ANALYSIS OF QUALITATIVE DATAidea or to add factual information. For example, to
detailed notes on interviews you can add the date and
length of the interview, the gender of interviewee,
the location of the interview, and so on. You can then
sort and organize each interview or part of the inter-
view notes using a combination of keywords and
added information.
In addition, some programs have hypertextcapa-
bility linking terms to other information, so when you
click on one term it opens a new screen that has
related information. You can identify keywords or
topics and then link them to text. For example, in a
field research study, you want to examine the person
Susan and the topic of hair (including haircuts, hair-
styles, hair coloring, and hats or hair coverings). You
can use hypertext to connect all places that Susan’s
name appears to all discussions of hair. By clicking
on Susan’s name, one block of text quickly jumps to
another in the notes, allowing you to see where Susan
and the hair topic appear together.
Some text-based manager software creates
cross-tabulation or scatterplot cross-classifications
from information in text documents. For example,
students keep journals on a course. They write their
feelings about each day using one of four categories
(boring, stimulating, challenging, or creative).
The students also describe the major activities of
each day (e.g., group work, discussion, videotape
viewing, lecture, or demonstration). You can cross-
classify student feelings by activity. By adding other
information (e.g., male or female, academic major),
you can learn whether students with different char-
acteristics felt differently about the activities and
see whether the feelings changed with the topic
being presented in class.
Code-and-Retrieve Programs.We often assign
codes or abstract terms to qualitative data (i.e., text
field notes, interview records, and video or audio-
tape transcripts). Code-and-retrieve programs let
us attach codes to lines, sentences, paragraphs,
and blocks of text. The programs permit the use of
multiple codes for the same data. In addition to
attaching codes, most programs also help to orga-
nize the codes. For example, a program can help
create outlines or “trees” of connections (e.g.,
trunks, branches, and twigs) among the codes, and
among the data to which the codes refer. The pro-
gram rearranges the text data based on the codes
used and the relations among the indicated codes.Code-Based Theory Builders.Researchers using
qualitative research are often interested in the eval-
uation and generation of theory. To do this, code-
based theory builders require first assigning codes
to the data. The programs provide ways for manip-
ulating or drawing contrasts and comparisons among
the codes. The relationships among the codes then
become the basis for testing or generating a theory.
The types of relations created among the codes may
vary by program. A program may permit “if-then”
logical relations. For example, Corsaro and Heise
(1990) described how they coded field research data
on young children into separate events. They then
examined the logical sequence and relations among
the events to search for principles or a “grammar” of
implicit rules. They looked for rules that guided the
sequencing, combination, or disconnection among
events. The computer software ETHNO asks for log-
ical connections among the events (e.g., time order,
necessary precondition, co-occurrence) and then
shows the pattern among events.
In contrast to other qualitative programs, code-
based theory builders have a powerful ability to
manipulate codes to reveal patterns or show rela-
tions in data that are not immediately evident. It
becomes easier for researchers to compare and clas-
sify categories of data.
Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA)is
an analytic strategy and type of software that
uses Boolean logic or algebra.^32 Charles Ragin
created QCA in 1987. An entire system of logical,
mathematic-like relations has become the basis for
computer software and digital electronics. It includes
set theory, binary relations, logic gates, Venn dia-
grams, and truth tables. The logic’s principle lets you
organize concepts into sets. For example, when you
search a computer database, you often include a key-
word and Boolean operators or, and,and not.Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) Qualitative
data analysis and computer software based on Boolean
logic that examines combinations of explanatory fac-
tors and various outcome measures to help a researcher
identify complex, contingent causal relations.