Writing Homework Help

Assignment 2

Qualitative Content Analysis

Length of paper: 4-5 pages

Family of Many Nations

In this assignment, you will analyze the transcription of “A Family of Many Nations” that presents a series of interviews with various individuals who are members of a school community in the northwest region of the United States.

Your analysis should address ONE of the following 5 (five) questions:

• What are the needs of this community?
• What are the assumptions/theories that underlie the design of the school?
• What are the various program activities and target groups of the school?
  • Is the school run well?
  • Are the services / instruction responsive to the children’s and families’ needs?
  • Are the services / instruction of high quality?
• What is the overarching goal of the school?
  • Is the school reaching its goal(s)? Is the school successful?
  • How does the school define “success?”
  • Are there more appropriate measures of success than the ones that are being used?
• Is the school run efficiently?
  • Are the resources being used appropriately?

No matter which of the above five questions you choose to address, your answers should be backed up by evidence. On what “data” are you basing your conclusions?

Guidelines:

• Organize your notes into
• Note what you think are significant patterns and coding schemes
  • (i.e. “family engagement,” “diversity,” “poverty,” “communication” etc.)
• What are the coding schemes that the individuals in the school utilize?
• What are the categorizations they make?
• Are there certain groupings of the various individuals who make up this community that make sense?
  • i.e. hierarchy & power structure
  • i.e. collaboration vs. competition
• What are the themes that emerge from the interviews
  • Are there certain themes that are echoed by many individuals?
  • Are there subtexts that emerge from the interviews?
• Norms
  • Are there certain values or principles that are echoed throughout the interviews?
  • Are there ways that the individuals featured in the film behave toward each other that seem distinct (i.e. interrupting each other while speaking, nodding agreement, deferring)?
• Narrative / Discourse
  • Is there relative consistency between what the various individuals interview say about the school?
  • We tend to give more weight to administrators and other members of the institutional leadership. Do others who are not part of the leadership seem to have a voice in this community? Do their opinions seem to matter?
• What other significant conclusions might you take away from this transcript?

In the paper (4-5 pages double spaced), you are expected to summarize the contents of the transcript, emphasizing the features that you felt were most salient or significant. Then, address one of the questions that was posed at the beginning of this worksheet, and present the analysis upon which you based your conclusions.