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Analysing data qualitatively - Aids to help your analysis

4 important questions on Analysing data qualitatively - Aids to help your analysis

Various researchers have suggested ways of recording information and developing reflective ideas to supplement your written-up notes or transcrips and your categorised data (e.g. Brinkmand and Kvale 2015; Gerstl-Pepin and Patrizio 2009). These incluse:

-interim or progress summaries;
- transcript summaries;
- document summaries;
- self memo's;
- a research notebook;
- a reflective diary or journal

Which purposes can a document summary fulfil?

1. It may be used to summarise and list the document's key points for your research. These points become part of your data set.
2. You may use it to describe the purpose of the document, how it relates to your work and why it is significant. You will be able to return to a document summary to look again at the data you drew from the document, to see how you coded and categorised these data, and to be able to re-read your notes about its relevance to your research.

What are occasions when you are likely to want to write a memo? (self-memos)

- When you are writing up interview or observation notes, or producing a transcript of this event;
- When you are coding and categorising data;
- as you continue to categorise, analyse and interpret these data;
- when you are constructing a narrative;
- when you engage in writing your research project.

Reflective diary or journal =

This is devoted to reflections about your experiences of undertaking research, what you have learnt from these experiences, how you will seek to apply this learning as your research progresses and what you will need to do to develop your competence to further your research.