1. Analysis of qualitative data, or identifying patterns and themes, is distinct from interpreting, or making sense of the patterns and themes.
2. Because qualitative research is inductive, data collection and analysis can be cyclical and evolutionary.
3. Generally, a researcher spends as much time analyzing qualitative data as collecting data.
4. Researchers write analytical memos to capture their first impressions and reflections of the data.
5. Diagramming the data, or putting the data into some graphical form, can help a researcher find relationships among the data.
6. Coding and categorizing qualitative data reduces it to a manageable size.
7. Categories may be drawn from the literature or emerge from the data.
8. Grounded theory, or the constantcomparative method, is an iterative process that guides a researcher through identifying categories and identifying relationships among categories.
9. Data are saturated theoretically when all data can be coded into a category.
10. Thematic analysis of data is based on the criteria of recurrence, repetition, and forcefulness.
11. Once data are analyzed, or categorized, a researcher must develop an interpretation of the patterns, themes, and concepts.
12. Researchers use participant quotes, credibility, member validation, and triangulation to affirm the quality of their findings.
