Data analysis in qualitative research has been likened to “a mysterious metamorphosis [in which] the investigator retreated with data, applied his or her analytic powers, and emerged butterfly-like with ‘findings’” (Merriam, 1998, p. 156). Analysis is a creative process that organises the data, breaks it into manageable pieces, synthesises it to find patterns from which theories and new understandings can develop (Bogdan & Biklen, 1998). It is a sense-making process that moves from simply describing data, to categorising it, to finally interpreting or theorising it. This three dimensional process is seen as moving up “from the empirical trenches to a more conceptual overview of the landscape” (Miles & Huberman, 1994, p. 261). As such, data analysis is a complex, intuitive, holistic and time-consuming process that involves moving back and forth between concrete bits of data and larger abstract concepts (Glesne & Peshkin, 1999). Bogdan and Biklen (1998) identified two modes of data analysis: analysis in the field and analysis after the data are generated. Analysis of the raw data generated in this CAR was a daunting and time-consuming exercise; coding, memoing and writing being useful tools in this task.
Coding is the heart of analysis where judgements are made about the meanings of chunks of text, and labels are attached to isolate the most striking aspects of the data. As such, coding is a sorting tool to interrogate the meanings held within larger
categories of meaning emerging from the data (Graue & Walsh, 1998). While coding is a process of data reduction (Neuman & Kreuger, 2003), in the present study, multiple codings against one chunk of text served to enlarge the data set. However, revisiting the same text chunks under different codes enabled new connections or distinctions to be seen and to separate them into deeper layers of meaning. Memoing is a tool to help make sense of early interpretations made in the coding process. As notes to self, they enable hunches and insights to be documented, as they occur in the coding process: they can trigger new ways of exploring the data. Memoing is a means to play with the data and to speculate about possible conceptual meanings. Writing is another tool to support the immense cognitive task of theorising about the data. In the case of the present research, it was in the process of making tables, charts, chapter overviews and writing numerous drafts of each chapter that the data were theorised and meaningful conclusions reached.
Electronic software packages are another supportive tool in the analysis process. While qualitative software does not analyse data, it does have an immense capacity
to manage large amounts of it. After reviewing advantages and disadvantages of
electronically managing data (Tesch, 1990), I chose to use NVivo (Qualitative Solutions and Research, 2002). As detailed in the following chapter, this software provided a technical tool to manage the analysis process. Coding data electronically helped to find my way into the code mines (Glesne & Peshkin, 1999), break down the complexity, recognise patterns, and quickly retrieve coded items. As such, NVivo provided a user-friendly store, sort and retrieve function. Of greater importance, however, were the conceptual tools derived from sociocultural theory which enabled me to observe participation and to make sense of the transformations therein.
3.6.1 Sociocultural analysis
The writings of Rogoff (1998, 2003) about the cultural nature of development, as discussed in the previous chapter, are drawn upon in the analysis process. Rogoff (1998) argued that people can not “be taken outside of the activity to have their development analyzed” (p. 688); that individual, interpersonal and institutional processes mutually constitute each other and are therefore inseparable. Analyses of
their transformations of participation are thus considered simultaneously by observing activity through three lenses: first from a personal perspective, then from an interpersonal viewpoint and then from an institutional angle. As Rogoff (2003) argued:
The child is fore-grounded, with information about him [or her] as an individual as the focus of analysis. At the same time, interpersonal and cultural-institutional information is available in the background. A general sense of interpersonal and cultural-institutional information is necessary to understand what this child is doing, although it does not need to be attended to in the same detail as the children’s efforts. (p. 56)
According to Rogoff (2003), the personal lens is used to analyse individual development by bringing into focus the teacher’s or child’s participation in learning and teaching activity. While observing individual participation and contributions to group activity, interpersonal and institutional information remains available in the background. An interpersonal lens is used to analyse interaction patterns between and among the children and the teacher. While observing this interaction, personal and institutional information is temporarily blurred in the background. An institutional lens is used to focus upon and analyse the cultural rituals, values and practices of the classroom while personal and interpersonal information is placed in the background. Observing the development of a community of learners through these analytic lenses will ensure rich observations and complex understandings (Fleer & Robbins, 2004).
This sociocultural analysis was used to illustrate how development occurred in the process of participation which was focused through “community, interpersonal and
personal planes of analysis” [italics added] (Rogoff et al., 1995, p. 46). As the Girl
Scouts participated in the culturally organised activity of selling biscuits, transformation of participation was seen in marketing practices where, instead of door-to-door sales, they began to use telephones, facsimiles and computers. This illustrated development though the community plane of analysis. As the girls collaborated with other Scouts, family members and customers using these new marketing tools, they took on new organisational and planning roles. This illustrated development through the interpersonal plane of analysis. Embedded in these interpersonal and community processes were new personal understandings of marketing, new money handling skills, and problem solving abilities, illustrating
development through the personal plane of analysis. The use of these three planes of analysis, later referred to as lenses or foci of analysis (Rogoff, 2003), revealed learning and development as involving mutually constituting personal, interpersonal and community processes. Activity viewed using one lens was not isolated, nor was it primary “except with regard to being the current focus of attention” (Rogoff, 1997, p. 269).
3.6.2 Validity and reliability of the data
While concepts of validity and reliability are challenged by action researchers because their findings are context-specific (Woods, 1996), they remain an inescapable concern for qualitative research. To ensure the findings from action research reflect the evidence (validity), concern is given to principles of fairness, authenticity and reflexivity (Lincoln & Guba, 2000). Fairness focuses on the presentation of a balanced and trustworthy account that represents the concerns of all participants; to omit any voice is a form of bias. Educative authenticity also contributes to balance and fairness by supporting participants to engage in co- constructive processes about the phenomenon under study. Reflexive critique is also important in action research whereby researchers reveal their personal history (Gitlin et al., 1992) and examine their role in the collection and analysis of data.
To ensure an accurate and comprehensive fit between what is recorded as data and what actually occurred in the setting (reliability) focus is given to the dependability of data through respondent validation and triangulation. Respondent validation (Delamont, 1992) concerns returning copies of interview transcripts, comprehensive fieldnotes and early analysis to participants for their response to its accuracy. Triangulation is another means to achieve dependability of data by aiming to get two or more sightings from multiple positions to get a fix on an accurate meaning (Delamont, 1992). Two types of triangulation were used in this study. Triangulation between methods was used by employing multiple methods, and triangulation between researchers was used by collaborating with the teachers.
The term transferability replaces the idea of generalisability, to ensure its usefulness to a reader in other contexts. Because findings in action research can not be generalised to other settings, qualitative researchers carefully detail the setting and
the participants so readers can judge the applicability of its findings to their own contexts (Bogdan & Biklen, 1998). Using multiple classrooms and describing in detail the settings and participants can support the transferability of findings to a broader range of situations.