Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Analytic Induction

This mutability of the case/pattern/description is not a problem but rather something you strive for. One approach to this is sometimes called “analytic induction.” In Jack Katz’s (2001) definition

Initial cases are inspected to locate common factors and provisional explanations. As new cases are examined and initial hypotheses are contradicted, the explanation is reworked in one or both of two ways. The definition of the [thing you’re trying to explain] may be redefined so that troublesome cases either become consistent with [your hypothesis or explanation] or are placed outside the scope of the inquiry; or the [thing you’re trying to explain] may be revised so that all cases of the target phenomenon display the explanatory conditions. There is no methodological value in piling up confirming cases; the strategy is exclusively qualitative, seeking encounters with new varieties of data in order to force revisions that will make the analysis valid when applied to an increasingly diverse range of cases. The investigation continues until the researcher can no longer practically pursue negative cases.

At its most productive, analytic induction needs to be on-going as you’re doing fieldwork or interviews – it guides what you’re asking and looking at. Thus Lindesmith (1952) argues that:

The principle which governs the selection of cases to test a theory is that the chances of discovering a decisive negative case should be maximized . . . This involves going out of one’s way to look for negating cases. (p. 492)

[This is the core idea that Glaser and Strauss (1967) later formalized into “theoretical sampling”] A negating case – or an anomalous case – requires you to revise: you keep doing this until you can’t find any more negative, inconsistent, discrepant, anomalous evidence, until then you constantly revise your explanation to encompass all your evidence. If you have “disconfirming” evidence left over you haven’t finished your analysis or done it well, or you have more work to do in the field.

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