Tuesday, 21 April 2015

The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers, 2^nd Edition,
Johnny Saldana, Sage, 2013, page 37

Saldana writes that this is arguably the most important of the seven attributes: having an extensive vocabulary. Whereas quantitative research depends on numerical accuracy, qualitative research depends on precision in word choice. I do have to be careful, of course, not to assume that my respondents actually use English in the way that I expect! Saldana points to

the subtle interpretive differences between something that 'may', 'could', 'can', probably', 'possibly', 'seemingly' happen and the wide interpretive difference between something that happens 'frequently', 'usually' and 'often'

He recommends an unabridged dictionary and a thesaurus for looking up the origins of key words and then choosing better and more precise words for the analysis. Oxford, here I come ...