Analyzing Data: Maintaining Rigor in a Qualitative Study

Establishing the rigor of their method is essential for all qualitative researchers. Taking a reflexive approach, this article considers the process of data analysis adopted by a nurse researcher conducting a study into the experiences of informal careers of terminally ill cancer patients. The personal and historical antecedents that led the researcher to use a particular data analysis strategy, drawing on previous academic experience in anthropology and literary criticism, are discussed. An example of how an extract from a poem might be analyzed is compared with how an extract from an interview transcript was analyzed. The rigor of the method is defended by defining the stages of the process, while arguing that there should be room for creativity within data analysis.