Advanced Seminar in Qualitative Research:
Approaches to the Analysis of Qualitative Data
Spring 2014
LSAP 3595, #26695
Instructor
Jennifer Russell
808 LRDC
jrussel@pitt.edu
(412) 624-7489
Office Hours: By appointment
Student Teaching Assistant
Lauren Allen
lba8@pitt.edu
Schedule
Wednesdays, 1:30 – 4:10, LRDC 9th Floor
Course Description
This course will focus on approaches to the analysis of qualitative data. It is designed for
students who have some experience with qualitative field research methods (introductory
coursework or project experience) and have a set of qualitative data they are interested in
analyzing for their own research. The principal aims of the course are to: (1) enable you to
make informed and well-documented choices regarding the analysis of qualitative data –
that is to establish a “transparent path of inference” in your analysis and writing; and (2)
explore a range of analysis strategies, techniques and tools.
The course has two primary strands. The reading strand will introduce readings about
qualitative analysis that delve into methodological issues, technical aspects of various
approaches to qualitative analysis, validity and reliability, and issues related to writing and
presentation of qualitative research. We will also explore examples of published qualitative
analysis for their methodological and presentation choices.
The second strand will be a practicum segment included in each course session that will
provide time for consultation on your own work in small groups. The course will provide
opportunity for people to present and consult on their analyses as they unfold. This means
preparing memos, presentations, graphical displays, and draft writing for sharing in your
practicum group.
If you do not already own it, please purchase:
1
Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M. & Saldana, J. (2013). Qualitative data analysis: A methods
sourcebook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Recommended software available for ~$13 per month (wait until February to download):
Dedoose www.dedoose.come
You will also need a copy of:
Ragin, C. C., Nagel, J. & White, P. (2004). Workshop on scientific foundations of qualitative
research. National Science Foundation. [Available for free download at
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2004/nsf04219/start.htm]
All other readings are available on Courseweb.
Course Requirements
Students are responsible for completing the weekly reading assignments and preparing to
actively participate in class discussions. Students are also expected to prepare for
consultation sessions in the workshop segment and will often have mini-assignments to
guide this preparation.
Review of an Empirical Article: Students will write a formal review of an empirical article
employing qualitative data analysis. Students will have an opportunity to express their
preference for the article they will review. The whole class will read the article and the
assigned student will present their review and lead a class discussion of the article.
Culminating Project: In keeping with the primary goal of the course – students will make
progress on their own analysis project – the culminating project will display the product of
this analysis. Students will gather artifacts of the steps in your analysis such as analytic
memos, codebooks, segments of coded data, matrix displays and other visualizations. In
addition, you students will write an extended analytic memo that describes their analysis
process, findings and conclusions. Think of this memo as a partial empirical paper. Final
projects will be shared with peers on the last class session through a whole class poster
session (posters will consist of a set of printed power point slides).
Grades will be determined by class attendance, active participation in class / workshop
discussion (25%), by the quality and timely completion of the article review (15%), by the
timely completion of all memos/assignments for workshop sessions (15%), and final paper
and analysis portfolio (45%). Students should notify the instructor in advance of absences
whenever possible. In order to avoid a deduction in participation points when absent,
students should prepare a 2 to 3 page memo that summarizes and reacts to the assigned
course readings. The memo and other assignments (if applicable) should be emailed to the
instructor before the next course session. Absences greater than two will result in a
reduction in participation points regardless of memo completion.
2
The statements contained in this syllabus, other than the grading policies, may be subject to
change with reasonable advance notice as deemed acceptable by the instructor.
If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, you are
encouraged to contact both your instructor and Disability Resources and Services (DRS),
216 William Pitt Union, 412-648-7890 (412- 282-7355 for TTY) as early as possible in the
term. DRS will verify your disability and determine reasonable accommodations for this
course.
3
Approaches to the Analysis of Qualitative Data - Schedule
Week
1
Session
Course overview
1/8
Resources:
Miles, Huberman & Saldaña, 1-54.
Creswell, J. W. (2006). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among
five approaches. Sage.
2
1/15
Epistemology, methodology & methods
Miles, Huberman & Saldaña, Qualitative Data Analysis, 1-54.
Usher, R. (1996). A critique of the neglected epistemological assumptions of
educational research. Understanding educational research, 9-32.
Becker, H. S. (1996). The epistemology of qualitative research. Ethnography and
human development: Context and meaning in social inquiry, 53-71.
Workshop: Extended introductions to individual projects and semester plans &
priorities. Interrogate proposed research questions: Do they match available
data? Are they sufficiently bounded?
3
Standards of evidence, validity and reliability in qualitative analysis
1/22
Miles, M. B. & Huberman, A. M. (1984). Drawing valid meaning from qualitative
data: Toward a share craft. Educational Researcher, (May), 20-30.
Freeman, M., Preissle, J., Roulston, K., & Pierre, E. A. S. (2007). Standards of
evidence in qualitative research: An incitement to discourse. Educational
Researcher, 36(1), 25-32.
LeCompte, M. D., & Goetz, J. P. (1982). Problems of reliability and validity in
ethnographic research. Review of educational research, 52(1), 31-60.
Miles, Huberman & Saldaña, pages 310-314.
4
Week
4
Session
Building theory from cases & introduction to coding
1/29
Miles, Huberman & Saldaña, Chapter 4.
Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989). Building theories from case study research. Academy
of management review, 14(4), 532-550.
Review article:
Malen, B., Croninger, R., Muncey, D., & Redmond-Jones, D. (2002). Reconstituting
schools:“Testing” the “theory of action”. Educational evaluation and policy
analysis, 24(2), 113-132.
5
2/5
Workshop: Revised research questions & bounding your data set
More coding…
Read 1 article (specific assignments TBD in class)
Boyatzis, R. E. (1998). Chapter 1 & 2. In Transforming qualitative information:
Thematic analysis and code development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Strauss, A. L. (1987). Codes and coding. In Qualitative analysis for social
scientists. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
MacQueen, K., McLellan, E., Kay, K., & Milstein, B. (1998). Codebook
development for team-based qualitative analysis. Cultural Anthropology
Methods, 10(2), 31-36.
Spradley, J. (1979). Making a taxonomic analysis. In The ethnographic interview.
New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Lampert, M. D. & Ervin-Tripp, S. M. (1993). Structured coding for the study of
language and social interaction. In J. A. Edwards & M. D. Lampert, Talking data:
Transcription and coding in discourse research. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Review article:
Coburn, C. E. (2004). Beyond decoupling: Rethinking the relationship between
the institutional environment and the classroom. Sociology of Education, 77(3),
211-244.
5
Week
6
2/12
Session
Uncovering emic category systems
John, W. S., & Johnson, P. (2000). The pros and cons of data analysis software for
qualitative research. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 32(4), 393-397.
JENN
OUT
Bowker, G. C., & Star, S. L. (2000). Introduction. Sorting things out: Classification
and its consequences. The MIT Press. [Optional]
Review article:
Horn, I. S. (2007). Fast kids, slow kids, lazy kids: Framing the mismatch problem
in mathematics teachers' conversations. The Journal of the Learning
Sciences, 16(1), 37-79.
Dedoose demo
Workshop --Developing an approach to coding your data – bring a draft codebook with a
cover memo
6
Week
7
2/19
Session
Review Articles (everyone read both):
 Johnson, S. M., & Birkeland, S. E. (2003). Pursuing a “sense of success”:
New teachers explain their career decisions. American Educational Research
Journal, 40(3), 581-617.
 Tare, M., French, J., Frazier, B. N., Diamond, J., & Evans, E. M. (2011).
Explanatory parent–child conversation predominates at an evolution exhibit.
Science Education, 95(4), 720-744.
Technique-Based Reading Assignments
Student
Analysis of Situated Interaction
Erickson, F. (1992). Ethnographic microanalysis of interaction. In
M. D. LeCompte, W. L. Millroy, & J. Preissle (Eds.), The handbook of
qualitative research in education. Academic Press, Inc, 202-225.
Elaine
Engle, R. A., & Conant, F. R. (2002). Guiding principles for fostering
productive disciplinary engagement: Explaining an emergent
argument in a community of learners classroom. Cognition and
Instruction, 20(4), 399-483.
Hannah
Interview Analysis
Riessman, C. K. (2013). Analysis of personal narratives. Qualitative
Research in Social Work, 168.
Becky
Ochs, E., & Capps, L. (2001). A dimensional approach to
narrative. Living narrative: creating lives in everyday storytelling.
Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1-58.
Afton
Boeije, H. (2002). A purposeful approach to the constant
comparative method in the analysis of qualitative interviews.
Quality and quantity, 36(4), 391-409.
Jenn
Weiss, R. (1994). Learning from strangers: The art and method of
qualitative interview studies. New York: Free Press. Chapter 6 –
Analysis of data.
Haixia
Case Study Analysis
Yin, R. (2014). Analyzing case study research (Chapter 5). In Case
study research: Design and methods. Sage Publications.
Stacy
Yin, R. (2014). Analyzing case study research (Chapter 5). In Case
study research: Design and methods. Sage Publications.
Calli
7
Week
8
Session
No reading – extended consultation sessions (3 * 45 min.)
2/26
9
Workshop – discuss Taking Stock memos & some artifact that represents your
analysis
Matrix and network displays
3/5
Miles, Huberman & Saldaña, Chapter 5
Review article:
Coburn, C. E., & Russell, J. L. (2008). District policy and teachers’ social
networks. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 30(3), 203-235
10
Exploring, Describing and Ordering
3/19
Miles, Huberman & Saldaña, Ch. 6
Review article:
Allen, L. B., & Crowley, K. J (in press). Challenging beliefs, practices and content:
How museum educators change. Science Education.
Workshop:
Bring a matrix or network display with a cover memo about what you were
trying to understand and your preliminary conclusions
11
Explaining and Predicting
3/26
Miles, Huberman & Saldaña, Ch. 7
Bob Woodward on Jim Belushi (Slate article)
Review article:
Booher-Jennings, J. (2005). Below the bubble:“Educational triage” and the Texas
Accountability System. American Educational Research Journal, 42(2), 231-268.
8
Week
12
Session
Qualitative Comparative Analysis
4/2
Ragin, C. C. (1996). The distinctiveness of comparative social science. Comparing
nations and cultures: Readings in a cross disciplinary perspective. Englewood
Cliffs, New Jersey. [Optional]
Review article:
Coburn, C., Russell, J, Kaufman, J. & Stein, M. K. (2012). Supporting
sustainability: Teachers’ advice networks and ambitious instructional reform.
American Journal of Education, 119(1), 137-182.
Workshop --- Share matrices
13
Drawing and verifying conclusions
4/9
Miles, Huberman & Saldaña, Ch. 11 – just first half drawing conclusions
Review article:
Anagnostopoulos, D., & Rutledge, S. (2007). Making sense of school sanctioning
policies in urban high schools: Charting the depth and drift of school and
classroom change. The Teachers College Record, 109(5), 1261-1302.
Workshop – Develop an analysis plan for the remaining weeks of the semester
14
4/16
Critical attributes of good qualitative research / Writing about qualitative
research
Miles, Huberman & Saldana, pages 293-322
NSF proceedings - Blee (pp. 55-58)
NSF proceedings – Katz (pp. 83-90)
15
Wrap Up / Poster session
4/23
9