SOCI 211 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Qualitative Research, Amen, May Report
Document Summary
Qualitative data analysis: the non-numerical examination and interpretation of observations, for the purpose of discovering underlying meanings and patterns of relationships. This is most typical of field research and historical research. Qualitative data analysis is concerned with how you determine what is important to observe and how you formulate your analytical conclusions on the basis of those observations. Main goal = reveal patterns that emerge from data- a search for and a reporting of basic commonalities. An important initial task is to create typologies of behaviors: For example: although most of the participants in a religious prayer murmur. Amen throughout the leader"s sermon, you may note a few who don"t. The researcher might find a range of patterns that leads to a typology of behaviors. This might then lead to the search for potential social characteristics that are associated with these different types. Theory: a systematic set of interrelated propositions intended to explain some aspect of social life.