Steps in Qualitative Data Analysis

Step 1

• Transcribe all the data

Step 2

• Organize all the data

Step 3

• Give codes to your first set of field notes drawn from observations, interviews, or document reviews

Step 4

• Note personal reflections or other comments in the margin

Step 5

• Sort and sift through the materials to identify similar phrases, relationships between variables, patterns, themes, distinct differences between subgroups, and common sequences

Step 6

• Identify these patterns and processes, commonalities, and differences and take them out to the field in the next wave of data collection

Step 7

• Begin elaborating a small set of generalizations that cover the consistencies discerned in the database

Step 8

• Examine those generalizations in light of a formalized body of knowledge in the form of constructs or theories