Data Display in Qualitative Research

Visual displays help in the presentation of inferences and conclusions and represent ways of organizing, summarizing, simplifying, or transforming data. Data displays such as matrices and networks are often utilized to enhance data analysis and are more commonly seen in quantitative than in qualitative studies. This study reviewed the data displays used by three prestigious qualitative research journals within a period of three years. The findings include the types of displays used in these qualitative journals, the frequency of use, and the purposes for using visual displays as opposed to presenting data in text.