Theory analysis in the evaluation of data is an important aspect of qualitative research. It’s a method of identify and define concepts or themes that emerge from the data. While some researchers employ a combination of both deductive and logical coding, others rely more on the inductive process to develop theories using the data. The goal of this article is to highlight some best methods of analysis of theory in qualitative research, paying particular attention paid to the Grounded Theory (GT) method.
GT is a method of research that is based on the assumption that new theories are developed through the collection and analysis real-world data. It is commonly employed to study complex subjects that have not been studied or do not have much research. Instead of establishing an idea and then gathering data to prove or disprove it, the grounded theory approach begins with a general inquiry about a phenomenon and then conducts interviews to discover the specifics of how that phenomenon operates. The transcripts of the interviews are coded to produce a list of categories that represent the various aspects of the data. This process continues until the researcher reaches the point of theoretical saturation, which is the point at which additional interviews no longer are a part of the theory being developed. MAXQDA offers a variety codes that are popular in GT. One of them is ‘in-vivo coding’, which uses actual words or phrases taken from the transcripts. This allows researchers to quickly and easily identify important excerpts in the data for analysis. The ability to color-code the specific code or group of codes within MAXQDA is also helpful for GT as it enhances the sensitivity of researchers’ eyes and lets them see the most important information they could overlook.