Before beginning this assignment, please view the three short videos that I have included links for. The first video, which runs for about 10 minutes, provides a general description of the process of analyzing qualitative data. There is an ad at the end for a program for analyzing qualitative data called Quirkos. You can ignore the ad, but if youre interested there is the option of getting a free trial, which you could use for the data analysis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peQBZNWM6w8&t=140s
The second video, also about 10 minutes, provides an illustration of coding and creating themes. It uses Word and places the text a table so that codes can be typed next to the text they refer to. This isnt the only way to use Word, although it has the advantage that codes can be copied pretty easily for further analysis. Some other ways of using Word are: using the Comment feature; or using the highlighter, with a different color for each code. The limitation with the highlighter method is that there are only a limited number of colors available to use.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHv3RzKWNcQ
The third video, about 11 minutes, offers an introductory guide to discourse analysis. Discourse analysis is an approach to qualitative data analysis that works differently from grounded theory, which we went over in class, but it is particularly useful for analyzing dialogue. It will work with either a small or a large amount of data, although, naturally, more data allows you to have more confidence that your conclusions are the correct ones. This video is the best short guide to discourse analysis that I was able to find. Unfortunately, the audio quality isnt as good as I would like, and the speakers British accents are a little difficult to make out. Nevertheless, if you can bear with it, it describes the process very well, and from two perspectives, and I think its particularly relevant to the text that were using. It should help you in understanding what to look for and how to go about interpreting what you find.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYKuTHdFMPw
The assignment is: in the dialogue example (attached, above), answer the following questions. In each case, support your argument with examples from the text. It is important that in your analysis, you stay close to the text and use it as your data source, rather than speculating about things that are not present in the text.
- How each person (the counselor and the client) sees him/herself. Give examples from the text to support your argument.
- Each persons orientation toward the institution which they are both part of. Again, give examples from the text. If either, or both, is conflicted in their orientation toward the orientation, describe that, again, with examples.
- Describe the power relationships between the counselor and the client and give examples from the text to support your argument.
- Describe your process in reaching your conclusions. That is, list your first and second-level codes and show how the first-level codes feed into the second level. With first-level codes, its helpful to give examples. You may also want to create a diagram of first and second level codes, as shown in the second video.
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