Data Analysis

After data is collected, researchers commonly interpret their data in one of two ways: holistically or through coding. In holistic analysis, the text and its significance are considered as a whole. Selective reading searches for statements or phrases revealing the essence of the phenomenon under study. Every single sentence is examined in the detailed reading approach, and the question asked, "What does this sentence or sentence cluster reveal about the phenomenon or experience being described?" (Van Manen, 1990, p. 93).

In order to look for patterns among the data and to look for patterns that give meaning to the case study, Yin (1989) suggests two general strategies for the organization and presentation of data: relying on theoretical propositions and developing case description. For the purposes of this study, I relied upon the theoretical orientation to guide the case study analysis. The dominant mode of analysis is that of the Time-Series Analysis, specifically, Chronologies (Yin, 1989, p. 118). The arraying of events into a chronology permits the investigator to determine causal events over time because the basic sequence of a cause and its effect cannot be temporally inverted. However, unlike the more general-times series approaches, the chronology is likely to cover many different types of variables and not be limited to a single independent or dependent variable. The analytical goal is to compare the chronology with that predicted by some explanatory theory (p. 119).

The primary data source (electronic transcript) was coded through analysis and reduction using Husserl's (1962) concept of bracketing (Denzin, 1989). Bracketing involves the following steps:

1. finding key phrases and statements of the phenomenon,
2. interpreting meaning,
3. obtaining correlative interpretations of these if possible,
4. inspecting meanings and find the essence, and
5. offering tentative statement or definition in terms of essential recurring features. (Van Manen, 1990, p. 93)

In order to code my data, I used the software program, Martin. The software is designed to make the process of reading texts, extracting and organizing significant passages, and developing commentary related to them as efficient and as flexible as possible.

Subsections of Chapter III in Order of Apperance
[Research Design] [Data Analysis] [Embedded Units] [Limitations of Study]
[Researcher Bias] [Interpretive Method] [Case Selection]
[Methological Assumptions]

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Last Updated 10/20/01

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