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EdD in Educational Leadership: Analyze Data

This EdD in Educational Leadership Libguide lists various helpful information sources and resources for students, faculty, and staff in the doctoral program at Manhattanville University. Click on a tab below to access information within that topic area.

Data Analysis Programs

“Analysis of data reduces them to a more manageable form that permits ethnographers to tell a story about the people or group that is the focus of their research” (LeCompte & Schensul, 1999, p. 2). In fact, this definition can be applied across the wide spectrum of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research since data analysis provides the answers and insights to the research questions posed by the researcher.

The information below offers a brief overview of data analysis, then, the names and short descriptions of a few of the many data analysis tools used by qualitative and quantitative researchers. Discuss the various analysis options with your dissertation chair or doctoral graduates who have used a particular data analysis tool.

LeCompte, M. D., & Schensul, J. J. (1999). Analyzing & interpreting ethnographic data. AltaMira Press.

Question Pro. (2021). Data analysis in research: Why, data, types of data, data analysis in qualitative and quantitative research.  

My thanks to Paula Moskowitz, Head, Library Instruction & Diverse Populations, for her expert assistance in making URLs live links for easy access. 

Education Research Books in the Collection

Articles Pertaining to Data Analysis

Qualitative Research Methods

A basic overview of the categories within which qualitative research fall is below.  These six categories were developed by Jacob (1987) and they show the categories of research widely used in education.  

  • Human Ethology: Understand people's behaviors through observation 
  • Ecological Psychology: Understand people's behavior and their environment (and the interaction between the environment and behaviors) 
  • Holistic Ethnography: Understand culture and participants' perspectives through participant observation
  • Cognitive Anthropologists: Understand meaning through in-depth interviewing 
  • Ethnography of Communication: Understand verbal and nonverbal interactions 
  • Symbolic Interactionism: Understand how people make meaning through their interactions

Jacob, E. (1987). Qualitative Research Traditions: A Review. Review of Educational Research, 57(1), 1-50.

Marshall, C., & Rossman, G. B. (1989). Designing qualitative research. Newbury Park, California: Sage publications Not owned by Manhattanville .

Main Methods of Data Collection: 

  • Participate in the environment/setting (ex: ethnography) 
  • Observe 
  • Analyze text/documents/culture (ex: content analysis) 
  • Interview (ex focus groups, oral history or in-depth interviewing)

Note: There are many methods of data collection and each has strengths and weaknesses.  For example, in-depth interviews are useful for uncovering participants perspectives, but they are time consuming: 

Adapted from Gumberg Library. Duquesne University. (2022, August 2). Qualitative research methods library guide. https://guides.library.duq.edu/c.php?g=836228&p=5971938

Qualitative Tools

Quantitative Tools