TEXT ANALYSIS
Qualitative data collection frequently produces texts. These may be field notes, transcripts of interviews or focus groups, archival texts, or various other kinds. In the past, for analysis of these texts, researchers had been limited to perusal of the text and simply deciding what it meant. Or, at its most complex, the analysis might involve transcribing onto notecards passages of texts deemed pertinent to a given topic. The note cards could then be filed in separate card files, each for a different topic or theme.
These primitive methods have given way to a flock of new methods for more rigorously examining texts, counting words, and deducing the themes they contain. They involve the use of computer programs. Like the computer/software industry in general, this application for computers is changing very quickly. So it would be difficult to give an up-to-date account of the computer programs currently available for text analysis. The best comprehensive text on this subject currently available is Weitzman and Miles (1995).
Progress has been made on many fronts. One of the supposedly most damning complaints about qualitative methods has been communicated by the refrain:
How many anecdotes does it take to make data?
However, one of the articles listed below actually tries to answer that question (Werner 1995)! This, and the rest, should be helpful to anybody who has to analyze transcribed interviews, field notes, archival, or other textual data. Especially given the advent of computers, the amount of textual data that a qualitative project can produce is frightening. Text analysis methods a timely "technological fix" that uses the power of computing to make textual data more manageable and productive of information.
References:
Bernard, H. R. (1991). About Text Management and Computers. Cultural Anthropology Methods Journal, 3(1), 1-4, 7, 12.
Bernard, H. R. (1995). Counting Words in Documents: WORDS 2.0. Cultural Anthropology Methods Journal, 7(3), 11-12.
Bernard, H. R. (1996). Qualitative Data, Quantitative Analysis. Cultural Anthropology Methods Journal, 8(1), 9-11.
Bolton, R. (1984). Computers in Ethnographic Research (Technical Report NIE Grant G-78-0062). Claremont, CA: Pomona College.
Gillespie, G. (1986). Using Word Processor Macros for Computer-assisted Qualitative Analysis. Qualitative Sociology, 9, 283-292.
Jehn, K. A., & Werner, O. (1993). Hapax Legomenon II: Theory, a Thesaurus, and Word Frequency. Cultural Anthropology Methods Journal, 5(1), 8-10.
Jehn, K. A., & Doucet, L. (1996). Developing Categories from Interview Data: Text Analysis and Multidimensional Scaling. Part 1. Cultural Anthropology Methods Journal, 8(2), 15-16.
Jehn, K. A., & Doucet, L. (1997). Developing Categories for Interview Data: Consequences of Different Coding and Analysis Strategies in Understanding Text: Part 2. Cultural Anthropology Methods Journal, 9(1), 1-7.
Koester, D., & Thorn, M. (1993). Programming in WordPerfect to Aid in Text Analysis. Cultural Anthropology Methods Journal, 5(2), 4-5.
Krippendorff, K. (1980). Content Analysis: An Introduction to its Methodology. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
MacQueen, K. M., Nopkesorn, T., Sweat, M. D., Sawaengdee, Y., Mastro, T. D., & Weniger, B. G. (1996). Alcohol Consumption, Brothel Attendance, and Condom Use: Normative Expectations among Thai Military Conscripts. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 10(3), 402-423.
Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative Data Analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Ryan, G. (1993). Using Styles in WordPerfect as Templates for your Field Notes. Cultural Anthropology Methods Journal, 5(3), 8-9.
Ryan, G., & Weisner, T. (1996). Analyzing Words in Brief Descriptions: Fathers and Mothers Describe their Children. Cultural Anthropology Methods Journal, 8(3), 13-16.
Ryan, G., & Weisner, T. (1997). Measuring the Prototypicality of Text: Using Intercoder Agreement for More than Just Reliability and Validity Checks . UCLA Sociobehavioral Group: Unpublished manuscript.
Schnegg, M., & Bernard, H. R. (1996). Words as Actors: A Method for Doing Semantic Network Analysis. Cultural Anthropology Methods Journal, 8(2), 7-10.
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Strauss, A, & Corbin, J. (Eds.). (1997). Grounded Theory in Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Truex, G. F. (1993). Tagging and Tying: Notes on Codes in Anthropology. Cultural Anthropology Methods Journal, 5(1), 3-5.
Weber, R. P. (1990). Basic Content Analysis. (second ed.). (Vol. 49). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Weitzman, E. A., & Miles, M. B. (1995). Computer Programs for Qualitative Data Analysis: A Software Sourcebook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Werner, O. (1992). Short Take 8: Hapax Legomenon: First Steps in Analyzing your Interviews. Cultural Anthropology Methods Journal, 4(3), 6-8.
Werner, O. (1993). Short Take 11: Constructed Folk Definitions from Interviews. Cultural Anthropology Methods Journal, 5(3), 4-7.
Werner, O. (1995). Short Take 15: The Case for Verbatim Cases. Cultural Anthropology Methods Journal, 7(1), 6-8.
Werner, O. (1996). Short Take 18: Notation for Transcibing Conversation and Interviews. Cultural Anthropology Methods Journal, 3.