The process of analysing my recorded interview involved making a decision of what approach to take with regards to the method I chose. Analysing ethnographic and qualitative research data often happens at the same time as data collection. During the process you return to the data often and each time you do, you go more in depth and uncover new findings. It is a process that requires a lot of time for review and reflection.

There are a few ways to analyse qualitative data:

• Content analysis – what are the participants saying?
• Thematic analysis – what themes/topics are being discussed?
• Discourse analysis – how are people saying things? What words/language is used?

I will be breaking up the interview into four main elements in order to analyse the data and present my findings:

1. Focus questions related to specific elements of the research question
2. Identifying and coding themes/categories
3. Comparing participants responses
4. Linking themes/responses to existing theory
5. Interpretation – what does the data mean?

Focus questions:

• How are black academics with disabilities currently represented in educational settings?
• How is disability perceived by myself?
• How is disability perceived by the participants?
• What impact could an increased visibility have on students?
• Does the qualitative data support the views of the participants?

Coding themes/categories that I have identified so far:

• Relationships
• Memories
• Associations
• Language
• Stereotypes
• Emotions
• Behavior
• Conciousness
• Perspective
• Acknowledgement
• Spectrum
• Attitudes
• Coping mechanisms
• Visibility
• Stigmas
• Vulnerability

These are the main categories that I have drawn from my initial primary coding of the data so far. I will be looking at each one and determining their importance and meaning within the context of this research project. These codes will then be coded again to create higher level themes within the data – the process is much like breaking down everything into blocks and then building those blocks back up again to create a more complex picture.

Comparing participants responses:

Participant responses can be compared in several ways such as separately by question, topic or time period. Each response can then also be reviewed and compared holistically and similarities/differences can be identified between the individual responses.

Linking themes/responses to existing theory:

I will be looking at the themes that I have identified and exploring whether or not there are any patterns or links to existing theories. Do the participants’ responses agree or disagree with any of the evidence collected from the quantitative data?

Interpretation:

What does the data actually mean and how can it inform my conclusions? Is it even possible for me to come to a solid conclusion based on the analysis of this data alone? 

There is no one specific way to analyse qualitative data – as stated at the beginning, the more you return to it, the more you uncover. Each time the data is looked at, new patterns emerge which can lead to different conclusions and interpretations. 

References:

FitzGerald, E., 2012. Analysing video and audio data: existing approaches and new innovations. [online] Available at: www.researchgate.net/publication/236616317_Analysing_video_and_audio_data_existing_approaches_and_new_innovations [Accessed 14 March 2021].

Knoblauch, H. and Schnettler, B., 2012. Videography: analysing video data as a ‘focused’ ethnographic and hermeneutical exercise. Qualitative Research Journal, pp.334–356.

Lacković, N., 2018. Analysing videos in educational research: an “Inquiry Graphics” approach for multimodal, Peircean semiotic coding of video data. Video Journal of Education and Pedagogy,.

Saldaña, J., 2009. The coding manual for qualitative researchers. 1st ed. Sage.

The analysis workshop led me to think of all the different ways I need to approach my own analysis of my research interview and how it relates to the research question. My question calls for an open discussion on personal thoughts and preconceived ideas, so I’m very mindful of how I use the information gathered to present my thoughts and findings.

The interviews took place on Saturday 13th March 2021 and the participants were asked to share their thoughts on the research question. They were both sent 3 questions in advance to think about and prepare them for the session.

Although both participants know me well, I think there was definitely a little in trepidation at the start and I think this was due to them both being aware of how important the project is to me. I reassured them both that the conversation would be very relaxed and open and that there was nothing to worry about. It was interesting to see though, because I have very open and honest relationships with both participants, so perhaps it was the setting (via Zoom) or some other factor that made them both feel a bit more uptight at first.

I had sent the prompt questions in advance, but unfortunately neither of them had had a chance to go through them properly, but this may not have been such a bad thing as it meant their thoughts and responses were not rehearsed. I was happy to remind them both of the questions and the discussion flowed well. It was very interesting hearing what their perceptions of ‘disabled’ were and also hearing their perceptions of my own disability, as this is a topic I have spoken about with them both separately, but never in front of other people.

Both participants shared with me what they thought of when presented with the word disabled and the reasons for thinking that way:

“So yeah, I think the simple answer when I hear the word ‘disability’, the first thing that comes to my mind is a wheelchair – mainly because over the years, decades, when you hear the word ‘disabled’ it’s always the wheelchair icon represented that means disabled and maybe anything else isn’t seen as disabled. But I think maybe they’ve chosen that because it’s probably the most visual, easiest one to kind of, share, possibly?” 01:50 – 02:16

“When I think about disability I think about something that was the kind of, reality of when we were young. I’m now close to, y’know, a couple of years to being 50, so in the 70’s when you thought about disability, you thought about ‘wheelchair’, yeah?” 03:02 – 03:25

When asked about their thoughts on my own physical disability, both participants had similar responses:

“When I met you, the first thing that I thought of, y’know was, I saw your hand – I’m not gonna pretend I didn’t see your hand. I saw your hand, but when I saw your hand, I didn’t think, “Oh, I’m talking to a woman with a disability” I just didn’t think that. It was something that you brought, it was a word that you brought into the conversation as I got to know you, but I never thought of that.” 04:02 – 04:28

“We can laugh about it and talk about it coz, y’know, it’s what you do. You can’t change anything about it. You have to own it. I think that the more you own, when someone has a disability, the more you own the disability, it doesn’t define you.” 12:17 – 12:26

One of the participants also lives with a speech impediment, which led us to discuss the spectrum of disability and what people actually perceive to be one. When asked about the representation of black people with disabilities in his workplace, he initially said there was none, but then commented that perhaps he was the representation – a comment that threw me a little because I have never perceived a speech impediment to be a disability.

“I don’t see disability around the workplace much anyway, so having the disabled representation in the first place layered in with different ethnic groups, it’s brought down even more, but I know the focus of this conversation is to do with being black and disabled, so the answer is I haven’t seen it – unless I am the black person with a disability in the workplace.” 23:59-24:22

Overall, the discussion went well and opened up conversations that were continued after the recording ended. I am looking forward to analysing the recording in more detail and possibly taking some of the points raised into further discussions, both in the teaching environment and my own art practice.