Miles, M.B., 1994. Qualitative data analysis: an expanded sourcebook, 2nd ed. ed. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks.   Patton, M.Q., 2015. Qualitative research & evaluation methods: integrating theory and practice, Fourth edition. ed. SAGE Publications, Inc, Thousand Oaks, California.     In the end the decisionmaking is a process you, and only you, can go through. There is no "perfect" solution and you need to reason your decision.   Good Luck with your project   Rolan

Dear Sanaullah,

maybe these readings will be helpful:

Thank you very much Dear Roland Berberich for adding your views.

There are wonderful examples of this in the journal: Qualitative Social Work.

There are a number of different versions of narrative analysis, almost all of which emphasize how the story telling is done. This seldom involves coding.

In contrast, the most common methods that emphasize coding the data are Grounded Theory, Thematic Analysis, and some versions of Phenomenology. Both Grounded Theory (e.g., Charmaz, 2014) and Thematic Analysis (e.g., Braun & Clarke, 2006), are heavily identified with coding, as is the version of  Phenomenology known as Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (e.g., Smith, Flowers, & Larkin, 2009).

These two different approaches are sometimes combined, beginning with one of the coding-oriented methods being used to get at the content of the data, followed by narrative analysis to show how participants actively work with and use that content.

Dear Mr Panezai

If your data consists of narratives, and you would like to analyse them as narratives I can recommend this reference:

Riessman, C. K. (2008). Narrative Methods for the Human Sciences. London: Sage.

Riessman describes four different ways of analyzing narrative data, and one of them is thematic narrative analysis. I myself have had great help of this book in my own research.

You may also analyse narrative data with other qualitative methods like hermeneutics or content analysis. If you think your data would benefit from being analysed as narratives, I really recommend this reference.

Good luck!

Åsa

  Dear Mr Panezai 

To gain an in-depth understanding of the narratives you can use thematic analysis of the interview transcripts using manual coding techniques. Interview material can be analyzed using Aronson’s four stage thematic analysis methods.

Aronson, J. (1995). A Pragmatic View of Thematic Analysis. The Qualitative Report, 2(1), 1-3.

Firstly, the data should be collected in the form of interview transcripts. Secondly, key direct quotes should be identified, and common ideas should be paraphrased. In the third stage, related patterns should be combined into themes. The fourth stage is making a trustworthy and reliable argument in regards to the selection of the themes for analysis and creating a storyline which would help your readers to realize the process, motivation, and understanding of your research.

You can return the themes to your research participants and give a chance to them to read and review the findings, provide comments and feedback.

Regards,

Narges

Thank you very much Dr. Robyn Munford, Prof. David L Morgan, Dr. Asa Rejno and Dr. Narges Alianmoghaddam for adding your invaluable inputs.

The following papers should be helpful to your topic: 

• Dibley, L. (2011) Analysing narrative data using McCormack's Lenses, Nurse Researcher, 18, 3, pp. 13-19.
• Franzosi, R. (1998) Narrative Analysis-Or Why (And How) Sociologists Should be Interested in Narrative, Annual Review of Sociology, 24, 1, pp. 517-554.
• Overcash, J. A. (2003) Narrative research: a review of methodology and relevance to clinical practice, Critical Reviews in Oncology-Hematology, 48, 2, pp. 179-184.
• Phoenix, C., Smith, B. and Sparkes, A. C. (2010) Narrative analysis in aging studies: A typology for consideration, Journal of Aging Studies, 24, 1, pp. 1-11.
• Smith, C. P., (2000) Content Analysis and Narrative Analysis, in Reis, H. T. and Judd, C. M. (Eds.), Handbook of Research Methods in Social and Personality Psychology, Cambridge University Press, New York, NY,  pp. 313-338.

Dear Prof. Kenneth Lui-ming Ngie for suggesting very important articles.  

Dear Sanaullah

I have used Grounded Theory techniques for coding the narrative gained from Semi-structured interviews that I have used to better understand the impact of physical activity on chronic diseases generally, and more specifically in relation to recovery from a range of cancers. There are various versions of GT including that of Charmaz as Identified by David. However, I prefer the structured approach from Strauss and Corbin as it helped me to apply the coding techniques. I particularly found the application of the axial coding paradigm helpful in bringing all of the categories together.

Please have a look at the methods section of my paper on 'Gender perceptions & their impact when referring obese patients'. This explains the steps that I went through.

Hope this helps.

Martyn

Dear Martyn Queen,

Thank you for sharing your experiences. May I request you to please share with me your paper you referred to. Thanks Indeed !!

Dear Sanaullah

Paper attached, hope you find this useful

Martyn

Dear Martyn Queen,

Thank you for sharing your paper. 

Throw the coding manual away...let the data speak to you...it is narrative and each person's narrative is different...that is what is so exciting about this type of analysis as it's nothing to do with themes and patterns but how you weave the different stories together ...good luck with your analysis!!

Thank you, Belinda Chaplin, for your answer. But my problem was to defend the methodology for the narrative analysis. Shall I call it inductive coding or deductive approach? If we claim it inductive then it would resemble with grounded theory approach and if it is deductive then how can we deal with some newly emerging themes, beyond the identified ones. Thanks once again for your answer !!

It really does depend on your theoretical framework.  In my work, I am interpretive as  I combine elements of social constructionism, embodiment and narrative to create my own lens.  You can also use a deductive approach for example if you are examining  social and political structures and the like and you use a framework which supports that.   As I said, from my perspective, the data is the key...grounded theory doesn't fit...it is clunky and very prescriptive...go back to the data and your theoretical framework...it will tell you how to analyze it...a lesson I learnt doing my PhD.  Good luck in your research!!

To pursue a deductive approach, you need to have a framework for your coding that comes from theory or existing research. If you have such a system and want to add to it or modify it as you do the coding, that is known as a "hybrid" approach (i.e., combining inductive and deductive.

If you are going to develop the codes by reading the data, that would be inductive. You do not need to use grounded theory, which is only one of several inductive approaches. The most common alternative is Thematic Analysis" (Braun & Clarke, 2006).

Dear Prof. David L Morgan, thank you very much for your invaluable contribution to answering my queries. This is really helpful !!

Dear Panezai

You can do the qualitative analysis by using software such as MAXQDA. It helps to manage data. If you want to use content analysis you can follow the Graneheim and Lundma method as we used in our paper (Factors facilitating nurses to deliver compassionate care: a qualitative study). you can find it in attached file:

Graneheim UH, Lundman B. Qualitative content analysis in nursing research: concepts, procedures, and measures to achieve trustworthiness.Nurse Educ Today2004; 24: 105–12.

Moreover, If you want to use grounded theory, Corbin and Strauss (2015) method is seem good methods.

Corbin, J., & Strauss, A. (2015). Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory

Good luck

Dear Dr. Mansour Ghafourifard, thank you very much for sharing your views!!

Regards

This book has a good section on coding:

Stauss, Anselm and Juliet Corbin. 1998. Basics of Qualitative Research.Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications

I would suggest reading the attached articles to get to grips with the very fundamentals of Qualitative research.  I think as many people have said, narrative analysis usually relies on the story being told and interpreted and not necessarily being coded per say.  Coding is more for the inductive processes of Grounded Theory and Thematic Analysis. 

When I asked about Narrative Analysis I was informed of the following helpful and beneficial texts:

Letting Stories Breathe: A Socio-Narratology - Arthur W. Frank

Narrative Analysis (Qualitative Research Methods) - Catherine Kohler Riessman

Research Interviewing: Context and Narrative - Elliot G. Mishler

Article Narrative and identity: The double arrow of time

Article Using thematic analysis in psychology

Article Grounded Theory as a General Research Methodology

Article Narrative analysis: Oral versions of personal experience (Re...

Dear Ms. Tamara Steger and Mr. Sergio A. Silverio, thank you very much for adding for views and comments. 

I really like Riessman's book. It outlines 4 types of narrative analysis, content, structure, context (of the data collection) and socio-historical context. None of them involve coding though.

This book can be very helpful: Narrative Analysis (Qualitative Research Methods) - Catherine Kohler Riessman

I am planning on conducting narrative stories in my research, so it has been really useful to read your comments and suggestions.