Real World Research
A Resource for Social scientists and Practitioner-Researchers
Introduction
Qualitative data have been described as an attractive nuisance (Miles, 1979). Their attractiveness is undeniable. Words, which are by far the most common form of qualitative data, are a speciality of humans and their organizations. Narratives, accounts and other collections of words are variously described as rich , full and real, and contrasted with the thin abstractions of number. Their collection is often straightforward. They have a quality of undeniability (Smith, 1975) which lends verisimilitude to reports.
The nuisance refers to the legal doctrine that if you leave an attractive object, such as an unlocked car,where children can play with it, you may be liable for any injuries they sustain. Naïve researchers may be injured by unforeseen problems with qualitative data. This can occur at the collection stage, where overload is a constant danger. But the main difficulty is in their analysis.
There is no clear and accepted single set of conventions for analysis corresponding to those observed with quantitative data. Indeed, many qualitative workers would resist their development, viewing this enterprise as more of an art than a science. For those who do wish to work within the kind of scientific framework advocated in this book, and who wish to persuade scientific or policy-marking audiences, there are ways in which qualitative data can be dealt with systematically. This chapter seeks to provide an introduction to that task.
If you are using a multimethod approach, it well be that one or more of the methods generates qualitative data. Some such data, say from documents or, possibly, open responses in questionnaires, may be best dealt with by the kinds of techniques discussed in chapter 12 under the heading of content analysis. Other verbal data are likely to be very various and to need different treatment. In the typology of research strategies that has been adopted in this text, the various types of flexible designs are the prime generators of large amounts of such complex qualitative data.
Real World Research
A Resource for Social scientists and Practitioner-Researchers
Introduction
Qualitative data have been described as an attractive nuisance (Miles, 1979). Their attractiveness is undeniable. Words, which are by far the most common form of qualitative data, are a speciality of humans and their organizations. Narratives, accounts and other collections of words are variously described as rich , full and real, and contrasted with the thin abstractions of number. Their collection is often straightforward. They have a quality of undeniability (Smith, 1975) which lends verisimilitude to reports.
The nuisance refers to the legal doctrine that if you leave an attractive object, such as an unlocked car,where children can play with it, you may be liable for any injuries they sustain. Naïve researchers may be injured by unforeseen problems with qualitative data. This can occur at the collection stage, where overload is a constant danger. But the main difficulty is in their analysis.
There is no clear and accepted single set of conventions for analysis corresponding to those observed with quantitative data. Indeed, many qualitative workers would resist their development, viewing this enterprise as more of an art than a science. For those who do wish to work within the kind of scientific framework advocated in this book, and who wish to persuade scientific or policy-marking audiences, there are ways in which qualitative data can be dealt with systematically. This chapter seeks to provide an introduction to that task.
If you are using a multimethod approach, it well be that one or more of the methods generates qualitative data. Some such data, say from documents or, possibly, open responses in questionnaires, may be best dealt with by the kinds of techniques discussed in chapter 12 under the heading of content analysis. Other verbal data are likely to be very various and to need different treatment. In the typology of research strategies that has been adopted in this text, the various types of flexible designs are the prime generators of large amounts of such complex qualitative data.
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