Analyzing Qualitative Data: Systematic Approaches

Through the use of real-life social science examples, this book walks upper-division undergraduate to graduate students through the steps of collecting and analyzing qualitative data. Rather than cover data collection in separate chapters isolated from analysis techniques, the authors pair each data collection technique with the appropriate analytic method. The authors first cover word-based techniques (such as KWIC, word counts, componential analysis, taxonomies, mental maps, and semantic networks.) They next cover discovery techniques (grounded theory, schema analysis, sequential analysis, and analytic induction) followed by confirmatory techniques (tables and matrices, classic content analysis, content dictionaries, and ethnographic decision modeling.) In the last section of the book, the authors tackle philosophical issues related to sampling, reliability and validity as well as how to select the appropriate software. Carefully crafted exercises will provide readers with experiences for practicing the concepts in each chapter. This book will provide readers with not only the most complete information on doing qualitative collection and analysis, but a guide to selecting among the complete variety of qualitative techniques.

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgments PART I. THE BASICS Chapter 1. Introduction to Text: Qualitative Data Analysis Chapter 2. Collecting Data Chapter 3. Finding Themes Chapter 4. Codebooks and Coding Chapter 5. Introduction to Data Analysis Chapter 6. Conceptual Models PART II. THE SPECIFICS Chapter 7. First Steps in Analysis: Comparing Attributes of Variables Chapter 8. Cultural Domain Analysis: Free Lists, Judged Similarities, and Taxonomies Chapter 9. KWIC Analysis, Word Counts, and Semantic Network Analysis Chapter 10. Discourse Analysis: Conversation and Performance Chapter 11. Narrative Analysis Chapter 12. Grounded Theory Chapter 13. Content Analysis Chapter 14. Schema Analysis Chapter 15. Analytic Induction and Qualitative Comparative Analysis Chapter 16. Ethnographic Decision Models Chapter 17. Sampling Appendix: Resources for Analyzing Qualitative Data References Author Index Subject Index About the Authors

About the Author :
H. Russell Bernard is Professor of Anthropology, Emeritus at the University of Florida. He served as editor of the American Anthropologist and Human Organization. He is co-founder (with Pertti Pelto and Stephen Borgatti) of the Cultural Anthropology Methods journal (1989), which became Field Methods in 1999. The five editions of his methods text Research Methods in Anthropology (AltaMira 2006) and his general research methods text Social Research Methods (Sage 2012), have been used by tens of thousands of students. Bernard co-founded (with Pelto) and co-directed (with Pelto and Borgatti) the National Science Foundation's Institute on Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology and has done fieldwork in Greece, Mexico, and the U.S.A. His publications include (with Jesús Salinas Pedraza) Native Ethnography: A Otomí Indian Describes His Culture (Sage, 1989). Bernard is known as well for his work, with Peter Killworth, Eugene Johnsen, Christopher McCarty, and Gene A. Shelley, on network analysis, including work on the network scale-up method for estimating hard-to-count populations. In 2010, Bernard was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Gery Ryan (Ph. D., University of Florida, 1995) is a Senior Behavioral Scientist at the RAND Corporation and Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs at the Pardee RAND Graduate School in Policy Analysis. Ryan’s research focuses on social factors in mental and physical health, and includes studies on HIV/AIDS, depression, serious mental illness, childhood diarrhea and acute respiratory illnesses, obesity and complementary and alternative medicine. He has worked extensively in Latin America and Africa on health-related issues and helped redesign and implement a large-scale education reform in Qatar. As a methodologist, Ryan has published widely on the application of systematic methods to qualitative research. Over the last 20 years, he has run workshops sponsored by NSF, NIH, CDC and WHO on qualitative research methods and has taught these methods at UCLA, Pardee RAND, and the University of Missouri. 

Review :
"This book is well suited for a novice in qualitative research, as the chapters are written in a clear and simple style. Those who are more experienced in qualitative research could include this in their collection because it is comprehensive and replete with examples from studies that illustrate the content."