AlanBryman: Analyzing Qualitative Data: This collection brings together a range of distinguished contributors who have worked with qualitative data. Among the examples provided is an account of ethnographers, case study workers, lone researchers, team-based investigators, and those who use specialist approaches including discourse analysis. Together they demonstrate that a range of approaches are involved in qualitative data analysis, and suggest different ways in which qualitative data can be handled to overcome problems with these data. The book will be essential reading for undergraduates and postgraduates following research courses and conducting empirical studies, as well as for those coming to qualitative research for the first time.
The last decade has witnessed considerable growth in the development of qualitative
research. Most methodological development has been concerned with data
collection. As a consequence, texts, readers, and monographs remain relatively
silent on the conduct of data analysis, yet this is an area in which most researchers
require some guidance. AlanBryman: Analyzing Qualitative Data: Alan Bryman is a Professor of Social Research in the Department of Social Sciences,
Loughborough University. His main research interests lie in the fields of
organization studies and research methodology. He has a special interest in
leadership in organizations, an area in which he has co-directed a number of funded
research projects. He is the author or co-author of the following books: Leadership
and Organizations (1986), Quantity and Quality in Social Research (1988),
Research Methods and Organization Studies (1989), Quantitative Data Analysis
for Social Scientists (1990), and Charisma and Leadership in Organizations (1992).
He is also the editor of Doing Research in Organizations (1988).
There are now numerous texts and sets of readings attempting to give guidance to
researchers about the styles and strategies that can be used in qualitative research.
While much has been written about the collection of data, the books are often
silent about the processes and procedures associated with data analysis.
Indeed, much mystery surrounds the way in which researchers engage in data
analysis. Accordingly, we invited a range of social scientists who have engaged
in qualitative projects to discuss the approaches that they used. The idea was to
contribute insight and understanding to the process of qualitative data analysis
rather than to produce a guidebook for the intending researcher. Such a task
involves a process of demystification, of making implicit procedures more
explicit. While this may sound straightforward, we have found this far from
simple. In these circumstances, we have given our contributors the opportunity
to present their work in a range of styles which include autobiographical
accounts and more impersonal forms.
This book has been a long time in the making and we are most appreciative of
the support and forbearance we have received from our authors and from Chris
Rojek at Routledge. In the end, we hope that this volume will contribute to
developing literature on qualitative data analysis which will be of interest to
undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as researchers who engage in
qualitative research. If these essays help to demystify qualitative data analysis and
encourage research novices to explore a range of analytic approaches, they will
have achieved a major aim of producing this book.
Finally, we wish to thank Su Powell and Sylvia Moore who have made
numerous contributions to the preparation of this manuscript, for which we are
very grateful. As always, any errors or omissions are our own.