Project Summary: Application Data Collection Mini-Project This week, you will submit the data collection Mini-Project that you began in Week 6 and continued in Week 8. You will describe your data collection tool, analyze the results, and evaluate its effectiveness. This Mini-Project will prepare you for your Qualitative Research Plan (Final Project). To prepare for this Application: Compile your responses to the Applications in Weeks 6 and 8. Consider the effectiveness of the data collection tool you tested. The assignment: Craft a 4- to 5-page paper in which you do the following: o Present your research questions. o Indicate what data collection tool you selected (observation or interview) and why. o Explain what data analysis strategy or strategies was/were the most appropriate for your research questions and data. o Describe the themes and patterns from the results. o Evaluate the effectiveness of the tool you tested. o Include your data collection tool as an appendix. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Introduction As you analyze your qualitative data, patterns, relationships, and themes will begin to emerge; the trick for the qualitative researcher is identifying them. This week, you will use the data that you gathered from your test data-collection tool to practice drawing conclusions from your data. Learning Outcomes By the end of this week, you will be able to: Compare predictions about themes and patterns in data to results Evaluate the effectiveness of a data collection tool _____________________________________________________________________________________ Required Resources Course Text: Qualitative Data Analysis: A Methods Sourcebook o Chapter 10, "Drawing and Verifying Conclusions," pp. 277293 In this excerpt from Chapter 10, you will review tactics for generating meaning, such as noting patterns and themes, clustering, counting, making contrasts and comparisons, factoring, noting relations between variables, and building a logical chain of evidence. Course Text: Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches o Chapter 8, "Data Analysis and Representation" This chapter reviews concepts involving data analysis and representation, including analysis strategies and analysis within approaches to inquiry. Course Text: Patton, M. Q. (2015). Qualitative research & evaluation methods (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. o Chapter 8, "Qualitative Analysis and Interpretation" In this chapter, you will learn about concepts of qualitative analysis and interpretation, including organizing data, computer-assisted data management, logical analysis, interpreting findings, special analytical issues and frameworks, and reporting findings. This reading is a review from Week 8. Research Toolkits Handouts o Walden Dissertation Rubric Available from http://researchcenter.waldenu.edu/ The Dissertation Rubric is a Word document linked in the section for PhD Dissertation Process and Documents. o Walden Qualitative Dissertations This document directs you to dissertations in the Walden Library that use a variety of qualitative approaches and disciplines. _________________________________________________________________________________