The contemporary qualitative software analysis programs/Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS) appear to be intuitive and provide more features. The software program should be reasonably priced which includes the time and effort to learn the program.
If anyone can suggest alternatives, I’d love to hear them.A qualitative software system should be intuitive, quick to learn, address the planned research analysis, and should assist in visually identifying constructs and theories. It’s certainly not ideal (expensive, and means I’ll also have to buy a copy of Windows), but it seems to have the best combination of search features and user support (both local and online). I’m still searching, but I suspect that I’ll end up using NVivo.
The first option prevents me from readily accessing my data in future, and the second option costs a small fortune, from the perspective of a full-time student.
I can purchase 12-month Student licenses for $129AUD per year, or buy a copy outright for $780AUD (or $850AUD, including an upgrade to NVivo 9 when it’s released next month). My options there are dual-booting via BootCamp, or running it in a virtual machine window like Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion.
However, I’ll either have to run it on my clunky old work PC (preventing me from doing any data analysis from home), or I’ll need to buy and install a copy of windows on my Macbook. Support is readily available via the Qualitative Inquiry Group community, other people in the office already use it on their ALTC project, and it does all the things I’m looking for. I can’t find a date anywhere on the page, though, and the inclusion of NVivo 2 suggests that it might be a bit dated. Most available software is designed by researchers, and not by interface designers – so virtually all the available options will feel a lot like you’re using an old version of Windows. Thomas Koenig has an excellent CAQDAS Comparison, ordered by software function. Unfortunately, they don’t currently have reviews for very many packages – just NVivo 8, ATLAS.ti 6, Digital Replay Systems (DRS) and MAXqda 2007. The CAQDAS network provides information about a range of software designed to assist with qualitative data analysis. Relatively basic features, and the web-based approach has some drawbacks (reliance on web access and server uptime) as well as positives (access via any platform using a web browser).
I’m going to download a trial version next week.
I’ve been looking for qualitative data analysis software that runs on Mac OS X, and have found a disappointing short list of applications. This has turned out to be a much shorter search than expected. EDIT: Since writing this post, I’ve opted for a browser-based tool called Dedoose.