Assessment overview:
The aim of this assessment is to test students’ ability to analyse qualitative interview data.
Students will be provided with transcripts from interviews with Sheffield residents collected
as part of a study of residents’ housing circumstances, experiences and perceptions of the
Sheffield housing market. Students will be required to undertake an individual thematic
analysis of the data and write an essay on their qualitative analysis.
PLEASE READ THIS SHEET AND FOLLOW THE GUIDELINES VERY CAREFULLY.
Analysis essay (1,500 words plus references, but including quotes from the interview dataset):
60% of available marks.
ASSESSMENT DEADLINE: To be confirmed
Data analysis
We will discuss how to approach the analysis of the set of interview transcripts in the session
9 (Week 10) lecture on ‘analysing qualitative data’. This will be followed by a workshop on
qualitative analysis crucial to the assessment the following week. In the lecture and workshop
you will learn what is meant by ‘thematic analysis’ in qualitative research and how to code
your data. You will have an opportunity to practice this, using similar transcripts to those that
will be used in the assessment. However, it is important that you also draw on the wider
research methods literature within your essay.
The criteria for the assessment are outlined below.
Assessment submission
The assessment word limit is 1,500 words (not including references) but including quotes from
the interviews. This assessment contributes 60% of the available marks for TRP6404.
The assessment must be handed in by the specified date which will be confirmed in due course.
Assessment aims
This is an assessment of your ability to thematically analyse in-depth qualitative data and form
an argument based on empirical evidence. You will be given a set of five interview transcripts
and be asked to code them thematically. You will be expected to do some of your own research
on the academic literatures (i.e. social research methodology literature) on how to produce the
thematic codes. You will also be expected to incorporate wider literature on your chosen
theme/topic into the essay. For example, if you identify the theme of social segregation from
the transcripts, then you will need to briefly introduce this concept and frame your essay within
that wider literature.
Some introductory readings in the MOLE folder “assessment 2 recommended readings” should
prove useful.
The three main criteria for the assessment will be:
• Your ability to work with qualitative data – to apply thematic codes to the
interview data, to draw themes across interviews, and to compare and contrast
interview responses.
2
• Your ability to form a coherent argument based upon data you have analysed,
identify issues across the data, interpret interview responses and relate to the literature
on research methods.
• Your ability to write clearly and to structure your analysis using clearly written
English, clear headings and subheadings for appropriate sections, appropriate
language and citation.