Category: Qualitative Research

Excel & Word for qualitative data analysis

6/16/2019

I have continued to experiment with the use of MS Excel and Word to analyze qualitative date -- in this case, interview data for my PhD dissertation. The method described by Ose (2016) is amazing, although it has a few disadvantages.

Disadvantages include having online one major code for each interviewee quote. In my spreadsheet, I have an additional column for a secondary code, but I do not include that column when going through Ose's (2016) steps to convert the Excel file for Word. I use the added column as a reference as I work with the Word file during my secondary coding, categorizing, and creation of themes.

If you use her method as described in her paper, you will need to enlarge the Figure 10 and 11 screen shots. The concatenation instructions are complex, but trust what she writes, and pay special attention to the following on page 9:
F1 cell: =CONCATENATE(D1;"(";A1;"_";B1;"_";C1;")")
The "_" underscore symbols represent spaces, not use of the symbol, and in my instance of Excel, the semicolons were commas when I used the Function feature to create this string.

This is what the formula looks like in my file:
=CONCATENATE(D1,"(",A1," ",B1," ",C1,")")

The screen shot below is Ose's (2016) Figure 6 image on page 9. Keep in mind that there are additional "Text" boxes that aren't visible in this image.

Reference
Ose, S. O. (2016). Using Excel and Word to Structure Qualitative Data. Journal of Applied Social Science, 10(2), 147–162. https://doi.org/10.1177/1936724416664948

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Interview Highlights

5/23/2019

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Following are highlight quotes from my experiential learning research interviews.

Instructor
Talking about the comments in student evaluations of the course at the end of a semester:

"I always have a student or two who are like, 'She didn't teach anything. We just discussed things in small groups. Why do I pay to have discussion?'"

I'll add to this list as work through my analysis.

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Writing my Experiential Learning Dissertation

4/22/2019

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The research for my PhD dissertation is almost complete. The analysis starts in one week, along with starting to write. The research subject and questions are:

Exploring definitions and perceived value of experiential learning at an American university in Asia.

1) What definitions of experiential learning are expressed by students, faculty, and administrators?

2) Within a classroom learning context, how do participants describe teaching and learning related to experiential learning? Specifically, how do:

a. students describe their own classroom experiences with experiential learning?

b. instructors describe their experiences with experiential learning?

c. administrators describe their understandings of the ways in which instructors and students experience and engage in experiential learning?

3) What value, if any, do students, faculty, and administrators ascribe to experiential learning?

During this research, which involved interviews of students, instructors, and academic administrators, I was impressed by the insights and thoughtfulness of many of the students. Interview questions included asking about the value of experiential learning, its challenges, and definitions from the students' perspectives. Here is one student's statement of value:

"I think it enables me to ... be more adaptable. Yeah, because it puts me in a situation likes there's no predictability. I have no idea what I'm going to face next. So it keeps me on my toes ... enables me to think fast and be more ... malleable, yeah."

Here is another quote from a student who is defining experiential learning:

"I think experiential learning is ... a more active form of learning ... it doesn’t involve just like the lectures and the spoon-feeding that most Asian education systems are like ... Asian education system is ... it’s very common to have the lecture style of teaching in Asian schools, but I feel that the program [I am in now] is more of interactive ... We did class group projects and discussions in class. So it’s more about like an active engagement in the content that we’re learning. It’s not simply just memorizing from the textbooks. So I feel that yeah, it’s like we get to interact first hand with practicalities of the content that we’re learning."

Several students identified social loafers among the challenges of experiential learning. For example:

"I guess one of those would be social loafer where people do not put in as much effort as you do, and perhaps also the level of motivation, because maybe some people are not as motivated to accomplish this task."

There is so much more. For the next two months, I will be analyzing the interview data to code and categorize the interviews, and then to identify themes. Listening to the students during the interviews was a treat. I look forward to revisiting the interview transcripts and the recordings to conduct the analysis. More updates will follow.

Image reference
Bergsteiner, H., et al. (2010). "Kolb's experiential learning model: critique from a modelling perspective." Studies in Continuing Education 32(1): 29-46.

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Early Research INterview Reflections

11/29/2018

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This week, I started interviewing instructors and students for my Ph.D. dissertation research. I am amazed at the depth of thought that the instructors and students invest in their work. The reflections from students show real consideration for what they are learning, how they are learning it, and how they can apply their new knowledge to their lives and careers. The instructors demonstrate a sincere consideration for the quality of education they deliver, and for how they educate. I've also interviewed one administrator and I was impressed by his concern for the quality of education in the institution.

As the research progresses, I will share my insights and fresh points of learning that I gain from talking to these interviewees. For those who are interested, here are my research questions.

Research Subject: Exploring definitions and perceived value of experiential learning.

1) What definitions of experiential learning are expressed by students, faculty, and administrators?

2) Within a classroom learning context, how do participants describe teaching and learning related to experiential learning? Specifically, how do:
a. students describe their own classroom experiences with experiential learning?
b. instructors describe their experiences with experiential learning?
c. administrators describe their understandings of the ways in which instructors and students experience and engage in experiential learning?

3) What value, if any, do students, faculty, and administrators ascribe to experiential learning?

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Excel & Word for qualitative data analysis

Interview Highlights

Writing my Experiential Learning Dissertation

Early Research INterview Reflections

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