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qualitative data analysis in nvivo

types of qualitative data analysis (qda)

grounded theory

  • aimed at developing theories and hypothesis from qualitative data
  • it is inductive rather than deductive as it develops theories from data

content analysis

  • it is used for examining and quantifying certain words, subjects, and concepts in text, image, video, or audio messages
  • can be used to transform qualitative data into quantitative data to generate new meaning

thematic analysis

  • a method of identifying, analyzing, and reporting patterns (themes) within data (braun & clarke, 2021)
  • most used type of qda approach o defined and easy to follow steps and approach to analyzing qualitative data

other types of qda include discourse analysis and narrative analysis.

choosing a qda type

the qda type/approach you would choose depends on:

  • research field of study (e.g., social sciences, humanities etc.)
  • methods used in research (e.g., focus groups, interviews, open ended questions etc.)
  • end goal of the research (e.g., themes, theories, narrative discourse)