Which qualitative analysis techniques are most effective at identifying key trends? Why?
When using a qualitative method to identify key trends, the best data collection method is open ended surveys or interviews. These surveys are then compared for common themes. Key trends refer to themes that different time periods have in common that can be watched for change.
These changes can be analyzed to see if the area of interest is improving or if steps need to be taken for improvement (Grebennikov& Shah, 2013).Each evaluator must analyze and create themes from the data that is collected. Then evaluators must compare themes among themselves to determine which themes were most common between all evaluators.
This must be done each time period and the new results can be compared with past results (Carral, 2014). By utilizing the qualitative survey method on a regular (quarterly/yearly) basis, themes can be compared from different time patterns to develop themes that run across time (key trends) using the same questions so comparisons are the same every time.
Reference:
Carral, M. (2014). Focusing on "A Day in the Life": An Activity-Based Method for the Qualitative Analysis of Psychological Phenomena. Qualitative Research In Psychology, 11(3), 298-315.
Grebennikov, L., & Shah, M. (2013). Student Voice: Using Qualitative Feedback from Students to Enhance Their University Experience. Teaching In Higher Education, 18(6), 606-618.