Preliminary Analysis Plan the Essential

¶ … Preliminary Analysis Plan

The essential problem facing any analysis of qualitative data, such as that which will be gathered through case studies of middle school resource officers during the research phase of this endeavor, is presenting scientifically valid and easily interpreted results while retaining the essential human subjectivity that is necessarily a part -- and usually the specifically sought-after part -- of qualitative research (Ambert et al. 1995). The tendency, even in the social and human sciences, is to quantify data even when it is originally qualitative in nature, with distortive effects on interpretation that at best cause inefficiencies in effective actions, and at worst create total misapprehensions of the scenario or circumstance being studied (Ambert et al. 1995). With this in mind, utmost care will be taken in both the analysis and presentation of the data in this study to preserve the individual responses of the resource officers that will be interviewed/surveyed in as specific a manner as possible while maintaining the data's practicality.

That being said, there a certain level of conformity or at least agreement can be expected in the responses gathered from independent resource officers to many of the questions in the proposed research. For example, though individual assessments of job duties and the prioritization of these duties will almost certainly show individual differences from respondent to respondent, there will almost certainly be a great deal of repetition in each respondent's enumeration of their various duties. The data collected in this research can then be at least partially quantified to aid both analysis and presentation, insofar as determining and communicating the general groups within which of the respondents' perceived duties fall, and the strength of these perceptions amongst middle school resource officers as a whole. This could point to areas where increased attention on the part of the resource officers is necessary for curbing violence.

The benefits of quantifying data for the purposes of analysis are readily apparent -- numbers (the basic form of any quantified data) are more easily classified, grouped, and manipulated than qualitative data (Feder 1974). As long as the pitfalls of quantifying essentially qualitative and therefore subjective data are kept in mind and avoided, there is no danger in engaging in such quantification on a limited basis (Ambert et al. 1995). There is also a tendency, brought on primarily by the ease of communication and the perception of the reliability and objectivity of numbers, for readers to trust quantified data more than subjective qualitative responses (Baxter & Eyles 1997). My planned data presentation will take advantage of this fact, hopefully helping to ensure that the results of this research are put to effective and meaningful use as research and policy amendment in this area continues to move forward.

As long as the analysis and the presentation of the data obtained through the interview/survey process remains true to the perspectives of the original respondents, the data and its interpretation remains valid (Gay & Airasian 2000). In addition, Baxter and Eyles (1997) stress that "academic discourse is sufficiently different from lay accounts" and that "the analytic views of 'outsiders' are important for understanding (pg. 505). Preserving the integrity of the respondents' responses to the interview questions will therefore be paramount in any analysis and presentation of the gathered data, even when such analysis/presentation takes place in a quantified manner. Gay & Airasian (2000) also maintain that there is a high need for data obtained through interview to remain descriptive when possible. Much of the important data in this preliminary study will be quantifiable, but other aspects will need to be treated in this more descriptive manner.