Procedure integrates computational analyses of qualitative text data
From Qualitative Text to Integrated Evidence: The Parallel-Then-Integrated (PTI) Procedure
Computation and Language
Summary
Sometimes researchers use computers to study what people say in interviews in different ways, but it can be hard to combine these computer results clearly. The authors developed a method called Parallel-Then-Integrated (PTI) to bring two different computer analyses of the same texts together in an organized way. They tested this on interviews with mothers in Nepal using two kinds of computer coding and looked at how those matched or differed. This method helps teams combine computer interpretations of text more transparently and reliably.
What this means in practice
- •For clinical data analysts: Integrate multiple computerized analyses of patient interviews to enhance understanding of health experiences.
- •For social science data teams: Combine different computational methods analyzing interview texts for clearer, traceable mixed methods research findings.
Tested on one dataset.
Authors
Elyas Irankhah, Ashley Hagaman, Samah Fodeh
Abstract
Mixed methods research offers established strategies for integrating qualitative and quantitative evidence, but less guidance for integrating two computational representations of the same qualitative corpus. This methodological study introduces Parallel-Then-Integrated (PTI), a four-step procedure for explicit and traceable integration. We present PTI using 1,203 interview paragraphs from 29 mothers in Nepal. The two representations were ontology-guided Patient Voice (PV) coding with PVminer and data-driven themes generated through non-negative matrix factorization (NMF). A theme-complete crosswalk documented convergence, divergence, and preprocessing-sensitive differences. Depression status, based on Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scores, served as a secondary external anchor for exploratory association checks. PTI provides a structured approach for integrating computational representations of qualitative text within mixed methods research.