The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 278 No 7445 p371-372, 377
31 March 2007

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Tools for data collection and analysis

In this article (part 2 of two) Therése Kairuz, Keith Crump and Anthony O'Brien discuss two methods of data collection in qualitative research

Qualitative research series

SUMMARY

Part 1 of this series (“An overview of qualitative research”) introduced qualitative research, explaining how it may be useful for exploring questions to do with “why” people do things rather than “how many” people do things (PJ, 17 March, p312).

In part 2 we discuss two common methods of data collection: focus groups and in-depth interviews. An example of data analysis using the general inductive approach and content analysis is used to illustrate analysis of qualitative data.

Data collection

In part 1 the reader was referred to various qualitative research methods for data collection. It is important that the researcher establishes a valid premise for the chosen method of data collection and considers the strengths and limitations of the chosen method when evaluating the results. Qualitative research is context based, so it is imperative that the researcher has recruited the participants in a transparent manner. Participants should be individuals who can contribute significantly to answering the research question. Data can be gathered from interviews of varying depth and in different contexts (for example, telephone or face-to-face interviews, individual semi-structured or in-depth interviews and focus groups discussions). Data can also be gathered from surveys that elicit narrative feedback or from analysis of texts to explore a specific concept.

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