Qualitative Research Methods (Part 2):

Strategies for Interview Data Analysis

Mignon R. Moore, PhD

Co-Director, Methods and Analysis Core, UCLA RCMAR

Problematic Use of Qualitative Data in Research Papers

One of the first questions asked in the focus group and in-depth interviews concerns the respondents’ perceptions of the major issues seniors who are lesbian and gay face as they age. Poor health and the lack of mobility because of health-related issues emerged as important problems, and were reported by 90% of respondents:

“I had a stroke. I was jacked up from my left eye all the way down to my toe. I mean totally paralyzed on one side. I still have you know left arm you know challenges” (Respondent 030)

“I haven’t had any bad issues except arthritis” (Respondent 004)

“I am HIV positive and I need my medicine” (Respondent 020)

Qualitative Analysis of Interview Data

In addition to the stigma of substance misuse, the majority of SLH residents in this study were members of other demographic and cultural groups that are often negatively stereotyped, such as racial⁄ethnic minorities, sexual minorities, and people with mental illness. An Iraq⁄Afghanistan veteran said that the initial opposition to his home was motivated by ‘that stereotype of crazies running around the neighbourhood, hardened criminals, drug addicts, sleeping-on-the-lawn type of thing’. The comments of several participants suggested that belonging to multiple stigmatised groups was a salient aspect of their identities and their everyday lives.

Qualitative Analysis of Interview Data

Responding to another participant’s questions about the etiology of bipolar disorder, a 31-year-old participant in the gay men’s group said, ‘You’re born with that ... Just like you’re born with addiction, you’re born gay, you’re born black, you’re born white, you know?’ At the intersection of several stigmatised identities – specifically, the triple stigma of being a substance misuser, an African American, and a gay man – a 23-year-old YPDD group participant described an incident of enacted stigma in his neighbourhood:

Heslin KC, Singzon T, Aimiuwu O, Sheridan D, Hamilton A. (2012). From personal tragedy to personal challenge: responses to stigma among sober living home residents and operators. Sociology of Health & Illness 34 (3): 379-395.

Research Question

What are the major physical and mental health issues affecting African-American gay seniors as they age, and how can community institutions better service them

Given the importance of marital partners and children as sources of social support for heterosexual seniors, how do gay elders, who cannot legally form marital unions and who are less likely to have children, find and maintain social support systems as they age.

Data: “In the Shadow of Sexuality” RCMAR NIH Diversity Supplement Study

Qualitative Portion of NIH Diversity Supplement Study

Two Focus Group Interviews (N=12, N=5)

48 In-Person, Individual Interviews digitally recorded, transcribed

Selected Categories from Codebook

Category B: Sex, Sexuality and Gender Identity

Category J: HIV/AIDS

Category K: Knowledge about Health Issues

Category L: Major Physical Health Episode

Category M: Mental Health

Category N: Drug Use/Addiction

Category P: Social Support

Category Q: Family of Origin

Category R: Aging Concerns

Category T: Retirement

Category L Major Health Episode: Subcategories

L1. Characteristics

L2. Duration

L3. Access to Care

L4. Health Care Provider

L5. Medical Insurance

L6. Alternative Medicines and Treatments

L7. Emotional Response to Health Episode

L8. Social Support for Health Episode

L9. Experiences in Treatment/Recovery

L10. Regularity of Medical Exams

Category L: Major Health Episode

L1. Characteristics

Date

Severity

Symptoms

L3. Access to Care

Hospital

Doctor

Medicine

Home Visitation

Use of Emergency Rm

Category L: Major Health Episode

L8. Social Support for Health Episode

Partner

Family

Friends

Others

Sharing Information/Disclosing Condition

Quality of Support Received

Sufficient/Insufficient Support Received

L9. Experiences in Treatment/Recovery

Mental Health (Depression/Loneliness/Anxiety)

Physical Rehabilitation

Change in Economic Status

Social Isolation

Visitation

Bonnie Harrison (b. 1941, retired educator)

I have a diagnosis of hypothyroidism, which makes you extremely, extremely tired. I: Okay.

R: And it creates bone pain, so I developed this terrible osteoporosis as a result of the calcium overflow. And so, now I am suffering with this back pain and now the pain is in my hips and I was at the doctor’s last week. I have arthritis in my hips now and so there is a new regimen that is being put together for that. I am getting acupuncture massage and different forms of physical therapy and she wants me to be on these pills for a month, but I don’t take them the way they are prescribed because I told her the problem that I had with the other medicines. They were narcotics and… 

Continued

I: You didn’t want to get addicted. 

R: [She made a “no” sound] So, she said, “She just wants me to take it for a month. Take one pill every twelve hours.” I take one a day if I have to with a Tylenol and other than that if I am home, I will just lay down or sit down. I just will not become addicted to those meds. So, I have, you know, social support in a sense, I have group that I run. The women are very supportive and loving. There are men that I know that are supportive and loving. My partner had a diagnosis of liver cancer. They think it’s cancer and they are treating it as though it is cancer. They will not know until they biopsy it...