Data Analysis

CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW 27

4.6 Data Analysis

case study or transcription from the interview. With cross-case analysis, answers from different subjects to the same question are grouped together and the different viewpoints on an issue are analysed. (Patton, 1990) Due to the combination of open-ended questions and general topics found in this interview, the answers from different subjects can be grouped together and cross-case analysis carried out even if those answers are not found in the same place in all the interviews.

The questions asked of subjects were all open-ended which allowed the researcher to gather the descriptive data through the responses. This data is needed to gain a new understanding of the topic under discussion.

It

should be noted, however, that there were two slightly different questionnaires - one for the United Kingdom and one for South Africa. The questionnaire was altered slightly for the South African situation so as to include questions relating to both the Employment Equity legislation as well as the issue of diversity because these two issues are having an important effect on organisations at present. The different questionnaires will mean that the South African answers to these two questions will not be included in the comparative analysis between the United Kingdom and South Africa as they have been omitted from the United Kingdom questionnaire.

As Patton (1990: 377) suggests:

"There is typically not a precise point at which data collection ends and analysis begins. "

Within the data collection process, ideas around ways of analysing the data will occur. These are the beginning of the analysis procedure. In the present study, the quality of the data collected was improved after a measure of analysis was done during the process of data collection and possible themes, patterns and ideas were identified which were then explored in future interviews conducted. Researchers need to be careful when involved in this type of approach, however, as initial interpretations may misdirect further data collection.

4.6.3 Organising the Data

The nature of qualitative interviews and qualitative data collection often results in sizable

amounts of data being collected. This can be overwhelming for any researcher trying to make

sense of it.

The first task was to ensure that all the data was in fact there; this means ensuring

that all the short, factual questionnaires had been completed and returned by the subjects and

that all the interviews had been transcribed from the tapes. Where some responses may have

been omitted from the short questionnaires, the subjects were contacted and asked to provide

a response to that question. The data was then organised with transcripts being placed

together with short questionnaire responses providing an overall view of each of the subjects.

4.6.4 Content Analysis

"Content analysis is the process of identifying, coding, and categorising the primary patterns

in the data" (Patton,1990: 381). To do this, researchers need to consider the actual content of the interviews, in other words the words spoken by the

subjec~s

and recorded in the interview transcriptions. Through content analysis, the researcher reads through the collected data (interview transcriptions) and begins to organise the data into topics through labeling or naming the data on the actual transcriptions. It is important that where topics are assigned to sections of data, they are clearly written down and marked so that the researcher can easily refer back to them at any time. Some passages of the transcript may encompass a number of different patterns or themes and each of these themes needs to be identified and recorded. It is important that the researcher does not simply read through the material once but numerous times before declaring that the data has been completely labeled and topics assigned.

Having classified the data, responses from the different subjects can then be organised into the themes and topics that have been identified and then analysed. Even though subjects were not always asked the questions in the same order, the data could still be separated into the different questions and then analysed in tenns of the responses to each question. This process would have to be done in conjunction with the analysis of the themes, patterns and topics, however, as because the interviews were not completely standardised, different topics may have been covered with some subjects, and in more depth, than with others. (Patton, 1990)

The themes and sub-themes identified in the present study were attained through a consideration of the various questions asked during the interview. Some of the questions represent themes on their own, such as the first question (see Appendix B-1 and B-2) which considers the theme of

'

Policy Development Process' . Other themes were detennined from a combination of questions and at times, from a combination of the responses from subjects;

for example - ' Racial and Gender Issues' . These themes were recorded through an in-depth

reading of the interview transcripts and a consideration of the interview questionnaire.

4.6.5 Analysis of Quantitative Data - The short, factual questionnaire

The aim of the short, factual questionnaire was to obtain information about the subject and the organisation they were affiliated to, to provide a background or context in which to place the information gathered through the interview. The responses recorded in these

questionnaires are used in the discussion of results obtained through the qualitative analysis

of the interview transcripts to help the researcher understand the subject's responses in light

of who they are and the type of organisation that they represent and to locate the subject in

relation to other respondents. Due to the routine nature of these questions, it was decided not

to include them in the interview itself but rather to gain responses through a self-administered

questionnaire. The short questionnaire responses will be used to make inferences about the

subject in conjunction with their interview responses.

It

should be acknowledged that all of

the respondents answered all of the questions and none were omitted.