Qualitative Analysis

Eight Approaches for the Social Sciences

Margaretha Järvinen, Nanna Mik-Meyer, Margaretha Järvinen, Nanna Mik-Meyer

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781526465252, 9781526465269
• eBook ISBN: 9781529713237
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Research & Methodology
• Index: Social Sciences

Introducing eight analytical approaches that are key to successful social science research, this book helps you get to grips with theory and apply it to qualitative analysis.

With two 'matched chapters' dedicated to each approach, it provides a balance between theory and analytical method. The first chapter grounds the approach in theory and the second uses real-world examples to show how to conduct your own analysis using the approach.

Drawing on the contributing authors' wealth of experience, the book:

·         Highlights how analysis relates to the entire research process and helps you position your analysis within the larger context of your research

·         Provides a strong, theoretical foundation for building good qualitative analysis

·         Guides you through translating theory into real-world practice in your own research

Detailed, clear and accessible, this book is perfect for students who want to understand the theory behind qualitative analysis before conducting their own research, or develop their understanding of specific approaches.

1 Analysing qualitative data in social science

Margaretha Järvinen

Nanna Mik-Meyer

Chapter Contents

• What is qualitative research? 2
• On the development of qualitative analyses 5
• The process of qualitative analysis 7
• Epistemological issues in qualitative research 8
• Types of interviews, observations and document analysis 11
  • Individual interviews 11
  • Focus group interviews 12
  • Go-along interviews 13
  • Online interviews 14
  • Participant observations 14
  • Observation through recording 15
  • Online observations 16
  • Documents 17
• The chapters 18
• Key concepts 22
• Further reading 23
• References 23

This book describes a range of analytical traditions in qualitative research. The aim is not to suggest that certain traditions are more useful or “correct” than others, but to show the diversity of approaches to analyses in qualitative studies. As such, we place ourselves firmly in the tradition of Erving Goffman’s (1967: 11) call for researchers to analyse social reality on the basis of different perspectives, rather than to apply a one-size-fits-all model: “Better, perhaps, different coats to clothe the children well than a single splendid tent in which they all shiver”, as Goffman so appealingly wrote.

The book presents chapters on symbolic interactionism, phenomenology, hermeneutics, critical realism, grounded theory, narrative analysis, discourse analysis and actor-network theory. The list is not exhaustive, and other traditions could have been included. However, we have chosen these eight traditions because they are common in social science research today and because they constitute relatively coherent and recognisable units of qualitative work. The book describes analytical approaches in qualitative studies and focuses on methodology rather than method; that is, specific research techniques and tools. The choice of analytical approach is partly informed by how we understand the object of our study, how we look at the knowledge generated by our research, what we focus on in the analysis and how, in practical terms, we conduct analyses. The focus varies from chapter to chapter. For example, for some contributors the emphasis is on how we understand the object of our study, while others are more concerned with how qualitative data are analysed in practice. However, none of the chapters is purely theoretical or just describes techniques or methods. Rather, the idea is to bridge the traditional gap between texts about the theory of science and texts about specific research techniques.

This introductory chapter consists of six parts. The first describes the hallmarks of qualitative research, as viewed across analytical traditions. The second provides a brief historical insight into qualitative social science research, in particular how the literature on methods and methodologies has increasingly turned its attention to how precisely the analysis of qualitative data is conducted. The third part describes the various steps usually included in qualitative analyses, while the fourth part discusses epistemological issues. In the fifth part, we present different forms of interviews, observations and document analyses. Finally, we introduce the chapters of the book.

What is qualitative research?

Qualitative research has been defined in many different ways (Silverman, 1993, 2013a; Denzin and Lincoln, 1994, to mention a few classic contributions). Definitions vary, but the following five characteristics are among those that most qualitative researchers seem to agree on.

Firstly, the purpose of qualitative research – and interviews in particular – is to analyse meanings and interpretations. Qualitative researchers often want to see reality “from the perspective of the person studied” and therefore try to understand the meaning of the phenomena studied for those involved. Thus, the reality into which we, as social scientists, seek insight has already been interpreted by the research participants. However, qualitative analysis is not a one-to-one description of the perspectives of the people we study, but analytical interpretations of their perspectives. Qualitative researchers study how meaning is generated, negotiated, maintained, or altered in specific social contexts.

Secondly, qualitative research works with process as much as content. Qualitative research is not just about showing that individuals or groups have specific features or act in certain ways, but also about analysing how these characteristics and actions are shaped and how they play a part in people’s lives. Qualitative research looks at processes, not necessarily as stages of development or as causal relationships over time, but as mutual interaction mechanisms between people and their (social and physical) surroundings. This means that qualitative studies are often based on how and what questions rather than why questions.

Thirdly, qualitative research focuses on the context of the phenomena studied. The purpose of qualitative studies is not to isolate a phenomenon from its background or to identify the context’s influence and then generalise across contexts (as is often the case in quantitative research). On the contrary, the purpose is to see the phenomenon studied as rooted in – and made possible by – a specific spatial, temporal and social context.

A fourth feature of qualitative research is that it has traditionally defined itself as inductive rather than deductive; that is, it develops understandings, concepts and potential theories based on empirical data, rather than collating data to test a priori hypotheses or models. However, qualitative traditions vary in terms of when in the process theory comes into the picture. In some classic variants of phenomenological research and in more traditional versions of grounded theory, the researcher ideally seeks to approach the field more or less without preconceptions. In these studies, theory is not incorporated into the research process until later. The researcher builds concepts and/or develops new theory based on the empirical data of the research. Other traditions incorporate theory at an earlier stage, for instance when formulating research questions and/or during data acquisition.

Many qualitative researchers work abductively. The concept of abduction stems from Charles S. Peirce who used it to describe the researcher’s quest for theories that might help explain surprising findings in empirical data. Today, the term is often used as a general description of an analytical approach that alternates between data-driven interpretations, and the use and development of concepts that have their roots in theory. The analysis unfolds as a dialogue between theories and data, such that the data influence the researcher’s choice of theory, while theory helps the researcher interpret and put the findings, deriving from data analysis, into perspective. The abductive approach is sometimes perceived as a buffer against purely descriptive analyses. Amanda Coffey and Paul Atkinson (1996: 155) put it this way: “Our important ideas are not ‘in’ the data, and however hard we work, we will not find those ideas simply by scrutinizing our data even more obsessively. We need to work at analysis and theorizing.” Nevertheless, it is largely accepted in qualitative research that analyses should not be too guided by theories and concepts. Rather, social scientists must deploy their theoretical knowledge in a subtle and flexible manner: “Theoretical knowledge and pre-conceptions serve as heuristic tools for the construction of concepts which are elaborated and modified on the basis of empirical data” (Kelle, 1995: 34).

Finally, Herbert Blumer’s (1970/1953) idea of “sensitizing concepts” has proven useful in qualitative research. The opposite of sensitising concepts is “definitive concepts” which “refer precisely to what is common to a class of objects, by the aid of a clear definition in terms of attributed or fixed benchmarks” (Blumer, 1970/1953: 58; Blumer, 1986). Sensitising concepts are fruitful orientation tools and serve as a source of inspiration for researchers’ analyses: “Whereas definitive concepts provide prescriptions of what to see, sensitizing concepts merely suggest directions along which to look” (Blumer, 1970/1953: 58). Blumer therefore recom­mends that researchers move away from abstract concepts and theories to the specific peculiarity of the phenomenon being explored, so as not to errone...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Acknowledgements
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Editors and Contributors
• Preface
• 1 Analysing qualitative data in social science
• 2 Symbolic interactionism as analytical tradition
• 3 Symbolic interactionism, stigma and othering
• 4 Phenomenology as qualitative methodology1
• 5 Phenomenological analysis and the relationship between researcher and field
• 6 Hermeneutics: theory and methodology
• 7 Interpretation, prejudice and the hermeneutic circle
• 8 Critical realism in theory and practice
• 9 Critical realism: Philosophical and methodological considerations
• 10 Grounded theory: main characteristics
• 11 Sampling and conceptualisation in grounded theory
• 12 Narrative analysis: An integrative approach Small stories and narrative practices
• 13 Narrative analysis: thematic, structural and performative
• 14 Michel Foucault’s discourse analysis
• 15 Critical discourse analysis1
• 16 Actor-network theory as analytical approach
• 17 Actor-network theory and qualitative interviews
• Appendix: Key Concepts
• Index