Qualtiative Content Analysis: Methods, Practice and Software

Welcome

Are you working with qualitative data but unsure how to approach your analysis?

Our hands-on textbook to qualitative content analysis provides you with a clear strategy for analysing your data, whether you are working with social media content, field notes, images, narratives or focus group data. Using qualitative interviews as an example, the book provides a clear structure for approaching your analysis that can be adapted for your research project.

Explaining how qualitative content analysis differs from quantitative methods, the book provides you with:

a solid understanding of the principles behind QCA
a step-by-step guide to three types of QCA
guidance on how you can use software to enhance your analysis.

We look forward to your feedback about your experiences with qualitative content analysis and about our book.

Udo Kuckartz & Stefan Rädiker

2^nd Edition | 2023 | 230 pages
ISBN: 978-3-7799-6231-1
Publisher: Sage

About the book

Brief description

This textbook provides a comprehensible introduction to qualitative content analysis (QCA), a method used in many disciplines (including social sciences, education, social work, psychology, nursing science). QCA is a systematic procedure for analyzing qualitative data, for example, qualitative interviews, group discussions, observation protocols, and field notes. In a methodically controlled manner, the information of the entire data is exhausted, categories are defined, content structuring is generated, relations are sought and verified, and the results are clearly presented.

In this book, the phases of the content-analytical analysis process are presented, and three basic methods are described in a practically comprehensible manner: structuring, evaluative, and type-building QCA.

The practical usefulness of the book is underlined by a chapter on the computer-aided implementation of the three basic methods. In this chapter, the complete computer-assisted procedure of the analysis – from transcription to the presentation of results – is discussed.

Our definition of qualitative content analysis

«Qualitative content analysis is the systematic and methodologically controlled scientific analysis of texts, pictures, films, and other contents of communication. Not only manifest but also latent contents are analysed. At the centre of qualitative analyses are categories with which all the material relevant to the research question(s) is coded. Category development can be deductive, inductive, or deductive-inductive. The analysis is primarily qualitative but can also integrate quantitative-statistical evaluations; it can be both category-oriented and case-oriented.» (p. 21)

Chapters

Conceptual Foundations of Qualitative Content Analysis
On Categories
Developing Categories
Three Types of Qualitative Content Analysis
Structuring Qualitative Content Analysis
Evaluative Qualitative Content Analysis
Type-Building Qualitative Content Analysis
Using Software
Quality Standards, Research Report, and Documentation

Contents

Chapter 1 (excerpt)

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Endorsements

“The authors’ experience as teachers and practitioners of qualitative analysis methods shines throughout this clearly written, well-structured, and stimulating text. Written guidance, supported by an abundance of illustrative examples, provides a thorough foundation that supports strategies for systematically categorising and analysing qualitative data that build from simple description to complex typology development.”

Pat Bazeley, Adjunct Professor in the Translational Research and Social Impact group at the University of Western Sydney, Australia

“Udo Kuckartz and Stefan Rädiker have authored an easy-to-understand text addressing qualitative content analysis. This text has caused me to rethink qualitative data analysis and apply a category system to my own procedures. I applaud their logical approach, their detailed use of references, and their insight brought to qualitative research. This book will be seen for many years as a leading worldwide text on qualitative data analysis.”

John W. Creswell, Professor of family medicine and senior research scientist at the University of Michigan

“This book does a fantastic job of discussing the historical and theoretical foundations of QCA together with practical considerations for its use. The inclusion of real-world examples, advice for using qualitative data analysis software, and creative visual displays makes this revision a great resource for researchers analyzing qualitative data within qualitative and mixed methods approaches.”

Vicky Plano-Clark, Professor of Research Methods in the School of Education at the University of Cincinnati