HOW TO

ANALYZE A 1:00-2:00 PM
10 Earth

QUALITATIV
BeNHS-Main

E DATA?
QUALITATIVE DATA IS NOT
NUMERICAL.
 QUALITATIVE DATA IS
INFORMATION THAT IS IN
LANGUAGE FORM.
ANALYSIS IS WHAT YOU
DO WITH SURVEY
RESULTS ONCE YOU’VE
COLLECTED THEM. IT
CAN BE AS RIGOROUS
OR RELAXED AS YOU
LIKE.
1. DECIDE ON YOUR
APPROACH
 TWO MAIN APPROACHES IN
ANALYSING QUALITATIVE DATA
1.‘Code and Count’
A code in research
methodology is a short word or
phrase describing the meaning
and context of the whole
sentence, phrase or paragraph.
 CODE & COUNT
This approach is helpful when you want
to understand how many people gave a
particular response.
It involves ‘coding’ your data into
different categories and counting how
many responses are in each category. You
can then use quantitative methods to
analyse the data.
 CODE & COUNT
Code and count is good for larger
sample sizes.
It is often used to analyse data from
open-ended questions in surveys or
when you have data that can easily
be separated into distinct
categories.
TWO MAIN APPROACHES IN ANALYSING
QUALITATIVE DATA

2. ‘Theme and Explore’

'Themes' are features of
participants' accounts
characterising particular
perceptions and/or experiences
that the researcher sees as
relevant to the research question.
 THEME & EXPLORE
Using this approach, you review your
data to see what main themes emerge
and then explore how different people
have responded around each of these.
You can select key quotations from each
respondent to illustrate the themes you
have found. This is more like a literary
analysis.
 THEME & EXPLORE
Theme and explore is good for smaller sample
sizes and more complex subjects.
 It is particularly helpful when your
respondents have different understandings of
the same issue and you want to compare them.
It can also help develop evaluation findings
around how the way in which you work has
contributed to changes that individuals or
organisations you work with have experienced .
2. CREATE CODES OR
THEMES.
 CODING
'Coding' is the process of identifying
themes in accounts and attaching labels
(codes) to index them.
Pre-coding is helpful if you know which
answers you are likely to get. The outcomes
and indicators in your evaluation framework
may provide you with some pre-made codes.
 CODING
Emergent coding is helpful if you are unsure
of what your data will say. Start by reading
through 10-15% of your responses and
deciding on a draft set of codes. Use these to
code your responses and check if you need to
change your codes after looking at each
further 10-15% of responses. Remember to
re-code the data you’ve already looked at if
you subsequently change your codes.
 THEME
It is important to recognise that
themes in qualitative research are not
hiding in the data, waiting to be
‘discovered’  by the researcher.
Rather, they arise from the
engagement of a particular researcher
with the text, as he or she attempts to
address a particular research question.
 THEME

After coding, go over the

responses and notes then
identify themes.
Use your research topic and
questions as a guide in
recognizing the themes.
 THEME
Themes are usually decided on after having read most or
all responses. Then you can decide which themes best fit
the data and what you want to understand from it.
For example, if you had interviewed people about their
attitudes to food and read through your data, you might
find the following themes emerging:
Food as fuel
Food as pleasure
Moral aspects to food (‘good’ vs ‘naughty’)
Emotional aspects such as comfort eating or expressing
love through food
3. CATEGORIZE YOUR
DATA.
TIPS FOR CATEGORISING DATA

However you categorise your data, there

are some key things to remember:
Data can be categorised into more than
one code or theme, but try not to do this too
often.
If you are using code and count you will
need to make notes of how often each code
appears. You may want to create a table or
tally chart to do this.
TIPS FOR CATEGORISING DATA
Whether you are using code and count, or theme
and explore you will also need a category for ‘don’t
know,’ ‘no answer’ or ‘other’ responses. If ‘other’
responses make up more than 5% of your total,
consider looking at the data again to identify
possible additional codes or themes – this helps
make sure you’re not missing something important.
It can be very helpful to write notes to yourself of
any key points as you go through your data, and
make a note of any particularly interesting quotes
from respondents.
4. THINK CRITICALLY
ABOUT YOUR DATA
 QUESTIONS THAT YOU MIGHT WANT TO
ASK OF YOUR CATEGORISED DATA:

Are there any links between codes? Are some

things mentioned together frequently? If so,
what does this mean?
Are there any other patterns, themes or
trends?
Are there any deviations from these patterns?
How can these be explained?
Are outcomes different for different groups of
people?
 QUESTIONS THAT YOU MIGHT WANT TO
ASK OF YOUR CATEGORISED DATA:
Why were some outcomes achieved, and others
not achieved? How does this link to the outputs?
How do people understand their own journey or
story? What do they think has caused or affected
the outcomes that they have experienced? How
does this relate to your theory of change?
What has surprised you about the data?
What has disturbed you or challenged your
assumptions?
What do you need to find out more about?
5.CHECK YOUR
ANALYSIS
MAKE SURE THAT YOUR ANALYSIS CAN
BE VERIFIED AND JUSTIFIED

“See to it that you can defend the results

of your research.”
6. USE YOUR ANALYSIS.
Bring together your data analysis
into a report or research.