A Toolkit for Educators to Explore Qualitative Data in Schools

Standardized test scores, GPAs, and promotion rates are among the metrics educators use to determine student success. However, these metrics can only tell educators the what—or whether something did or didn’t happen. Numbers alone can rarely answer the how or the why when trying to implement new ideas, programs, or processes to improve student success. High-quality qualitative data, though, can help educators understand the how and why in education via insights from students, families, educators, and others about their experiences.

Collecting and analyzing qualitative data can feel overwhelming—and be more time-consuming and challenging than using quantitative data to make decisions. To ease this process for educators, we’re introducing this series to address these concerns, explain the immense value to be found in qualitative data, and provide strategies for using qualitative data to transform school systems for the better.

Simple ways to collect qualitative data

In the research community, we often collect qualitative data through interviews and focus groups, which are one-on-one or small group discussions to capture participants’ experiences and perspectives. However, you can also collect qualitative data in simpler ways while still gaining useful insights. Some examples include:

• Open-ended survey responses: This approach could include questions on a schoolwide survey that ask students to type or write a response rather than select from a predetermined list of options. On a classroom level, it might also include an exit ticket with open-ended questions for students to respond to.
• Observations: Depending on what you’re hoping to learn about, you might consider observing classrooms, lunch, recess, or other school events (including those that involve family or community members). By observing behaviors, dynamics, and interactions, you will likely gain insights into the experiences of students, families, or your community. Guidance to solicit observations might involve something as small as a checklist of items for the observer to note, or a list of reflective questions to address.
• Artifacts: In an education context, artifacts are tangible documents created by students or teachers. Reviewing student work (e.g., projects, homework) or teacher work (e.g., lesson plans) can help you better understand student learning and engagement and teacher processes—and through this understanding, to highlight actionable trends.
• Visual data: Photos, videos, and presentations can capture classroom activities, school events, and student interactions to provide valuable information.

Why qualitative data are useful

Given the challenges of working with qualitative data, we want to highlight some key reasons why these data are useful and important.

1. Qualitative data can be combined with quantitative data to create a fuller picture of what is happening in a school or district, strengthening the validity and reliability of the data you share.These insights would create a more comprehensive understanding of a school context or phenomenon. For example, you might have students answer a quantitative survey aimed at understanding their levels of engagement in math class, and then collect qualitative data to help you explore the reasons behind their survey answers.
2. You can also use qualitative data to identify trends that might not be captured in quantitative data because you aren’t yet asking about or tracking them. For example, after conducting a schoolwide survey on well-being, you could have conversations with students to learn about how they are experiencing cyberbullying and how it is impacting school experiences.
3. Gathering qualitative data helps increase buy-in for future programming and interventions because interviews and focus groups give a voice to the people who will be impacted by your decisions. Collecting qualitative data provides an opportunity for students and/or teachers to provide input on proposed solutions to a problem. For instance, if your school is considering a new after-school STEM club, collecting data from students and teachers allows them to react to the proposed programming.

How to use this toolkit

This toolkit is organized into four sections, all of which are intended to share strategies for using qualitative data to make decisions. The first two sections (Before You Begin, and Collect Qualitative Data) employ school climate examples to contextualize information, while the last two sections (Create an Observation Tool, and Make Meaning of Qualitative Data) present math engagement examples.

1. Before You Begin. Review this section prior to your data collection efforts. The section asks you to consider what you want to learn and what data your school and/or district might already have, and to compare the data you have to your specific inquiry. This comparison will help you avoid doing duplicative work and let you refine your data collection.
2. Collect Qualitative Data. Figuring out when and where to collect qualitative data is challenging, especially when strategizing competes with your instructional time. This section provides ideas for gathering data from students, teachers, and parents.
3. Create an Observation Tool. It’s common for school improvement goals to rely on quantitative data, but qualitative data can also help you identify ways to advance those goals. In this section, we provide examples of how to create and use an observation tool to collect qualitative data that complements quantitative goals.
4. Make Meaning of Qualitative Data. By the time you’re ready to use this section, you’ll have collected your qualitative data or decided which data to analyze; now, you’ll have to do the analysis. This section shares ideas about how to make meaning of qualitative data with a group.