Computer software and qualitative analysis: Trends,issues and resources

Developments during the 1990s in the use of computer software for qualitative data analysis are surveyed. Salient trends are identified as are wider issues associated with software use. Also listed are some of the resources now available to potential and actual users of computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS).     

Going the distance: 'Closeness' in qualitative data analysis software

This study about researchers' transitions to using qualitative data analysis (QDA) software identified three stages of 'closeness to the data': the tactile-digital divide; the coding trap; and the metacognitive shift. The 'tactile-digital divide' involves adapting to working on screen instead of paper, an initially distancing process. As users gain comfort with the software, they experience 'the coding trap'--an issue of too much closeness to the data. Users warned that there was a tendency to become 'bogged down' in coding, and developed strategies to provide analytical distance. 'The metacognitive shift' involves learning to think about software processes with the same level of reflectivity that should accompany qualitative research processes in general, including developing strategies for error recognition. These transitions invite reflections on the nature of 'cognitive tools' and expertise with them, which lead to implications for evaluating research and considering trustworthiness.     

Peer assistance for personal assistance: analysis of online discussions about personal assistance from a Swedish web forum for disabled people

This paper describes and analyses a community of disabled people in Sweden that use an online forum to discuss personal assistance issues. The forum is a community of practice (CoP) that has its roots in everyday living with personal assistance. The contributions to the forum were studied over a 4½ year period, including a total of 2755 postings from 146 persons. The levels of the CoP learning system were analysed using the FACE tool, which examines function based on attitude, control and enabling. The results indicate that a learning system was established within the CoP that made it possible for disabled people to complement, confront and counterbalance the influences of existing learning systems, theories and methods of professionals in the area of personal assistance.     

General assistance among U.S. cities: A test of alternative hypotheses

Using 1980 census data, this study seeks to explain variations in race‐specific measures of general assistance among 109 U.S. cities. Four hypotheses (derived from developmental, conflict, and human ecological theories) are developed as potential explanations of welfare recipiency rates and payment levels. Three control variables (southness, population size, and education) are included in the analysis. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis reveals that for blacks, poverty, level of manufacturing employment (1970–1980), and southness are significant predictors of recipiency rates; whereas per capita revenue, segregation, southness, and population size are significant predictors of mean payment. For whites, poverty, percent white, and southness are significant predictors of welfare rates; whereas per capita revenue, percent white, segregation, and southness are significant predictors of mean payment. The analysis provides partial support for the need hypothesis in explaining General Assistance recipiency with respect to both races. It also provides moderate support for the segregation hypothesis and weak support for the functional transformation hypothesis in explaining General Assistance recipiency for blacks.     

The NUDIST qualitative data analysis system

Most computer approaches to qualitative data analysis have concentrated on coding and retrieval of text. This paper describes a research project which set out to support a range of methods for the analysis of unstructured data, with emphasis on the building and testing of grounded theory. It resulted in software whose innovations include: a) No limit to the number of coding categories and sub-categories, and no limit to the number of times a given text passage can be coded; b) The use of separate document and indexing databases, interrelated and of unlimited flexibility; c) Comprehensive hypermedia-like browsing tools for both document and indexing databases; d) Ability to search for words and lexical patterns occurring in text and to combine this with indexing of the text; e) Ability to handle off-line textual and non-textual data as well as on-line data; f) Ability to record textual comments in indexing categories — a memoing facility for emerging ideas and categories; g) Support and exploitation of hierarchical indexing systems; h) Mechanisms for creating new indexing categories out of existing ones, relating them to the data documents, and using them for further analyses. New goals of the project are to provide a number of artificial intelligence based information structuring and reasoning facilities which can be used to aid the organization and retrieval of qualitative data, and to extend the present capabilities of the software to express and test new ideas, concepts, generalizations and hypotheses about the data.     

Social assistance for poor children in urban China: A qualitative study from the recipients' perspective

In urban China, the recipients' experiences living with social assistance are neglected. This article examines social assistance for poor children in urban China, mainly by interviewing parents and children from urban Dibao households in Tianjin and Chengdu. It finds that the recipients' feelings included gratitude, helplessness, shame and exclusion which reflected limited policy effect on material support and social exclusion prevention. It argues that the recipients are under-served and current social assistance policy for poor children which only includes differentiated aid and education aid is inadequate and should be further improved.     

A qualitative information system for data management

This article traces the path which led to the adaptation of the Information System approach to data management and the use of a Relational Data Base Management System in the Vitrine 2001 project, a research project looking at children's learning activities with computers using qualitative research techniques. The principles which guided the selection and design of the data base, consideration of its advantages, as well as guidelines to help others who may wish to use a similar instrument are also presented.     

Applications of qualitative analysis software: A view from the field

This article describes six potential benefits and five possible limitations of microcomputer-assisted qualitative data management and analysis. It is written from the perspective of a new faculty member, within the specific context of dissertation student advisement and mentoring. Although the article addresses the composite qualities of the genre of microcomputer software known as text analysis programs, the particular product featured in the examples is THE ETHNOGRAPH.     

Using natural language processing technology for qualitative data analysis

Social researchers often apply qualitative research methods to study groups and their communications artifacts. The use of computer-mediated communications has dramatically increased the volume of text available, but coding such text requires considerable manual effort. We discuss how systems that process text in human languages (i.e. natural language processing [NLP]) might partially automate content analysis by extracting theoretical evidence. We present a case study of the use of NLP for qualitative analysis in which the NLP rules showed good performance on a number of codes. With the current level of performance, use of an NLP system could reduce the amount of text to be examined by a human coder by an order of magnitude or more, potentially increasing the speed of coding by a comparable degree. The paper is significant as it is one of the first to demonstrate the use of high-level NLP techniques for qualitative data analysis.     

What Malaysian women believe about Viagra: a qualitative inquiry

This paper highlights women's perceptions of sildenafil citrate (Viagra^®, Pfizer). It is based on a qualitative study on perceptions of erectile dysfunction in the Malaysian multicultural society. Six focus groups were conducted, consisting of 69 women, aged between 40 and 70 years, recruited from the general public and who had given informed consent. The findings revealed that the women were aware of erectile dysfunction and Viagra. Due to their concern about the negative aspects of Viagra, the Chinese and Malay traditional methods of treatment were commonly mentioned. The women from three ethnic groups viewed the possibility of their husband starting to take Viagra with lots of suspicion, mistrust and fear. They would prefer their husband discussing with them the issue of resorting to taking Viagra. The Chinese and Indian women perceived that if a man takes Viagra, it will boost his ego and he will feel more manly. Indian women felt that a man taking Viagra is proof of his love for his wife. The Malay women felt that a man would be ashamed and have a low self-esteem if he were to resort to taking Viagra. Although Viagra is meant for the male, understanding of women's perception of it is beneficial for a couple's sexual relationship.     

‘Making narrative portraits: a methodological approach to analysing qualitative data’

ABSTRACT

This paper proposes the method of ‘narrative portraiture’, which, located within the wider field of narrative studies, offers an analytical tool to narrative data. Two research projects, one on disability and one on identity, are used to illustrate how the method can be applied. While the paper will focus on the methodological benefits and limitations of the approach, throughout the article we also highlight the ethical concern of representation. We suggest that through ‘narrative portraiture’ research findings can be contextualised in broader social narratives without losing sight of the unique personal qualities of the research encounter. Thus, we argue for the importance of bringing the participant and their everyday life experience into focus, highlighting that a portrayal of a sole story can be, not only a medium to understand a research phenomenon, but also a valuable research output in itself.     

The distribution of a federal entitlement: The case of adoption assistance

Adoption assistance entitlements support children whose birth parents cannot care for them. The entitlements are meant to offset the extra cost to adoptive families of raising children whose early adverse experiences leave them with special needs. Unlike other Social Security Act programs, adoption assistance is not federally administered but is administered by states or localities. State-to-state variation in administration of this federal entitlement leads to unequal treatment of similar children. Moreover, although adoption assistance is an entitlement for children, payments made by many states are systematically correlated with the characteristics of adoptive families.     

Refining an intervention for students with emotional disturbance using qualitative parent and teacher data

Intensive supports are needed for students with emotional disturbance during high-risk transitions. Such interventions are most likely to be successful if they address stakeholder perspectives during the development process. This paper discusses qualitative findings from an iterative intervention development project designed to incorporate parent and teacher feedback early in the development process with applications relevant to the adoption of new programs. Using maximum variation purposive sampling, we solicited feedback from five foster/kinship parents, four biological parents and seven teachers to evaluate the feasibility and utility of the Students With Involved Families and Teachers (SWIFT) intervention in home and school settings. SWIFT provides youth and parent skills coaching in the home and school informed by weekly student behavioral progress monitoring. Participants completed semi-structured interviews that were transcribed and coded via an independent co-coding strategy. The findings provide support for school-based interventions involving family participation and lessons to ensure intervention success.