HSCI 307 Lecture 9: Qualitative Data Analysis

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Health Sciences
• Course: HSCI 307
• Professor: Rochelle Tucker

Document Summary

Qualitative data analysis: general strategies of qualitative data analysis, analytic induction, grounded theory. Basic operations in qualitative data analysis: coding, narrative analysis. What is qualitative analysis: qualitative analysis is an iterative process, analysis starts after some data have been collected. Further data are gathered on the basis of that analysis. Example: analytic induction: a general research question is devised, some data are gathered, and a hypothesis is proposed. If a case is inconsistent with the hypothesis, the hypothesis is redefined to exclude the case, or the hypothesis is dropped or fundamentally revised. The researcher continues to gather data until no contradictory cases are found (textbook example unsafe sexual behaviour in military) Because all cases must be explained, the hypotheses generated may be too broad to be useful. There are usually no guidelines on how many cases must be reviewed before the validity of the hypothesis is accepted.