Analyzing and Interpreting

Qualitative Data

Group member :
1. Anggun Wibawa
2. Jani Dwi Prasetya
3. Novri Ferdiansyah
4. Selviana Dewi

Creswell, Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and © 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson Education, Inc.
Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, 4e All rights reserved.
OUTLINE:
 Identify the six steps in the process of analyzing and interpreting
qualitative data
 Describe how to prepare and organize the data for analysis
 Describe how to explore and code the data
 Use codes to build description and themes
 Construct a representation and reporting of qualitative findings
 Make an interpretation of the qualitative findings
 Advance validation for the accuracy of your findings

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, © 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson

and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Education, Inc.
Research, 4e - Creswell All rights reserved.
ISBN: 0132755912 8-2
 Six Steps in Analyzing and
Interpreting Qualitative Data
 Preparing and organizing the data for analysis
 Exploring the data through coding
 Using codes to develop description and themes
 Representing the findings through narratives and visuals
 Making an interpretation of the meaning of the findings
 Conducting a validation of the accuracy of the findings

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, © 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson

and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Education, Inc.
Research, 4e - Creswell All rights reserved.
ISBN: 0132755912 8-3
 The Process of Data Analysis
Codes the text for Codes the text for
description to be used themes to be used
in the research report in the research report

The researcher codes the data (locates text

segments and assigns a code to label them)
Iteractive Simultaneous
The researcher reads through data
(obtains general sense of material)

The researcher prepares data for analysis

(transcribes fieldnotes)

The researcher collects data (a text file, such as

fieldnotes, transcriptions, optically scanned material)
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, © 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson
and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Education, Inc.
Research, 4e - Creswell All rights reserved.
ISBN: 0132755912 8-4
 Preparing and Organizing the
Data
 Develop a matrix or table of sources that can
be used to organize the material
 Organize material by type
 Keep duplicate copies of materials
 Transcribe data
 Prepare data for hand or computer analysis
(and select computer program)

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, © 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson

and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Education, Inc.
Research, 4e - Creswell All rights reserved.
ISBN: 0132755912 8-5
 Exploring the Data
 Obtain a general sense of the data by
performing a preliminary exploratory analysis
 Read through fieldnotes and interviews
several times to get a sense of the interview
and the observation
 Write memos in the margins of interviews or
fieldnotes of your initial reflections on the data
 Consider whether more data are needed

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, © 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson

and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Education, Inc.
Research, 4e - Creswell All rights reserved.
ISBN: 0132755912 8-6
 Coding the Data
 Read through all transcripts
 Start with one transcript
 Identify text segments. Ask, “What is this person saying?”
 Bracket text segment
 Assign code word
 One, two, or three words that describe what is being

said
 Terms from the literature can be used

 When possible use a participant’s actual words (in

vivo code)
 Practice lean coding (30–40 codes)

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, © 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson

and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Education, Inc.
Research, 4e - Creswell All rights reserved.
ISBN: 0132755912 8-7
 Coding the Data (cont’d)
 Include codes that describe the participants and site
 Reduce redundancy
 Take out codes that are duplicate ideas

 Reduce to a manageable list (usually 25–30)

 Collapse codes into themes, which are:

 The major ideas that emerge from the data

 The ideas the participants most frequently discuss, are

unique or surprising, have the most evidence to

support them, or those you might expect to find when
studying the phenomenon
 Usually number 5–7

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, © 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson

and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Education, Inc.
Research, 4e - Creswell All rights reserved.
ISBN: 0132755912 8-8
A Visual Model of the Coding
Process in Qualitative Research
Divide text Label Reduce Collapse
Initially read into segments segments of overlap and
through data codes into
of information information redundancy themes
with codes of codes

Many Many
pages segments 30–40 Codes
of text of text codes reduced Reduce codes to
to 20 5–7 themes

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, © 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson

and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Education, Inc.
Research, 4e - Creswell All rights reserved.
ISBN: 0132755912 8-9
 Using Codes to Build
Description
 Describe
 People
 Events
 Activities
 Processes
 Describe in detail

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, © 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson

and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Education, Inc.
Research, 4e - Creswell All rights reserved.
ISBN: 0132755912 8-10
 Building a Descriptive Passage
Type of Description The Incident and Response

Description The incident occurred on the campus of a large public university in a

builds Midwestern city. A decade ago, this city had been designated an “all-American
from broad to city,” but more recently, its normally tranquil environment has been disturbed by
narrow an increasing number of assaults and homicides. Some of these violent incidents
have involved students at the university.
Situate the The incident that provoked this study occurred on a Monday in October. A forty-
reader
three-year-old graduate student, enrolled in a senior-level actuarial science class,
in the
place arrived a few minutes before class, armed with a vintage Korean War military
Provide semiautomatic rifle loaded with a thirty-round clip of thirty caliber ammunition.
details He carried another thirty-round clip in his pocket. Twenty of the thirty-four
students in the class had already gathered for class, and most of them were
quietly reading the student newspaper. The instructor was en route to class.
Detail to create The gunman pointed the rifle at the students, swept it across the room, and
a sense of pulled the trigger. The gun jammed. Trying to unlock the rifle, he hit the butt of it
“being there” on the instructor’s desk and quickly tried firing it again. Again it did not fire. By
this time, most students realized what was happening and dropped to the floor,
Use of action overturned their desks, and tried to hide behind them. After about twenty
verbs seconds, one of the students shoved a desk into the gunman, and students ran
and vivid past him out into the hall and out of the building. The gunman hastily departed
modifiers the room and went out of the building to his parked car, which he had left
and adjectives
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, © 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson
and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Education, Inc.
Research, 4e - Creswell All rights reserved.
ISBN: 0132755912 8-11
 Using Codes to Identify
Themes
 Ordinary themes
 Unexpected themes
 Social science themes
 Layering and connecting themes

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, © 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson

and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Education, Inc.
Research, 4e - Creswell All rights reserved.
ISBN: 0132755912 8-12
 Coding Used in Theme Passage
Title for Safety
theme The violence in the city that involved university students and the subsequent
based on gun incident that occurred in a campus classroom shocked the typically tranquil
words of campus. A counselor aptly summed up the feelings of many: “When the students
participant walked out of that classroom, their world had become very chaotic; it had
become very random, something had happened that robbed them of their sense
of safety.” Concern for safety became a central reaction for many informants.
When the chief student affairs officer described the administration’s reaction to
Evidence for the incident, he listed the safety of students in the classroom as his primary
themes
goal, followed by the needs of the news media for details about the case,
based
on multiple helping all students with psychological stress, and providing public information
perspectives on safety. As he talked about the safety issue and the presence of guns on
of campus, he mentioned that a policy was under consideration for the storage of
participants guns used by students for hunting. Within 4 hours after the incident, a press
conference was called during which the press was briefed not only on the details
Within of the incident, but also on the need to ensure the safety of the campus. Soon
themes thereafter the university administration initiated an informational campaign on
are campus safety. A letter, describing the incident, was sent to the university board
subthemes members. (One board member asked, “How could such an incident happen at
this university?”)

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, © 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson

and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Education, Inc.
Research, 4e - Creswell All rights reserved.
ISBN: 0132755912 8-13
 Representing the Findings
 Comparison table: A table used to compare groups on
one theme
 Demographic table: A table of demographics on
individual participants and/or research site
 Hierarchical tree: A diagram that visually represents
themes and their interconnections
 Figures/diagrams: A visual depiction that shows the
interconnections between themes
 Drawings: Maps of the physical layout of the site

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, © 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson

and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Education, Inc.
Research, 4e - Creswell All rights reserved.
ISBN: 0132755912 8-14
 Reporting the Findings
 Multiple perspectives for each theme
 Metaphors and analogies
 Quotes
 Detail
 Tensions and contradictions

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, © 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson

and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Education, Inc.
Research, 4e - Creswell All rights reserved.
ISBN: 0132755912 8-15
 Interpreting the Findings

 Interpretation is not neutral

 Reflect about the personal meaning of
the data
 Compare and contrast personal
viewpoints with the literature
 Address limitations of the study
 Make suggestions for future research
Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, © 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson
and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Education, Inc.
Research, 4e - Creswell All rights reserved.
ISBN: 0132755912 8-16
 Validating the Accuracy of the
Findings
 Member checking: Asking members to
check the accuracy of the account
 Triangulation: Using corroborating
evidence
 External audit: Hiring the services of an
individual outside the study to review
the study

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, © 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson

and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Education, Inc.
Research, 4e - Creswell All rights reserved.
ISBN: 0132755912 8-17
 THANK YOU

Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, © 2012, 2008, 2005, 2002 Pearson

and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Education, Inc.
Research, 4e - Creswell All rights reserved.
ISBN: 0132755912 8-18