In this edition we extend very considerably the material on qualitative and quantitative data analysis. This has led to a much-revised organization of this part, which starts with qualitative data analysis and then moves to quantitative data analysis. In qualitative data analysis we take readers from first principles to content analysis and grounded theory, making the point that texts – data – are multilayered and open to a variety of interpretations. We indicate in practical terms how researchers can analyse and present qualitative data, including an introduction to the foundational principles of such approaches. The material on qualitative data analysis in this edition gives much greater coverage to qualitative data analysis which is not conducted through coding and grounded theory, including conversational analysis and new material on narrative analysis, discourse analysis and autobiographies. We provide new and extensive, worked examples of each of these, indicating how to approach and conduct analyses of different kinds of textual material, and the need for reflexive authorship of the analyses provided. We include an entirely new chapter on analysing visual data, including artefacts, moving images and photographs, and we introduce several different methods for analysing them, including an extended worked example of the analysis of photographic material.
In quantitative data we assume that researchers will not only have no experience of statistics but may even be frightened off by them! Hence we take readers by the hand from very first principles to more complex statistical processes. We take care to explain the foundations, principles and concepts underlying the statistical procedures, and we deliberately avoid introducing formulae and numbers, except where they are helpful. We have reorganized these chapters on quantitative data analysis. We start with some introductory issues in numerical analysis, including new material on distributions and curves of distribution. We then introduce descriptive statistics and reliability testing. Following this we introduce several inferential statistics at elementary levels, including difference tests and regression (Chapter 36), and then higher levels of inferential statistics, such as factor analysis, together with new introductory material on structural equation modelling and multilevel modelling (Chapter 37). Given the number of statistics available to researchers, the final chapter organizes these carefully and clearly using charts and tables, so that researchers can see how to select appropriate statistics for their purposes and to fit the kinds of data collected. In these chapters we give precise instructions and commands for using SPSS in quantitative data analysis, and the accompanying website includes an easy-to-use manual to introduce novice researchers to SPSS.
These chapters are accompanied by extensive materials on the companion website. For both the qualitative and quantitative data analysis we provide practical advice – including sample phrases and choice of words – on how to report results and findings.