Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis
Bob Schwartz
February 17, 2012
QDA
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Data: documents, physical objects (maps), media images, audio files, etc.
Discover and identify patterns, use to compare differences between individuals and groups, and test
assumptions/hypotheses about the patterns
 Identifying and describing themes
 Coding/themes/concepts/terms: building & applying codebooks
 Variable relationships, terms, phrases, features of importance
o cultural domain analysis: perceptions of individuals by groups
 Words and terms
o discourse analysis
o conversational analysis: adjacency pairs; turn taking among jurors
o narrative analysis: how fisherman describe their occupation; the abundance or decline of fish stocks
 Content analysis
o Word frequencies & stop lists
o Word Lists and Key-Words-in-Context (KWIC)
o Word Co-occurrence
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CAQDA Software: (from http://onlineqda.hud.ac.uk/Intro_CAQDAS/What_the_sw_can_do.php.)
“The software does..
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Structure work - Enables access to all parts of your project immediately,
'Closeness to data' interactivity - Instant access to source data files (e.g transcripts),
Explore data - Tools to search text for one word or a phrase,
Code and Retrieve Functionality - create codes and retrieve the coded sections of text,
Project Management and Data Organisation - Manage project and organise data,
Search and interrogating the database - Search for relationships between codes,
Writing tools - Memos, comments and annotations,
Output - Reports to view a hard copy or export to another package.
This section is based on the paper: Lewins, A. and Silver, C. (2009) Choosing a CAQDAS Package - A
working paper by Ann Lewins & Christina Silver. The full version is available online as a PDF at:
http://caqdas.soc.surrey.ac.uk/PDF/2009ChoosingaCAQDASPackage.pdf
The software does not..
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Do the analytical thinking for you (though it can do things that help you do that thinking),
Do the coding for you. In general, you need to decide what can be coded in what way. Some software
supports automatic coding the results of text searches, but it is still important to check what has been
automatically coded. One program, Qualrus, after you have coded a passage, makes suggestions about
how else you might code it. The same warning applies here. It is up to you to decide if what is suggested
by the program makes sense.
Reduce bias, improve reliability or, on its own, improve the quality of your analysis (though it does have
functions that can be used to help improve the quality of analysis),
Tell you how to analyse your data. (No-one thinks a word-processor can write a report for them.)
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Does not calculate statistics, though some programs will produce simple counts and percentages.”
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Bernard, H. R. and G. W. Ryan (2010). Analyzing qualitative data : systematic approaches. Los
Angeles [Calif.], SAGE.
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References
Start here:
“Online QDA - What Is Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA)”, n.d.
http://onlineqda.hud.ac.uk/Intro_QDA/what_is_qda.php.
“Online QDA - What Software Does and Does Not Do”, n.d.
http://onlineqda.hud.ac.uk/Intro_CAQDAS/What_the_sw_can_do.php.
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Online Learning of QDA from the University of Florida “Taca_syllabus.pdf”, n.d.
http://www.distance.ufl.edu/Data/Sites/28/media/programfiles/research-methods-inanthropology/pdfs/taca_syllabus.pdf.
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“CAQDAS (New Media Methods @ Loughborough University)”, July 26, 2011.
http://www.restore.ac.uk/lboro/research/software/caqdas_comparison.php.
“CAQDAS and Qualitative Syllogism Logic—NVivo 8 and MAXQDA 10 Compared | Schönfelder | Forum
Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research”, July 29, 2011.
http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/viewArticle/1514/3134. (MHC has a license
for NVivio 10)
Colby, B.N. (1966). The analysis of culture content and patterning of narrative concern in texts.
American Anthropologist 68:374-388.
“ChoosingaCAQDASPackage.pdf”, n.d.
http://eprints.ncrm.ac.uk/791/1/2009ChoosingaCAQDASPackage.pdf.
“Distance Courses : QualQuant | Training in Qualitative and Quantitative Social Research Methods”,
n.d. http://qualquant.org/methodsmall/distance-courses/. Offered by an experienced pair of QDA users and
field anthropologists: Clarence C. Gravlee and Amber Wutich.
Lexical Data Base at Princeton University. “About WordNet - WordNet - About WordNet”, July 6, 2011.
http://wordnet.princeton.edu/.
“Extracting Social Networks from 19th Century Novels « Text Mining and the Digital Humanities”, July 6,
2011. http://mininghumanities.com/2010/09/13/social-networks-19th-century/.
“H. Russell Bernard: Analyzing Qualitative Data: Systematic Approaches:
http://www.sagepub.com/booksProdDesc.nav?prodId=Book227658&#tabview=toc. Highly reviewed
textbook.
“Online course by two field anthropologists, Clarence C. Gravlee and Amber Wutich,
http://www.distance.ufl.edu/Data/Sites/28/media/programfiles/research-methods-inanthropology/pdfs/taca_syllabus.pdf
“Open Source Text Analytics by Seth Grimes - BeyeNETWORK”, July 6, 2011. http://www.b-eyenetwork.com/view/9516.
“Preview of Analyzing Qualitative Data : Systematic Approaches [WorldCat.org]”, n.d.
http://www.worldcat.org/title/analyzing-qualitative-data-systematicapproaches/oclc/313654652/viewport.
“Qualitative Measures”, n.d. http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/qual.php.
“TAS08-TextAnalyticsForDummies.pdf”, n.d. http://altaplana.com/TAS08-TextAnalyticsForDummies.pdf.
“Text Analytics Basics, Part 1 by Seth Grimes - BeyeNETWORK”, July 6, 2011. http://www.b-eyenetwork.com/view/8032.
“Text Analytics Basics, Part 2 by Seth Grimes - BeyeNETWORK”, July 6, 2011. http://www.b-eyenetwork.com/view/8339.
“Text Mining”, July 6, 2011. http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/~msharp/text_mining.htm.
“Text Mining and the Digital Humanities”, July 6, 2011. http://mininghumanities.com/.
“The Stanford NLP (Natural Language Processing) Group”, July 6, 2011. http://nlp.stanford.edu/software/.
“TIME Magazine Corpus of American English”, July 6, 2011. http://corpus.byu.edu/time/.
“Victorian Literature, Statistically Analyzed With New Process - NYTimes.com”, July 6, 2011.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/04/books/04victorian.html?pagewanted=all.
“Wordle - Beautiful Word Clouds”, July 6, 2011. http://www.wordle.net/.
Wutich, Amber and Clarence C. Gravlee. (2010). Water Decision-Makers in a Desert City: Text Analysis and
Environmental Social Science. In I. Vaccaro, E. A. Smith, S. Aswani (Eds.), Environmental Social
Sciences: Methods and Research Design (p. 188-211). New York: Cambridge University Press.
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MaxQDA (http://www.maxqda.com/)
“MixMethMAXQDA-Nov01-2010.pdf”, n.d. http://maxqda.com/download/MixMethMAXQDA-Nov012010.pdf.
“Working with MAXQDA - 2: Importing and Organizing Text on Vimeo”, July 26, 2011.
http://vimeo.com/2494247.
QDA and GIS:
Cope, M., and S. Elwood. Qualitative GIS: a Mixed Methods Approach. SAGE Publications, 2009.
Crampton, J. W. “Cartographic Calculations of Territory.” Progress in Human Geography 35, no. 1 (2011): 92.
Elwood, S., and M. Cope. “Qualitative GIS: Forging Mixed Methods Through Representations, Analytical
Innovations, and Conceptual Engagements.” Qualitative GIS: a Mixed Methods Approach. London:
Sage Publications (2009): 1–12.
Jung, J. K. “Computer-aided Qualitative GIS (CAQ-GIS) for Critical Researchers: An Integration of
Quantitative and Qualitative Research in the Geography of Communities”. State University of New
York at Buffalo, 2007.
———. “Computer-aided Qualitative GIS: A Software-level Integration of Qualitative Research and GIS.”
Qualitative GIS: A Mixed Methods Approach. Eds. Meghan Cope and Sarah Elwood. Los Angeles: Sage
(2009): 115-36.
Jung, J. K, and S. Elwood. “Extending the Qualitative Capabilities of GIS: Computer Aided Qualitative GIS.”
Transactions in GIS 14, no. 1 (2010): 63-87.
Jung, J. K, and State University of New York at Buffalo. Geography. Computer-aided Qualitative GIS (CAQGIS) for Critical Researchers: An Integration of Quantitative and Qualitative Research in the
Geography of Communities. State University of New York at Buffalo, 2007.
http://books.google.com/books?id=0OsItwAACAAJ.
“ProQuest Document View - Computer-aided Qualitative GIS (CAQ-GIS) for Critical Researchers: An
Integration of Quantitative and Qualitative Research in the Geography of Communities”, n.d.
http://gradworks.umi.com/32/61/3261991.html.
“Qualitative GIS: a Mixed Methods ... - Google Books”, n.d.
http://books.google.com/books?id=eMRN2yfbPxYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22qualitative+GIS%2
2&hl=en&ei=o0oyTs2gJoO8Qa6roCADQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage
&q&f=false.
Wilson, M. W. “Towards a Genealogy of Qualitative GIS.” Qualitative GIS: a Mixed Methods Approach.
London: Sage Publications (2009): 156–170.
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