Database for qualitative research: an analysis of The Little Lutheran magazine

Abstract

This paper raises operational aspects of the study conducted on O Pequeno Luterano (The little Lutheran), a printed brochure intended for students, teachers and pastors from parish schools within the context of the Missouri Synod (from 1930 to 1960). With a line of thought derived from Chartier and Certeau, the research involved strategies of editing, producing and circulating the publication. In this sense, a particular emphasis has been given to the type of analysis chosen, especially the categorization of the set of documents, by using a database adapted from a software called e-book. This software enabled to group data into thematic areas, according to the content highlighted on the brochure, which is divided into: recreational, religious and doctrinal fields, secular and religious knowledge, connection between publishers and readers, as well as graphic and advertising topics. Thus, the analysis showed that the magazine had a special concern about doctrinal religiosity related to childhood education and also pursued to be legitimated by the school community through interaction with readers, in addition to introducing recreational and general knowledge activities in order to support early childhood education. The qualitative recurrences could be perceived and reassured by the magazine’s publishing strategies, in several texts addressing religious contents and moral education, whereas the readers’ methods were manifest in the magazine’s less visible articles, highlighted by their dissatisfaction and the appeal from the editors to encourage reading practices and indicate specific reading use for children. Such tool brought the possibility to objectively verify the recurrences and analyze their epistemological rigor, enhancing the study as well as enabling significant visibility to the qualitative and quantitative dimension of data.

History of education; Printed materials; Databases