Qualitative Data Analysis Software Practices in Complex Research Teams: Troubling the Assumptions About Transparency and Portability

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (10) ◽  
pp. 779-788 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Davidson ◽  
Shanna Thompson ◽  
Andrew Harris
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Analysis Software ◽  
Qualitative Data Analysis ◽  
Extensive Experience ◽  
Research Teams ◽  
Qualitative Data Analysis Software ◽  
Data Analysis Software

Early hypotheses about the ways Qualitative Data Analysis Software (QDAS) would be integrated into qualitative research lacked the backing of extensive experience. Changing contexts, such as the increasing use of complex teams, raise issues that bring into question earlier assumptions about the role of QDAS in transparency and portability. Using Jackson’s (2014) conception of transparency in motion as a grounding concept, the authors present an exemplar case of the ways one complex qualitative research team made use of QDAS to support interpretive activities in a project that was also geographically far flung. The article concludes with a reconsideration of the notion of transparency, suggesting a more nuanced approach for the future.

Building Transparency and Trustworthiness in Inductive Research Through Computer-Aided Qualitative Data Analysis Software

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula O’Kane ◽  
Anne Smith ◽  
Michael P. Lerman
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Analysis Software ◽  
Qualitative Data Analysis ◽  
Inductive Research ◽  
Computer Aided ◽  
Qualitative Data Analysis Software ◽  
Data Analysis Software

Many scholars have called for qualitative research to demonstrate transparency and trustworthiness in the data analysis process. Yet these processes, particularly within inductive research, often remain shrouded in mystery. We suggest that computer-aided/assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) can support qualitative researchers in their efforts to present their analysis and findings in a transparent way, thus enhancing trustworthiness. To this end, we propose, describe, and illustrate working examples of six CAQDAS building blocks, three combined CAQDAS techniques, and two coder consistency checks. We argue that these techniques give researchers the language to write about their methods and findings in a transparent manner and that their appropriate use enhances a research project’s trustworthiness. Specific CAQDAS techniques are rarely discussed across an array of inductive research processes. Thus, we see this article as the beginning of a conversation about the utility of CAQDAS to support inductive qualitative research.

scholarly journals Current Issues in Qualitative Data Analysis Software (QDAS): A User and Developer Perspective

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeanine Evers
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Analysis Software ◽  
Qualitative Data Analysis ◽  
User Friendliness ◽  
User Perspective ◽  
Exchange Format ◽  
Qualitative Data Analysis Software ◽  
Data Analysis Software

This paper describes recent issues and developments in Qualitative Data Analysis Software (QDAS) as presented in the opening plenary at the KWALON 2016 conference. From a user perspective, it reflects current features and functionality, including the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning; implications of the cloud; user friendliness; the role of digital archives; and the development of a common exchange format. This user perspective is complemented with the views of software developers who took part in the “Rotterdam Exchange Format Initiative,” an outcome of the conference.

scholarly journals The Walking Dead Genealogy: Unsubstantiated Criticisms of Qualitative Data Analysis Software (QDAS) and the Failure to Put Them to Rest

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristi Jackson ◽  
Trena Paulus ◽  
Nicholas Woolf
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Analysis Software ◽  
Qualitative Data Analysis ◽  
The Walking Dead ◽  
Qualitative Data Analysis Software ◽  
Data Analysis Software ◽  
Walking Dead

The authors conduct an exposé on the deterministic denunciations of Qualitative Data Analysis Software (QDAS) and how citation errors keep these criticisms alive. They use a zombie metaphor to describe more than two decades of battling these seemingly mindless assessments of QDAS that keep coming –despite their decay – and simply will not die. Focusing exclusively on the criticism of separation/distancing, which alleges that the computer and the software interfere with the researcher’s familiarity with the data, the authors trace one current strand of this criticism through a literature genealogy. Three citation errors (half-truth, proxy, and hearsay) are identified to help dismantle the criticism that QDAS inevitably and negatively interferes with the researchers’ connection to the data. The article concludes with a reckoning about the role of QDAS experts in perpetuating these citation errors and provides four specific recommendations for all qualitative researchers; suggestions that amount to a more viable avenue for pursuing a cure.

scholarly journals Audiovisual Media Annotation Using Qualitative Data Analysis Software: A Comparative Analysis

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liliana Melgar Estrada ◽  
Marijn Koolen
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Information Science ◽  
Analysis Software ◽  
Qualitative Data Analysis ◽  
Audiovisual Media ◽  
Media Annotation ◽  
Qualitative Data Analysis Software ◽  
Data Analysis Software

The variety of specialized tools designed to facilitate analysis of audio-visual (AV) media are useful not only to media scholars and oral historians but to other researchers as well. Both Qualitative Data Analysis Software (QDAS) packages and dedicated systems created for specific disciplines, such as linguistics, can be used for this purpose. Software proliferation challenges researchers to make informed choices about which package will be most useful for their project. This paper aims to present an information science perspective of the scholarly use of tools in qualitative research of audio-visual sources. It provides a baseline of affordances based on functionalities with the goal of making the types of research tasks that they support more explicit (e.g., transcribing, segmenting, coding, linking, and commenting on data). We look closely at how these functionalities relate to each other, and at how system design influences research tasks.

scholarly journals Technology Ethics in Qualitative Research: How to Be

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
António Costa ◽  
António Moreira
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Special Edition ◽  
Analysis Software ◽  
Qualitative Data Analysis ◽  
Research Activity ◽  
Introductory Note ◽  
Qualitative Data Analysis Software ◽  
Data Analysis Software

This introductory note stems from the organization of a special edition of articles from the World Conference on Qualitative Research. Some researchers put forth criticisms about using software in qualitative data analysis, such as losing control in the coding process and leading researchers to use a particular method of analysis according to tool characteristics. Moreover, a number of the scientists believe that the advantages of using specific tools in data analysis are numerous, such as the analysis of an enormous amounts of data, but doing research involves personal or institutional aspects that enter the field of ethics. In the case of specific qualitative data analysis software, it would be possible to list a set of principles that would begin with the organization and importing of data, proceed with their interpretative and descriptive codification followed by questioning the data, up to exporting results to their written dissemination. Such principles could set the boundaries or define ethics in the use of software, referring to any research activity that touches what is right or wrong, good or bad, moral or immoral. This text is in line with the belief shared by others that work studies that can be performed on computational ethics will influence not only the use of Qualitative Data Analysis software but also their development.

scholarly journals O USO DE PROGRAMAS DE COMPUTADOR NA ANÁLISE QUALITATIVA: OPORTUNIDADES, VANTAGENS E DESVANTAGENS.

2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Augusto Moreira
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Grounded Theory ◽  
Data Analysis ◽  
Data Storage ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Computer Software ◽  
Analysis Software ◽  
Qualitative Data Analysis ◽  
Qualitative Data Analysis Software ◽  
Data Analysis Software

Qualitative Data Analysis Software is not extensively used in Brazil; also, misconceptions about qualitative research are still common. This study presents the main functions of Qualitative Data Analysis Software or, more properly, CAQDAS - Computer Aided Qualitative Data Analysis Software, as it is well known in the academic world. The relationship of CAQDAS with grounded theory is stressed, and so is text coding, as the central operational issue in grounded theory. Vantages and advantages of using software packages are analyzed. However their huge potential for facilitating data storage, manipulation and retrieval, their use is not always necessary or even recommended. As the packages are not neutral concerning theory, the analyst has to decide if and when to use a computer program and, if the package is in order, which one to use. Key words: Data analysis. Computer software. Qualitative research.

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