The core of qualitative research method iss to explore and discover concepts directly from the person concerned? Does software has what it takes to feel and adequate analyse the data generated via a qualitative approach?
Is it suitable to use software to analyse qualitative data?
Qualitative software i.e. Computer Assisted/Aided Qualitative Data AnalysiS (CAQDAS) is more like an assistance tool rather than automated tool to analyze data qualitatively. You can refer to the following link to understand what CAQDAS can do & can't do that I'd quoted here:
The software does:
The software does NOT:
http://onlineqda.hud.ac.uk/Intro_CAQDAS/What_the_sw_can_do.php
http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1164&context=jea
Yes it is but the actual tool depends on your amount of data as well as the kind of data.
I used AQUAD because I can code all kind of data without transcribing and it is free of charge.
Patton (2015) has a section on software aided analysis but Han Ping Fung has summarised the facts very nicely.
Best
Roland
Thank you Roland, can you send me the link to download AQUAD?
Or you could use NVIVO - it's really simple but really useful for creating structure and finding themes. Really easy to import your data!
My view is that the research tools are available and one has to choose something that is fit for purpose. I agree that the tools can help to pool together similar qualitative words and the tools vary from simple to complex. I was told to use NVIVO but am yet to start using it.
I recommended Sphinx for the qualitative analysis
Good Luck ;)
A great deal depends on your research goals. All of the qualitative software programs operate in the same fashion: you apply codes to sections of transcripts (or audio), and then you can search those codes. So, if this kind of "mark and retrieve" approach suits your purposes, then this software is appropriate.
For approaches such as most versions of phenomenology, which emphasize deep insights into the data, this software is less likely to be helpful. Also, if your use lots of codes that require continual revision, such as some versions of grounded theory, then the software is less effective for this kind of coding.
Use of software can be done in a limited manner for qualitative analysis. It can at best be supportive in nature.
Hear Kayode,
Most of the software applications used for qualitative data analysis are capable enough to produce reasonable results. However, so far, you cannot claim it to be 100% capable like human beings.
That is the reason why researchers still prefer manual qualitative analysis where the data is small in scale. However, for large amount of data, software is the only way to go.
Absolutely! There are great software programs that automate a lot of analyses, but also others that simply include tools to ease along manual analyses. Ultimately, you'll need to interpret the results yourself, but that's the case for every software, even with quantitative software programs.
I recommend MaxQDA; easy to use, offers same basic statistics features, too, if you want to do lexicometric analyses. Great help for coding and analysing your qualitative data!
Although using software is useful and helpful to analyse, code the themes and integrate all concepts to develop the final theory. However, the researcher has to put his thought, analysis and discussion to refuse and accept some coded themes, regardless of the used software. I saw the software is a tool to help the researcher to do a line by line analysis, open coding, attain comparison with literature and do the axial coding but not taking the major role of researcher which is analysis and find out the outcome which in turn leads to developing the theory.
Although I've heard very well about the software already mentioned by my colleagues, I still prefer to analyze the data manually. Maybe this is not the case, but it seems to me that the processing confinement that still manages to do our head, the pc fails to do so. It's an opinion ...
I did the analysis for my PhD (published in 2002) manually - printed transcripts and coloured highlighters. I had 97 interviews - all of an hour or more... It takes time and can be tedious, but it brings you closer to the data. I looked at qual analysis software - Nvivo and nud.ist then - but felt it was pushing me is directions that I didn't want to go... Of course the software is better these days...
Hi,
Yes, it is possible. You could use NViVo or ATLAS.it. But I personally prefer doing it manually.
Yes, why not? You have to describe ultimately by yourself and you are the best judge to describe the emotion expression everything.
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