A Toolkit for Educators to Explore Qualitative Data in Schools - Before You Begin

Decide what you hope to learn.

You likely already have an idea of what you want to learn from qualitative data. Maybe you aren’t quite sure, but you are curious about what qualitative data can do for you, your students, and your school. Qualitative data can help educators better understand students’ perspectives and identify solutions to address their concerns. As you determine what you want to learn from qualitative data, it’s useful to brainstorm questions you want answered. In the following sections, we focus on school climate to illustrate the process. The following are examples of guiding questions:

1. What supports do students need—or already have—to feel safe in school and on the school campus?
2. What can school staff do to support students who feel unsafe at school and on the school campus?
3. What is the relationship between school climate and students’ sense of belonging or connection to the school?
4. What supports can school staff implement to increase students’ sense of belonging?

You may already have initial thoughts about how to answer these research questions. For example, you may have anecdotal evidence from teachers about instances of bullying, or the school climate survey data might indicate the extent to which students feel safe or a sense of belonging at school.

Conduct a data inventory.

Once you have an idea of what you want to learn from qualitative data, the next step is to conduct a data inventory. A data inventory is a comprehensive catalog that documents and organizes all data collected by an organization or, in this case, a school. A data inventory provides detailed information about what data are collected, where they are stored, how they are used, and who has access to them. Data inventories keep track of data to ensure proper management, compliance with regulations, and efficient use of resources. They can also guide your data collection efforts by eliciting new reflections or connections between data. A data inventory should include the following items:

• The type of data collected. These categories might include state test scores, school attendance, school climate surveys, classroom observations, and PTA meeting notes.
• Purpose of data. Knowing the purpose of the data allows for a detailed understanding of what each data point tells you and what is included. For example, test scores tell us students’ level of proficiency on learning standards, attendance data tell us whether and how often students are showing up for school and attending classes, and school climate surveys provide insights into perceptions of safety, relationships, teaching and learning practices, and the school’s social, emotional, and physical environment.
• Goals for each type of data. Ideally, all data a school collects should provide some context to a school’s “story.” For example, the percentage of students receiving free and reduced-price lunch is often used as an indicator for the degree to which a school and community are economically advantaged.
• What other data can be linked to the data inventory to meet your goals? How? As an example, consider how data on end-of-year test scores, attendance, and school climate may be connected. Are there any connections between how students are experiencing school and their attendance? What connections, if any, can be made when reviewing students’ class grades, attendance, school experience, and standardized test scores? Considering connections across data ensures a more holistic data inventory that supports data collection efforts.
• How are data stored? Who has access to data? Where data are stored is an important consideration when building a culture of data-driven decision making. Due to limited resources in schools and the fact that school staff play many roles, data should not rest with just one person and schools should maintain documentation of all their data. This documentation supports the transfer of knowledge from person to person and from year to year.

In the context of school, a data inventory is likely already in place since various types of data are routinely collected. Educators can typically access this existing inventory, eliminating the need to start from scratch. See below for an example of a snippet of a school-based data inventory.

Figure: Sample data inventory

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Use the data to figure out what you do and don’t know.

Once you have inventoried your school’s data, the next step is to compare which data you have with what these data already tell you about your questions. Using our school climate example, you might ask the following questions:

• What do the data tell us about the overall school climate and culture?
• How do staff and students perceive the school’s efforts to create a safe, supportive, and inclusive environment?
• How can we use school climate data to strengthen relationships, trust, and collaboration within the school community?

Let’s look a little closer: To answer the first two school climate questions, you can look at the school climate surveys completed by students and teachers. One challenge with school surveys is that the sample size for students can often be low. In such situations, collecting qualitative data can either validate, invalidate, and/or clarify findings from a small sample size.

For example, if you look at student responses to survey questions about feeling safe at school, you might find, overall, that most students do feel safe. However, your school’s data might also show that this finding varies across grade levels. Specifically, you might find that 6th graders report feeling less safe at school than their 7th and 8th grade peers. You may also find that fewer 6th graders completed the survey. Regardless of the sample size, your next step should be to compile the information you know from available data sources and then ask students whether they feel safe at school. While you really want to know what is happening with 6th graders, you still want to collect information across the school from all grade levels. Collecting data across grades will help you determine whether findings are specific to 6th graders or whether issues exist across grades but were only reported by 6th graders.

In collecting qualitative data from all students, you might find that 6th graders feel unsafe because they are at a new school or that they’ve experienced more instances of bullying at school. Qualitative data can offer insights into when and where 6th graders are being bullied and why they feel unsafe. Then, you can use these data to develop and implement cross-school policies to support 6th graders’ sense of belonging in school and to eliminate, or at least minimize, acts of bullying. Because you’ve collected this information across grades, you will also know whether you should implement new practices across grades to the benefit of all students.

Plan how to collect qualitative data.

After developing your research questions, establish an inventory of all the data your school collects and summarize what the current data can and cannot tell you; then, your next step should be to plan how you will answer your questions. You can collect qualitative data by conducting focus groups with students during lunch, morning advisory times, or long testing periods. Alternatively, teachers can use open-ended surveys to collect information from students. Consider the chart below for a summary of each data collection method, its purpose, and when it might be the best method to use.

Table: Summary table for qualitative data collection methods

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Summary

• Collecting qualitative data can help educators answer the how and why in their schools.
• Before collecting qualitative data, educators should:
  • Decide what they want to know about their students.
  • Complete a data inventory to understand what data are already collected.
  • Determine how the data you already collect provides insight into what you want to know.
  • Plan how you want to collect your qualitative data.
• Download a data inventory template here!