The final stage of data analysis ‘mapping and interpretation’ is where the detection of patterns leads to the developing of explanations (Spencer, Ritchie and O’Connor, 2003). Engaging in the different stages of the Framework process Ied me to identify patterns that related to ‘purpose’ as the future orientated foci of aspects of the data and ‘meaning’ as the value attributed by residents to experiences that they had gained. In the analytical memo I called this ’Vector’ coding. I based this on the concept of the direction of forces in physics in which vector diagrams are constructed to portray the direction of forces e.g. movement and gravity.
As a result of the final stage of data analysis I revisited the conceptual frameworks that had guided early stages of the study. Using the themes of the analytical framework and by looking for patterns an explanatory account of the data was developed. This is represented in the final version of the conceptual framework of meaning and purpose in care home (nursing) life.
Frameworks are a conceptual and contextual form which impose order on the realm of people’s experience (Cooperrider and Srivastva, 1987 and Cooperrider 2013). The findings of this study resulted in the development of the final version of the conceptual framework of how to enhance meaning and purpose in Care home life. This framework evolved in accordance with Cooperrider and Srivasta’s (1987) recommendation that frameworks should not only highlight the parameters of the topic but also focus attention on particular phenomena or meaning. The latter stage of following the analytical hierarchy of the Framework Approach involved moving from a descriptive account to the development of an explanatory account by identifying patterns of association within the data (Spencer et al., 2003).
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The earlier versions of the conceptual framework were version 1, the conceptual framework that was derived from the literature (Fig 8) and version 2b which was used as the thematic framework for the process of data analysis (Fig 9).
1 approach to life
2 spiritual connections
3 end of life
4 features of care home life
Fig 8: Conceptual framework version 1 derived from the literature Sense of
self2
Philosophy
for living1 Ability to
skilfully confront mortality3 Care giving environment4 Living through adversity1 Faith in God2 Legacy3 Staff4 Embracing life1 Connecting with others2 Sources of strength4
Meaning and purpose
Creating a work4
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At the end of data analysis, I further developed the final conceptual framework to represent the explanatory account of the findings (Spencer et al., 2003) (Fig 10). These were data driven concepts that are more informative than the phrases that I used as heuristic devices earlier in the study to summarise the data constructed with residents. The earlier phrases were ‘care of the human spirit’, ‘broken bodies-vibrant spirit’s and ‘stories of wholeness’. The third and final version of the conceptual framework includes the overarching concepts of optimising potential and creating opportunities to flourish.
Resident(s)
Staff
Physical setting Valuing identity Dynamics of relationships Component of care Focus of activities167
Fig 10: Final version of conceptual framework
Where meaning and purpose represent the existential nature of life focussed on in this study; optimising potential and creating opportunities to flourish represents the focus of practical approaches to enhance meaning and purpose in residents’ lives. The final conceptual framework includes the five different aspects of care home (nursing) life whereby optimisation of residents’ potential and opportunities for residents to flourish can be created: Physical setting, Valuing of identity, Dynamics of relationships, Focus of activities, Component of care .
The order in which the aspects of care home life are presented in the conceptual framework reflects the order advocated to ‘cultivate an appreciative literacy…finding values and visions in ordinary daily life’ (Cooperrider 2013, pg17). Cooperrider and Srivastva (1987) described how such frameworks provide presumptions of logic, helping to ‘shape common expectations of causality, sequence and relational
Opportunities to flourish M e a ning in li fe Optimise Potential Purpose in life Physical setting Valuing of identity Dynamics of relationships Focus of activities Component of care
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importance of phenomena’ (pg 139). Therefore, the five aspects of care home life that provide ways of enhancing meaning and purpose in care home life are presented in the following order for presentation purposes.
1) Physical setting is positioned first as living in the physical building of the care home had a significant impact of meaning and purpose in the residents lives. This is one of the main features of the residents’ present lives that has changed
2) Valuing identity is positioned next to acknowledge the residents’ endeavours to
enhance meaning and purpose in their lives; their endeavours were grounded in who they saw themselves as being.
3) Dynamics of relationships follows as the residents are living in a communal setting with resulting relationships with others in this setting e.g. staff and other residents
4) The focus of activities was a concern of many residents. This was impacted by the physical setting, their identity, the dynamics of relationships and the component of care.
5) The component of care was an inherent part of the other four aspects presented and reflects the contribution of the actions of staff designed to provide care and support for residents; as part of the resident’s experience of life in a care home.
Miles, Huberman and Saldaña (2014) suggest that ‘displays can be used to construct explanations for inter-relationships, change and causation’ (pg 221). Identification of ‘the direction of influence among sets of variables’ is recommended by Miles and Huberman and Saldaña (2014 pg 242). On reviewing the data that had been coded using the five themes, I noted that the residents’ experience often related to the ‘direction’ of these aspects of their life. By ‘direction’ I mean whether an aspect of care home life was future orientated e.g. whether it promoted personal development of skills, knowledge and life experience. I addeda forward direction arrow to the data analysis records to denote aspects of residents’ experience that were future orientated or that supported on-going development of residents’ knowledge and skills (Fig 10). Similar annotations are used in mathematics and physics to represent the vectors of movement. This represents purpose in their lives and as such provides a clearer account of purpose in life than found in some of the definitions of purpose in life reviewed in Chapter 2.
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Where residents evaluated the value of their experience I denoted this with a downward arrow. Similar annotations are used in mathematics and physics to represent the vector of weight. I therefore identified this aspect of data analysis to be ‘vector coding’. This represents an evolution in data analysis from data organised in a matrix format. As such this stage of data analysis is congruent with established conventions of progressing towards explanation of the data. (Fig 10)
This approach to data analysis enabled the development of the findings of the study so that the data could be used to answer the research questions of the study in terms of how meaning and purpose in the lives of the residents could be enhanced. This stage of the framework analysis process involved revisiting the matrices constructed in the earlier stage of analysis. Analysis of the data had resulted in the identification of the physical setting, valuing identity, dynamics of relationships, focus of activities: restoration or maintenance and the component of care. The future orientated direction of aspects of care home life that enhanced purpose in residents’ lives and the
evaluation of the value of these aspects of care home life that enhanced meaning in residents’ lives had been identified.
In the final stage of analysis an explanatory account was developed in response to the research question of the study ‘How can meaning and purpose in the lives of care home residents be enhanced?’ The aim of the final stage of mapping and interpretation is to move beyond data management toward understanding it by finding patterns and articulating one’s own sense making of the data, in the light of the research question (Parkinson, Eatough, Holmes, Stapley and Midgley 2016). This is described by Ritchie and Spencer (1994) as pulling together key characteristics of the data to map and interpret the data set as a whole. This process can involves the description and clarification of concepts, representing the range and nature of phenomena within the data, establishing relationships and developing data driven explanations for these (Ritchie and Spencer 1994 and Parkinson et al. 2016).
By engaging in this final aspect of mapping and interpretation the concepts of
opportunities to flourish and optimising potential were identified as a unifying concept of the findings. In order to ensure that this was supported by the data, I revisited the data display matrices for the themes of physical setting, valuing identity, dynamics of relationships, focus of activities (restoration or maintenance) and component of care.
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The extent to which opportunities to flourish and optimising potential were evident in the individually constructed data varied. However, the concept was evident in each residents’ accounts and in the focus group data. This movement back down the analytic hierarchy is supported by Spencer, Ritchie and O’Connor (2003 pg 213) who recommend that ‘as explanations are developed there is a constant need to visit the original or synthesised data’. I revisited the data synthesised under the headings of the themes of the thematic framework from residents and staff to reflect on how much sense the final conceptual framework was making in terms of representing the original material (Spencer, Ritchie and O’Connor, 2003). The findings of how optimising residents’ potential and the creation of opportunities to flourish can enhance meaning and purposewere therefore generated from data constructed with residents and staff. At this stage in the study the conceptual framework had been further developed and was used to answer the research questions (Ravitch and Riggan, 2017).
Reflecting on decision making during data analysis
In this section the decisions that I made during each stage of the analysis are presented in order to ensure that the process of analysis and abstraction are transparent. The analytic hierarchy of the Framework approach can appear to be a mechanical process with the analyst making obvious conceptualisations and connections. In reality while being a systematic and disciplined process it also ‘relies on the creative and conceptual ability of the analyst to determine meaning, salience and connections’ (Ritchie and Spencer, 1994 pg 177). Throughout the process of analysis I reflected on the impact of decisions I was making. This included reflections on the three different approaches to analysis outlined by Chase (2005):
The researcher’s supportive voice
The researcher’s interactive voice
The researcher’s authoritative voice
Although these approaches were suggested by Chase (2005) with reference to narrative analysis, I found the concepts useful for guiding my reflections on how I was undertaking the analysis. This was congruent with the appreciative inquiry ‘poetic’, ‘anticipatory’ and ‘constructionist’ principles. I was mindful that my role in the process
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of data analysis meant that my voice was continuing to contribute to the narrative that had started being co-authored during data construction (poetic principle). Through the process of data analysis I was conscious of distilling the data in a manner that reflected the discourse that had been constructed in both care homes (anticipatory principle). The process of data analysis was undertaken according to the constructionist principle
in that the data reflected the subjective nature of reality.
In the earlier stages of the study I used the supportive voice and the interactive voice. I consciously used the supportive voice to ensure that the participants’ stories were
heard through the process of data construction. I used the interactive voice by reflecting on the decisions that I was making so that I was mindful of how I was interpreting the data (Chase 2005 pg 666). I also met with the participants during the early stages of data analysis and presented the early versions of data analysis to them for comment. Towards the later stages of the data analysis process I made greater use of the researcher’s authoritative voice; in that I was the only person involved in the process of data analysis at this stage. Thisreflects the position that the researcher has different interests than the participants by making visible taken for granted features of everyday life. This was partly as a result of time limitations. A considerable amount of time had been taken undertaking the appreciative inquiry cycle in each care home. An equally significant amount of time was required to undertake the data analysis and interpretation. Although training and supporting the residents and staff in data analysis would have been time consuming the benefits would have been the incorporation of their voices throughout the study.
Chapter summary
In this chapter I have presented howI used the Framework Analysis approach (Ritchie and Lewis 1994, 2003). Throughout this process I considered the themes of the literature review and the conceptual framework that I had constructed from the literature (see Chapter 2). This meant that I was able to identify a framework for undertaking data analysis. The framework for data analysis included:
Physical setting
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Focus of activity: restoration or maintenance
Dynamics of relationships
Component of care
These themes were used to construct the findings of the study that also included the overarching concepts of:
Opportunities to flourish
Optimising potential.
The findings that resulted from engaging in this process of data analysis are presented in the following two chapters.
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