIELD BASED THEORY

Self Family Political ideology Levels of exposure

Protective factors Expressive and social self Close family relationships Communicative and cohesive family Political understanding of the context Minimal physical injuries

Vulnerability factors Shy and non-expressive self Lack of close family relationships Strained relation with father Taking a territorial perspective of the violence Severe physical injuries

Differences in the Stress-coping experience

TRIANGULATION
Data triangulation Researcher triangulation Theory triangulation Methodological triangulation

GETTING READY TO WRITE

Interpretation (arriving at the essential meaning of data, trustworthiness, approach) Core meaning of data Synthesizing findings

MIXED METHODS AND DATA ANALYSIS

Separate analysis of each data set Purpose of each component of the study design

ETHICAL NORMS IN WRITING

Aim for balance and accuracy rather than neutrality No harm principle Magnify voices Describe the context and your role

THANKS
pradeep_meshram1967@rediffmail.com