Qualitative Data Analysis

This chapter describes the concept of qualitative data analysis. It discusses the main features, processes, and outcomes of the most widely used strategies of qualitative data analysis: thematic analysis and grounded theory. Moreover, coding is the starting point for most forms of qualitative data analysis. The chapter notes the software packages available to assist in the analysis of qualitative data in an effort to simplify and enhance the time-consuming task of manual coding and retrieving data. It shows that despite the software, the analyst must still make theoretically informed decisions about what to code and how to interpret the data.