Hello,
I am conducting a dissertation using a sequential explanatory design. The order of the design is quantitative, quantitative, qualitative with more or less equal emphasis on each phase, with the qual phase helping to explain the quant data collected. I am now changing my qualitative method a bit due to changes in my research team and I am looking for a new qualitative method of analysis as I get ready to code my qualitative data. What are some recommendations for another method of qualitative analysis? I've considered grounded theory but feel uncertain the purpose of my qual data is to develop a new theory; I've also considered phenomenology, but I don't feel certain it will provide an explanation of the quant results. Other options could be content or thematic analysis, or something I have not considered yet. When I conducted the initial qual interviews, I asked questions that were grounded on pre-existing knowledge/data/theory, however the questions were semi-structured and the interviews have provided new information that the existing data just didn't capture as far as I can tell from my knowledge of the interviews.
As I am working on this study solo (and frankly I am running low on time), a method that does not require or emphasize the use of multiple coders is preferred (my research team will eventually reviews the codes and interpretation, but will not be coding with me). I am still somewhat new to qualitative research and I find myself stuck with selecting the best method of qualitative analysis. Thank you for any suggestions or guidance!
Lindsay - from what you are saying here - I would advise you to keep things as 'simple' as possible - especially if there is a time limit - and you already have your two-phase quant data. Traditional qualitative approaches, such as GT, phenomenology and ethnography tend to be much more labour-intensive. I would recommend adopting a qualitative, descriptive exploratory approach. You could adopt either thematic or content analysis - but remember that they are different.
The attached chapter on qual analysis may assist.
I would recommend a content analysis that is a hybrid of deductive and inductive approaches (Fereday & Muir-Cochrane, 2006). The deductive approach would use codes that you derive from quantitative analysis and the inductive approach would capture anything new that you discover during your analysis of the qualitative data.
In particular, the goal of a sequential explanatory design its to help you understand the results of your quantitative study, so you want to build those results into your codebook (the deductive part of the coding) while also allowing for the potential of uncovering relevant information that was not covered in the quantitative data (the inductive part of the coding).
David L Morgan and Dean Whitehead Thank you so much for your answers! They were very very helpful and have provided me great guidance moving forward with my project. I will do a qualitative content analysis and will definitely use the approach of using both deductive and inductive codes. Thanks again!
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