Writing a qualitative disseration is not child’s play. As the researcher, first, you have to collect the data, analyse it, and then report the results of the data analysis. All these tasks make it hard for the early PhD researchers to craft such a dissertation. Qualitative data analysis itself is a very challenging task as it requires a comprehensive knowledge of the analysis methods and knowledge of how to apply those methods.
Over the years, it has been seen that many researchers find it difficult to handle qualitative data. They are more comfortable with numbers or quantitative data. Considering this, today’s post is all about explaining the 7 strategies from qualitative data analysis to writing the analysis results. Hence, let’s get started with today’s discussion.
Top 7 Strategies To Follow For Data Analysis To Writing
Performing data analysis means looking for hidden patterns and themes in your data. In order to be a good qualitative data analyst, you must know the top strategies involved in the process. Without knowing the strategies, you cannot make a single graph out of your data and present it to your audience. Hence, a brief description of the top 7 strategies is as follows:
Collect The Required Qualitative Data
The first and most important step in qualitative data analysis is the collection of required data. How can a researcher answer the research question if he has no data related to them? Therefore, it is important that use the right and appropriate data collection method; the researcher must collect relevant data. The most commonly used methods for qualitative data collection are surveys, interviews, questionnaires, and observation. So, use them and collect the data first.
Clean The Data From Errors
Once the data is collected, the next step is to clean it of unwanted errors. As a researcher, when you collect the data, many confounding and external variables act and try to manipulate your data. This mostly happens in the case of the observation method of data collection. External factors sometimes affect the study. So, you must get rid of such errors in the first go. Check for duplications in the data and remove all the outliers in your data.
Prepare And Organise Your Data
One of the most important steps before qualitative data analysis is that you should organise the data in a well-structured way. The data must be split into categories and groups having the same or different characteristics. You can organise the data based on the demographics of your target population, age, ethnicity, or any other factor. While organising the qualitative data, it is also helpful to take notes and pen down the important points.
Code The Qualitative Data
Till this point, you have collected, cleaned, and organised the data. Now, the next step in qualitative data analysis is to code your data based on the categories you have developed in the last step. Your initial codes could be in the form of numbers or expressions so that when you perform the actual analysis, you do not have any confusion about the data. To code the data, you can use in-vivo coding or structural coding techniques.
Decide On Your Analysis Method
Deciding on your analysis method is one of the most important strategies for performing good data analysis. The reason is that not every qualitative analysis method is designed to analyse any kind of data. Different methods are used for different kinds of data. So, you must search in the literature and decide which method is going to be suitable for your data.
Run The Analysis And Find Patterns
Finally, the most awaited step has arrived. After selecting the analysis method, it is time to analyse the data actually using that method and unearth hidden patterns. When you apply the chosen method, make sure that you are following all the guidelines and standards of that method. The reason is that if you get away from it a bit, all the results of your analysis may go in vain. Hence, carefully analyse the data using the right method.
Write The Analysis Chapter
Lastly, it is now time to share your findings with the outer academic world. It is time to write the qualitative data analysis chapter. To write this chapter, ensure that you have obtained all the results and found all the hidden themes in the data. Also, do not forget to make extensive use of presentational devices like graphs, charts, and lines. Such things make your data analysis more attractive and help in interpreting the results right.
Conclusion
Conclusively, we have discussed the top 7 strategies that you need to follow, from qualitative data analysis to writing and sharing the results of your analysis. Among all the strategies, you must pay close attention to the cleaning of the data. Neat and clean data is a guarantee of a good data analysis.
