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Analyzing Qualitative Data(by Graham R. Gibbs) is the sixth part of The SAGE
QualitativeResearch Kit. This Kitcomprises eight books and taken together
the Kit represents the most extensive and detailed introduction to the
process of doing qualitative research. This book can be used in conjunction
with other titles in the Kitas part of this overall introduction to qualitative
methods but this book can equally well be used on its own as an introduction
to analyzing qualitative data.
Complete list of titles in The SAGEQualitative Research Kit
• Designing Qualitative Research Uwe Flick
• Doing Interviews Steinar Kvale
• Doing Ethnographic and Observational Research Michael Angrosino
• Doing Focus Groups Rosaline Barbour
• Using Visual Data in Qualitative Research Marcus Banks
• Analyzing Qualitative Data Graham R. Gibbs
• Doing Conversation, Discourse and Document Analysis Tim Rapley
• Managing Quality in Qualitative Research Uwe Flick
Members of the Editorial Advisory Board
Juliet Corbin San Jose State University, Oakland, USA
Norman K. Denzin University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, USA
Peter Freebody University of Queensland, S. Lucia, Australia
Ken Gergen Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, USA
Jennifer Mason Manchester University, Manchester, UK
Michael Murray Keele University, Keele, UK
Clive Seale Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK
Jonathan Potter Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK
Margaret Wetherell Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
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© Graham R. Gibbs 2007
First published 2007
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private
study,or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this publication may be reproduced,
stored or transmitted in any form, or by any means, only with the
prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of
reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of licences
issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning
reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.
SAGE Publications Ltd
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London EC1Y1SP
SAGE Publications Inc.
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SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd
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Library of Congress Control Number2006938288
British Library Cataloguing in Publication data
Acatalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-0-7619-4980-0
Typeset by C&M Digitals (P) Ltd., Chennai, India
Printed in Great Britain by The Cromwell Press Ltd, Trowbridge, Wiltshire
Printed on paper from sustainable resources
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Contents
List of illustrations vii
Editorial introduction (Uwe Flick) ix
About this book (Uwe Flick) xv
1 The nature of qualitative analysis 1
2 Data preparation 10
3 Writing 24
4 Thematic coding and categorizing 38
5 Analyzing biographies and narratives 56
6 Comparative analysis 73
7 Analytic quality and ethics 90
8 Getting started with computer-assisted qualitative data analysis 105
9 Searching and other analytic activities using software 124
10 Putting it all together 143
Glossary 147
References 153
Author index 157
Subject index 158
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List of illustrations
Boxes
2.1 Conversational features 13
2.2 Examples of different levels of transcription 14
2.3 Digital recordings 16
2.4 Typical contents of metadata documents 22
3.1 Van Maanen’s Tales from the Field 28
3.2 The uses of memos 31
3.3 Guidelines for revising the first draft 34
4.1 Code, index, category or theme? 39
5.1 Rhetoric 57
5.2 Metaphors and accounts 58
5.3 Common life-history themes 62
6.1 Terms used for parts of a hierarchy 74
6.2 Thinking about the properties and dimensions of codes 76
6.3 Partially ordering cases 83
7.1 Suggestions for reflexive good practice 92
7.2 Guidelines for reporting quotations 97
8.1 Plain text and RTF 109
9.1 Using the text search facility creatively and to enhance validity 132
Tables
2.1 Examples of transcription errors 19
3.1 The two golden rules 25
3.2 Organizing the qualitative report 33
4.1 What can be coded? (with examples) 47
5.1 Dramaturgical classification of stories 67
5.2 Labov’s narrative elements 69
5.3 Mary’s story 70
6.1 Possible types of conceptual relationship between parents
and children in a code hierarchy 75
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Designing qualitative research
6.2 Example qualitative table: friends and family 79
6.3 What to put in the cells of tables 81
6.4 Example of a comparison between cases 82
6.5 Job-searching strategies by gender 85
6.6 Example of a comparison within a single case 86
6.7 Elements of the axial coding model 87
9.1 Common Boolean and proximity searches using
code Aand code B 136
Figures
4.1 Barry’s reply with coding 45
4.2 Interview extract showing line-by-line coding 53
6.1 Organizing a new sub-hierarchy 74
8.1 Atlas.ti workbench window 111
8.2 The MAXqda Desktop window 112
8.3 The NVivo main window 112
8.4 The Atlas.ti Primary document pop-down menu 115
8.5 Creating a new tree node using the pop-up menu 117
8.6 MAXqda Code System pane 119
8.7 Selected quotation bracket showing text in the quotation 120
8.8 Selected coding bar showing coded text 120
8.9 Document showing coding stripes 121
8.10 MAXqda Retrieved Segments pane 122
9.1 The Atlas.ti Text Search dialog 127
9.2 MAXqda Search Results window 128
9.3 The NVivo Text Search Query dialog 128
9.4 Atlas.ti Primary Document Family Manager 133
9.5 MAXqda Table of Attributes 134
9.6 NVivo Case Properties dialog 135
9.7 The Atlas.ti Query Tool dialog 137
9.8 Atlas.ti Scope of Query dialog 137
9.9 NVivo Coding Query dialog 139
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Editorial introduction
Uwe Flick
• Introduction to The SAGE Qualitative Research Kit
• What is qualitative research?
• How do we conduct qualitative research?
• Scope of The SAGE Qualitative Research Kit
Introduction to The SAGE Qualitative Research Kit
In recent years, qualitative research has enjoyed a period of unprecedented
growth and diversification as it has become an established and respected research
approach across a variety of disciplines and contexts. An increasing number of
students, teachers and practitioners are facing questions and problems of how to
do qualitative research – in general and for their specific individual purposes. To
answer these questions, and to address such practical problems on a how-to-do
level, is the main purpose of The SAGE Qualitative Research Kit.
The books in The SAGE Qualitative Research Kit collectively address the core
issues that arise when we actually do qualitative research. Each book focuses on
key methods (e.g. interviews or focus groups) or materials (e.g. visual data or dis-
course) that are used for studying the social world in qualitative terms. Moreover, the
books in the Kit have been written with the needs of many different types of reader in
mind. As such, the Kit and the individual books will be of use to a wide variety of
users:
• Practitionersof qualitative research in the social sciences, medical research, mar-
keting research, evaluation, organizational, business and management studies,
cognitive science, etc., who face the problem of planning and conducting a
specific study using qualitative methods.
• University teachersand lecturers in these fields using qualitative methods will
be expected to use these series as a basis of their teaching.
