This presentation (the 3rd of four in our series on this topic) looks at sense-making with open-ended text, for example: survey open-ends, social media text, letters and emails, and other forms of text communication. The webinar highlights a range of approaches that enable the researcher to identify the meaning in the data and construct narratives that enable end-users of the research to utilise the sense-making process.

1. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Finding & Communica-ng the Story
Lesson 3 of 4 (2017 series)
Sense-making with Open-ended Text
Ray Poynter
September 2017

2. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Agenda
1. The context for open-ended text
2. Finding stories with a frameworks approach
3. Linked and Independent text
4. Methods of analysing qual
5. CAQDA
6. Top Tips

3. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Series Schedule – 2017
• How to see the meaning in numbers
31 May
• How to communicate numerical informaKon
5 July
• Sense-making with open-ended text
7 September
• Think, Feel, Do
PresentaKons that change behaviour
9 November

4. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Open-ended Text
Yes
– Survey verbaKms
– Text from online
discussions/groups that
you did not moderate
– SM & blog posts
– LeSers and emails from
customers
Not today
– Images
– Video
– Other artefacts
– Speech
– Face/body
– Your own notes/journals

5. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
The Frameworks Approach
1. Define and frame the problem
2. Establish what is already known
– And, what is believed/expected
3. Organise the data to be analysed
4. Apply systemaKc analysis processes
5. Extract and create the story

6. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Who is the project for? _________________
What is the business issue/problem that is being addressed?
__________________________________________________
What does the business want to do, once it has addressed this issue?
______________________________________________________
What do we already know?
Item Held by: Descrip-on
1 ______ ______ ______________
2 ______ ______ ______________
3 ______ ______ ______________
Assump-ons and predic-ons
Who What
1. ______ ______
2. ______ ______
Simplified

7. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Define the Problem
A problem defined is a problem half-solved
Talk to the client (ideally including end-client)
– What is the background to the research?
– Why is it happening now?
– What does success look like?
– What acKons depend on the findings?
– What do people believe? What do they expect the
results to be?

8. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Use the business ques-on as a lens
• Insights need to link to outcomes and acKon
• What is happening?
• Why is it happening?
• What changes:
– Can I make?
– Can I encourage others to make?

9. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
The Field of Play – Open-ended Text
QuanKty of text
1000 survey answers to
“Favourite brand of sob drink?”
A shopping list
10 answers, “Brand other …”
Complexity
A poem
A lover’s leSer
IDI with a denKst
100 pages of user feedback
100s of online discussions
1000s of complaint leSers
Millions of posts about Apple

10. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Standalone or Linked Text?
• Prompted and individual
• Unprompted and individual
• Linked within one person
• Linked between people

11. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Prompted and Individual
What are the most important factors to consider for the future of
sampling? [GRIT 2017 Q1 / 2 Survey]
• “Quality of sample. More clients need to understand just how much of a
problem this issue is.”
• ”Allowing for diversity among those in the sample. I want a sample that
is representaKve of my target audience”
• “Accuracy”
• “Ability to catch bots on online surveys”

12. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Unprompted and Individual

13. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Linked Within One Person
Which agency is Innova-ve? Why do you say that?
“Lucid” “Ability to leverage plahorm to connect buyers
and sellers”
“System 1 formerly Brain Juicer” “Send out a lot informaKon about what they're
doing with webinars and case studies”
“Sawtooth” “Cukng edge technology and knowledge in
specialized field of market research”
“Happy Thinking People” “Screening and integraKng current trends into a
holisKc research approach”
[GRIT 2017 Q1 / 2 Survey]

14. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Linked Between People
[John] I think Saucony are the best running shoes at the moment.
[Sally] Me too!
[Pete] Yes, every Cme
[Adele] They are nice, but I think they are too expensive.
[John] I think they are worth it, they feel more comfortable
and supporCve, don’t even have to break them in.
[Sally] Yes, definitely worth it
4 people discussing
running shoes
All 4 like Saucony, but 1
person thinks they are
‘too expensive’
Humans have no
problem with ‘Me too!’
and ‘Yes, every Kme’
being about Saucony – if
the discourse is present

15. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
If you can use TripAdvisor you can do qual

16. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
The TripAdvisor Paradigm
• What are the themes, elements and concepts?
• Why have they wriSen it?
• What sort of person are they?
• What were their expectaKons?
• What ‘role’ are they ‘performing’
• What elements can I triangulate?
• Where are the strong feelings, beliefs, comments

17. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Academic versus Commercial
Analysis of Qualita-ve Data
Many qual techniques are used by both academic &
commercial researchers , e.g. conversaKon analysis,
grounded theory, etc
But!
– Timelines vary, commercial one day to one week,
academic can be months (or years)
– Success can vary, commercial = beSer business decision,
academic = advancing knowledge
– Purity of methodology, academic more pure,
commercial more pragmaKc (oben means using hybrids)

18. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Common Analy-cal Approaches
• Grounded Theory – created by Glaser & Strauss in the 1960s adopts
a formal approach to coding the data, linking the codes into concepts,
linking these into categories, and creaKng an overarching structure.
Tends to require plenty of Kme. Tries to ignore exisKng theories – increasing sensiKvity to the
content of the data. InducKve approach, general theories from specific observaKons.
• Abduc-ve Analysis – compares the data with the theories and expectaKons, idenKfy the
non-expected and leap (abduct) from these observaKons to a new theory that is sufficient
and probably.
• Content Analysis – is popular both with tradiKonal researchers and those seeking to
computerise some or all of qualitaKve analysis. As with other approaches, the data is coded
and categorised, but in content analysis the frequency of codes and categories and the
frequency of links between them is taken into greater account that with most other
methods. The use of ‘’counKng’ increases the importance of sampling when using content
analysis.

19. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Common Analy-cal Approaches
• Narra-ve Analysis – focuses on the enKre text, not subdivided components.
Enter the text (coding/memoing), interpreKng, verifying (e.g. alternaKve explanaKons),
represenKng (write the plot of the story), illustraKng (e.g. finding quotes, drawing diagrams).
• Conversa-on Analysis – is one form of Discourse Analysis, CA, ConversaKon Analysis, was
developed from the work of Harvey Sacks’ work in the 1960s & 1970s. CA looks at how
people speak, the paSerns they use, how they create meaning, for example: turn-taking,
repairs, dispreferred responses. ConversaKon analysis pays less aSenKon to what people say
than the way they say it.
• Thema-c Analysis – the focus is to generate themes from the data. In parKcular paSerns
(e.g. codes and categories) are idenKfied in the early data (e.g. the first interviews or focus
groups) and then used as tools to analyse subsequent data. One difference between
themaKc and grounded theories is that grounded theory seeks to create a broader theory,
themaKc analysis tends to be happy to create a narraKve to explain the data.

20. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Semio-cs
Semio-cs was developed from the work of Ferdinand de Saussure from the later
19thCentury onwards. SemioKcs is the study of meaning-making by looking at the use
of signs and symbols (which can be any form of data, including worlds, brands, images,
sounds etc.) SemioKcs does not require the collecKon of data from research
parKcipants; semioKcs if frequently conducted with artefacts that exist in the ‘real
world’ rather than in an MR created world. However, semioKcs can be applied to MR
data, just as it can be applied to any other data.
Sign
Signified
Signifier
Sign
Rose
Sign
Passion
Rose
Sign
Passion

21. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Overarching Structure
No uniform
No books
Travel costs
School fees
Worry
Mind elsewhere
Tired in School
Headaches
Lack school
materials
Unable to pay
school costs
Worry about
dependents
Feeling
exhausted
Physically &
emoKonally
stressed
Can’t
afford
school
These children
have tangible
problems
Adapted from
www.open.edu/openlearnworks/mod/resource/view.php?id=52658

22. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Conversa-on Analysis
Q. What did you take into account when you decided to buy this new
technology?
What did we... we looked at cost, we looked at reliability and we sort of,
we compared a few different types, talked to some people that had
them.
Q. When you say you talked to some people who were they?
Some dental colleagues. There's a couple of internet sites that we talked
to some people... people had tried out some that didn't work very well.
Q. So in terms of materials either prevenKve materials or restoraKve
materials; what do you take in account when you decide which one to
adopt?
Well, that's a good quesKon. I don't know. I suppose we [laughs] look at
reliability. I suppose I've been looking at literature involved in it so I quite
like my own liSle research about that, because I don't really trust the
research that comes with the product and once again what other
denKsts are using and what they've been using and they're happy with.
I'm finding the internet, some of those internet forums are actually quite
good for new products.
Conversa-on Analysis
Pauses/Repairs/Disconnects:
Person is portraying that they are
not confident.
Restructured answer
“Well, that’s a good quesKon.” –
Indicates the quesKon was not a
good quesKon, deals with it by
saying ‘Don’t know’ and then
proceeds to answer what he/she
thinks the quesKoner is hoping to
learn.
From an example of Grounded Theory
www.biomedcentral.com/imedia/4037816045634649/supp3.doc

23. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Discourse Analysis
Q. What did you take into account when you decided to buy this new
technology?
What did we... we looked at cost, we looked at reliability and we sort of,
we compared a few different types, talked to some people that had them.
Q. When you say you talked to some people who were they?
Some dental colleagues. There's a couple of internet sites that we talked to
some people... people had tried out some that didn't work very well.
Q. So in terms of materials either prevenKve materials or restoraKve
materials; what do you take in account when you decide which one to
adopt?
Well, that's a good quesKon. I don't know. I suppose we [laughs] look at
reliability. I suppose I've been looking at literature involved in it so I quite
like my own liSle research about that, because I don't really trust the
research that comes with the product and once again what other denKsts
are using and what they've been using and they're happy with. I'm finding
the internet, some of those internet forums are actually quite good for new
products.
DA - Foo-ng
The role the denKst is filling?
Somebody who is not confident,
and who is doubhul about the
sources available to him/her.

24. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Discourse Analysis
Q. What did you take into account when you decided to buy this new
technology?
What did we... we looked at cost, we looked at reliability and we sort of, we
compared a few different types, talked to some people that had them.
Q. When you say you talked to some people who were they?
Some dental colleagues. There's a couple of internet sites that we talked to
some people... people had tried out some that didn't work very well.
Q. So in terms of materials either prevenKve materials or restoraKve
materials; what do you take in account when you decide which one to adopt?
Well, that's a good quesKon. I don't know. I suppose we [laughs] look at
reliability. I suppose I've been looking at literature involved in it so I quite like
my own liSle research about that, because I don't really trust the research
that comes with the product and once again what other denKsts are using
and what they've been using and they're happy with. I'm finding the internet,
some of those internet forums are actually quite good for new products.
DA – Repe--on
Reliability & “Internet sites”
No repeKKon of cost. Cost is a
‘preferred response’ – it is used
and discarded.

25. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Discourse Analysis
Q. What did you take into account when you decided to buy this new
technology?
What did we... we looked at cost, we looked at reliability and we sort of, we
compared a few different types, talked to some people that had them.
Q. When you say you talked to some people who were they?
Some dental colleagues. There's a couple of internet sites that we talked to
some people... people had tried out some that didn't work very well.
Q. So in terms of materials either prevenKve materials or restoraKve
materials; what do you take in account when you decide which one to
adopt?
Well, that's a good quesKon. I don't know. I suppose we [laughs] look at
reliability. I suppose I've been looking at literature involved in it so I quite
like my own liSle research about that, because I don't really trust the
research that comes with the product and once again what other denKsts
are using and what they've been using and they're happy with. I'm finding
the internet, some of those internet forums are actually quite good for new
products.
DA – Evalua-ve terms
I quite like my own liSle
research
I don’t really trust the research
that comes with the product
Some of those internet forums
are actually quite good for new
products

26. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
DA Thoughts
Q. What did you take into account when you decided to buy this new
technology?
What did we... we looked at cost, we looked at reliability and we sort of,
we compared a few different types, talked to some people that had them.
Q. When you say you talked to some people who were they?
Some dental colleagues. There's a couple of internet sites that we talked
to some people... people had tried out some that didn't work very well.
Q. So in terms of materials either prevenKve materials or restoraKve
materials; what do you take in account when you decide which one to
adopt?
Well, that's a good quesKon. I don't know. I suppose we [laughs] look at
reliability. I suppose I've been looking at literature involved in it so I quite
like my own liSle research about that, because I don't really trust the
research that comes with the product and once again what other denKsts
are using and what they've been using and they're happy with. I'm finding
the internet, some of those internet forums are actually quite good for
new products.
The story?
The denKst lacks confidence, he/she
menKons cost, but comes back to the
topic of reliability.
He/she distrusts the research from
the manufacturers, so tries to do his/
her own research, by connecKng
with people who have used the new
products, via internet forums
Sales Recommenda-on
Connect this type of denKst with
happy users. Encourage reliability
tesKmonials and SM posts.

27. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Common Analy-cal Elements
• Saturated analysis – keep going unKl you
stop finding new/useful things
• Structure – find/create an architecture to
what you find
• Make notes of what you find, linking back
to the data, highlighKng examples
• Look to support AND break hypotheses

28. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Computers ＆ Qualita-ve Analysis
• Scissors & coloured pens è Word, Excel etc
• CAQDAS – Computer Aided QualitaKve Data Analysis Sobware, e.g.
Nvivo
• Text analyKcs, from word clouds to Leximancer
• Social Media analysis, e.g. Brandwatch & Radian 6
• Coding sobware, e.g. Ascribe
• Photos and Video organising, e.g. Google Photos and Living Lens
Your organisaKon’s Framework should specify the tools to be used, storage protocols,
and approaches to things like memos, tags, and notes.

29. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Holis-c Coding
HT The Research Business 1990s
Wendy Gordon, Colleen Ryan, Rebecca Wynberg et al
[GRIT 2017 Q1 / 2 Survey]

30. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Holis-c Coding

31. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Holis-c Coding
• Random order of parKcipants
• Sort by who is most innovaKve brand
• Sort by country, and/or client/supplier, and/or
number of employees
• Sort by whether samples gekng beSer or
worse

32. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
www.qsrinternaKonal.com
Some thoughts from the
starter version. There is also
the Windows Pro and Plus
versions.

33. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Word Frequency and Stemming
[GRIT 2017 Q1 / 2 Survey – most important factor for future of sampling]

34. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Word Clouds
[GRIT 2017 Q1 / 2 Survey – most important factor for future of sampling]

35. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Word Trees
[GRIT 2017 Q1 / 2 Survey – most important factor for future of sampling]

36. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Real Coding

37. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Building the Architecture

38. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Reading More than Once

39. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
There is More J
Especially in Plus and Pro, for example:
– Search, not just exact and stemmed, but also
synonyms, specializaKons, and generalizaKons.
– NCapture to collect social media text
– AutomaKc coding by theme and senKment
– Visit their website for more detail
www.qsrinternaKonal.com

40. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Leximancer
• Starts with automated opKons
• Looks at words in context
• Creates concepts and themes
• The user can then drill down
hSps://info.leximancer.com/

41. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Most important factor for future of Sampling

42. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter

43. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Drilling Down

44. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Ngrams www.masscogniKon.com
Suppliers Clients
Bigrams

45. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Triangula-on
Suppliers Clients
AdjecKves

46. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
The Field of Play – Open-ended Text
QuanKty of text
1000 survey answers to
“Favourite brand of sob drink?”
A shopping list
10 answers, “Brand other …”
Complexity
A poem
A lover’s leSer
Q&A text re denKstry purchases
100 pages of user feedback
100s of online discussions
1000s of complaint leSers
Millions of posts about Apple
Read it
Read and
analyse it 1) Sample, read, analyse
2) CAQDA, read, analyse
Use sobware

47. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Finding the Story
• Use the client’s quesKon as the lens
• Tag, code, memo the material as you analyse
• Challenge what is known/believed
• Find the main story
• Find the relevant excepKons/differences
• Create an overall structure, the plot
• Is it good news or bad news?

48. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Top Tips
1. Define the problem before starKng the analysis (before
starKng the research is best)
2. Understand what qualitaKve analysis is, use the paradigm of
understanding TripAdvisor
3. Use the business quesKon as a lens to find the main story,
the relevant excepKons
4. Create a story with a clear architecture
5. Learn how to use at least one of the computer aided tools

49. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Thank You!
Follow me on Twieer @RayPoynter
Or sign-up to receive our weekly newsleeer at
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50. Finding and Communica-ng the Story 2017 – Lesson 3 of 4
Sense-making with Open-ended Text - Ray Poynter
Q & A
Ray Poynter
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