Analytical units force us to be specific about what we do. How much text do we code? What context do we take into consideration? What documents or text segments do we include or exclude from our analysis? Thinking about them can definitely help us improve the quality of our analysis. Continue reading Sampling Unit, Coding Unit, Context Unit? Analytical Units in QDA
Monthly Archives: January 2019
Is (MAX)QDA actually a method?
No, it’s not. Granted, QDA-software is far from methodologically neutral and strongly influences the way we design our research. However, it is not a method in itself and we always need some external “building plan”(a method) to guide us. Continue reading Is (MAX)QDA actually a method?
2 Ways Towards a Proper System of Categories
Unlike a simple code, categories need a good definition, proper examples and precise coding rules. There are two different ways of coding: start with general codes and become more granular later (Qualitative Content Analysis & MAXQDA) or start with many specific codes and summarize them in sophisticated categories later (Grounded Theory & ATLAS.ti).
Continue reading 2 Ways Towards a Proper System of Categories
What is Qualitative Data Analysis?
In a nutshell Qualitative Data Analysis is all about structuring unstructured data, be it text, images, audio or video, by manually assigning tags, categories or “codes” to segments of data. This helps finding relevant segments again and allows to quantify (count) them. Continue reading What is Qualitative Data Analysis?