Dainty, A R J; Bagilhole, B M and Neale, R H (1997) Analytical strategies for dealing with qualitative data in construction management research. In: Stephenson, P (ed.) Proceedings of 13th Annual ARCOM Conference, 15-17 September 1997, Cambridge, UK.
Abstract
There have been many recent calls for greater use of qualitative methods in construction management research, or at least for greater consideration to be given to the use of these methods if appropriate. However, for many researchers, particularly those using methods involving a very thorough, in depth data gathering exercise, and a fairly free-form approach to the collection instrument, this can lead to practical analytical problems through the generation of overwhelming amounts of qualitative data, and potential difficulties of working with a number of complex data sets. Increasingly, qualitative data is becoming far more diverse than simple transcribed information from interviews, and now encompasses a wide range of data from different sources, such as participant and non-participant observation field notes, video recordings and other graphical media. Whilst the combination of such data can greatly enhance qualitative and compliment quantitative studies, making sense of the emerging issues is difficult in terms of remaining organised, rigorous and systematic in the analysis. This paper discusses the problems inherent with qualitative data analysis, and describes the authors' experience of dealing with such data using the most popular computer package currently available to qualitative researchers; NUDIST TM. The research used NUDIST as part of an analytical strategy which combined several distinct data sets, including a substantial amount of semi-structured interview data. The paper concludes by discussing the particular relevance of such packages for construction management researchers, and other issues concerning qualitative data analysis.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | data analysis; qualitative methodology; software |
| Index terms: | strategy, qualitative method, interview, observation, becoming, data analysis, exercise, package, management research, methodology, media |
| Subjects: | health behaviours and lifestyles, research design and methodology, data collection methods, data analysis and analytics, contractual arrangements, research methods, management, philosophical process, sociology |
| Topics: | Research Practice, Business Strategy, Health and Safety, Procurement |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here