8310 Dis 2 week 6

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Major Assignment 2: The Analysis and Interpretation of Qualitative Data

Overview and Guidelines

Overview The purpose of this Major Assignment is to immerse you in the qualitative research process. The process includes hands-on opportunities for you to collect, organize, analyze, and interpret qualitative data. This qualitative research process begins with some items that have already been identified for you:

1. The research topic for this effort is the meaning of social change for Walden graduate students. You have been examining videos and reading about social change as part of the course study.

2. The knowledge you have gained plus your reflections on the meaning of social change will form the beginning of the inquiry. That is, the research question you will explore is “What is the meaning of social change for Walden graduate students?”

3. The description of your efforts of gathering, organizing and analyzing data will form the basis of your methods section. And, the results of those efforts—the analysis and interpretation of those data—will be summarized.

This Major Assignment 2 is composed of four parts, each of which will be completed over six weeks. These parts include: Part 1: Introduction; Part 2: Role of the Researcher; Part 3: Results; and Part 4: Trustworthiness and Summary. Major Assignment 2 Schedule The following table indicates a completion date timeline for each part of your Major Assignment 2.

Week Assignment Completion Date

Week 1 Overview Day 7 Week 2 N/A N/A Week 3 N/A N/A Week 4 N/A N/A Week 5 Major Assignment 2: Part 1 Suggested

completion Day 7 Week 6 Major Assignment 2: Part 2 Suggested

completion Day 7 Week 7 Major Assignment 2: Part 3 N/A Week 8 Major Assignment 2: Part 3 Continuation N/A

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Week Assignment Completion Date

Week 9 Major Assignment 2: Part 3 Continuation Suggested completion Day 7

Week 10 Major Assignment 2: Part 4 and Final Submission Day 7 Week 11 N/A N/A

Week 1: Overview Activity For this week, you will review the Major Assignment 2 Overview and Guidelines and begin preparing for this Major Assignment. To prepare for this Major Assignment 2: • Review the Yob and Brewer (2015) article related to social change found in this

week’s Learning Resources and consider how you can prepare yourself for social change through your research.

• Consider the research topic of the meaning of social change for Walden graduate students as well as the research question for this Major Assignment, “What is the meaning of social change for Walden graduate students?”

No Assignment submission due this week. Submit your Major Assignment 2: The Analysis and Interpretation of Qualitative Data by Day 7 of Week 10. Week 5: Part 1 Activity For this week’s Major Assignment 2, you will complete Part 1. Part 1: Introduction 1. Write a background statement of approximately 1–2 pages that includes:

a. What you have learned about social change as a social issue. b. What you have learned about social change as a research problem. Support your

insights with academic citations from the Learning Resources. c. Describe the gap that your study will address.

2. From the gap, create a brief purpose statement that is aligned with the following research question: What is the meaning of social change for Walden graduate students?

No Assignment submission for this week. Submit Parts 1, 2 (completed in Week 6), 3 (completed in Weeks 7–9), and 4 (completed in Week 10) of your Major Assignment 2 by Day 7 of Week 10. Looking Ahead

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In Week 7, you will conduct a phone interview with an individual you have selected as a participant for your Major Assignment 2. Select a colleague in this course or another Walden student. You will need to set up the interview and then conduct your interview during Week 7. Please note that you will need to record your interview for transcription, so plan accordingly. Note: Before you conduct your interview, complete the Week 7 Discussion 1 to prepare for the interview. You will use the Interview Guide Instructions and the Interview Guide Example (questions) for this interview. You can locate these documents in the Week 7 Learning Resources. Week 6: Part 2 Activity For this part of your Major Assignment, you will complete Part 2: Role of the Researcher, along with other tasks that need to be completed. To prepare for this Assignment: • Complete the coding for your first Scholar of Change video. You began coding this

video in Week 5. Be sure to incorporate feedback and ideas from the Week 5 Discussion 1.

• Complete the coding for your second Scholar of Change video. You will use the same process as the first Scholar of Change video you coded. Be sure to incorporate feedback and ideas from this week’s Discussion 2.

• Consider your role as a qualitative researcher and begin writing Part 2 of this Major Assignment.

Part 2: Role of the Researcher • Review your field notes, etc., written during each aspect of the data collection

process, and examine your role and experience and how that is shaping your experience (reflexivity).

• Describe the roles you are playing in this research effort (i.e., a graduate student, classmate, interviewer, etc.).

• Identify any ethical issues that could or did arise during the data collection processes (i.e., these could include doing a study within one’s own work environment, conflict of interest, or power differentials).

No Assignment submission for this week. Submit Parts 1 (completed in Week 5), 2 (completed in Week 6), 3 (completed in Weeks 7–9), and 4 (completed in Week 10) of your Major Assignment 2 by Day 7 of Week 10. Looking Ahead

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In Week 7, you will conduct a phone interview with an individual you have selected as a participant for your Major Assignment 2. Select a colleague in this course or another Walden student. You will need to set up the interview and then conduct your interview during Week 7. Please note that you will need to record your interview for transcription, so plan accordingly. Note: Before you conduct your interview, complete the Week 7 Discussion 1 to prepare for the interview. You will use the Interview Guide Instructions and the Interview Guide Example (questions) for this interview. You can locate these documents in the Week 7 Learning Resources. Week 7: Part 3 Activity For this part of your Major Assignment, you will complete Part 3: Results, as well as conduct your phone interview. Note: Before you conduct your interview, make sure you have completed your Discussion 1 for this week. To prepare for this Assignment: • Review the Interview Guide Instructions and the Interview Guide Example found in

this week’s Learning Resources, and use these questions for your interview. • Conduct your phone interview with your colleague from this course or another

Walden student you selected. • Make sure to record your phone interview for your transcription. (Note: It will be

important for you to notify your interviewee that the interview will be recorded for transcription purposes prior to conducting the interview.)

• Review the media programs in this week’s Learning Resources related to coding and consider how you will code the data you have gathered for your Major Assignment 2.

• Once you conduct your phone interview, begin to transcribe and code your interview. Once you complete your phone interview, continue with the Part 3: Results section of your Major Assignment 2. You will continue to work through your Part 3: Results section in Weeks 7–9. Part 3: Results During this course, you have coded your two Scholars of Change videos, you have conducted and coded your phone interview, and you have gathered data from the Walden social change website and any other documents or websites you might have included. For this Part 3 of your Major Assignment 2, you will write up the results of your findings. You will include the following sections in your write-up: A. Data Sources—briefly describe each data source including location, duration of data

collection, how data were recorded, and unusual circumstances. • Two Scholars of Change videos • One phone interview

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• Resources from the Walden social change website B. Instrumentation—briefly describe the type of instrumentation you used for your data

collection. • Who developed each data collection tool and what is the date of

publication? • Where and with which participant group has it been used previously? • How appropriate is it for current study and include whether modifications

will be or were needed? C. Data Analysis—based on the data sources in “A.”, provide a detailed analysis to

include the following: • Report the process used to move inductively from coded units to larger

representations including categories and themes. • Describe the specific codes, categories, and themes that emerged from the

data using quotations as needed to emphasize their importance. 1. 1st cycle—describe, give examples. 2. 2nd cycle—describe, give examples/moving from codes to categories. 3. Identify themes—provide examples and illustrate your results with a figure or a

chart.

No Assignment submission for this week. Submit Parts 1 (completed in Week 5), 2 (completed in Week 6), 3 (completed in Weeks 7–9), and 4 (completed in Week 10) of your Major Assignment 2 by Day 7 of Week 10. Week 8: Part 3 Continuation Activity For this Major Assignment 2, you will continue to transcribe and code the transcript from your phone interview in Week 7. You also will continue your work on the Part 3 Results section of your Major Assignment 2. To prepare for this Assignment:

• Review the readings and the media programs in this week’s Learning Resources related to coding and analyzing the data.

Part 3: Results During this course, you have coded your two Scholars of Change videos, you have conducted and coded your phone interview, and you have gathered data from the Walden social change website and any other documents or websites you might have included. For this Part 3 of your Major Assignment 2, you will write up the results of your findings. You will include the following sections in your write-up:

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A. Data Sources—briefly describe each data source including location, duration of data collection, how data were recorded, and unusual circumstances. • Two Scholars of Change videos • One phone interview • Resources from the Walden social change website • Describe the use of analytic memos in data analysis

B. Instrumentation—briefly describe the type of instrumentation you used for your data

collection. • Who developed each data collection tool and what is the date of

publication? • Where and with which participant group has it been used previously? • How appropriate is it for current study and include whether modifications

will be or were needed? C. Data Analysis—based on the data sources in “A.”, provide a detailed analysis to

include the following: • Report the process used to move inductively from coded units to larger

representations including categories and themes. • Describe the specific codes, categories, and themes that emerged from the

data using quotations as needed to emphasize their importance. 1. 1st cycle—describe, give examples.

2. 2nd cycle—describe give examples/moving from codes to categories. 3. Identify themes—provide examples and illustrate your results with a figure or a

chart. No Assignment submission for this week. Submit Parts 1 (completed in Week 5), 2 (completed in Week 6), 3 (completed in Weeks 7–9), and 4 (completed in Week 10) of your Major Assignment 2 by Day 7 of Week 10. Week 9: Part 3 Continuation Activity For this Major Assignment 2, you will continue your work on the Part 3, Results section. Specifically, you will begin your analysis and prepare your presentation of your results from your three data sources. The three data sources include: • Two Scholars of Change videos • One phone interview • Resources from the Walden social change website Analyze and prepare your presentation of results from your three data sources. Also, part of your analysis is to create categories and themes of your findings. To prepare for this Assignment:

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• Review this week’s Learning Resources to guide you as you analyze and prepare your presentation of results.

• Analyze the three data sources to create categories and themes of your findings o Two Scholars of Change videos o Phone interview o Resources from the Walden social change website

• Once you have completed your analysis, prepare your presentation of results from your three data sources.

Part 3: Results During this course, you have coded your two Scholars of Change videos, you have conducted and coded your phone interview, and you have gathered data from the Walden social change website and any other documents or websites you might have included. For this Part 3 of your Major Assignment 2, you will write up the results of your findings. You will include the following sections in your write-up: A. Data Sources—briefly describe each data source including location, duration of data

collection, how data were recorded, and unusual circumstances. • Two Scholars of Change videos • One phone interview • Resources from the social change website

B. Instrumentation—briefly describe the type of instrumentation you used for your data

collection. • Who developed each data collection tool and what is the date of

publication? • Where and with which participant group has it been used previously? • How appropriate is it for current study and include whether modifications

will be or were needed? C. Data Analysis—based on the data sources in “A.”, provide a detailed analysis to

include the following: • Report the process used to move inductively from coded units to larger

representations including categories and themes. • Describe the specific codes, categories, and themes that emerged from the

data using quotations as needed to emphasize their importance. 1. 1st cycle—describe, give examples.

2. 2nd cycle—describe give examples/moving from codes to categories. 3. Identify themes—provide examples and illustrate your results with a figure or a

chart.

No Assignment submission for this week. Submit Parts 1 (completed in Week 5), 2 (completed in Week 6), 3 (completed in Weeks 7–9), and 4 (completed in Week 10) of your Major Assignment 2 by Day 7 of Week 10.

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Week 10: Part 4 Activity For this Major Assignment 2, you will finalize your analysis in your Part 3: Results section, and finalize your presentation of results from of the different data sources. You will also complete the Part 4: Trustworthiness and Summary section to finalize your Major Assignment 2. To prepare for this Assignment: • Review the social change articles found in this week’s Learning Resources. Part 4: Trustworthiness and Summary D. Trustworthiness—summarize across the different data sources and respond to the

following: • What themes are in common? • What sources have different themes? • Explain the trustworthiness of your findings, in terms of:

o Credibility o Transferability o Dependability strategies o Confirmability

E. Summary • Based on the results of your analyses, how would you answer the question: “What is

the meaning of social change for Walden graduate students?” • Self-Reflection—Has your own understanding of you as a positive social change

agent changed? Explain your reasoning. • Based on your review of the three articles on social change, which one is aligned

with your interests regarding social change and why? By Day 7 Submit Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 of your Major Assignment 2.