Qualitative data analysis involves coding data by labelling segments with codes representing how they address research objectives. The analyst then prepares a report summarizing prominent codes, similarities and differences between codes, or relationships among codes. Data is recursively summarized into increasingly compact analyses. Software can aid in coding, editing, revising, and collaborative review of data. Interpretation in qualitative research may involve the researcher's personal understanding, comparisons to literature, or new questions inspired by findings.

2. Reads the data, marks segments within the
data, each one of which is labelled with a
“code”- word or a phrase that suggests how
associated data segments address the
research objectives. When coding is
complete, the analyst prepares a report
summarizing codes that consistently surface,
discussing similarities and differences, or
showing the relationship between one or
more codes.

3. Summarizes the sets of data,
then, further summarizes them,
and so on, resulting in a compact,
distilled, easily understood
analysis.

4. Counts words or phrases, or
coincidences of tokens within the
data, analyses phrases and
exchanges in cinversations.

5. Uses programs in editing, revising,
and coding which allow for work
sharing, peer reviews and recursive
examination of data through any of
the following qualitative data
analysis software: MAXQDA, QDA,
MINER, NVIVO.

7. This involves transcribing
interviews, optically scanning
material, typing up field notes, or
sorting and arranging the data into
different types, depending on the
sources of information.

8. Obtain a general sense of the
information and reflect on its over-all
meaning: What general ideas are
participants saying? At times, the
qualitative researcher writes marginal
notes or starts recording general
thoughts about the data at this stage.

9. Rossman and Rollis (1998) define coding as the
process of organizing material into “chunks”
before bringing meaning to those “chunks”. It
involves taking text data or pictures, segmenting
sentences (or paragraphs) or images into
categories, and labeling those categories with a
term, often a term based n the actual language
of the participant (called an invivo term).

10. Description involves a detailed rendering of information
about people, places or events in a setting. This analysis is
useful in designing detailed descriptions for case studies,
ethnographies, and narrative research projects. Then, use
the coding to generate a small number of themes or
categories-about five to seven categories. These themes are
the ones that appear as major findings in qualitative
studies and are stated under separate headings in the
findings section of the study.

11. One approach is to use a narrative passage to convey
the finding of the analysis and detailed discussion of
themes and sub-themes or interconnecting themes.
The following are used by qualitative researchers as
adjuncts to the discussion: visuals, figures or tables.
They present a process model (as in grounded theory)
a drawing of the specific research site (as in
ethnograhy) or they convey descriptive information
about each participant in a table (as in case studies
and ethnographies).

12.  These lessons could be:
 The researcher’s personal interpretations, expressed in the individual understanding
that the researcher brings to the study from his/her own culture, history and
experiences.
 A meaning derived from a comparison of the findings with information gleaned from
the literature or extent theories.
 Suggestions for new questions that need to be asked- questions the researcher had not
foreseen earlier in the study.
Thus, interpretation in qualitative research can take many forms, be
adapted for different types of designs, and be flexible to convey personal,
research-based and action meanings.