A clinical application of the multiple sorting technique.

Abstract

The interview technique is a common method of collecting data in human research. This paper provides an example of the use of the multiple sorting technique for structuring and analysing qualitative interviews. The technique is described around a recently completed study which explored practising nurses' perception of their work in a German hospital. A multiple sorting technique was employed to structure interviews with 11 nurses. Nursing tasks were sorted into categories and labelled by respondents. The frequencies with which each task was paired with all of the other tasks were calculated and this allowed us to produce a similarity matrix which was entered as input into a multidimensional scaling procedure (Smallest Space Analysis SSA-1). The SSA-1 procedure was used to analyse and interpret the data. The results of the analysis indicated that the nurses conceptualized their work into four separate domains including basic care skills, indirect care, technical skills and administration. The example of the multiple sorting technique described here shows how it is possible to develop an insight into the nurses' world in a structured yet flexible way.