Background Qualitative research skills, especially those used in narrative inquiry, are challenging to develop. While the literature provides guidance on some techniques, such as collecting data, few authors share the complex process of data analysis.

Aim To offer a possible road map for novice researchers learning to analyse data generated by narrative inquiry.

Discussion The author describes how a novice qualitative researcher analysed data collected using narrative inquiry with nursing students who failed and then repeated a course. This article shares a step-by-step explanation of how data were analysed, including using qualitative data analysis software to manage the data.

Conclusion The process of analysing qualitative data is ill-defined, with great variability among researchers and methodologies. It can be valuable for novice researchers to consider the experiences of others when planning their analysis.