Analytic questions: asking, listening, and responding in data analysis

This methodological paper presents the use of analytic questions (AQs) in qualitative data analysis. AQs are a way to identify and analyze data so a researcher may respond to a study’s central research questions (RQs) or adapt RQs to emerging themes and/or findings. AQs can move successively upward from looking at individual participants or cases to the study sample to larger-scale statements of insight. This paper presents the use of AQs in a qualitative study of adjunct faculty to explore the process of employing analytic questioning in data analysis. Through a detailed exploration of AQs, this paper aims to guide qualitative researchers in employing AQs in their own studies and further the transparent description of data analysis within presentations of qualitative research.