ABSTRACT
By this point in your research, you have formulated a well-focused research question and presumably completed your literature review. You have also started gathering data by using at least one of the research tools we discussed in the previous two chapters. In other words, you have begun gathering information that addresses your question from a variety of sources. As a result, you are well on your way to accumulating the pile of transcriptions, observation notes, and/or artifacts and research notes that are at the center of the next step in this process: analyzing data. The task of sitting down to look at all of this material can seem daunting. You might ask yourself: How can I make sense of all the material I’ve gathered? How will I ever have the time or energy to look at it all? Do I even have enough material? Where will all the reading I did for my literature review fit in? Will others agree with or even find my analysis useful?
