Qualitative Analyses of Interview Data

About

Workshop contents and objectives

The workshop focuses on main types of qualitative analyses of data from in-depth interviews, including grounded theory, qualitative content analysis, thematic analysis, narrative analysis, discourse critical analysis, and affective-discursive analysis. We will differentiate these analyses in terms of the philosophical world views that inform them (e.g., social constructivist, realist, postmodernist, materialist) and discuss their appropriateness for different types of theoretical frameworks and research questions. We will also address suitability and limits of interview data as well as issues of validity and reliability.

The main part of the workshop will focus on

practical steps for processing the data, iteration and progression
developing depth of interpretation to build insight and aggregating findings
connecting interpretation to theoretical concepts and questions to provide insight and advance theory
presenting findings in a persuasive manner
We will discuss structured approaches that use coding schemes developed from theory or previous studies, inductive approaches that derive coding from the data, abductive approaches, and deconstructive approaches that focus on unmasking underlying ideologies and power operations. The participants will read examples of different analyses, do exercises on various data sets, and work with their own data, individually or in teams when possible. They will receive individual feedback from other participants and the professor.

The workshop will focus on conceptual understanding of practical steps and decisions that have to be made at various junctures in the processing of qualitative data, whether aided by software or not. We will not be learning any specific software as the focus is on conceptual understanding and processing of the data independent of any software. However, you will be able to use your own software to code your data set or an example set. You should know how to use your software, so if you do not, please watch training videos. We will discuss implications, uses and limits of AI assisted analysis.

Workshop design

The workshops will include lectures on frameworks and approaches, discussion of reading materials, practical examples, and individual and team coding (of one’s own data or other data).

The participants will need to read assigned materials prior to the workshop.

Detailed lecture plan (daily schedule)

Day 1 Introduction to qualitative analyses
What are the paradigms
Fit between paradigm, theory, research questions and analytical method
Importance of research questions to analysis
Interview data, what can we learn from it?
Deductive, inductive and abductive approaches
Codes and categories
Coding software, AI assisted coding
Content analysis: different approaches
Differences between inductive content analysis and inductive qualitative coding
Day 2 Grounded theory based coding procedures
Coding schemas
Analytical imagination
Thematic analysis
What is my coding schema?
Coding (individual and/or in teams)
Day 3 Narrative analysis
Developing depth of interpretation
Interpreting hidden meaning
Coding (individual and/or in teams)
Progress presentations/discussion
Day 4 Critical Analyses
Affective-discursive analysis
Importance of the audit trail
Current issues in qualitative research
Coding (individual and/or in teams)
Progress presentations/discussions
Day 5 Catch-up and recap
Evaluation criteria for qualitative research
How to write up analyses
Coding progress presentations
Final questions and answers

Class materials

Readings and other materials will be posted on iCorsi or made available in class.

**The Summer School cannot grant credits. We only deliver a Certificate of Participation, i.e. we certify your attendance.**

If you consider using Summer School workshops to obtain credits (ECTS), you will have to investigate at your home institution (contact the person/institute responsible for your degree) to find out whether they recognise the Summer School, how many credits can be earned from a workshop/course with roughly 35 hours of teaching, no graded work, and no exams.

Make sure to investigate this matter before registering if this is important to you

Course leader

Prof Jolanta Drzewiecka (PhD, Arizona State University, USA), Università della Svizzera italiana

Target group

graduate students, doctoral researchers, early career researchers

Prerequisites: participants should have a basic understanding of qualitative research design. It will be helpful to have your own data to analyze

Fee info