Exercises for Chapter 8 Analysing and interpreting

I am sharing exercises to accompany each chapter of Qualitative Research Methods for Everyone: An Essential Toolkit (Policy Press). https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/qualitative-research-methods-for-everyone

Here are the exercises for Chapter 8

Practice. As it says in the book: The best exercises for this chapter are to practice as you go along. “As soon as you start to collect or create data, engage in inductive immersion so that you are always and constantly immersed in the responses. If you start to notice some things of interest (learning as you go) annotate them and identify them again using open coding. Store these notes and codes carefully but don’t be afraid to change or scrap them later. As you learn more from your participants and the research field, continue to read, listen, observe, and hear (inductive immersion), to think and reflect and make notes about it all (annotating and memoing). As time goes on your insights will become more elaborate and complex; diversity and complexity of responses will muddy or confound those initial thoughts. You will need more memoing and to begin structural coding. Return to your open codes and think about them again, determine whether some are more useful as analytical codes. Sensitise yourself to what extant literature or concepts might help to clarify the insights that are emerging out of this constant interaction, seeking coherence…To ensure you don’t jump to conclusions too soon, use some of the techniques to help you be iterative-inductive and reflexive” (O’Reilly 2025: 185).

“Do all this lightly until you have finished data collection. When you get to that stage, start again with working through the spiral process of immersion, stepping back, distance and closeness, in and out, to and fro. Eventually you should feel confident to start to pull thoughts together for a paper, chapter, report, or other output” (O’Reilly 2025: 185)

Teamwork. It’s more fun and dynamic if you can work in a team even if only sharing some transcripts and field notes from time to time and comparing notes.

Classwork. I strongly recommend doing a mini-project so that analysis can be practiced as part of a project.

Comment below. Please share any tips or insights in the comments.

You might also enjoy the book’s accompanying Podcast series: Qualitative Research Methods for Everyone, wherever you get your podcasts.