Men and contraception: statistical analysis of qualitative data

Abstract

This article consists of an evaluation of the results obtained from the application of statistical techniques to the analysis of qualitative data regarding men’s experience with contraception. More specifically, the objective here is to determine to what extent the results obtained from these analyses ratify the conclusions obtained from the qualitative analysis and how well these techniques allow one to identify relationships not detected by conventional types of discourse analysis. It is therefore an exercise in analyzing qualitative data. The information used was obtained from the qualitative study entitled “Men, these unknown... masculinity and reproduction,” the data for which was collected in 1997, the subjects being 50 middle-class men between the ages of 18 and 59 living in the city of São Paulo. The analysis showed that the results from the qualitative and quantitative approaches to the data were not incompatible, although there were some differences. However, statistical resources seem to have been able to underscore generational differences more efficiently, especially considering that the GoM method was applied. This methodology does not seem to indicate predominance, but allows one to underscore differences between groups or profiles in an apparently more effective way than by using correspondence analysis.