Qualitative Data Analysis: Common Phases, Strategic Differences

Authors

  • Ian Baptiste Pennsylvania State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-2.3.917

Keywords:

qualitative research, research methodology, qualitative data analysis

Abstract

This paper lays out an analytic framework to help rookie qualitative researchers recognize and appreciate common features of qualitative data analysis (QDA) while giving due consideration to strategic differences resulting from differences in expertise, context, and philosophy. The paper does not identify or illustrate specific QDA strategies. Rather, it raises questions the responsible analyst might consider at each phase of the process. I argue that all QDA (regardless of methodological or disciplinary orientation) comprise four interrelated phases: defining the analysis, classifying data, making connections between data, and conveying the message(s). This paper discusses the first three phases. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0103226

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Author Biography

Ian Baptiste, Pennsylvania State University

Dr. Ian BAPTISTE was born and raised in the Caribbean—Trinidad and Tobago, and Grenada. He did his undergraduate work in Agriculture at the University of the West Indies, Trinidad; his masters in Foundations of Education at Wheaton College, Illinois; and his doctorate in Adult and Continuing Education at Northern Illinois University. He taught at National-Louis University (Chicago) for three and a half years, and chaired the department of Adult Education for most of his tenure there. Dr. BAPTISTE joined the Penn State faculty in August 1997. He currently teaches graduate courses in qualitative research methods, adult teaching and learning, and learning in social action. Dr. BAPTISTE's professional interests are in participatory approaches to community development; adult teaching and learning; and qualitative research methodology. He has been (and continues to be) a participatory research consultant to community-based organizations, NGOs and community colleges in Chicago, South Africa, and the Caribbean islands of Grenada and Trinidad. He currently chairs an interdisciplinary team of faculty and students at Penn State working to develop a Participatory Research Network of grassroots CBOs in central Pennsylvania. He is the Principal Investigator (PI) on a two-year research study (with three graduate students) exploring a phenomenology of adult learning; and, with one of his colleagues (Dr. CARR-CHELLMAN), he is Co-PI on an action research project which compares three Qualitative Data Analysis Programs—NUD*IST, NVivo & Atlas/ti. Dr. BAPTISTE is the author of several refereed publications. His most recent publication, "Educating lone wolves: pedagogical implications of human capital theory," appeared in the May 2001 of the Adult Education Quarterly.

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Published

2001-09-30

How to Cite

Baptiste, I. (2001). Qualitative Data Analysis: Common Phases, Strategic Differences. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 2(3). https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-2.3.917