New Study: Network Analysis to Visualize Qualitative Results

A New Approach to Understanding Conversations on the National Child Abuse Hotline

In their new paper published in Health Promotion Practice, Network Analysis to Visualize Qualitative Results, Laura Schwab Reese and colleagues share an innovative way to analyze qualitative data using network analysis. This method supports visualizing relationships between themes, which can reveal patterns that traditional qualitative methods might miss.

The project used data from the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline. Using codes developed through qualitative content analysis, the team analyzed de-identified transcripts of conversations between help-seekers and crisis counselors. Then, they created visual networks showing how different qualitative codes, such as counselor support, problem-solving, and information-sharing, co-occurred. To better understand how patterns differed between more and less successful conversations, they stratified these networks by whether the help-seeker felt more hopeful or not. Reviewing these figures and the network analysis metrics identified differences between the two conversations.

This work demonstrates that network analysis can enhance the understanding of qualitative data by visualizing complex relationships between themes. It offers a valuable tool for researchers across fields and could help improve real-world practices, such as crisis counseling, by highlighting novel patterns that may otherwise be difficult to observe.