I am currently conducting a research on the use of online communities of older adults and would like to identify the themes in their community posts. I will be collecting their social media posts and is interested in using a qualitative analysis software. Any recommendations?
All of the qualitative software analysis programs operate in essentially the same fashion: you mark the text with codes which you can then group into larger categories. None of them will find the themes in the data for you.
Your best bet is to examine the tutorials at the websites for these companies, which will give you not only a sense of the interface ("look and feel") for each program, but also direct insight into the kind of training and support that each one offers. In addition, you should look for specific support for the kind of data importing that you will need to do.
I've used Atlas.ti and Dedoose extensively. I prefer Atlas.ti but Dedoose is helpful if you're looking to collaborate with others throughout the analyses
Because Dedoose charges by the month (with no charge for months in which you do not use it), it can be considerably cheaper for small projects, compared purchasing a non-cloud based alternative.
Also, the latest version of Atlas.ti does allow for cloud-based operations, so that should improve its usability with collaborative projects.
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