Deck 15: Analysis of Qualitative Data

Question 1

What are the three main steps in coding qualitative data? What happens at each step in relation to the development of themes? How are the steps related to each other? What distinguishes each step from the others?

Answer 1

● Open coding is performed during a first pass through recently collected data where the researcher locates ideas in the data and assigns initial codes.The researcher slowly reads the data and looks for critical terms,key events,or themes,and then writes a preliminary concept or label at the edge of a note card or computer record and highlights it with brightly coloured ink or in some similar way.o At this flexible stage,the researcher is open to creating new themes and to changing these initial codes in subsequent analysis.o Open coding brings low-level themes to the surface from deep inside the data.
● Axial coding is a "second pass" through the data where the researcher begins with an organized set of initial codes or preliminary concepts and themes that were developed during open coding.Here the primary task is to review and examine initial codes and create linkages between them.The researcher looks at relationships between open codes in order to see how they may cluster together into larger theses or categories.o During axial coding,the researcher asks about causes and consequences,conditions and interactions,and strategies and processes and looks for categories or concepts that cluster together-thinking about linkages between concepts or themes.
● Selective coding assumes that the researcher has already identified the major themes of the research project.o Selective coding involves scanning data and previous codes and determining a core theme or major category around which the remaining categories all "fit."

Question 2

Which one of the following features is a specific benefit of axial coding?

A)Axial coding reinforces the connections between evidence and concepts.
B)Axial coding serves the benefit of reducing mountains of raw data into manageable piles.
C)Axial coding makes it possible to quickly retrieve relevant parts of the data.
D)Axial coding allows the researcher to locate ideas in the data and assign initial codes to these ideas.
E)Axial coding makes it possible for the researcher to scan the data and also the previously developed codes in order to determine a core category around which any remaining categories can "fit."

Answer 2

Axial coding reinforces the connections between evidence and concepts.

Question 3

Which of the following statements describes both qualitative and quantitative approaches to data analysis?

A)In both forms of data analysis,the researcher carefully examines empirical information to reach a conclusion.
B)Quantitative analysis is a private process,whereas qualitative analysis is a public process.
C)Qualitative and quantitative researchers manipulate numbers that represent empirical facts to test theoretical hypotheses.
D)Both qualitative and quantitative researchers choose from a limited number of specialized,standardized sets of data analysis techniques.
E)Qualitative and quantitative researchers do not begin data analysis until they have collected all of the data.

Answer 3

In both forms of data analysis,the researcher carefully examines empirical information to reach a conclusion.

Question 4

After formulating concepts,qualitative researchers link them together.Which of the following is NOT one of the types of links qualitative researchers make between concepts?

A)Sequences
B)Correlations
C)Oppositional sets
D)Similar categories woven into statements
E)None of the above

Question 5

Which of the following is NOT a qualitative diagram?

A)Sociogram
B)Chart
C)Typology
D)Spatial map
E)Temporal map

Question 6

Describe the features of the analytical memo.In what ways is it related to the coding process during the analysis of qualitative data?

Question 7

While analyzing qualitative data,research assistant Evan Evangelista made a first pass through his notes.He read slowly and put a preliminary label in the notes to identify themes in the data.Evan was using

A)open coding.
B)axial coding.
C)selective coding.
D)contingency coding.
E)divergent coding.

Question 8

While pouring over data,Nathan Notetaker created a special folder and filled it with his thoughts and ideas about the coding process.Which kind of notes are in Nathan's special folder?

A)Analytical memos
B)Oppositional sets
C)Inferential notes
D)Axial codes
E)Meta-notes

Question 9

Coding involves two simultaneous activities.What are they?

A)Analytical data categorization and grounded theory construction
B)Selective data elimination and analytical data sorting
C)Systematic data collection and creative data integration
D)Mechanical data reduction and analytical data categorization
E)Pragmatic data distillation and organic data reconstruction

Question 10

In what ways are qualitative data analysis and quantitative data analysis similar? Identify and briefly describe each of the three general commonalities between qualitative data analysis and quantitative data analysis.

Question 11

Finding the sheer amount of data she had generated in her qualitative investigation into the agency of young persons diagnosed with cancer overwhelming,Gertrude Gordon decides to visually illustrate emerging themes and their relationships with each other.Which sort of illustration will Gertrude most likely produce?

A)Concept map
B)Flowchart
C)Analytical memo
D)Organizational chart
E)Causal diagram

Question 12

When analyzing his qualitative data,Professor Morton Moskowich made a last pass through his notes,skimming previous codes.He looked for specific information or data that was related to the main themes he had already identified.This is called

A)open coding.
B)axial coding.
C)selective coding.
D)contingency coding.
E)divergent coding.

Question 13

According to the grounded theory approach,in what order should a researcher code qualitative data?

A)Open coding,selective coding,axial coding
B)Open coding,axial coding,selective coding
C)Selective coding,open coding,axial coding
D)Axial coding,selective coding,open coding
E)Selective coding,axial coding,open coding

Question 14

NVivo and ATLAS are examples of

A)qualitative coding strategies.
B)quantitative coding strategies.
C)qualitative coding software.
D)quantitative coding software.
E)common multiple sorting procedures.

Question 15

Professor Shelly Gizmo asked 10 nurses to describe,in as much detail as possible,their duties during the first hour at work during a typical working day.Each nurse was also asked to write down the decisions they made during the course of the first hour of work on a typical day and to sketch out how each decision was related to others.This type of research procedure is known as

A)decision sorting procedure.
B)data reduction analysis.
C)temporal diagram analysis.
D)flowchart and time sequence analysis.
E)time allocation analysis.

Question 16

What kinds of explanations are relevant to qualitative research? What form do they take?

Question 17

________ refers to a process whereby researchers systematically gather or record data and make it accessible to others.

A)Inferential research
B)Combined methods
C)The comparative method
D)Empirical research
E)A public method

Question 18

Compare the key differences that set qualitative data analysis apart from quantitative data analysis.What four features differentiate these two approaches? Identify and briefly describe each one.

Question 19

The analytical memo builds a link between _______ and ________.

A)the raw evidence; abstract theoretical ideas
B)abstract theoretical ideas; the final report
C)concepts; themes
D)data notes; other files
E)the raw evidence; the final report

Question 20

Explain the process of concept formation in qualitative data research.What role or function do concepts play in qualitative research?

Question 21

Define the following:
selective coding

Question 22

Define the following:
axial coding

Question 23

Define the following:
quantitative coding

Question 24

Define the following:
infer

Question 25

Define the following:
qualitative coding

Question 26

Define the following:
flowchart

Question 27

Define the following:
open coding

Question 28

Define the following:
data reduction

Question 29

Define the following:
data analysis

Question 30

Define the following:
concept map

Question 31

Define the following:
analytical memo