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Chapter Three – Research methods and their use - Page 98
Regarding the initial approach to the raw data prior to analysis, this followed parallel
strands for the two sources, the audio-tape recordings, and observations and reflections
on experiences salient to the study.
Transformation of the data
I have proceeded through the phases outlined by Wolcott (1990, 1994) of description,
analysis and interpretation, and as phenomena have emerged from this process, I have
considered them in relation to the findings in the other sources of data. The main
method I have used for the collection of data is participant observation. Becker (1958)
gives a classic description of the process of field analysis in participant observation,
albeit needing to be read with a view to when it was written. His three stages are the
selection and definition of problems, concepts and indices; the check on the frequency
and distribution of phenomena; and the incorporation of individual findings into a
model of the organisation under study. A fourth phase of final analysis involves
presentation of evidence and proof. A critical perspective enters the study through the
seeking of negative cases. Hammersley and Atkinson (2007) offer a more contemporary
and far more complex account, highlighting some of the range of positions that have
variously been taken on issues such as the epistemological foundations of ethnography,
the link between theory and practice, and rhetoric and representation .
As I develop the definitions of phenomena of interest, as well as comparing these
against other existing sources of data, I am applying these in further subsequent
participant observation.