Hello all & dear Timo,
concerning your question:
"One solution would be to find so interesting data that the students
would just get carried away with it. That we have tried to do, but
students' interests vary (the course is for students of all
disciplines in Social Sciences)."
In my MAXQDA-workshops & university classes I use parts of interviews
with MAXQDA users I conducted for my Thesis a few years ago. Of all
data I have used in workshops so far, I find these texts being most
engaging and interesting to the students. They use the software while at
the same time they learn about how other people used the software, and
how these researchers felt about integrating the computer in their
workflow. Ideally the students are interested in working with the
software, so the topic "using software" is likely to be engaging to many
students. The second great advantage is that after working with the
texts, we usually have a fruitful, critical discussion about pros & cons
of working with software and different styles of using it, which helps
the students greatly to determine how - and whether - to use the
programs (because they can identify & sympathize or disagree with the
statements in the interviews) . Especially students who are critical or
suspicious of the software are encouraged to develop their own styles of
integrating the software, because the interviews also feature struggles
the interviewees had - by working with the texts, students are likely
to not feel that something is wrong with them just because they do not
feel initially comfortable with working with QDA software.
Maybe you have the chance conduct a few interviews with experienced
users?
Best,
Christian
Christian Schmieder
Research Consultant
www.squaremethodology.com
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