Hi Adi - A response as a Graduate Research Co-ordinator and supervisor as if one of my own students had asked this question (incidentally, your supervisors are your first port-of-call on all of these - good - questions)

1. Find an example or two from your field - international aid - which you feel has used qualitative/interview data in ways which you (and perhaps more importantly a peer-reviewed journal) - have found persuasive and a strong representation of findings.

2. Find a successful recent Ph.D.thesis on leadership which has used interviews and FGDs. Learn from this good practice, too in terms of the balance of analysis and findings.

3. There are protocols on ensuring and communicating the confidentiality/anonymity of your research participants. The Chair of your institution's Ethics Committee ought to be able to provide guidelines and advice [I didn't think that your formulation here ie Country Director 1 or Major Aid Donor 2 was inappropriate]

4. You need to have a rationale and a practical process for your data analysis. Many Higher Degree Research Candidates find that their Research Questions and sub-questions provide a logical framework for using participants' responses in outlining findings.

However, it would be wrong for any supervisor to provide a simple cut-and-paste answer to your question 'How much of the content should be quotations (findings) and how much my analysis (interpretation) of them?'

It is YOUR thesis and YOUR story about the data that you are telling through your findings - subject to being faithful to - and fairly representing - the data.

5. Sensible advice is to work hard on two particular areas. Your first sentence of a paragraph topic sentences AND your last sentence of each paragraph meaning-making....('These quotations are important in indicating that......)

6. And finally, remember to re-visit the main 'qualitative methodology' reference seminal and student-friendly texts. Most people do their methodology units in support of doctoral research quite early and have forgotten some key messages from their reading two years later - and anyway - learning about data analysis 'in theory' and then having to do it 'in practice' are two different things.

7. Some of this needs to be trial and error - submit some early findings write-ups using interview data to your supervisors and let them feed back likes and critiques......

I hope that at least some of this advice helps! Best wishes in making meaning from your data.

Hi Adi,

The best advice is to look at case studies. I have a qualitative study that relied heavily on participant interviewing and the full-text is available here on Researchgate.net at: Article Opportunities and Benefits for Powerchair Users Through Power Soccer

Great answers. I would add that anonymity is concerned not only with avoiding using their names but also with identifiabiity. Some literature suggests changing a few details in the participants' answers to avoid their identities being traceable in the final report.

The Findings (Results) section is one of the challenging parts of a qualitative work, because it needs to mention all the findings (related to the Research Question) and at the same time not to bore the reader. I do agree with Peter that it is trial and error; have a go at presenting your findings supported with some quotes from your participants and see whether the 'readability' of that section is there.

Your analytical approach of choice can guide your strategy of presenting your findings. For example, if you adopt a thematic analysis approach, you may find it useful to present our findings as themes and subthemes, in preparation for a more comprehensive discussion in a Discussion section.

Best wishes :)

Dear Peter, Michael and Maged,

Many thanks indeed for these insightful ideas and recommendations. I particularly appreciate the reminder that this is 'my story; the offered case study, and the thought on thematic structure.

All will be reflected on and applied.

Again, my thanks to all, and an early set of best wishes for the end of the year, and a peace-filled 2018.

Adi

Dear Adi

In fact, one of the basic ethical considerations in qualitative research is to guarantee the anonymity of the informants. In the report of the results it is customary to change the name of the participant (only the first name is used), neither sex nor age is changed. Regarding the interviewee position in the organization, it is described as it is, unless that can suggest who the person is. For example in industries where there are few companies or organizations. In these cases, the position is described in a more generic way (eg. senior executive). As for the organization, its name is not revealed nor it is replaced. You can indicate something like this: a small organization of the sector..., a large supplier ... etc.

Greetings,

Jorge

Hi Adi,

Great question. Most of my past and current research is solely mixed methods. Several people answered regarding confidentiality concerns already. Regarding how to specifically write this, you should state either:

A County Director reported, "XXXXXX."

or

For example, one respondent stated, "XXXXX" [County Director].

Presentation of your results depends on the analysis. The amount of quotations you use will depend on the journal. You should read articles published in your target journal for how many quotes are used. Keep in mind however, that if your study and analysis are heavily qualitative-based, more quotes are needed. However, if the qualitative portion simply supplements the quantitative findings, then really only a few quotes should be used to explain important findings from the quantitative data. Remember also, that you can save a lot of quotes for a table - with themes and sub-themes presented (if you do thematic analysis), and quotes supporting these findings.

Hope this helps, and good luck to you!

Kathryn

The classic way to organize the presentation of your results is to develop a set of "themes," which you would present one by one. Within each theme, you would provide quoations (with a typical total of between 3 and 5 themes) to illustrate or support your summary of that theme. If you are not familiar with thematic analysis, see Braun & Clarke (2006) on that subject.

I also agree with her about the alternatives for keeping information private. In particular, I would not use any names, first or last.

There is a great case study book i used in my thesis for a similar problem. Its got a great few chapter.

Single-Case Research Methods in Sport and Exercise Psychology - Jamie Barker