oa Directed content analysis: een meer deductieve dan inductieve aanpak bij kwalitatieve analyse

Directed content analysis: a more deductive than inductive approach in qualitative analysis

Qualitative analysis is often described as a pure inductive enterprise where new theory is derived from the data. In contrast, we argue that when an appropriate middle-range theory is available, the combination of deductive and inductive strategies may be fruitful. We illustrate this through our study applying directed content analysis for the analysis of qualitative interviews. An existing theoretical framework was used to explore the lived experiences of young people with chronic conditions. This approach structured the analysis, increased our theoretical sensitivity and improved the thoroughness of our analysis. The framework proved to be useful and could be refined.