Are you a data nerd who cannot stop looking for patterns? Do you want to learn more about data analysis and how to get a job in this fascinating field? This post is an excellent place to start if you answered yes to these questions. We take a deep dive into the process of qualitative data analysis, learning what it is, how it works, and some efficient approaches.

What is data analysis?

Analysing, organising, converting, and modelling obtained data to uncover patterns, linkages, and correlations are called data analysis. It allows you to collect valuable data and use it to generate sound judgments. While many firms and researchers prefer to analyse mathematical data (quantitative data), non-numeric qualitative data provides critical insights and decisions that numeric data alone cannot.

What is qualitative data?

Interview transcripts, discussions, public opinion research, video and audio recordings, photographs, and written documents are examples of qualitative data, which contains a wide range of information on people's ideas, attitudes, and actions. Qualitative data is also called category data because much of this data type falls readily into groups.

What are the benefits of the analysis?

Numerical data is not always possible to collect. Researchers must frequently rely on qualitative data for outcomes because they do not have access to quantitative data. And, even though qualitative data sets might be large and diverse, examining them can yield valuable insights that are impossible to obtain using only numerical information.

Market researchers use qualitative data analysis to understand their consumers' mindsets better and gain insight into why they bought a product, which helps them build better products that meet their needs.

Analysing only numerical data (sales, income figures) without considering variable qualitative data (previous experience, client comments, customer evaluations) might lead to inaccurate conclusions or preliminary findings.

Qualitative data analysis also aids in identifying relevant categories, patterns, and linkages in data sets and considering nuances, emotions, and behaviour that are not appropriate for numerical analysis.

How does qualitative data analysis work?

For uncovering patterns and links, qualitative data (words, photos, observations, narratives, and dialogues) must first get ingested and organised before being assigned categories:

• Collect data
• Organise your data
• Create a numeric model
• Validate your data
• Analyse the data
• Present the analysis

What are the different qualitative data analysis methods?

For evaluating and quantifying qualitative data, the following are some of the most often used qualitative data analysis methods:

• Content analysis
• Narrative analysis
• Discourse analysis
• Grounded theory: