Immunization and child health materials development guide pdf

example, “Parents seem to think their child is fully protected from measles after only one shot.”
Then the facilitator and note-taker can review the discussion notes and discuss any surprising
findings.
Often, emotional or unexpected events are forgotten as the team prepares for the next
discussion. These initial post-discussion notes can capture key findings and the atmosphere of
the interview or group. Remember that good data analysis requires good notes.
If you intend to record the session along with having a note-taker, be aware that tapes are
primarily used to fill in gaps in the handwritten notes. Transcribing tapes is a very labor-intensive
process, taking between four and ten hours to transcribe each hour of tape time, which makes
it expensive. 21 The notes taken by the note-taker are the primary means of documenting the
raw research data and should be thorough. Remember that the outcome of the research
depends largely on the quality of the notes.
2. Organize Notes. After filling in any gaps, you may need to rewrite and organize your
notes into major topic areas. Following is one method of organizing your notes. If you can’t
photocopy your notes, use colored pencils or highlighters to code them, assigning each main
topic its own color. Use asterisks to mark quotable passages you might want to use in the report
or materials.
• Photocopy your notes.
• Write the key questions or topics from your discussion guide on the top of separate sheets
of paper.
• Using scissors, cut up the photocopy of your notes and glue all the information relevant to
each discussion question on the appropriate sheet of paper (see Figure 17).
• Create new sheets labeled with appropriate headings for data that do not fit under your
existing discussion questions. Try to group the new data by question or issue.
• Once you have cut and pasted all your notes onto sheets with headings, review the
information gathered on each question.
• Review your organized notes to see if you can identify any emerging patterns that confirm
or refute any of your assumptions about the research question—for example, “Most
participants said ____;” “Some participants felt ___;” “Just a few participants said ___.”
• Write a summary of the major findings for that question and, if possible, include some
participant quotes supporting the finding(s).
• Decide if you need to add, change, or delete any questions in your discussion guide.
Remember not to automatically discount things that were mentioned by only a few people
or that you had not expected to hear. If you suspect that there is an important underlying
reason for a comment, then include questions about it in the discussion guide so you can
confirm the finding next time.
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