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Part 2 of the Research Proposal: Due May 26

Include all elements from Part 1, including any revisions you wish to make that will help with Part 2.
Sampling and data collection plan (300-500 words)

Sampling: What kind of site/whom you plan to study (and how many people will be involved)
Data collection plan: Your plans for interviews and observations. Document review is optional. Consider the research approach you proposed and what kind of data collection is needed for that approach.

** Note that you must include an observational component even if you choose a research approach such as narrative that may not typically have observations. Imagine what you could observe.

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Part 2 of the Research Proposal: Due May 26

(3) Interview protocol (guide) and observation plan/protocol.

10 interview questions for interviewees who would participate in the study. (The 10 questions can include introductory questions and ending questions such as “how long have you been a teacher?” and “Is there anything else I should know”?)
Describe what you could observe in a setting and, if you wish, develop an observation protocol. (200-300 words)
Optional: If your plan includes reviewing documents/artifacts, please explain what you will be gathering and looking for.

(4) Positionality statement - Reflect on your own identity, experiences, and beliefs in relation to the topic. (300-400 words)

*** Word counts are approximate.

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Qualitative Data Analysis�

Qualitative Data Analysis

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Qualitative data analysis: An iterative process

Data collection and analysis should be a simultaneous process in qualitative research.
Analysis becomes more intensive as the study progresses and once all the data have been collected.
By the time you are ready to analyze and write up your findings, you should have a set of tentative categories or themes and be organizing and refining rather than beginning data analysis.

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Analyzing data during data collection

Listen to and transcribe interviews as you go
Review field notes. Write observer’s comments and memos about your insights on the data.
Try out ideas and themes on participants.
Continue exploring the literature (previously published studies) while gathering data.
Play with metaphors, analogies, and concepts.
Use visual devices - draw diagrams, tables, etc.

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Managing your data

Devise an organizing scheme early in the study.
Keep a backup of your entire data set, along with your organizing scheme.
Store data in a secure, password-protected location.

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Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis

You can use specialized software for:

data preparation
data organization
data coding and analysis

Benefits:

saves times
allows for closer examination of the data
enables visual modeling

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Analyzing qualitative data

Coding is the primary means by which qualitative data are analyzed.

This is used in most forms of qualitative research, with the exception of narrative and case study in which data may also be looked at more holistically.

�Coding involves assigning meaning to or categorizing sequences of text (or video)

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Why do we code?

To analyze data in the form of interview transcripts, field notes, and documents.
To understand what the data is telling us.
To address research question(s) and topics of interest in a study
To uncover patterns in the data

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Purpose and process of coding

When you start to code, imagine you are having a conversation with the data – asking questions of it, identifying segments of data that seem useful to the issues under study, writing comments about what you’re reading, etc.

The goal is to make sense of the data

This involves “consolidating, reducing, and interpreting what people have said and what the researcher has seen and read – it is the process of making meaning” (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016, p. 202).

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Pre-coding

Get to know your data – read and re-read.

Highlight important information– bits of text that seem key in relationship to your question(s)

Make notes in the margins

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What are codes?

Codes are representations designed to assign meaning to text

Codes translate respondent’s words to conceptual text

Codes are short phrases -- smallest bits of information about something that can stand by itself.

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What is first cycle coding?

Open coding - open to anything at this point but usually in relationship to your research question(s).
This is the stage when you uncertain about what is important.

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Kinds of coding (Saldana, 2020)

In Vivo - using participant language to tune you into their perspectives and worldviews.

Example: “the work is killing me”

Descriptive coding - summarizes in a word or short phase the topic of the transcription segment

Example: behavior management

Topic coding - coding to describe a topic (this is the most common kind of coding)

Example: role of principal

Structural coding – coding that applies a conceptual phrase representing area of inquiry

Example: student centered learning

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Kinds of Coding (Saldana, 2012)

Attribute coding – background demographics (gender, ethnicity); description of a setting
Hypothesis coding - coding for your hypothesis or what is emerging from the data.

Example: Student–centered learning is personalized

Emotion/values coding – labels the emotions or values that the coded text shows

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Parent codes and child codes

Parent codes represent a particular category. Child codes are subcategories of the parent code.

For example, a parent code could be “Emotions of teaching” and the child codes would be the different emotions such as “joy”, ‘inspiration,” “frustration,” etc.

Emotions

Joy

Inspiration

Frustration

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Imagine codes that could come up in your study

Discuss with a partner

Add codes to the Padlet

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Second Cycle Coding (Analytic Coding)

Re-analyze data coded in first cycle
Codes are deleted, added, and/or refined
Analyze relationships between codes and between categories (axial coding)
Develop emerging themes

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Moving from codes to themes (categories)

Identify the main themes/insights/“answers” to your research questions
Test: Do the individual data bits support those themes/insights/answers?
Combine the codes into fewer, more comprehensive categories

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Code definitions

As you develop a list of codes, define them! This is called a code book.

Example:

Code – family role in college going

Definition: Any family members taking action that addresses college going versus non-family or just parents

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Example

RQ: How was access to designated ELD for newcomers and LTELs at the secondary level enabled or obstructed through course placement policy implementation?

Analytical process to generate assertions:

First-cycle coding, used “big bin” codes focused on identifying patterns for describing programs and processes in each district (#1)
Used a conceptual framework to facilitate clustering and to partition themes/variables (#3, #7, #13)
Noted relations between themes/variables (#10)

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Student description

Course description

Population size

Language diversity

Student behaviors or needs

In-school supports

Afterschool supports

Systems-level supports

Leadership

Teacher capacity

Compliance/monitoring

Organizational constraints

Staffing

Data systems

EL demographics

Autonomy/oversight

Beliefs about students

Beliefs about ELD

Goals for ELs

Structure

Culture

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Qualitative coding software examples

Dedoose
MAXQDA
ATLAS.ti
Nvivo
Others

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Demo: Using Dedoose to code data��Also see: MAXQDA tutorial

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Dedoose Analysis Tools

View code excerpts: Generate a report of all coded segments for a given code

Code counts: How many segments of text are coded within a single code (e.g., “leadership” code occurred 160 times, whereas “student behaviors” occurred 432 times)

Code co-occurrence: Which codes tend to overlap (e.g., “course placement” and “assessment”)

Code by descriptor: Visualizations of codes by district

And many more….

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Sample code frequency chart

Source: Lockton, Weddle, & Datnow, 2019

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Intercoder agreement

Used to ensure that members of a team are consistent in their coding
Can be computer assisted

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Intercoder agreement

Code specific results table

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Looking ahead

Class on May 22

Topic: Practicing coding

No new reading if you have finished Chapter 8