Researcher A	Researcher B
Research Methodology	Interpretivist	Interpretivist (Phenomenographic)
Data Collection Method	Interviews (n=27)	Interviews (n=23)
Approach to Data Analysis	Technological (NVivo)	Manual
Factors Influencing Choice of Approach	Multidimensional nature of the data collected NVivo training course demonstrated potential software capabilities (‘slice and dice’, ‘query’ facilities) Availability of ongoing NVivo support The researcher’s primary supervisor’s experience	Limited use of technological solutions for data analysis within prior phenomenographic studies Limited community of practice with experience of using technological approach Supervisory team’s lack of experience
Challenges with Approach Adopted	Considerable time commitment required (including formal training) to develop competence in use of the technology Time lag between learning the skills and data analysis Retaining closeness to the data given the NVivo coding process may focus researchers’ attention on counting and quantifying Element of drudgery and repetitiveness in coding data using NVivo and the need to be tolerant of uncertainty	Significant time devoted to the data analysis process (reading, re-reading, listening, ‘cutting’ and ‘pasting’) Maintaining a closeness to the data while avoiding excessive emphasis on some interviewee data Tedious iterative process to generate themes and the need to be tolerant of uncertainty Difficulties with data management reflected the messiness of data analysis. For example, a significant amount of time was spent ‘cutting’ and ‘pasting’ within word documents which had to be done and re-done multiple times
Benefits of Approach Adopted	Systematic coding process provides clear audit trail, helping to structure the ‘messiness’ attributed to qualitative data analysis Excellent tool to organise and manage qualitative data Time invested in developing skills reaped benefits towards the latter end of the research project, enabling multi-layered analyses of the data Transferable research skill applicable to future research projects	Enables the researcher to maintain a closeness to the interview data Facilitates identification of themes in an organic manner and avoids finalising themes too early during analysis