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January 2003
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"Help, I'm Getting Buried in Field Notes!"
A Manual for Qualitative Data Management and Analysis
Rebecca Widom
with
Herbert Collado
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Evaluations of social policies and programs
often use qualitative research to describe program implementation, understand
the experiences and perspectives of program staff and clients, and explain,
illustrate, amplify, or qualify findings from quantitative research. Large
multisite, multiyear studies often involve massive datasets, engage large
teams of researchers, and experience significant staff turnover. In these
studies, qualitative research is quite a departure from the traditional
ethnographic model of a single researcher responsible for all of the data
collection, analysis, and writing. As such, data analysis in this context
presents several unique opportunities and challenges. This manual compiles
the experiences of MDRC staff working on a variety of large-scale studies
under tight budget and time constraints and provides both general methodological
recommendations and specific tips for using N5, a qualitative data management
software package.
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Funders
Thanks first to the Pew Charitable Trusts for the funding to compile this manual, provided through the Methodological Innovations Initiative.
The findings and conclusions presented in this report do not necessarily represent the official positions
or policies of the funders.
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