Major Assignment : The Analysis and Interpretation of Qualitative Data

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 four weeks. These parts include: Part 1: Introduction; Part 2, Role of the Researcher; Part 3: Results; and Part 4: Summary.

For this week's Major Assignment 2, you will complete Part 1. In this Part 1, you will begin to examine social change from a Walden graduate student perspective, explore positive social change as a research problem, and explore the gap in research.

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?

Discussion 1: Coding Scholar of Change Video #1

In Weeks 1-4, you observed and created field notes for each of the Walden Scholars of Change videos.

Now that you have completed your observations, next you will select one of the Scholars of Change videos to begin the coding process of not only your field notes but also the transcript of the video you downloaded.

To prepare for this Discussion:

• Review the chapters in the Saldaña text found in this week's Learning Resources.

• Review the Introduction to Coding and From Content to Coding media programs in the Learning Resources.

• Refer back to your observational field notes from the Scholars of Change Videos from Weeks 1-4.

• Choose one of the four Scholars of Change videos and refer to your field notes from your observation.

• Access the transcript you downloaded for the media program of the Scholars of Change video you selected for this Discussion.

• Begin to code the transcript and the observational field notes of the Scholar of Change Video you chose. (Note: You will only need one or two codes for this Discussion, although more are acceptable.)

Post a brief description of the video you chose. Next, include an example of one or two codes and provide quotes from your notes or transcript to support your example. Finally, explain your reasoning for this coding.

Be sure to support your main post and response post with reference to the week's Learning Resources and other scholarly evidence in APA style.

Discussion 2: Documents and Website Content as Data Sources for a Qualitative Study

Websites and social media sites can provide important sources of data that will help expand your understanding of the stakeholders who are connected to the phenomena you are exploring.

Walden has devoted an entire website to making visible its actions and activities about social change. At the social change website, you will find videos, annual reports, text, and images. As you explore this data source, consider what text, images, and reports you would like to include as part of your data analysis exercise.

To prepare for this Discussion:

• Choose one of the three social change literature review articles found in this week's Learning Resources and review the article in detail.

• Explore the Walden Social Change website and locate an additional document, video, or webpage that will inform your understanding of the meaning of positive social change. Reflect on any additional sources you find.

• Next, write an analytic memo based on the information you gathered from the Walden social change website and any other documents or websites that might inform your changing impressions about the meaning of positive social change.

• Finally, review the media programs related to coding and consider how you will use this information to support this Discussion.

Note: In your Excel Video Coding template there is a tab for your website data. Use this tab to place your content and codes for the website.

Prepare a brief explanation of your understanding of the meaning of positive social change thus far. Refer to the additional sources you have reviewed this week, and comment on how they are shaping your experience. Use the data you gathered from your analytic memo to support your explanation.

Be sure to support your main post and response post with reference to the week's Learning Resources and other scholarly evidence in APA style.