Analyzing Qualitative Data

Margaret D. LeCompte is professor of education at the University of Colorado-Boulder. P ADMINISTRATORS AND TEACHERS collect all kinds of qualitative data—interviews, observations, documents. In order for such data to be useful in improving programs, solving problems, or explaining what happened, data must be turned into results. Transforming data into research results is called analysis. Big piles of data are transformed into succinct statements that describe, explain, or predict something about what the researc he has studied (LeCompte & Schensul, 1999). Analysis is a bit like taking apart puzzles and reassembling them (LeCompte & Preissle, with Tesch, 1993). However, puzzles cannot be completed if pieces are missing, warped, or broken. Similarly, if pieces of data are incomplete or biased, research results cannot provide a complete picture of a program or a good solution to problems. A first step in analysis, then, is identifying sources of bias.