QUALITATIVE DATA

Approaches to Analyzing and Reporting Interview and

Focus Group Findings

Agenda

• Approaches to analysis• Emergent versus top-down themes

• Managing data using Excel

• Reporting qualitative findings• General tips

• Alternative formats

Youth Development Executives of King County

(YDEKC) is a coalition of youth-serving organizations

working to advance the youth development field in

order to improve outcomes for young people.

Representing the executive leadership of King County

based youth serving organizations, YDEKC is uniquely

positioned to advocate for its members with the systems

(school districts, governments, the public) that they intersect

with; to develop field level knowledge about best

practices in youth development; and to build leadership

strength in the non-profit youth serving sector.

Who We Are

Plan Collect Reflect

Qualitative Data Sources

• Survey comments

• Focus groups

• Interviews

Data Analysis Approaches

• Organize or cluster information by themes

• Emergent Themes

• Cluster or themes determined by what appears in the

comments or responses

• Pre-determined or Top Down Themes

• Defined by the program logic model or goals

• (Add categories if unexpected themes emerge)

• Some comments may fit with multiple themes

Example: Emergent Themes• The tutors are very mature and good people.

• The program helps me with persistence; it helps you focus.

• My tutor was really cool

• I don’t like to put my friends down. I see that they are struggling and I want to

help them and I do.

• I find the tutors as true friends because they treat me like I was their brother.

• Everyone helps when someone doesn’t know what to do.

• It teaches me discipline because I have to show every day and practice at

home.

• It has helped me to concentrate during school

• I want them to know how to do things that I know because then they won’t be

left out and can have fun.

Example: Emergent Themes• The tutors are very mature and good people.

• The program helps me with persistence; it helps you focus.

• My tutor was really cool

• I don’t like to put my friends down. I see that they are struggling and I want to

help them and I do.

• I find the tutors as true friends because they treat me like I was their

brother.

• Everyone helps when someone doesn’t know what to do.

• It teaches me discipline because I have to show up every day and practice

at home..

• It taught me how to concentrate during school

• I want to help them know how to do things that I know because then they

won’t be left out and can have fun.

Example: Emergent ThemesTUTOR QUALITY

• The tutors are very mature and good people.

• My tutor was really cool.

• I find the tutors as true friends because they treat me like I was their brother.

PRACTICING MENTORSHIP

• I don’t like to put my friends down. I see that they are struggling and I want to help

them and I do.

• Everyone helps when someone doesn’t know what to do.

• I want to help them know how to do things that I know because then they won’t be left

out and can have fun.

TRANSFER OUTCOMES: PERSEVERENCE

• The program helps me with persistence; it helps you focus.

• It teaches me discipline because I have to show every day and practice at home.

• It taught me how to concentrate during school.

Example: Predetermined Themes

• Sense of Belonging

• Interpersonal Skills

• Critical Thinking Skills

Example: Predetermined Themes (1 of 2)

• I really value the time put into projects and like-mindedness of my fellow

classmates, and appreciate the empathy and support from my mentors

• People skills. Collaborations, problem solving, and team work were all

essential in this project. Seeing how great it can be when people work

positively off each other and how negative it is when people don't work

together well was an invaluable lesson.

• My thinking process has changed - I am more analytically minded and

critical.

• The freedom to create what we want with the complete support and

guidance of mentors

• I feel like I'm accomplishing something and that has made my whole

outlook on the way things work changed. Instead of looking at a big

project and deeming it impossible I am able to look at a big project and

find a place to start. It helps to be more efficient and a little bolder when

working on something.

Example: Predetermined Themes (2 of 2)

• I've met many different people and had eye opening experiences. In a

broader sense I've learned how to better collaborate with people and

problem solve. Working through issues within the group as well as

working with those in other fields were great experiences.

• It is hard to find something to complain about, as everything that was

frustrating or exhausting was all very important for the creation of the

final project.

• My social skills have improved dramatically.

• The people I get to work with are absolutely amazing. I value the

differences in opinion and styles and outlooks. I appreciate the

diversity of the class, it covers so many things but relates them all to

each other and shows how all of the process is inter-connected

Example: Predetermined Themes

SENSE OF BELONGING

• I really value the time put into projects and like-mindedness of my fellow classmates, and appreciate the empathy and support from my mentors

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS

• People skills. Collaborations, problem solving, and team work were all essential in this project. Seeing how great it can be when people work positively off each other and how negative it is when people don't work together well was an invaluable lesson.

CRITICAL THINKING

• My thinking process has changed - I am more analytically minded and critical.

Data Analysis Approaches

Pros Cons

Emergent

• Good if you’re not sure

what the comments will

address

• Allows unexpected themes

to emerge

• Time-consuming

• Leaves more room

for interpretation

Pre-

Determined

or

Top-down

• Helps to identify alignment

with a Logic Model or

program goals

• Can be a more efficient

way to answer specific

evaluation questions

• Potential to miss

important themes

Sorting Comments in Excel | top-down

themescomments

Comments fit

in more than 1

theme

Sorting Comments in Excel | emergentthemes

comments

Could place the same

comment in multiple columns

Reporting

• Use statements to make the finding explicit

• Use exemplar comments to provide “evidence” or “data.”

• Use at least one exemplar comments for each theme

• Label who made the comment (grade, gender, program, etc.)

• Order themes from strongest/most common to least

• You can make a pie or bar chart that shows frequency of

themes, if that makes sense

• BUT resist the urge to quantify qualitative findings

Alternative Report Format: Displaying Data Visually

Limitations:

• Difficult to interpret

• Nearly impossible to translate to action

However, can be a good conversation starter

Tips for Word Clouds

• Clean up text using “find and replace”

• Take out prepositions and words such as “and” and “the”

• Standardize different versions of the same word, such as

changing innovate, innovation and innovative all to “innovate”

• When multiple words combine to mean one thing, merge them

into one word by removing the period

• Melinda Gates = MelindaGates

• Job Skills =JobSkills

• Wordle, Tagxedo Tagul, WordItOut

Example: Capturing Data Visually