Qualitative data is holistic and strives for a whole understanding. In order to obtain the information needed, semi-structured interviews will also be conducted which have a general plan of enquiry. Case studies will be undertaken in a form of conversation in which the researcher established a general direction and followed specific topics raised by the respondents during investigations. The topic guide will guide the questions and in the interviews, the respondents’ observations will be reported. The major strengths of the qualitative approach will be that they in fact privilege the research subjects’ social realities (Rubin & Babbie, 1997).
Thematic analysis is a process that involves the search for themes and the same will be used. This will not only discover the commonalities across subjects but also the natural variation of data. In order to gain insight, understand the lived experience during the investigations where biases are introduced and search for thematic explanations, all the data was carefully read through. The researcher will attempt not to corrupt or modify the respondents’ opinions and comments. For the sake of clarity the responses whether from interview studies or direct conversations will be quoted directly and both the positive and the negative findings will be reported(Rubin & Babbie, 1997).
Recurrent themes will be then identified across transcripts; such themes reflected a shared understanding among participants of the phenomenon under investigations. The charting system facilitated the search for themes, regulations and patterns of behaviours, events and processes.The researcher analysed data by looking especially to similarities and dissimilarities and by counterchecking the observations with the expert literature. The researcher will be continuously alert to differences.
Thematic content analysis has been identified as one of the most inductive methods used in analysis of qualitative data. This tool will be employed for this study as it derives themes as they are in the gathered data hence prevents researcher biases and imposing of his/her own pre-conceived ideas on the findings. Thematic content analysis analyses data by identifying patterns in the transcript content and categorizing as well as coding them according to patterns (themes) so that those with similar meaning are identified as one. It thus also allows quantification of data in addition to identifying main themes arising. Transcription of data collected from the participants will be done by the researcher. During the interviews, the researcher will note down the information presented by the participants. Word for word transcription will be carried out thereafter. The participants and their responses will be grouped into different categories (investigating officers, suspects, witnesses and victims). NVivo will be used in supporting transcription and qualitative data analysis. The software will be used to carry out conversation analysis and content analysis whereas being guided by the research questions. It is noteworthy that NVivo supports audio, plain text and word files. This offers the researcher greater flexibility in data analysis. The data will be input as word files rather than audio.
Data will be coded by marking segments of the transcriptions with descriptive words that will form category names. Such categories will include: memory biases, recall issues, traumas etc.. With a regard to the above-mentioned areas, it is crucial to find the information concerning the challenges related to the implementation and maintenance of the investigative systems today.
REFERENCES
Rubin, A. & Babbie, E. (1997). Research methods for social works (3rd ed.). New York: Brooks/Cole Publishing Company
