The Association for Qualitative Research
The Hub of Qualitative Excellence

Analysis and Interpretation

The process by which sense and meaning are made of the data gathered in qualitative research, and by which the emergent knowledge is applied to clients' problems. This data often takes the form of records of group discussions and interviews, but is not limited to this. Through processes of revisiting and immersion in the data, and through complex activities of structuring, re-framing or otherwise exploring it, the researcher looks for patterns and insights relevant to the key research issues and uses these to address the client's brief.

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