In 2019, the Rotterdam Exchange Format Initiative (REFI) launched a new open exchange standard for qualitative data called QDA-XML,[19] however, the Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis (CAQDAS) Network Project had been formally established in 1994.[2] The aim is to allow users to bring coded qualitative data from one software package to another. Support was initially adopted by Atlas.ti, QDA Miner, Quirkos and Transana, and has since been implemented into Dedoose, MAXQDA, NVivo and more.[20] Although this was not the first standard to be proposed, it was the first to be implemented by more than one software package, and came as the result of a collaboration between vendors and community representatives from the research community. Previously there was very little capability to bring data in from other software packages.
Training
The CAQDAS Network Project hosts events on the use of CAQDAS packages for qualitative and mixed-methods analysis. They include:[2]
fee-based in-person short courses
open-registration Webinars designed to raise awareness
open-registration Webinars that are methodological or pedagogical in nature
podcasts
Pros and cons
Such software helps to organize, manage and analyse information.[21] The advantages of using this software include saving time, managing huge amounts of qualitative data, having increased flexibility, having improved validity and auditability of qualitative research, and being freed from manual and clerical tasks. Concerns include increasingly deterministic and rigid processes, privileging of coding, and retrieval methods; reification of data, increased pressure on researchers to focus on volume and breadth rather than on depth and meaning, time and energy spent learning to use computer packages, increased commercialism, and distraction from the real work of analysis.[22]
^Paulus, Trena M.; Lester, Jessica Nina (2016). "ATLAS.ti for conversation and discourse analysis studies". International Journal of Social Research Methodology. 19 (4): 405–428. doi:10.1080/13645579.2015.1021949. S2CID144482072.
^Banner, DJ; Albarrran, JW (2009). "Computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software: a review". Canadian Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing. 19 (3): 24–31. PMID19694114.
^St John, W; Johnson, P (2000). "The pros and cons of data analysis software for qualitative research". Journal of Nursing Scholarship. 32 (4): 393–7. doi:10.1111/j.1547-5069.2000.00393.x. PMID11140204.
-External links
The CAQDAS networking project maintained by the University of Surrey offers advice and reviews on various software packages.
