Understand data that has been collected. Read over written data from observations or interviews, listen to recorded interview data and try to produce an overall impression from the data. For example, a recorded interview with a working class family on the subject of health care may give the impression that health care is unequally distributed if the participants react negatively to some questions or give a negative answer.
Review the purpose of your study and ask what the qualitative data shows. Create a set of questions from your study's purpose, which can be brief. Focus on answers that are relevant to your study purpose, answers that reveal interesting facts, observations that relate to the study or comments that are similar to other participants.
Categorize data. From the basic answers created in Step 2, data could be grouped into which participants answered certain questions considered in the study. Alternatively, data can be categorized on impressions (i.e., five out of 15 participants gave a generally negative overview of public transport) or categorized by time scale (for example, dates on which the researcher observed a subject), participant groups (social class, age or gender) or qualitative methods used.
Look for themes and trends in the data. Consider whether a certain category of participants gave similar answers, or whether observation changed when performed again or at different times. Look for similarities between categories, contrasting opinions or facts and possible anomalous results due to study limitations.
Refer back to the first impressions of the qualitative data. Using the results which are now categorized, consider whether your first impressions were correct and what the data shows. If a positive response to social networking is perceived among a young category of participants and other categories, for example, the data may indicate that the younger category of participants use social networking.