Defense Acquisition Research Journal #109

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This approach relies on participant experiences to drive the analysis (Azungah, 2018). A deductive approach uses a priori themes, often called a start list (Miles et al., 2019). If data are structured, or the researchers know the types of themes or categories they want to use to frame it, they can use a deductive approach by fitting data to predetermined themes or categories. Typically, a deductive framework is used when it is believed that certain core concepts are contained within the data (Azungah, 2018). This study used a mixture of both inductive and deductive approaches, which are outlined and described in Figure 5 and subsequent sections.

FIGURE 5. ANALYSIS APPROACH

Understand problem, formulate study, create and conduct survey

Organize survey data

Manual data review & sense-making

Coding & developing a priori list

Open coding

Combining model codes into top-5 list

Manual NVivo data review & synthesis

Code Comparison

Deductive and Inductive data combined to develop high-level themes

COMET-K Framework

Triangulating data to codify existing or discover emergent best practices

Note. Adapted from “Qualitative Research: Deductive and Inductive Approaches to Data Analysis,” by T. Azungah (2018), Qualitative Research Journal, 18 (4), pp. 383–400. https://doi. org/10.1108/QRJ-D-18-00035. COMET-K = Culture, Organization, Motivation, Empowerment, Teamwork–Knowledge. Coding with ChatGPT 4.0 & Claude 3 Opus ChatGPT 4.0 and Claude 3 Opus were selected because these tools can process and analyze extensive datasets. Leveraging two LLMs not only provided a redundant layer of verification and validation of data results but also provided insight into the utility of both tools for qualitative research. Both methods required immense scrutiny when engineering prompts because the study desired consistent inputs and outputs.

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Defense ARJ, Summer 2025, Vol. 32 No. 2: 132—193

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