Analyzing Qualitative Data: Systematic Approaches

The fully updated Second Edition presents systematic methods for analyzing qualitative data with clear and easy-to-understand steps. The first half is an overview of the basics, from choosing a topic to collecting data, and coding to finding themes, while the second half covers different methods of analysis, including grounded theory, content analysis, analytic induction, semantic network analysis, ethnographic decision modeling, and more. Real examples drawn from social science and health literature along with carefully crafted, hands-on exercises at the end of each chapter allow readers to master key techniques and apply them to their own disciplines.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Introduction to Text: Qualitative Data Analysis Introduction: What Is Qualitative Data Analysis? What Are Data and What Makes Them Qualitative? About Numbers and Words Research Goals Kinds of Qualitative Data Key Concepts in This Chapter Summary Further Reading Chapter 2: Choosing a Topic and Searching the Literature Introduction Exploratory and Confirmatory Research Four Questions to Ask About Research Questions The Role of Theory in Social Research Choosing a Research Question The Literature Search Databases for Searching the Literature Key Concepts in This Chapter Summary Exercises Further Reading Chapter 3: Research Design I: Sampling Introduction Two Kinds of Samples Kinds of Nonprobability Samples Key Concepts in This Chapter Summary Exercises Further Reading Chapter 4: Research Design II: Collecting Data Introduction Data Collection Methods Indirect Observation Direct Observation Elicitation Methods Accuracy Eliciting Cultural Domains Mixed Methods Choosing a Data Collection Strategy Key Concepts in This Chapter Summary Exercises Further Reading Chapter 5: Finding Themes Introduction What’s a Theme? Where Do Themes Come From? Eight Observational Techniques: Things to Look for Four Manipulative Techniques: Ways to Process Texts Selecting Among Techniques And Finally... Key Concepts in This Chapter Summary Exercises Further Reading Chapter 6: Codebooks and Coding Introduction Three Kinds of Codes Building Codebooks Using Existing Codes Codebooks Continue to Develop Hierarchical Organization of Codebooks Applying Theme Codes to Text The Mechanics of Marking Text Multiple Coders The Content of Codebooks Describing Themes: Bloom’s Study of AIDS Finding Typical Segments of Text Key Concepts in This Chapter Summary Exercises Further Reading Chapter 7: Introduction to Data Analysis Introduction: What Is analysis? Database Management Data Matrices Proximity Matrices Key Concepts in This Chapter Summary Exercises Further Reading Chapter 8: Conceptual Models Introduction Statistical Models and Text Analysis Building Models Step 1: Identifying Key Concepts Step 2: Linking Key Constructs Step 3: Testing the Model Key Concepts in This Chapter Summary Exercises Further Reading Chapter 9: Comparing Attributes of Variables Introduction Fundamental Features of Comparisons Levels of Measurement Converting Text to Variable Data Levels of Aggregation Many Types of Comparisons Comparing the Columns And Finally... Key Concepts in This Chapter Summary Exercises Further Reading Chapter 10: Grounded Theory Introduction: On Induction and Deduction Overview of Grounded Theory A GT Project: Schlau’s Study of Adjustment to Becoming Deaf as an Adult Visualizing Grounded Theories Key Concepts in This Chapter Summary Exercises Further Reading Chapter 11: Content Analysis Introduction History of Content Analysis Doing Content Analysis Intercoder Reliability A Real Example of Using Kappa: Carey et al.’s Study Cross-Cultural Content Analysis: HRAF Automated Content Analysis: Content Dictionaries Key Concepts in This Chapter Summary Exercises Further Reading Chapter 12: Schema Analysis Introduction History of Schema Analysis Mental Models Kinds of Schemas Methods for Studying Schemas Folk Theories: Kempton’s Study of Home Thermostats Key Concepts in This Chapter Summary Exercises Further Reading Chapter 13: Narrative Analysis Introduction Sociolinguistics Hermeneutics Phenomenology Steps in a Phenomenological Study Key Concepts in This Chapter Summary Exercises Further Reading Chapter 14: Discourse Analysis II: Conversation and Performance Introduction Grammar Beyond the Sentence Conversation Analysis Transcriptions Taking Turns in a Jury Performance Analysis: Ethnopoetics Language in Use Critical Discourse Analysis: Language and Power Key Concepts in This Chapter Summary Exercises Further Reading Chapter 15: Analytic Induction and Qualitative Comparative Analysis Introduction Induction and Deduction—Again Analytic Induction Qualitative Comparative Analysis—QCA And Finally... Key Concepts in This Chapter Summary Exercises Further Reading Chapter 16: Ethnographic Decision Models Introduction How to Build EDMs Key Concepts in This Chapter Summary Exercises Further Reading Chapter 17: KWIC Analysis and Word Counts Introduction KWIC—Key Word in Context An Example of KWIC Word Counts Words and Matrices Personal Ads Describing Children Word Counts Are Only a Start Key Concepts in This Chapter Summary Exercises Further Reading Chapter 18: Cultural Domain Analysis Introduction What Are Cultural Domains? Free Lists Plotting Free Lists Analyzing Free List Data Pile Sorts Analyzing Pile Sort Data: MDS Folk Taxonomies How to Make a Taxonomy: Lists and Frames And Finally... Key Concepts in This Chapter Summary Exercises Further Reading Chapter 19: Semantic Network Analysis Introduction Converting Texts Into Similarity Matrices Jang and Barnett’s Study of CEO Letters Nolan and Ryan’s Study of Horror Films Some Cautions About All This Semantic Network Analysis of Themes And Finally... Key Concepts in This Chapter Summary Exercises Further Reading Appendix

About the Author :
H. Russell Bernard is director of the Institute for Social Science Research at Arizona State University and Professor Emeritus of Anthropology of the University of Florida. He is a cultural anthropologist specializing in technology and social change, language revitalization, and social network analysis. Bernard has done research or taught at universities in the United States, Mexico, Greece, Japan, and Germany. He is a former editor of Human Organization and the American Anthropologist and is the founder and editor of the journal Field Methods. Bernard’s books include Research Methods in Anthropology and Social Research Methods (both with Amber Wutich); Analyzing Qualitative Data (with Gery Ryan and Amber Wutich); and Native Ethnography (with Jesús Salinas Pedraza). Bernard was the 2003 recipient of the Franz Boas Award and the 2024 recipient of the Conrad Arensberg Award from the American Anthropological Association and is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.   Amber Wutich is a Regents & President’s Professor of Anthropology at Arizona State University, a MacArthur Fellow, and Director of ASU’s Center for Global Health. An ethnographer and methodologist, Wutich has authored 200+ papers, co-edits the journal Field Methods, and directs the NSF Cultural Anthropology Methods Program. Her two decades of community-based fieldwork explores how people respond, individually and collectively, to extremely water-scarce conditions. An expert on water insecurity, Wutich directs the Global Ethnohydrology Study, a cross-cultural study of water knowledge and management in 20+ countries. She leads Arizona Water for All, a participatory study that develops collaborative water solutions with water-insecure U.S. communities. Wutich’s books include The Human Story: An Introduction to Anthropology (with Alexandra Brewis, Kelly Knudson, Christopher Stojanowski, and Cindi SturtzSreetharan), Lazy, Crazy, Disgusting: Stigma and the Undoing of Global Health (with Alexandra Brewis), Research Methods in Anthropology and Social Research Methods (both with H. Russell Bernard); and Analyzing Qualitative Data (with H. Russell Bernard and Gery Ryan). 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.