PhD Workshop: Emergent theorising from qualitative data: finding, framing, and funnelling

This interactive workshop is aimed at doctoral students and early-career researchers working with qualitative data from any source, including interviews, ethnographic observations, archival data and social media. It addresses the vexing issue of how to frame such data theoretically and proceed through what is often (and often erroneously) called an ‘abductive’ process. We will start by refreshing knowledge on some common approaches to qualitative data analysis (thematic analysis, grounded theorising etc), but we will also discuss some less frequently used analytical approaches, including those labelled as ‘post-qualitative’. We will then proceed to discuss how to find suitable theoretical framings for these data, how to use these framings on particular data sets, and how to funnel the often large quantities of qualitative data into diverse theoretical ‘buckets’.

As this workshop will provide some opportunities for ‘hands-on’ exploration, participants are encouraged to bring their own datasets for experimentation or, alternatively, to create a small dataset (for instance through searches of news databases) for the purpose of this workshop. The workshop will end with a data analysis clinic, where the presenter will make herself available for individual questions and discussions.