Analysis of Qualitative Data

A short and straightforward description of Qualitative Data analysis using card-sorting:

ReadAnalysis, Plus Synthesis: Turning Data into Insights By Lindsay Ellerby; from UX Matters.

Card-sorting of qualitative data is based (sometimes indirectly) on  on Grounded Theory, developed by Anselm Strauss and others.  Please read:

Juliet Corbin and Anselm Strauss, Grounded Theory Research: Procedures, Canons, and Evaluative Criteria. Qualitative Sociology, Vol. 13, No. 1, 1990; pp. 3-21.  Pay special attention to pp. 12-15 on coding.  Don’t take too serious the discussion of hypotheses; they don’t mean it the way quantitative research does.

At leat skim this example: It will show how one study translated Corbin & Strauss’ advice into action– it’s more complex than what we’ll do but it gives a good idea of how grounded theory works:  Pace, Steven (2004) A grounded theory of the flow experiences of Web users. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 60:3,  pp.327-363  PDF (386 K)

For those who want to go deeper:

Charmaz, Kathy (2006) Constructing grounded theory. London: Sage Publications.


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