ABSTRACT
The task of analyzing qualitative evidence can appear to have a “black box” nature to it. Until recently, qualitative theoreticians and researchers have provided little guidance even of a general nature about how to conduct such analyses. To illustrate this point, Miles and Huberman (1984) observed that among those writing about the qualitative approach, “most attention went to issues such as gaining access and avoiding bias during data collection” (p. 16), but not to the details of the actual analysis. This lack of guidance about the details of the method, especially about how to conduct the analyses, did not begin to change until the late 1970s and early 1980s when several texts addressed this issue in more depth (e.g., Bogdan & Biklen, 1982; Guba & Lincoln, 1981; Spradley, 1981). The same lack of detailed guidance on methods was in evidence in the field of communication until the late 1980s when some extended methodological treatments were published (J. A. Anderson, 1987; Pauly, 1991).
