Analysing

Interview Data (2)

Dr Sally-Anne Barnes &
Gaby Atfield

Institute for Employment Research

University of Warwick
October 2014
Aims of the week 3 and 4 sessions
 To reflect on the nature and purpose of
interviews, etc. as a form of qualitative data
 To introduce different processes, techniques
and theories for analysing and synthesising
data
 To explore different techniques for analysing
and coding data
Week 4
 Different approaches to analysing interview
data in practice
 Deductive analysis
 Inductive analysis
 Overview of assessing and validating interview
data analysis
 Review of tools to support analysis
Getting started
 Starting to analyse data early in the research
 All is data – don’t have to wait for interview data!
 Complementary sources of data: newspaper
articles, blogs, official records, archival data, etc.
 Other people’s data, e.g., Economic and Social Data
Service (ESDS) www.esds.ac.uk, see ESDS Qualidata
 As soon as interview data is collected
Starting to analyse early may:
 Suggest new questions
 Suggest what to focus on during the
interviews
 Give an indication of relevant and non-
relevant issues
Assessing interview data and quality of
analyses
1. Representative
2. Weighting evidence
3. Checking outliners
4. Use of extreme cases
5. Cross-check codes
6. Check explanations
7. Look for contradictions
8. Gain feedback from participants
Validating qualitative analysis
Data collection and management
Validation and assessment of

Organising and preparing data

Coding and describing data

quality

Conceptualisation, classifying,
categorising, identifying themes

Connecting and interrelating data

Interpretation, creating explanatory

accounts
Problems with analysing interview
data
 Reliance on first impressions
 Identifying what is relevant
 Tendency to ignore conflicting information
 Emphasis on data that confirms
 Ignoring the unusual or information hard to
gain
 Over or under reaction to new data
 Too much data to handle
 Not giving enough time to reflect
Review of terms
Code = a label, tag, name for a piece of text
Theme = a pattern, a group of data or something that
emerges from data
Category = term used in grounded analysis for a theme;
categories are defined/explained by their properties
Inductive = little or no predetermined theory, structure
or framework
Deductive = use of structure, theory or predetermined
framework
Thematic = identification, analysis and reporting of
patterns
Use of software packages
It does not do the analysis for you!
Use of software packages
Advantages Disadvantages
o Beneficial to analytic o Software can dictate
approach how analysis is
o Coding, memos, carried out
annotation, data linking all o Takes time to learn
supported o Reluctance to change
o Efficient search and codes/categories
retrieval
o Able to handle large
amounts of data
o Forces detailed analysis
Alternatives to software packages
Need good organisational skills and record
keeping!

 Combine Word, Access and Excel

 Coloured pens, stickers, photocoping
Deductive approaches
 Use of a structure or predetermined framework
 Researcher imposes own structure or theories on
the data for the analytic process
 Advantages – relatively quick and easy, informed
by literature, useful where probable participant
responses are known
 Disadvantages – inflexible, possibility of biases,
limits in-depth exploration of data, can limit
theme and theory development
Deductive data analysis – an example
project
 2002-2008, government funded research
 Aim: to evaluate the effectiveness of career
guidance and to evaluate its role in career
development and progression
 Longitudinal qualitative study of 50 adults
who were recipients of career guidance
 In-depth interviews conducted every year
 Tracked career trajectories
Example – career decision making
 Theme of decision making was apparent
across all participants’ stories
 Different transitioning styles were noted
 Analysis of longitudinal data revealed that
styles were consistent over time
Example – Career decision making typology
Fourfold typology:
1. Strategic
2. Opportunistic
3. Aspirational
4. Evaluative
Example – career decision making
Strategic style Description
 Proactive in decisions  Representing a more
 Analysis of advantages and focused career decision
disadvantages making style […] based on
 Problem-solving skills cognitive processing. Here,
 Reflection on options an individual bases their
 Focus on one solution/goal choices on a process of
 Determined goal analysing, synthesizing,
 Rational weighing up advantages and
 Planned/planful
disadvantages, and setting
plans to achieve goals.
 Marginalisation of emotions
Activity 1: Deductive analysis
Aim: to use the proposed coding framework to
code the interview transcript

Reflect on:
 The deductive process – easy or difficult?
 The codes and code descriptions
Grounded theory (an
inductive approach to
analysis)
Grounded theory
 Systematic approach to enquiry
 Simultaneous data collection and analysis
 Inductive, comparative, iterative and interactive
 Driven by data
 Process of looking for relationships within data
 Remaining open to all possibilities
 Can be influenced by pre-existing theory, previous
empirical research, own expectations
GT: The constant comparative method
1. Comparing incidents
2. Integrating categories and their properties
3. Delimiting the theory
4. Writing the theory

“Although this method of generating theory is a

continuously growing process – each stage after a time is
transformed into the next – earlier stages do remain in
operation simultaneously during the analysis…”
(Glaser & Strauss, 1967: 105)
How is it done in practice…
 Constantly comparing incidents
 Uses three techniques:
 Coding
 Memo writing
 Theoretical sampling
Coding
 “What is this incident about?”
 “What category does this incident indicate?”
 “What property of what category does this
incident define?”
 “What is the ‘main concern’ of the
participants?”
Memo writing
 Aim: to store ideas for further comparisons and
refinement
 Will be the main source of data in the writing-up
phase
 Noting ideas as they occur
 Grammar/syntax/presentation
 Raising questions…
 Memos allow the researcher to find
convergences (and divergences) in the data and
to structure them into a coherent framework
Theoretical sampling
 Making decisions as to what data to collect
and how
 Within available data?
 Beyond the initial unit of analysis?
 To investigate opposing views
 To replicate previous observations
 To answer specific questions
 To fulfil specific categories
 To extend emergent theories
Theoretical saturation
 Suggests the end of the process
 When further analyses make no, or only
marginal improvements to the theory
Writing-up the theory
 Memos will contain the material for the
writing up
 There is no need to ‘think-up’ or try to
remember the content as it has been already
written by the researcher (Glaser, 1998)
 The outline of the thesis will be naturally
defined by the categories and how they are
related
The role of examples and verbatim quotes
 Too many quotes may make the writing-up
more difficult to read as they affect the ‘flow’
of the argument.
 However, quotes may be useful to provide a
more vivid picture of what is going on.
 A risk with using quotes is that they make
reference to specific rather than conceptual
entities, thus it is important to use them in
moderation.
In terms of supply side, there is evidence to suggest that there
is not a shortage of workers (both paid and unpaid) who want
to work in this way. It was suggested that for people engaged
in this form of work “it’s often not a desperate need, it’s a
desire for a breadth of experience, variety, almost to prove
yourself” (Representative, Slivers of Time). For instance, one
retired worker expressed a desire to do something else or
new, so for her engaging in this form of work provided a
variety of opportunities. Although she was keen to try out
new work experiences, she still wanted to be selective about
which jobs she would accept:
“Before I retired I was in my last job for 15 years, so I am very
keen to all varieties of work. The Slivers of Time work is a
complete change as I’ve always been in administration or
finance. I’ve been offered survey work, but it’s not me […] not
what I want to do. I wouldn’t want to be working in a
restaurant or behind a shop counter.” (Kate)
 Theoretical
concepts

Thematic
coding

Focused coding,
conceptualisation and
category development

Initial and open coding

Activity 2: Inductive analysis
 Aim: to undertake line-by-line coding, start
memos and draw out clusters

 Make notes on what you are finding, your

ideas, assumptions – these are your memos
Reflections on the process…
For more information

[email protected]

[email protected]

www.warwick.ac.uk/ier