RESEARCH METHOD COHEN ok

COMPUTER USAGE IN CONTENT ANALYSIS 487
Handling stress
Physical
physical action or exercise /
Social
social solidarity, particularly with close
people ///
companionship /
Stage 5: Comment on the groups or results
in stage 4 and review their messages
Once the previous stage has been completed, the
researcher is then in a position to draw attention
to general and specific points, for example:
There is a huge number of causes of stress (give
numbers).
There are very few outlets for stress, so it is
inevitable, perhaps, that stress will accumulate.
Causes of stress are more rooted in personal
factors than any others – management, professional
etc. (give frequencies here).
The demands of the job tend to cause less
stress that other factors (e.g. management),
i.e. people go into the job knowing what to
expect, but the problem lies elsewhere, with
management (give frequencies).
Loss of control is a significant factor (give
frequencies).
Challenges to people and personal integrity/
self-esteem are very stressful (give frequencies).
The nature of stress is complex, with several
interacting components (give frequencies).
Stress is omnipresent.
Not dealing with stress compounds the
problem; dealing with stress compounds the
problem.
The subjective aspects of the nature of stress
are as important as its objective nature (give
frequencies).
The outcomes of stress tend to be personal
rather than outside the person (e.g. systemic or
system-disturbing) (give frequencies).
The outcomes of stress are almost exclusively
negative rather than positive (give frequencies).
The outcomes of stress tend to be felt
non-cognitively, e.g. emotionally and psychologically,
rather than cognitively (give
frequencies).
There are few ways of handling stress
(frequencies), i.e. opportunities for stress
reduction are limited.
The stages of this analysed example embody
several of the issues raised in the preceding
discussion of content analysis, although the
example here does not undertake word counts
or statistical analysis, and, being fair to content
analysis, this could – some would argue even
‘should’ – be a further kind of analysis. What has
happened in this analysis raises several important
issues:
The researcher has looked within and across
categories and groupings for patterns, themes,
generalizations, as well as exceptions, unusual
observations etc.
The researcher has had to decide whether
frequencies are important, or whether an issue
is important even if it is mentioned only once
or a few times.
The researcher has looked for, and reported,
disconfirming as well as confirming evidence
for statements.
The final stage of the analysis is that of
theory generation, to account for what is
being explained about stress. It might also
be important, in further analysis, to try to find
causal relationships here: what causes what and
the directions of causality; it may also be useful
to construct diagrams (with arrows) to show
the directions, strength and positive/negative
nature of stress.
Computer usage in content analysis
LeCompte and Preissle (1993) provide a summary
of ways in which information technology can be
utilized in supporting qualitative research (see
also Tesch 1990). As can be seen from the list
below, its uses are diverse. Data have to be
processed, and as word data are laborious to
process, and as several powerful packages for data
Chapter 23