Qualitative Research
Planning the Research
Chapter Ten
Analyzing and interpreting data
pp. 291- 308
温怡萍 Livia
MA1C0204
陳怡真老師
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
We cannot overstate the importance of writing analytic
memos throughout the process.

Theses short narratives are called memos by convention
and can be constructed in formal memorandum format.

This writing process encourages analytic thinking and
demands that the researchers commit emerging ideas to
paper.

There is no substitute for the thinking and reflecting
that go into these memos.
2

Methodologic memos

Thematic memos

Theoretical memos
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
Methodologic memos focus on in-process
design and methodology insights and new
directions. They serve as a kind of
monitoring of your design as it unfolds,
providing documentation of design
decisions.

What should I interview?

Whom else should I interview?

What questions should I ask to follow up on this
event? (Enerson et al., 1995, p. 103)
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




Thematic memos bring together the data from
across several sources on an emerging theme.
Working across interviews and field notes.
What theme is emerging?
What are its elements?
Where do I have evidence (data) to support the
theme?
What other data might help elaborate the theme?
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
Theoretical memos develop a theme in light of
theoretical writing on the topic. Building upon a thematic
memo, the researcher integrates the thematic discussion
with theoretical concepts or principles that might help
elaborate the theme and situate it within a discourse
community.

How does this theme link to a particular theory?

How does this theme elaborate the theoretical concept or principle?

How does it contradict or question on theoretical idea?
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In-process
analytic
memos should
be written in
an exploratory,
open-ended
narrative style.
Ideas and
assertions about
the data and
their
interpretation
should be put
forward
tentatively with
lots of questions
still to be
answered.
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Three strategies for analyzing interview data:
1. Analyzing Ethnographic Interview Data
2. Analyzing Phenomenological Interview Data
-Analyzing Narrative Interview Data
-Analyzing Voice-Centered Interview Data
3. Analyzing Socio-Communications Data
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


Formal：with the researchers setting up a specific
time and place to “talk” with the participant
Informal：occurring during more naturallyoccurring fieldwork
Analyzing Cognitive Ethnographic Interview Data
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
Cognitive anthropologists are particularly interested in
members’ terms, types, and typologies.

Gathering data through participant observation and
interviewing by card sorts into semantic relationships that
depict their mental models.

Through this work, they uncover salient cultural domains,
assigning them cover terms, included terms, and semantic
relationships.
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There are some strategies as follows:
 1. meaning condensation
 2. meaning categorization
 3. narrative structure
 4. meaning interpretation
 5. to validate your analyses by checking with the
participants to see if they agree, extend or
dispute your judgments of what is important.


Analyzing Narrative Interview Data
Analyzing Voice-Centered Interview Data
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

The analysis of narrative data can be highly
structured or open-ended.
Highly structured ： focus on the abstract (a
summary),
orientation
(place,
time,
and
participants), complicating action (sequence of
events), evaluation (meaning of the action),
resolution (what happened), and coda (return to
the present).
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
Gilligan recommends 4 reading in her voicecentered interview process.
1) establish the who, what, when, where, why,
2) the reader listens for the self,
3) & 4) look for relational voices.

Roger suggests 4 layers of analysis: restorying,
relational dynamics, languages of the unsayable,
and figurative thought.
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

It is board, encompassing several distinctive
analytic strategies.
Discourse analytic and semiotics─both rely on
naturally occurring “talk” and “text” as data.
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


It is frequently concerned with how social issues
such as power, gender relations, or racism are
expressed in talk.
The analytic strategy is thematic, noting
instances in which the social issue of interest is
expressed and negotiated.
The talk may be between a social worker and a
client, a teacher and pupil, or a manager and
worker.
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
Semiotics, the study of sign system and their
relationship to human behavior, relies on three
central concepts:

Signifier intends to convey meaning (artists’ clothing

Signified is the meaning conveyed (a tacit hierarchy

Sign together with signifier and signified (social
and the location of booths)
among the artists)
relations within the artistic community)
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1.
Some are tightly structured, relying on checklists to
record types of actions or interactions and their
frequencies.
2.
Others are holistic, recording the flow of events in the
setting and captured in detailed descriptive field notes.
3.
Holistic observation field notes are a running record of
events including as much relevant detail.
4.
Slash (/) for each person or interaction as a running
tally of presence, interactions and actions.
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
Material culture is composed of the unspoken and expressive and
called the “mute evidence.”

The most interpretive analytic act in qualitative research.

The resulting interpretations (working hypotheses) that explain
patterns cannot be subjected to strict verification procedures;
instead, credibility is determined by the fruitfulness of the theory
applied, the trustworthiness of the researcher, the depth of
engagement in the field, and the support of the interpretation from
the relevant discourse community.
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Comfort with ambiguity
Capacity to make reasoned decision and to
articulate the logic behind those decisions
Deep interpersonal or emotional sensitivity
Ethical sensitivity of potential consequences
to individuals and groups
Political sensitivity
Perseverance and self-discipline
Awareness of when to bring closure
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1. Study Questions
(How does the qualitative genre shape analytic approaches?)
2. Small-Group and Dyad Activities
- Generating
(Categories (Are these the right categories?)
- Identifying Themes in the Characters’ Work
(Marla, Anthony, and Ruth)
3. See an example below
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1.
GENERIC ANALYSIS
2.
ANALYZING PHENOMENOLOGICAL DATA
3.
ANALYZING ETHNOGRAPHIC DATA
4.
ANALYZING SOCIO-COMMUNICATIONS DATA
5.
ANALYZING ARTIFACTS AND MATRIAL CULTURE
6.
SOFTWARE FOR ANALYSIS
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