Data Analysis Methods for Qualitative Research: Managing the Challenges of Coding, Interrater Reliability, and Thematic Analysis

• Published in: Qualitative report Vol. 23; no. 11; pp. 2622 - 2633
• Main Author: Belotto, Michael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Fort Lauderdale Nova Southeastern University, Inc 01-11-2018; The Qualitative Report
• Subjects: Baby boomers; Careers; Census of Population; Coding; Content Validity; Data analysis; Data collection; Data processing; Departments; Dissertations & theses; Emergency medical care; Emergency Medical Technicians; Information sources; Interrater Reliability; Interviews; Job satisfaction; Likert Scales; Literature Reviews; Medical research; Medical Services; Methods; Nursing; Objectivity; Paramedics; Phenomenology; Public health; Qualitative research; Quality Assurance; Quality Control; Research methodology; Researchers; Semi Structured Interviews; Studies; Transcripts (Written Records); Validity; Workforce; United States > US
• ISSN: 1052-0147; 2160-3715
• DOI: 10.46743/2160-3715/2018.3492

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of some of the principles of data analysis used in qualitative research such as coding, interrater reliability, and thematic analysis. I focused on the challenges that I experienced as a first-time qualitative researcher during the course of my dissertation, in the hope that how I addressed those difficulties will better prepare other investigators planning endeavors into this area of research. One of the first challenges I encountered was the dearth of information regarding the details of qualitative data analysis. While my text books explained the general philosophies of the interpretive tradition and its theoretical groundings, I found few published studies where authors actually explained the details pertaining to exactly how they arrived at their findings. Some authors even confirmed my own experience that few published studies described processes such as coding and methods to evaluate interrater reliability. Herein, I share the sources of information that I did find and the methods that I used to address these challenges. I also discuss issues of trustworthiness and how matters of objectivity and reliability can be addressed within the naturalistic paradigm.