Data analysis

In qualitative studies, data analysis coincides with data collection (Maxwell, 1998). Analysing qualitative data has been defined as “making sense of data in terms of the participants’ definitions of the situation, noting patterns, themes,

93) described data analysis in ethnographic research thus: “It begins at the moment a fieldworker selects a problem to study and ends with the last word in the report or ethnography”. The main aim of analysing ethnographic data is to gain a deep understanding of the studied phenomenon using descriptive, interpretive or explanatory words (DeWalt and DeWalt, 2010).

Existing literature (Cohen et al., 2011; Creswell, 2012) suggests that there are three main stages for analysing qualitative data; these are data reduction, data display, and data interpretation. The following section discusses these three stages.

1. Data reduction: In this stage, researchers aim to limit their focus on

particular questions and events by coding through preliminary analysis. Researchers argue that this stage begins before starting data collection, as the theoretical framework helps the researcher narrow the scope of the research. This stage is also an ongoing process as the researcher refines the focus of the study throughout the research process. The following section discusses two main steps for data reduction.

▪ Managing data: decisions on managing and organising the collected data need to be taken before starting the data collection. Transferring data from different sources (field notes, interviews, visual data) to electronic copy makes the data more flexible for subsequent organisation. Heath and Street (2008) argued that qualitative data software is an effective tool in organising, retrieving and comparing the data. In this study, all data including handwritten field notes, visual data, and audio-taped interviews were transcribed periodically into electronic files and were categorised in folders based on the data source.

▪ Coding data: in this step, researchers break data down into a number of categories to identify themes that may be generated by the data. Indeed, the research questions and theoretical framework guide the coding and categorising of the data, and codes emerge inductively during the study. In this study, descriptive coding (topic coding) was applied, where data were coded according to the topic reflected by each unit of data. Wolcott (2014) argued that descriptive coding leads to thematic analysis and it is appropriate for all qualitative research including the ethnographic approach. In the current work, coding emerged from the collected data (inductive approach) rather than from linking the data to a predetermined coding system (deductive approach).

As long as the research progress data were accumulated from multiple sources, there was a need to use one of the Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS) packages. I selected ATLAS.ti Student License (Mac OS X). After transferring all the collected data into electronic form, all data were imported into ATLAS.ti in order to start their analysis. Indeed, although this software did not actually analyse the data compared to the ones being used in quantitative studies, it helped me in

• organising the data from different sources,

• searching and retrieval of texts,

• coding the data,

• categorising the codes into themes, and

The following figures show examples of coding data from different sources using ATLAS.ti software. Figure 4.2 shows how data from field notes were coded. Figures 4.3 and 4.4 show examples of linking codes directly to the visual data (photos and videos).

Figure 4.3 Coding visual data (photos) using ATLAST.ti

Figure 4.4 Coding visual data (video) using ATLAS.ti

2. Data display: qualitative data can be displayed in several effective

ways, such as direct excerpts from field notes, vignettes, tables and matrices. In this study, data were displayed through employing direct excerpts from field notes and the transcripts of interviews and mind maps. In addition, visual data such as photographs from the

3. Interpretation and conclusion: interpreting the research findings means

ascribing explanations to these findings from the researcher’s perspective. At this stage, researchers also review the relevant literature to link their findings with those of previous studies. Some scholars suggested that in this stage researchers need to balance between describing the findings and their own interpretation of these findings (Creswell, 2012).

In this study, data analysis was done in a non-linear style; that is the data analysis was undertaken through reflective cycles that were guided by the research questions. These cycles were familiarising and immersing myself in the data, generating initial codes, looking for patterns/themes, refining themes through defining and comparing themes, interpreting the findings by relating them to research questions and the relevant literature, and then immersing myself again in the data.

Since ethnographic data are unstructured, and in order to understand the meanings underlying the collected data, analysis was carried out using thematic analysis and the multi-layering method. Bloome and Theodorou (1988) used the multi-layering method to understand the lessons and the interactions that occur in the classroom which are viewed as social events that consist of multiple layers. The multi-layering method was employed by a number of researchers in the area of literacy learning (Cochran-Smith, 1984; Gregory, 1993; Volk and de Acosta, 2001; Robertson, 2005).

Since this study sits within the socio-cultural perspectives of early literacy, analysing the data through multiple layers helped me construct a comprehensive picture of the topic under study. In other words, the multi-

layering approach facilitated the investigation of early literacy as a social practice that itself is embedded within layers of socio-cultural contexts.

Determining the unit of analysis is a crucial step towards analysing qualitative data. Since the focal point of this study is Arabic early literacy development, the concept of “early literacy practices” was used as a unit of analysis. In this study, the concept “literacy practices” means the literacy activities that occur in the classroom and the home context and which are embedded within the socio- cultural contexts. These literacy practices were analysed in order to uncover

(a) curriculum-based literacy practices that took place in the preschool context,

(b) teachers’ literacy practices in the classroom context,

(c) children’s early literacy development within the preschool context, and

(d) early literacy practices within the context of children’s homes.

In the current study, the unit of analysis – early literacy practices – was analysed in three key layers:

1. The outer layer that highlights the broad socio-cultural context including the institutional context and the home context.

2. The middle layer that includes early literacy practices in the classroom context.

3. The inner layer that addresses children’s early literacy development.

These layers have been put in this order for a number of reasons. Firstly, I have placed the institutional and the home contexts in the outer layer to represent the

occur in the other layers. Although the home context has a direct and essential impact on children’s development, I have placed the home context within the outer layer as this work is a classroom-based research and the home context was only investigated through mothers’ interviews and children’s mind maps.

Secondly, the middle layer discusses early literacy practices in the classroom context. Indeed, this layer represents the main bulk of the collected data since this study took place in a preschool setting where I immersed myself with the research participants for an extended period of time. Moreover, the middle layer is a core layer in this analysis since it reflects the implementation of early literacy practices that were derived from the Creative Curriculum.

Thirdly, I have placed children’s early literacy development in the inner layer as it represents the main focus of the current research, showing how this layer is influenced by the broader contexts. In view of this, employing the multi- layering approach in the data analysis helps to provide in-depth ethnographic analysis and cultural interpretation of the studied phenomenon.

4.3.4.1 Issues of transcription and translation

Transcribing data has long been considered the initial phase of data analysis (Cochran-Smith, 1984; Wahyuni, 2012). In other words, in order to make the data ready for analysis, some sort of raw data, such as interviews, need to be prepared by transcribing their content into written form (Rubin and Rubin, 2012). Transcriptions are viewed as the researcher’s data and the way the transcriptions are prepared impact the interpretation of the research outcomes. Moreover, Ochs (1979) cautioned that researchers need to be selective when transcribing and adhere to the research objectives.

In this study, transcriptions were prepared for all interviews, mind-map sessions and some video recordings. The transcribing stage took a long time and intensive effort. It should be pointed out that the work of Ochs (1979) helped me during the transcribing process. Before starting the process of transcribing, I went through the data in order to decide what were to be included in and excluded from the transcription and its layout. After that, all transcripts followed the same style.

Translating was one of the significant issues in this study since the language of my participants and the context of the research (Arabic) is different to the language of this thesis (English). In addition, it is worth noting that these linguistic differences are linked to cultural differences as the readers of this work are likely to come from a range of cultures that differ from that of the research participants. Hence, readers are advised to bear in mind the context of this study. All these factors point to the need to discuss the issue of translating in this chapter.

In this work, the main bulk of the data was written in Arabic, my native language and that of my participants. However, data related to the English teacher’s interviews and transcriptions for videotaped English literacy events were written in English. In this study, the field notes were written in Standard Arabic including parts of vernacular Arabic that reflect the actual words of the participants. On the other hand, interviews and mind-map sessions were conducted by using a mix of the two forms of Arabic. Therefore, all transcriptions were done in Arabic using the actual words used in the interview.

In order to discuss the collected data with my supervisors, part of the data such as interviews and mind-map transcriptions were translated into English. Despite believing that having the script in both languages in one document would be helpful for both Arabic and English readers, it was a difficult task due to different features of both languages, such as directionality. Nevertheless, each line of the text has the same number in both transcripts, Arabic and English (Figure 4.5). In the process of data analysis, data were analysed in the original language (Arabic). However, examples of the data were translated for use in the thesis. Here, it is noteworthy that a key concern during the translation process was maintaining the same meaning so the data would not lose their original flavour.

Figure 4.5 Example of an interview transcript in Arabic and English.