Questionnaire data analysis began before interviews took place in order to allow an understanding of the responses to shape those interviews. Further analysis of questionnaire data and the interview transcripts were completed as parallel processes.
Initial analysis and cross-tabulation of data took place in Bristol Online Survey (BOS), which was also used to filter completed questionnaires down to those with fully and correctly completed consent forms (n=44) before export. The exported data was anonymised through removal of names, email addresses and other specific identifying information. Unique numeric identifiers were used to retain connection to BOS source data but pseudonyms were also assigned to each response.
Multiple choice, short text response, and demographic data were analysed and visualised using Microsoft Excel where some responses were normalised (e.g. ensuring all instances of “Facebook”, “FaceBook”, “facebook”, appeared as “Facebook”). Normalised short-form text answers were collated using Excel and used to generate illustrative overviews of the data through Wordle. Anonymised data was also imported into SPSS for further exploration through cross-tabulation of multiple variables and running of Chi-Square tests for significance.
Long form textual answers were explored through more manual processes. Responses to these qualitative questions were copied from BOS and pasted into a Voodoo pad. They were manually analysed for common themes and clustered on sub-pages of the Voodoo pad document. This process, informed by the questioning and exploratory concept of “interactive reading” (Dey 1994) allowed key concepts and trends to emerge from this large text corpus and then be clustered and refined into specific findings. The method revealed trends that had not been previously apparent in reading individual responses, and it allowed the interview transcripts to be reexamined for comparison, particularly around confirmation of trends, contrasting viewpoints, additional context and explanation.
Previous Section: Reflections on the interview process | Next Section: Interview analysis