“to ‘analyse’ is to examine something in detail in order to discover its meaning […] to break something down into components or essential features”
(Gray and Malins 2004, p.123)
For our third and final workshop we looked at data analysis
The visualisation of the analytic filtering of data (below) was useful to me in understanding how to refine my primary research (focus group) and secondary research (reading) into an ‘explanatory narrative’ (Kara 2015, p.112).
Data (or research) poetry
I was initially quite skeptical of the activity to create data poetry, however I actually found the exercise interesting and enjoyed the process of refining down key themes from the data to ‘pleasing’ words or quotes and then arranging these in a creative way. My group’s interpretation of this task (image below) was quite direct, using quotes in the order they appeared to tell the narrative of the data in a straightforward way.
However even with this simple approach I was amazed by how these lines really captured the whole narrative of the data in a clear way. I reflected that this seems like a creative way to distill the information into something that is immediately accessible for a research audience (Ndlovu, 2018). I am now quite keen to use this method on my data (this would be my focus group transcript), and would be interested in trying a more experimental approach.
Thematic coding
The other activity in this workshop which I found helpful was on thematic analysis – especially as I knew I would be using this method in my research. We used a couple of basic steps to do some quick analysis of a transcript – familiarising ourselves with the data and identifying themes (repetitions, metaphors, transitions, similarities and
differences, missing/excluded data, anomalies etc.). My group came up with the themes seen in the image below.
I found this a useful exercise as a first introduction to this research method, as it helped to demystify the process for me. It was also a useful insight into what can be achieved with quick analysis. Although we didn’t get to the stage of analysing the themes and developing theories about the data, to some extent the identification and interpretation of the themes themselves began to tell the narrative of the data.
Both of these data analysis activities have helped me to feel more aware of what the analysis process involves, and provided a potential new method for me to use with my data.
References
Gray, C. and Malins, J. (2004) ‘Interpreting the map: methods of evaluation and analysis’, Visualizing Research: A guide to the research process in art and design. Farnham: Ashgate.
Kara, H. (2015) ‘Analysing data’ in Creative Research Methods in the Social Sciences: A practical guide. Bristol: Policy Press.
Lahman, M., Richard, V. and Teman, E. (2018) ‘ish: How to Write Poemish
(Research) Poetry’, Qualitative Inquiry 00:0, pp. 1-13.
Ndlovu, D. (2018) How poetry can represent research. Available at: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/blog/how-poetry-can-represent-research/ (accessed 27 December 2021)