PGR StudentSurvey.ie Qualitative Data Analysis Report

Abstract

The StudentSurvey.ie Steering Group is pleased to publish the results of five research projects analysing the qualitative data generated by the free-text response questions in StudentSurvey.ie and PGRStudentSurvey.ie. The results contained within this report make up one part of this research series. Five projects were funded by research bursaries offered by StudentSurvey.ie in October 2020. The aim of the bursary awards was to promote greater ownership and encourage wider use of the StudentSurvey.ie and PGR StudentSurvey.ie data. Proposals for the analysis of the qualitative data emerging from StudentSurvey.ie and PGR StudentSurvey.ie were invited from members of the research community within the participating institutions, as well as commercial data analysis companies. The projects were completed in May 2021. Each project is an independent project undertaken by qualified and experienced researchers on behalf of StudentSurvey.ie. Each project took a unique approach. Some projects involved analysis of all the qualitative data for a given year(s), and some homed in on a subset of the data. Some undertook a qualitative methodology, while others applied quantitative methods to qualitative data. The commonalities between all five projects are that they all utilised well-grounded methodologies, offer mechanisms for replication of the analysis in future years, and are innovative and authentic. These results are the first of their kind for StudentSurvey.ie and PGR StudentSurvey.ie and we hope they are the first of many research projects involving the qualitative results of these surveys.