The role of analytic direction in qualitative research

BACKGROUND: The literature on qualitative data analysis mostly concerns analyses pertaining to an individual research question and the organization of data within that research question. Few authors have written about the entire qualitative dataset from which multiple and separate analyses could be conducted and reported. The concept of analytic direction is a strategy that can assist qualitative researchers in deciding which findings to highlight within a dataset. The objectives of this paper were to: 1) describe the importance of analytic direction in qualitative research, and 2) provide a working example of the concept of analytic direction. METHODS: A qualitative dataset from one of the author’s research programs was selected for review. Ten potential analytic directions were identified after the initial phenomenological analysis was conducted. Three analytic directions based on the same coding template but different content areas of the data were further developed using phenomenological analysis (n = 2) and qualitative description (n = 1) and are the focus of this paper. Development and selection of these three analytic directions was determined partially relying on methodological criteria to promote rigour including a comprehensive examination of the data, the use of multiple analysts, direct quotations to support claims, negative case analysis, and reflexivity. RESULTS: The three analytic directions addressed topics within the scope of the overall research question. Each analytic direction had its own central point or story line and each highlighted a different perspective or voice. The use of an inductive and deductive approach to analysis and how the role of theory was integrated varied in each analytic direction. CONCLUSIONS: The concept of analytic direction enables researchers to organize their qualitative datasets in order to tell different and unique “stories”. The concept relies upon, and promotes, the conduct of rigourous qualitative research.