Introduction: Analyzing Qualitative Data with Software
The umbrella term “qualitative data” covers a wide variety of data types. Using computer software to analyze these various types of data is a relatively new area of methods development. Indeed, computer-assisted analysis of multimedia data—such as videos—
- PDF / 193,374 Bytes
- 11 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 30 Downloads / 209 Views
Introduction: Analyzing Qualitative Data with Software
The umbrella term “qualitative data” covers a wide variety of data types. Using computer software to analyze these various types of data is a relatively new area of methods development. Indeed, computer-assisted analysis of multimedia data—such as videos—has only recently come to the fore, thanks to rapid technological developments. Today (almost) everyone can collect and analyze this kind of data (e.g., via video recordings on their smartphone). This chapter provides an overview of types of data that can be analyzed with MAXQDA, which file formats the software can process, and the scope of its features and functions. We will also discuss the relationship between qualitative methods and computer software as an analytical tool in practice of research. Does the inherent logic of computer software favor certain social science methods? Or can computer-assisted qualitative data analysis be regarded as an independent method that replaces other traditional (especially interpretative) methods? In This Chapter • Get to know a variety of qualitative data types • Gain an overview of the range of data types and formats that MAXQDA can analyze • Gain a first impression of MAXQDA’s features and functions • Understand the debate concerning QDA software as an analysis tool or method
What Is Qualitative Data? MAXQDA is a software for the analysis of qualitative data and therefore belongs to the family of CAQDAS, the acronym for “Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software.” Recently, the shorter term QDAS (Qualitative Data Analysis
# Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 U. Kuckartz, S. Rädiker, Analyzing Qualitative Data with MAXQDA, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15671-8_1
1
2
1
Introduction: Analyzing Qualitative Data with Software
Software) has occasionally been used; we will stick to the term CAQDAS throughout this chapter. At this stage, however, you may be wondering what exactly qualitative data is. The term “qualitative data” comes from the social sciences and is an umbrella term for all nonnumerical, unstructured data. While most people can immediately imagine something under numerical data, this is not done so easily in the case of qualitative data. Numerical data, that is, numbers—whether large or small numbers—with varying degrees of accuracy; this data is usually collected by means of measurements and analyzed using statistical methods. Appropriate software such as SPSS, STATA, SAS, or SYSTAT is available for these analysis methods. While the field of numerical data is very simple, the opposite applies to qualitative data. There is an incredible amount of qualitative data, ranging from interview and focus group transcripts to photographs, documents, films, and audio and video recordings. However, the term “qualitative variables” used in quantitative social research must be distinguished from qualitative data; this refers to variables with nominal-scale levels, such as the variables “Gender,” “Marital status,” or “Party preference.” These variables ar
Data Loading...
