Ana  means "above", lysis  "to break up or dissolve".

At the core of QA lies a twofold task: to select a bit of data and assign it to a category.

Qualitative analysis (QA) is a circular process, composed of "describing phenomena", "classifying" and "interconnecting concepts" as corners of a triangle inside of a circle.

I. Description encompasses:

a. the context of action,

Communication errors can occur when a "wrong" context is assumed. Since meaning can vary with context, communication can convey more than one meaning. In qualitative research (QR) interpretation/meaning depends on context and has to be related to the positions and perspectives of different observers.

b. the intentions of the actor,

The intentions and perceptions of subjects often enjoy a privileged position in QR, because of the access they can give us to the meaning of action for particular observers. QR often seeks to illuminate the ways individuals interact to sustain or change social situations.

c. the process in which action is embedded.

Process refers to movement and change over time. In place of a static description, we can develop a more dynamic account of events.

II. Classification as a process of practical reasoning and as a conceptual foundation for QR means:

a. breaking up data and bringing it together again
b. establishing logical connections between categories

Without classifying the data, we have no way of knowing what it is that we are analysing. Nor can we make meaningful comparisons between different bits of data. Classification cannot be neutral: it is always classification for a purpose.

By sorting the information into different categories, we can make comparisons between cases much more effectively.
["Internet Search Engines" are discussed as class example, and a homework is assigned to evaluate, criticise and improve "AriadNe" search engine]

Once the data has been organised into categories, we can retrieve it in a variety of ways.
[Relational databases are discussed as class example]

Description and classification are not ends in themselves but must serve an overriding purpose namely to produce an account of our analysis.

III. Identification of substantive connections between concepts:
(=building blocks)

a. by identifying associations between different variables.
By studying correlations like regularities / variations / exceptions / similarities, between different categories; a picture of the data, which is both clearer and more complex than initial impressions, can be built.
[Jigsaw puzzles have been discussed in class as analogy]

b. by structural or causal analysis.
Graphic representation is an especially appropriate method for QR. Pictures provide a powerful tool for capturing or conveying meaning. Graphic representation allows us to see and question the connections between different parts of the whole. Through mapping we can relate data systematically to particular ideas.
[Pictures of buildings of different architectural schools have been shown to class as example of graphical exhibition of architectural classifications]
[Need for geographical maps and Piri Reis maps have been discussed in class. A talk about Edward de Bono's "mental maps" is realised]

A sense of direction or design implies a role for theory in conceptualising experience in much the same way as our concepts convey meaning. On the other hand, a theory can be thought as a complex system of ideas through which we conceptualise some aspect of experience.

More attention is given to "systematising" ideas than to conceptualising experience - a characteristic most familiar in the more quantitative disciplines such as economics.

The traditional emphasis in QR has been on generating theories rather than testing them. Often the problem is to know what the problem is, not what the answer is.

Analytic process is creative, non-sequential and spiral.

A computer can help in analysing the data, storing and accessing it. Of course this paradise has pitfalls. It is as easy to delete files as to create them, and computers sometime break down. Computers can not analyse the data.
[Hypertext links are given as example. Its difference from alphanumerical classifications used since 17.century encyclopedists is discussed in class]

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