Many social science undergraduate programmes include modules where students are asked to carry out a small piece of qualitative research. This usually takes the form of interviews with real people. Although sample sizes are usually quite small (2-5 people), getting to grips with the resulting data can nevertheless be daunting for a novice researcher.
This blog post outlines the guidance I use with my own BA students, which, they tell me, is a clear and an effective method of showing them how to organise and begin to analyse interview data. The beauty is in its simplicity.
Qualitative social research involves:
- collecting data,
- familiarising yourself with the data,
- organising the data,
- coding patterns or units of meaning, including looking for similarities and differences,
- finding quotations, and,
- presenting findings and conclusions.
