11/30/2021
By Shanna Thompson
Presentation Title: Emotion Coding: Using Emotions in Qualitative Data Analysis
Presentation Description: Researchers committed to social justice commonly accept that we must engage marginalized voices in educational research. Not all would readily acknowledge, however, that our own emotions constitute one such “voice” (Blumer, 1969). Even in supposedly critical doctoral programs and courses, we are so often taught to ignore, bracket, or set aside our emotions in the interest of rigorous or objective research (Hochschild, 1983). Qualitative methodologists have acknowledged the central role of emotion in the research process (Hordge-Freeman, 2018). However, there is still a widespread attitude that we must bracket our emotions (Tufford & Newman, 2010), which, while an important skill for avoiding bias, can also risk neglecting the useful information emotions have to teach us. We will be presenting a framework for emotion coding, asking researchers in the field to apply it to their data and consider its implications for themselves and their students. We collected data this past summer, and have done some preliminary analysis.
So far, our data have revealed that qualitative researchers want a more systematic way of acknowledging and utilizing their emotions in the data analysis process. One outcome of the study will be to develop a process for emotion coding, and a second will be to develop a webinar to teach graduate students and researchers how to use this emotion coding technique in scholarship, program evaluation, and teaching. The purpose of the session is to generate discussion about our idea, cultivate interest and awareness of the framework, and solicit feedback. We are hoping to do trainings with graduate students and other interested groups as we develop this webinar, so if anyone has suggestions for outlets where we could do this, please let us know!
The mission of the CPE is to conduct research on program evaluation methods as well as to offer evaluation planning, consulting, training and services for the university, regional, and global community. CPE offers program evaluation services that support the University’s missions of research, teaching, and service to the community and industry.