- Traingulation Testing one source or set of information against another.
Even if you are not following the Miles and Huberman (1994) approach directly, two of their central techniques are well worth considering:
- Visual representations Maps, flowcharts and organizational charts provide useful tools helping to crystallize and display complex information
- Matrices Two-dimensional arrays of information help in comparing, contrasting and cross- referencing data.
And finally:
- Crystallization If the gods smile on you, your study will have moments when things fall into place. Such crystallizations range from the mundane to the 'earth- shattering epiphany' (Fetterman, 1989, p. 101) after which nothing is the same.
It is also worth emphasizing that ethnographic studies typically provide access to large amounts of written records of different kinds, the analysis of which provides evidence for patterns and opportunities for triangulation with observational and interview data; and that, in some ethnographic studies, quantitative data may be collected which can be subjected to statistical analysis.
Bases for developing categories
As indicated above, the important initial analytical task of developing categories has been approached quite eclectically in ethnographic studies. Hammersley and Atkinson ( 1995, p. 214) suggest that ' one should use whatever resources are available which help to make sense of the data.' In this, as in other respects, there are difference among ethnographers: some take more of a purist line and some theoretical approaches are ruled out (e.g. Fielding and Fielding, 1986; Silverman, 1993).