NUD*IST and the analysis of ethnographic studies
NUD*IST obviously provides a means of getting together in one location each of data sets you acquire, either as imported or external documents. Similarly, the coding, as it is developed, can be incorporated into the index system. Memos of various kinds representing your thoughts and ideas can be included in either document or index systems.
Data Analysis in Grounded Theory Studies
Many analyses of flexible design studies have been influenced by grounded theory. They typically reference the work of either or both of the originators of the approach, Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss (Glaser and Strauss, 1967), which was discussed in chapter 6. However, while some of these analyses following the detailed prescriptions and terminology discussed in the following sections, other are much more ‘in the general style of’ a grounded theory approach.
The aim of grounded theory analysis
The aim is to generate a theory to explain what is central in data. Your task is to find a central core category which is both at a level of abstraction and grounded in (i.e. derived from) the data you have collected and analysed. This is done in three stages:
1. Find conceptual categories in the data;
2. Find relationships between these categories;
3. Conceptualize and account for thses relationships through finding core categories.