Qualitative DataPreparation and Use

Jack KneeshawESDS

Psychology Department-U of Essex

4 December 2003

ESDS Qualidata

Qualitative data collections

• Data from National Research Council (ESRC) individual and programme research grant awards

• Data from ‘classic’ social science studies

• Other funders/sources

Types of qualitative data

• Diverse data types: in-depth interviews ; semi-structured interviews; focus groups; oral histories; mixed methods data; open-ended survey questions; case notes/records of meetings; diaries/ research diaries

• Multi-media: audio, video, photos and text (most common is interview transcriptions)

• Formats: digital, paper, analogue audio-visual

• Data structures - differ across different document types

Classic data

• Peter Townsend – Poverty and Katherine Buildings

• Paul Thompson – Edwardians

• National Social Policy and Social Change Archive

Other collections

• Mental Health of Chinese Women in Britain, 1945-2000 - Green

• Severalls Hospital: Interviews for 'Madness in its Place‘- Gittens

• Urban Regeneration, Mental Health and Quality of Life in Wythenshawe, South Manchester, 1998-2000 - Huxley

ESDS Qualidata:key activities

• user support for depositing data

• online access to qualitative data

• training activities to support secondary analysis

• exemplars and case studies of re-use

• enhancing data - user guides and digital samplers

Good archiving = good research

• Consent, copyright and related issues clarified

• Thorough documentation

• Well organised and labelled files

• Major stages of research recorded

• Consistent, well-formatted transcriptions done

Online access to qualitative data

• providing direct access to collection content– supports more powerful resource discovery

– greater scope for searching and browsing content of data (supplementary to higher level study-related metadata)

– since users can search and explore content directly… can retrieve data immediately

• providing access to qualitative data via common interface (Edwardians Online)

• supporting tools for searching, retrieval, and analysis across multiple datasets

Diverse uses for existing data

• Enrich context description• How was it really done

documentation of methods– Team discussions about coding– What, exactly, is “semi-structured”?

• Augment primary data– Historical comparative case– Expand sample size

• Datasets for teaching

Exemplars and case studies of re-use

providing guidance on data resources and how to re-use them

• overview of ways of re-using data

• case studies of re-use including reflections and commentary

• full bibliography of re-use articles

• online ‘packaged’ training resources

• user support and training programme

Enhanced user guides and digital samplers

providing a better understanding of the study and research methods

• enhanced users guides – detailed notes on study methodology and re-use; ‘behind the scenes’ interviews with depositors; FAQs

• thematic pages – combining interviews

• digital samplers of classic sociology collections

Finding Qualidata

• ESDS Qualidata | Introduction

• http://www.qualidata.essex.ac.uk/

Supplemental slides

• Emergency screen dumps!

Qualidata Online

Qualidata Online: Edwardians Online – Phase I

Creation of a digital multimedia resource that integrates a wealth of existing primary and secondary materials:

• a catalogue of 444 interview summaries • 5 full electronic interview transcripts • thematic browsing of interview transcripts • a collection of digital sound clips • a set of contextual images of Edwardian life • background information and press reviews on the

original Paul Thompson study • details of publications based upon secondary studies

of the collection • an account of the digitization methodology