MIDTERM DELM114 METHODS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH 1 How do you gather and analyze data in qualitative research Discuss comprehensively Researcher in qualitative research is to attempt to access the thoughts and feelings of study participants This is not an easy task as it involves asking people to talk about things that may be very personal to them Sometimes the experiences being explored are fresh in the participant s mind whereas on other occasions reliving past experiences may be difficult However the data are being collected a primary responsibility of the researcher is to safeguard participants and their data Mechanisms for such safeguarding must be clearly articulated to participants and must be approved by a relevant research ethics review board before the research begins Data collection method e g focus group one to one interviews the process will involve the generation of large amounts of data In addition to the variety of study methodologies available there are also different ways of making a record of what is said and done during an interview or focus group such as taking handwritten notes or videorecording If the researcher is audio or video recording data collection then the recordings must be transcribed verbatim before data analysis can begin Many researchers also maintain a folder of field notes to complement audio taped interviews Field notes allow the researcher to maintain and comment upon impressions environmental contexts behaviors and nonverbal cues that may not be adequately captured through the audio recording they are typically handwritten in a small notebook at the same time the interview takes place Field notes can provide important context to the interpretation of audio taped data and can help remind the researcher of situational factors that may be important during data analysis Such notes need not be formal but they should be maintained and secured in a similar manner to audio tapes and transcripts as they contain sensitive information and are relevant to the research Doing qualitative research is about putting oneself in another person s shoes and seeing the world from that person s perspective the most important part of data analysis and management is to be true to the participants It is their voices that the researcher is trying to hear so that they can be interpreted and reported on for others to read and learn from To analyze the data researcher may adopt a phenomenological approach because in order to understand how the participant experienced the situation and we want to try to see the experience from that person s perspective It is important for the researcher to reflect upon and articulate his or her starting point for such analysis for example the coder could reflect upon her own experience as a female of a majority ethnocultural group who has lived within middle class and upper middle class settings This personal history therefore forms the filter through which the data will be examined This filter does not diminish the quality or significance of the analysis since every researcher has his or her own filters however by explicitly stating and acknowledging what these filters are the researcher makes it easier for readers to contextualize the work As Patton 2015 notes several other data analysis frameworks exist As you develop your evaluation design you should consider your evaluation questions and indicators and the most appropriate way to frame and analyze your data A common method that evaluators use to analyze qualitative data is triangulation which involves taking data finding themes coding them and then comparing or triangulating the data from different data sources and different data collection methods The goal is to collect data in a particular category until the point of saturation and then code and compare that data Ultimately an evaluator would compare data from multiple methods collected from multiple sources collected on multiple occasions over time for instance observation participant observation interviews focus groups and mapping 1 Think of a qualitative study that you have read State the ways on how it was a planned b implemented c analyzed and d disseminated the findings Observe proper citations The study entitled UNDERSTANDING TEACHER PERCEPTIONS OF BULLYING AND EFFECTIVENESS OF AN ANTI BULLYING POLICY The study was a multiple case holistic case study where the focus was to explore teacher perceptions of bullying and the effectiveness of an anti bullying policy The units of analysis then are the teachers and the bounded system of interest is high school teachers in the same school district who have experience with the anti bullying policy These two key identifiers made the case study the appropriate approach In addition case studies have an advantage when trying to answer how and why questions Yin 2009 which were vital to the study The researcher wanted to know how and why teachers perceive bullying and the current policy Further since the focus of the study is on teacher perceptions of a district s anti bullying policy a holistic approach makes sense Execution of this multiple case holistic approach used six different teachers two from each of three different high schools in the same district Data were collected using journals interviews and observations Analysis ultimately provided a deeper understanding by identifying major themes related to the how and why the anti bullying policy is or is not effective The following research questions guided this study Research Question 1 What do teachers know about bullying Research Question 2 What are teachers perceptions of the effectiveness of the current anti bullying policy Research Question 3 Does a gap exist between policy and implementation Why or why not Research Question 4 How can the current intervention prevention policy be more effective The researcher asked all participants to filled out the consent form stating their willingness to cooperate in the study and all agreed to have the interviews audio recorded The researcher employed triangulation using three different sources of data to help increase internal validity as the researcher pulled information from all three sources to make meaningful interpretations Merriam 2009 The three methods used to collect data were journals interviews and direct observations Data analysis can often be the most difficult task to undertake when conducting a qualitative study Merriam 2009 Due to the multiple case study approach analysis