M. Sandelowski, FOCUS ON QUALITATIVE METHODS - QUALITATIVE-ANALYSIS - WHAT IT IS AND HOW TO BEGIN, Research in nursing & health, 18(4), 1995, pp. 371-375
One of the most paralyzing moments in conducting qualitative research
is beginning analysis, when researchers must first look at their data
in order to see what they should look for in their data. Although temp
orally and conceptually overlapping processes, data analysis should be
distinguished from interpretation. Practical suggestions for beginnin
g analysis include getting a sense of the whole, extracting the facts,
identifying key topics or major storylines and dimensionalizing their
informational content, and using frameworks to reduce data. (C) 1995
John Wiley and Sons, Inc.