Developing and managing qualitative analysis protocol for a large-scale, multisited project

Collaboration and communication serve as the foundation of team-based research, and this extends to the analysis phase of a project. This article discusses the work involved in developing, communicating, and managing the analysis plan for a large-scale, multisited project. To generate an effective analysis plan, we considered what data were needed to reach our project goals and then selected methods and designed data collection tools accordingly. Once data collection commenced, we developed a basic codebook that provided an overarching structure but flexibility for localized tailoring. We then coordinated updates to the coding scheme and conducted reliability checks on the analyses. All of this required regular communication and constant monitoring of progress toward project goals. While only one example, this article provides insights and guidelines for other researchers working on large, team-based, and/or multisited qualitative projects.