Evidence-Based Practice for Nurses

and has continued to be developed in various forms. The major categories in
Ethnograph 6.0 include creating and managing data files, coding data files,
the codebook, master list, family tree, and analytic writing. Ethnograph allows
text-based data to be imported directly and was one of the pioneer programs
for management and analysis of qualitative data.

Although software can be helpful, qualitative packages are generally cumber-
some to learn and require a commitment on the part of researchers to master
the software to maximize its usefulness. Data entry and coding are still time
consuming and tedious. The greatest benefit to such software is the ability to
group, compare, and contrast data more efficiently because of easier accessibil-
ity after all data are entered. Software is also helpful when preparing written
reports of the data and selecting quotations or collapsing data for presenta-
tions, although some researchers find that basic word processing software is
sufficient for these purposes.

At the end of this section, you will be able to:

‹ Describe how researchers draw conclusions from the data and verify them

‹ Recognize the common ways data are presented in reports

14.2 Qualitative Data Interpretation

1. Put the following in the correct order:
   a. Pull together evidence into a meaningful report
   b. Code line by line
   c. Transcribe interviews
   d. Group coded data to generate categories, themes, and patterns
   True/False


2. Computer software programs used to analyze qualitative data automatically generate
   themes based on participants’ words.


3. There are many different strategies for coding data.


4. Analysis of data in qualitative research is done simultaneously with data collection.

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE 14-1

How did you do? 1. c, b, d, a; 2. F; 3. T; 4. T

14.2 Qualitative Data Interpretation 385