Organising and Reporting Qualitative Data

Nora G. Agustero, PhDUniversity of Sheffield

UK

Options

• Storytelling approaches• Case study approaches• Analytical framework approaches

(Patton, p. 439)

Storytelling approaches

• Chronology and history– Describe what happened chronologically, over

time, telling the story from beginning to end. This focuses on some development over time to portray the life of a person, the history of an organisation or community, or the story of a family.

Storytelling approaches

• Flashback– Start at the end, then work backward to describe

how the ending emerged. For example, in an evaluation study, a participant case study might begin with the outcome realised (or unrealised) and then present the chronology or story that illuminates that outcome.

Case study approaches

• People– If individuals or groups are the primary unit of

analysis, then case studies or people or groups may be the focus for case studies. In Respect, Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot (2000) illustrates different forms of respect through case studies of people who manifest those different forms in the way they live their lives.

Case study approaches

• Critical incidents– Critical incidents or major events can constitute

self-contained descriptive units of analysis, often presented in order of importance rather than in sequence of occurrence. McClure (1989) reported a case study of a university through the critical incidents that shaped it.

Case study approaches

• Various settings– Describe various places, sites, settings, or

locations (doing case studies of each) before doing a cross-setting pattern analysis. In an evaluation of multi-national efforts to preserve ancient buildings, we reported on cases in Japan, England, and Indonesia before drawing cross-cultural conclusions.

Analytical framework approaches

• Processes– Qualitative data may be organised to describe

important processes. For example, an evaluation of a program may describe recruitment processes, socialisation processes, decision-making and communication processes, and so on. Distinguishing important processes becomes the analytical framework for organising qualitative descriptions.

Analytical framework approaches

• Issues– An analysis can be organised to illuminate key

issues, often the equivalent of the primary evaluation questions, for example, variations in how participants changed as a result of the programme. In a study of leadership training, we organised the qualitative report around such key issues as conflict management, negotiation skills, enhancing creativity, and effective communications – all important training issues.

Analytical framework approaches

• Questions– Responses to interviews can be organised

question by question, especially where a standardised interviewing format was used. For example, if an evaluation includes questions about perceived strengths and perceived weaknesses, responses to these questions would be grouped together.

Analytical framework approaches

• Sensitising concepts– Where sensitising concepts such as “leadership”

vs “followership” have played an important pre-ordinate role in guiding fieldwork, the data can be organised and described through the sensitising concepts.