6 1 1 Procedures Recording Qualitative Data

PROCEDURES FOR RECORDING QUALITATIVE DATA

Procedures for recording qualitative data on paper include:

Procedures to record answers verbat!

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Procedures to ca"ture co!"#ete descr"ton o$ conte%t and actvtes

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Transcriptions Observer’s notes aided by recorded tapes Stand-alone observer’s notes Field notes

RECORDING ANS&ERS Transcr"tons Transcribed notes represent the literal copying of what is said and recorded onto paper. deally! one would do the transcriptions right after an interview session. They are reco""ended when:   

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D$$erent se'!ents of the population #se$! age! ethnic group% are co"pared Financial and hu"an resources are ava#ab#e to do so Transcriptions can be "roduced n a reasonab#e a!ount o$ t!e #it ta&es about si$ hours for a one- to two-hour interview% 'ater re(ana#)ss s e%"ected

Ta"e Ta "e recordn's o$ ntervews*ta"es and observer+s notes n this procedure! the observer listens to the tape to clarify specific issues or to confir" that all "ain points are included in the notes and then transcribes the". t is i"portant to transcribe the recordings i""ediately following the interview.  

This "ethod is reco""ended when: results "ust be produced in a s,ort a!ount o$ t!e The purpose of the study is to get ra"d $eedbac- $ro! a s"ec$c se'!ent o$ t,e "o"u#aton  to "a&e progra""atic decisions.

Stand(a#one observer+s notes on#) The observer needs to e$pand and clarify the notes fro" "e"ory i""ediately following the interview session. This "ethod is reco""ended when:   

Ti"e is short and results are needed fast The research question is si"ple The data is not li&ely to be re-analysed

Procedures for recording qualitative data - Page ()*

Advanta'es and dsadvanta'es o$ d$$erent !et,ods

Transcr"tons

Ta"es and observer+s notes

Partc"ants n ana#)ss

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Resources

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Ava#ab#t) o$ data $or reana#)ss

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,ata is available for later re-analysis or to corroborate findings

T!e

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Re#ab#t)

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"ount of ti"e required to produce co"plete transcriptions "proves reliability

T)"e o$ nvest'aton

,ifferent people can participate in the analysis Financial and hu"an resources are needed

 llows to co"pare different seg"ent of population

Prvac) concerns

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Use o$ ana#)ss so$tware

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+- ,ata is available for later  re-analysis but storage on tape can delay access + esults can be produced in a short a"ount of ti"e + eliability can be chec&ed recurring to tapes.

To get rapid feedbac& fro" a specific sector of population n so"e case it is not possible to record an interview through audio and video #i.e. when privacy and security are a concern% /an be e"ployed

Ensure t,at a## re#evant data are ca"tured

Stand a#one notes

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The researcher who conducted the data gathering is pivotal equire very li"ited hu"an and financial resources To be used when data are not li&ely to be reanalysed

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To be used when ti"e is short and results are needed fast - eliability strongly dependent on note ta&ing s&ills of researchers and her)his interpretations To be used when the research question is si"ple

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Software cannot be e"ployed without transcriptions

Field notes should always acco"pany the verbati".

RECORDING T.E CONTE/T FIELD NOTES  s&ing the right questions and recording the answers given verbati" will not always ensure that the "ost relevant data are captured. t is i"portant to co"ple"ent the" with field notes. For field notes to be useful! they should be: 

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Pro!"t#) "roduced  n evaluator conducting interviews and observations should write up full field notes i""ediately or at least within (* hours. Co!"re,ensve nclude a co"plete description of conte$t and activities: people! events! what is heard! conversations! and physical settings. nclude photos and audio-visual "aterial when appropriate. /learly label and classify such "aterial #e.g. ti"e and place a photo was shot%. C#ear 0e careful to distinguish verbati" accounts fro" those paraphrased or based on recall. 1valuators who 2process2 data into categories while writing field notes can "a&e subsequent analysis difficult. The words of the interviewee in all their detail are lost in this approach. Precse#) arc,ved 3a&e the" readable and in chronological order along with the rest of the raw data. They can then be analysed for data categorisation and classification. SO4/1 Procedures for recording qualitative data - Page *)*