The best analogy that best fits my process of data analysis is ‘stumbling in the dark’.
To start with, I had no idea of what a research methodology is, when I had to pick the best one for my inquiry in Module 2. I found this website How to Write a Research Methodology in Four Steps (scribbr.com)quite illuminating, as it explains in concise, useful, practical ways how to draft a research project and how to go through its different stages.
I came up with thematic analysis as my chosen method, within
narrative inquiry as methodology.
Despite the clear explanations on how to retrieve themes, I
must admit I started off with a very schematic mindset in doing so. Firstly, I excerpted
few bits of the interviews. These were not easy to select. Especially, I was
conscious of not adding my own meaning to them, but I tried to keep an objective
approach when opting for the ones which would be relevant for my inquiry.
Then, I reviewed the excerpts and organized them into an
excel spreadsheet. Having key words from my interview questions on the left
column, and the excerpts on the other columns, it would be easier for me to
look at all excerpts and compare them. I colour-coded them, so I could narrow
down the most important passages.
Although I put lots of efforts in arranging, delivering, and
recording the interviews, I had to let go of interesting quotes as I could not
report all the questions in my Critical Review. I found this moment was quite disheartening,
as all my data went loss somehow. I was also wondering what my participants may
think if after taking their precious time, they knew I was not including their
stories?
I remembered Burrows’ words about the openness a choreographer
should be equipped with when embarking on a new project. In his book he states:
‘Research is useful so long as I know its research and don’t start thinking
it’s the finished work. Sometimes it’s better to put down the research and get
on with the piece. The research will do its work anyway, meanwhile the piece is
the piece and has its own demands’ (Burrows, 2010, p. 43). So, I realized simplifying
or reducing doesn’t mean diminishing the value of my process but making it
stronger in a sense.
I selected the questions which were more in line with my
inquiry and looked closely at the semantic of signs first and found a few
themes. The superficial meaning looked nice, made sense but there was something
I was not sure about, though. Read the words repeatedly and cross-referenced
them among different interviewees.
I had to decide on the final themes, which for me were six. Writing
my thesis helped me question again about if the words I had chosen for the
themes were effective enough to represent their meaning. After thinking on how
my analysis may be understood from a reader’s perspective, it needed to be clarified
and simplified again, like when a choreographer after producing so much
movement work decides to keep just little material from his/her whole
exploration.
The final themes didn’t appear close to my early
expectations. They looked more related to the internal experiences of participants,
which was what I was trying to discover from my phenomenological study. I understood
until then, themes didn’t seem right because I was trying to overimpose my
meaning on to them, rather than letting the meaning to emerge.
I now understood what our Module’s Handbook meant by saying not
to underestimate the value of our interpretation and to place it at the centre
of our analysis.
I may still not have got it right, as I am a newbie
researcher. My takeaway though is that I have learnt to ‘fall and recover’, and
dance again, as Graham would say.
*Burrows, A Choreographer’s Handbook
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