ORGANIZING AND INTERPRETING UNSTRUCTURED QUALITATIVE DATA

In die last several years there has been an increase in the amount of qualitative research using in-depth interviews and comprehensive conte nt analyses in sport psychology. However, no explicit method has been provided to deal with the large amount of unstructured data. This arti cle provides common guidelines for organizing and interpreting unstruc tured data. Two main operations are suggested and discussed: first, co ding meaningful text segments, or creating tags, and second, regroupin g similar text segments, or creating categories. Furthermore, software programs for the microcomputer are presented as a way to facilitate t he organization and interpretation of qualitative data.