Integrating memos and codes in qualitative analysis (online)

This 2.5 hour course will be offered via Zoom. Attendance is required as the course will not be recorded.

Course Summary:

This course focuses on what it means to develop codes and how to integrate memo writing into the larger process of coding and analysis. Coding and memo writing function as simultaneous and fluid tasks that occur during actively reviewing interviews, focus groups, and multi-media data. We will discuss the tension between deductive and inductive codes and how codes can emerge and shift unexpectedly during analysis. We will also cover how to identify code connections, possible hierarchies, and higher-level themes.

Instructor: Paul Mihas, MA

Paul Mihas is the Assistant Director of Qualitative Research at the Odum Institute for Research in Social Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the former managing editor of Social Forces, a journal of sociology published at the University of North Carolina Press. He has partnered with ResearchTalk Inc. since 2001 as a senior qualitative analysis consultant and has lectured on qualitative methods, software, and strategies for analysis at several universities, including the University of Puerto Rico and Howard University. Since 2013, he has taught at the Global School in Empirical Research Methods at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. He has also served as faculty at the annual Qualitative Research Summer Intensive and as a mentor at ResearchTalk’s Qualitative Data Analysis Camps. Mihas is a co-author with Ray Maietta on Sort and Sift, Think and Shift (forthcoming, Routledge). His interests include mixed methods and incorporating memo writing in analysis; his current research focuses on cancer survivors and identities of survivorship.

Register

This course will be offered over two afternoons (3/7 and 3/9) from 12pm – 4pm via Zoom only. Attendance is required as the course will not be recorded.

Cognitive interviewing in survey research is a methodology researchers use to gain a better understanding of how respondents think when answering specific survey items. Data gathered using the cognitive interview approach help researchers identify and remedy issues with their questionnaires. This short course is designed to provide participants with fundamentals on how to design, conduct, and analyze cognitive interviews. Participants will have the opportunity to practice specific cognitive interviewing techniques, including think-alouds, probing, and observation. Participants will also learn about revising survey questions based on interpreting cognitive interview results.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
- Recognize components of the survey response process
- Describe elements of the cognitive interview process and techniques
- Understand how to use cognitive interviews across various survey modes
- Complete recruitment and facilitate cognitive interview logistics
- Design and implement a cognitive interview protocol
- Identify ways to improve survey questionnaires and items based on cognitive interview data

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In this session, participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and seek feedback on their qualitative analysis from facilitators and other attendees. This session serves as a workshop in which participants get a chance to discuss and review qualitative analysis techniques while also learning from others.

To attend, participants must be working on a qualitative data analysis project and can seek feedback on any step in the process (e.g., coding, creating matrices/diagrams/other products, developing categories or themes, summarizing data). One does not need to have attended previous qualitative analysis training sessions administered by NC TraCS. However, participants should come with some knowledge of qualitative data analysis techniques.

Please note: We will not be presenting information about qualitative analysis in this session; instead, we will ask participants to share where they are in their analysis process, ask questions about their analyses, and collectively discuss strategies for moving our analyses forward.

Facilitators:
MaryBeth Grewe, MPH, Engagement and Qualitative Research Specialist
Simone Frank, MPH, Community Engagement and Outreach Specialist
Milenka Jean-Baptiste, MPH, Qualitative Research Specialist
Courtney Canter, MA, Qualitative Research Specialist

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