Russel-Research-Method-in-Anthropology

Field Notes: How to Take Them, Code Them, Manage Them 409
qualitative than things, so this is what qualitative database management is
really about.
Local newspapers are a great source of data about communities, but once
you start clipping all the interesting stories, you quickly wind up with hundreds
of pieces. Just number them and code them for the topics that are germane
to your research. Then, later, you can ask the database: ‘‘Which clippings
are about property disputes between siblings?’’
Relational Database Systems
All the database examples I’ve given you so far are for flat files, which
means that the data are in a single table. Suppose you do 50 semistructured
interviews. A 2-hour interview typically produces about 30 pages of transcribed,
double-spaced text. If you code, on average, five chunks of text on
each page, you’ll wind up with
50 (informants) 30 (pages) 5 (chunks) 7,500
records in a flat file database—one record for each chunk.
Now, suppose that one of the things you code for is whether a particular
chunk of text is about the informant’s experience with migration. And suppose
you want to ask the database: ‘‘Which pieces of the texts are about migration
and about women who are married and under 30 years of age?’’ Table 14.2
TABLE 14.2
A Flat File Database
Code 1
Person Sex Age Chunk Married Migration Code 2 Code 3 Code 4
Josefa R. 2 22 1 Y Y
Josefa R. 2 22 2 Y N
Josefa R. 2 22 3 Y N
Josefa R. 2 22 . Y N
Josefa R. 2 22 . Y Y
Josefa R. 2 22 148 Y N
Roberto M. 1 47 1 N N
Roberto M. 1 47 2 N N
Roberto M. 1 47 3 N N
Roberto M. 1 47 . N N
Roberto M. 1 47 . N N
Roberto M. 1 47 160 N N