Word frequency is a rarely used technique for qualitative research in general, although it could conceivably be more common in your particular field. Instead, it is much more typical to use "themes" as a way to interpret the most meaningful aspects of the data.

I suggest you examine qualitative articles in your topic area and determine how they accomplished their analysis.

Word frequency is a rarely used technique for qualitative research in general, although it could conceivably be more common in your particular field. Instead, it is much more typical to use "themes" as a way to interpret the most meaningful aspects of the data.

I suggest you examine qualitative articles in your topic area and determine how they accomplished their analysis.

Either thematic content analysis, narrative analysis or deductive approach would be right.

Either of the three options involves listening to the recorded discussions over and over again and understanding them before manually coding the responses [on papers] to identify themes or patterns.

Futhermore, there are computer softwares such as NVIVO to help with the analysis.

Read more on how to go about qualitative analysis elsewhere & here: http://unstick.me/3-straightforward-methods-for-analyzing-qualitative-interview-data/

For the "unstick.me" link, the 6 steps they provide for Thematic Analysis are straight out of Braun and Clarke (2006) -- an academic article that has over 30,000 cites on Google Scholar.

My field is design, and that interview carried out for identifing attributes of a futuristic product. Now, which type of qualitative analysing method do you suggest?!

I think the more appropriate approach is "themes analysis". As NVIVO is a high cost software, maybe you can use IBM SPSS Text Analysis.

Dear Azam

It depends on your preferences regarding research paradigms, the previous knowledge relevant to your research problem and the information needs. I would suggest two possible options:

1) Qualitative inductive paradigm.- Very appropriate for exploratory research. The most common method is called thematic interpretive. From the lines of the transcriptions you go inductively constructing categories (by similarities) and then themes. This is a very appropriate way when you want to understand a topic in depth and there's not a lot of prior research history about the topic.

2) Quantitative deductive paradigm. Very appropriate when you want to use statistical techniques and when there is a good base of previous research. By this way you can perform a content analysis of the interviews. That is, analyze the interviews and classify the ideas of the interviewees based on a pre-established scheme of categories extracted from the previous literature.

Good luck in your research!

Jorge

Hi,

I hope the following publications would work for your inquiry. In your study, I think theme coding could be employed.

Auerbach, C. F., & Silverstein, L.B. (2003). Qualitative data: An introduction to coding and analysis. New York: New York University Press.

Merriam, S. B. (2009). Qualitative Research- A Guide to Design and Implementation. San Franciso, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Saldana, J. (2016). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Van Maanen, J. (1979). Reclaiming Qualitative Methods for Organizational Research: A Preface. Administrative Science Quarterly, 24(4), 520-525.

Hi Azam,

I agree with Dr. David about generation of themes based on content analysis.

Since, your core objective is "identifying attributes of a futuristic product", you can use inductive content analysis method.

I have also used inductive content analysis method in identifying aspects of a new construct. You can generate themes based on coding like open, axial, and selective coding for generation themes.

Here are the some articles

1) Bryman, Alan, and Emma Bell. 2013. Business research methods. Oxford University Press, USA.

2) Cavanagh, Stephen.1997. "Content analysis: concepts, methods and applications." Nurse Researcher 4(3): 5-13.

3) Corbin, Juliet, and Anselm Strauss. 1990. "Grounded theory research: Procedures, canons and evaluative criteria." Qualitative Sociology, 13(1): 3-21.

4) Elo, Satu, and Helvi Kyngäs. (2008). "The qualitative content analysis process." Journal of advanced nursing 62(1): 107-115.

Regards,

Gobinda

Dear Azam,

Please take the following in a constructive manner rather than a discouragement. Your question is critically missing, like many questions posted here by novice qualitative researchers. The missing part is twofold: a) your research question (RQ), and b) your paradigmatic presuppositions: ontology, epistemology and methodology. There is no way of adequately answering your question without these two pieces of information, at your stage the former more than the latter. It is like asking "what is the best way to catch a bird?" within indicating whether it is important that it be alive or dead, or whether it is a chicken, an ostrich, or a bald eagle. Naturally the answer will differ if each case.

I suggest that you rethink what it is that you wish to know, then, first look it up in the literature (as you can see the literature is replete with examples, and these are very accessible). Then, once you define what it is that you need (first and foremost for yourself), if you have found no answer in the accessible literature, then repost you refined question.

That said, you have many good literature suggestions here. Best of luck.

Jacob.

It really depends on what your research question is, and on what your goal is; word frequency may be useful, but content analysis, discourse analysis, could be too. It depends what you are interested in and what are you investigating.

Thanks. I'm sorry of being novice and beginner...

There is nothing to be sorry about :-)

Being a novice is not something bad, it is a passing phase we all must go through. Nevertheless, it is good at this stage to begin acquiring good research habits. Understanding the gordian knot linking research question to methodology is paramount in this respect. Unfortunately it seems that this is not emphasized enough in courses. Best of luck.

Hi Azam,

I agree that research can be a bit daunting.Keep up the good spirit. Jacob has given you solid advice that you need to work from your RQ and determine from literature and self what is the paradigm well suited for the study. I think you were also given options in one of the responses and very good references that you must read.If you are going with qualitative which is what most people assumed, then Dr Morgan is spot on with Braun &Clarke Eds for your thematic analysis. Be very clear in your head what will work for the research and have solid justification for the choices you make. Also be very careful what sources/references you use, your school should have guidelines for this.

Best of luck

Hi Azam,

I hope all is well with your research. As others mentioned, there are different approaches to analysis in qual research. Nvivo is a helpful tool, but you still need to do the analysis manually per se, as Nvivo can help you create word trees and other diagrams to depict your content/themes. I think once you get a better feel for research question/aim and your methodology, then you will be better position to analyze. So, don't think of data analysis as a rigid step by step thing to do that "everyone" does in the same way. I think when you have your data and you can see the "story unfolding," then you will have your methods and analysis on how to tell that story.

I would suggest thematic analysis. NVivo could help you sort/organise theme based on literature in your field.

Hi Azam,

Maybe this link will be useful: https://books.google.com/books?id=bOLFDQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=creswell+qualitative&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJ5tO93tfcAhVFeawKHaWFARAQuwUINDAB#v=onepage&q=creswell%20qualitative&f=false Have a great day! --Adrian

thank you all :)