For those at the highly qualitative end of the continuum,
data analysis tends to be an on-going process, taking place
throughout the data collection process. The researcher
thinks about and reflects upon the emerging themes, adapting
and changing the methods if required. For example, a
researcher might conduct three interviews using an interview
schedule she has developed beforehand. However,
during the three interviews she finds that the participants
are raising issues that she has not thought about previously.
So she refines her interview schedule to include
these issues for the next few interviews. This is data analysis.
She has thought about what has been said, analysed the
words and refined her schedule accordingly.