Yeah, I know that's very generic. I am after software to manage coding and categorisation of text in general and focusgroup transcripts in particular. Having earned my spores in mathematics and computing, I am a newbie in qualitative research.
So far, I have tried RQDA, and I guess the pros and cons will illustrate what I am after.
Pro.
+ fairly easy to install on linux (unfortunately not really easy though)
+ fairly transparent data model, where the SQLite database can be accessed and comprehended using any SQLite tool.
+ simple and straight-forward GUI
+ open source
Con.
- crashes on Mac OS
- lacks hierarchical coding
- sparse documentation
- primitive GUI, where routine operations require many clicks, and with no obvious way to manage by keyboard
- little recent maintenance or development
Even though free software is nice, cost is not really an issue if I am confident that the software is going to serve me well. Availability on both linux and Mac OS is not a strict necessity, but some glorious benefits are needed to offset the hassle of not having access on both platforms :-)
Any recommendations?
TIA
I've used NVivo 8, and have mixed feelings about it. the interface resembles Outlook, so it's fairly intuitive, but there is only limited scope for customisation, and routine actions seem to require more clicks than I care for. When it comes to coding and retrieval of data, it's very powerful, and it comes with some great tools for preliminary analysis (e.g., conceptual mapping, content analysis). It also offers some rudimentary support for transcription, although there are other stand-alone packages that are much better in this regard. A huge drawback is that it stores all the data in one huge file, which seems to put considerable strain on the computer: after a while, performance becomes rather slow. On the whole, I was happy to use the package, as it was provided free by my university - but I am not sure I'd invest in actually buying it.
Hi Hans,
Not sure you came across this link:
http://www.surrey.ac.uk/sociology/research/researchcentres/caqdas/support/choosing/
Albeit the CAQDAS list is not comprehensive i.e. 10 only & some of them may not based on the latest version (hope in future they will) but I find they meet your format of requirements i.e. minimum system requirement to run each software, overview on each capability & crisp review on each strengths & weaknesses. Hope this helps. All the best.
Regards,
Fung
Thank you both. NVivo is indeed an option under consideration, especially since it appears to be the standard choice among my colleagues in relevant areas of research. However, both the remarks by Achilleas and the review from Surrey indicate that NVivo has a rather inflexible user interface. That is not promising.
There is also QDA Miner with more flexible and advanced features than Nvivo: http://provalisresearch.com/products/qualitative-data-analysis-software/
There is a "Lite" and free version of QDA Miner that you can download from here: http://provalisresearch.com/products/qualitative-data-analysis-software/freeware/
There is now a Linux version of Quirkos (http://www.quirkos.com) which shares the same interface and file format with the Windows and Mac version. Compared to the alternatives listed above, it doesn't have as many capabilities, but is relatively simple to learn
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Medicine
- Physiology
- Biosignals
- Biomedical Signal Processing
- Statistical Analysis