K. Mukhopadhyay*, S. K. Tambyah, L. S. C. CHUN, A. Joshi, and J. H. M. GOH
College of Alice and Peter Tan (CAPT), NUS
Mukhopadhyay, K., Tambyah, S. K., Chun, L. S. C., & Goh, J. H. M. (2024). Working together in qualitative analysis: Insights from a hypothetico-deductive approach to interview data [Lightning talk]. In Higher Education Conference in Singapore (HECS) 2024, 3 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecs/hecs2024-kmukhopadhyay-et-al-3/
SUB-THEME
Opportunities from Engaging Communities
KEYWORDS
Quasi-quantitative analysis, hypothetico-deductive method, community partners; overseas study trips; experiential learning
CATEGORY
Lightning Talk
EXTENDED ABSTRACT
Study Trips for Engagement and EnRichment (STEERs) are short-term overseas study trips conducted to enhance students’ understanding and experience of diverse social, cultural, and economic environments (Kolb 1984; Moon, 2004; Roberts, 2012) of developing regions (Mukhopadhyay, et al., 2022). Guided by a myriad of overarching frameworks for engaging with communities, the College of Alice and Peter Tan (CAPT) has been conducting STEERs in different faculty-student teams over the last ten years, to various locations in Asia, Europe, and Africa. In an ongoing research study1 funded by Ministry of Education (MOE), we interviewed 19 partner organisations across the different STEER regions. Though a common interview questionnaire (LACE approved2) was used, the interviews were conducted by team members who were associated with designing and conducting the programmes with the partners from the respective STEERs.
Given the possibility of sample bias in the partner interviews conducted and analysed by different sub-teams, it raised questions like: 1) How do we thematise across different interviews where stories and sharings are contextual? and 2) How do we triangulate the findings when interpretations are subjective? In this lightning talk, we would like to share our insights gained from conducting a hypothetico-deductive analysis (Walliman, 2005) through data reduction processes and quasi-quantitative analysis (Maxwell & Chmiel, 2014) to draw authentic inferences from this complex qualitative data pool.
To structure this lightning talk, the presentation will focus on two aspects. First, the processes of conducting the analyses and second, the challenges and lessons learnt in the analytical journey. Each research sub-team did close readings and analysis through coding and intercoding of their set of partner interview transcripts based on the interview guide (see Figure 1 for sample questions).
Figure 1. Sample questions from the Partner Interview Guide
Examples of codes are benefits to partners, motivations for collaborations, challenges and suggestions for improvements. The coded-intercoded transcripts were then organised and “reduced” onto Excel as seen in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Flowchart demonstrating data reduction process (created by Fong Kai Jun3)
A cross-case analysis (i.e., across different sub-teams) was then conducted using the hypothetico- deductive method which involved a “to-and-fro process” of inductive and deductive reasoning (Walliman, 2005, p. 18). This enabled us to identify robust themes that were representative of the entire interview data pool.
For example, partners were asked about potential benefits of the STEER collaborations (see Figure 3). Common themes of visibility, staff development and cultural awareness emerged as potential benefits across different sub-team partner sharing.
Figure 3. Sample of a cross-case analysis sheet on Excel used for the meta-analysis process
Subsequently, a quasi-quantitative analysis was conducted on the number of occurrences of each code. All 19 partner interviews were tabulated in Excel (Figure 4) based on the codes to identify connections across different codes and partners in the various STEER regions. This method offered an objective understanding by examining the occurrences of specific codes within various permutations and combinations of partners and STEER locations. The quasi-quantitative results supported the qualitative findings from the meta-analysis. For example, the code “Benefits to Partners” shows the highest frequency of occurrence (Figure 5).
Cumulative interpretations from the two analyses illustrate how complex qualitative data with possible inherent biases can be triangulated objectively to derive significant findings. For instance, most of the partner organizations benefitted from STEER engagements, and it was the most frequently discussed topic across 75% of the STEER regions during the partner interviews. Through the explanation of the benefits and challenges of this analytical process, our lightning talk will highlight the importance of such meta-analysis in a large team of researchers to manage potential subjectivity and to derive insightful interpretations.
Figure 4. Consolidated table of the number of occurrences of various codes.
Figure 5. Graphical representation of results from Meta-analysis.
ENDNOTES
- This study is examining the STEER programmes in CAPT funded by MOE Tertiary Research Fund (TRF).
- Institutional Research Ethics Review Committee
- Fong Kai Jun is currently a Year 3 undergraduate student in NUS. He was a student at CAPT in his first two years of study and also a research assistant in the MOE TRF CAPT STEER study.
REFERENCES
Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential Learning. Prentice Hall Books.
Maxwell, J. & Chmiel, M. (2014). Generalization in and from qualitative analysis. In SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis (ed.). London
Moon, J. A. (2004). A Handbook of Reflective and Experiential Learning: Theory and Practice. Routledge.
Mukhopadhyay, K., Balachandran, L., Wong S. F., Lai, J. C. Y., Tan, A. X. Y., McGahan, K., Toh C., Wong, R., & Tan L. Y. (2022). Steering towards the Internationalisation of Higher Education: Lessons from Pedagogical Interventions in Overseas Experiential Learning Programmes. Asian Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 12(1), 20-38. https://ctlt.nus.edu.sg/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/v12n1_mukhopadhyay-et-al-for-layout-2.pdf
Roberts, J. W. (2012). Beyond learning by doing: Theoretical currents in experiential education. Routledge.
Walliman, N. S. R. (2005). Your Research Project: A Step-By-Step Guide for the First-Time Researcher. SAGE