- Developing categories You need categories to impose some kind of order on the data; where you get them from is up to you. They may come from your interaction with the data ( perhaps from the participants themselves), as in grounded theory; or from your prior experience with this setting or similar setting; or from 'the literature' ( i.e. concepts developed by previous researchers). If you want to move beyond description and explanation of the particular setting or case studied you may wish to develop a typology (Hammersley and Atkinson, 1995, pp. 215-17).
- Progressive focusing As analysis and data collection continue, the research questions should be developed and clarified. The research itself should become progressively more focused, a process described by Hammersley and Atkinson (1995, p. 206) as a characteristic ' funnel' structure. As Wolcott (1994suggests, there is also a shift from an initial concern for describing events and processes to interpretation.
Some more specific ways of accomplishing these tasks include:
- Looking for patterns Establishing patterns of thought, action and behaviour; understanding of a culture is acquired through observing and analysing the patterns of everyday life.
- Key events In-every social group, there will be key or focal events which can be used to analyse a culture. They provide a lens through which it can be viewed, and in many cases a metaphor for their way of life or social values.