Vivian,
I'm breaking my rule that developers should stay out of such discussions,
because this is an important issue here at QSR. There are so many colleges
now teaching either NUD*IST4 or now NVivo that we're spending a lot of
effort on assistance for teachers and documentation.
So here's a response as a teacher (but of course from a developer, so please
check out demos and website teaching materials for yourself). I don't myself
teach undergrad or grad courses now but have used NUD*IST4 with great
success in them, and there are very many institutions doing so (and site
licenses available). N4's student price makes it one of the cheapest of all
programs for individual purchase and it's also one of the best documented
packages, with a text on it (Gahan ed., publ by Sage), and free-to-print
teaching materials including a booklet that walks you into a project, on the
website. There's also a very large user base and experience, including in
linking qualitative and quantitative data; not irrelevant for jobseekers!
However I would probably now use NVivo (or combine the two) if I were
teaching at those levels. A major goal of teaching qual methods for me has
always been to teach fluidity, and encourage play with data. NVivo's rich
text means handling of data with no prior preparation, (straight import of
rtf files, subheadings and all) Docs look live and familiar, and change as
your ideas change - even Memos are full rich text, linkable, codeable docs.
Students can get straight in and edit, code as they edit (without the coding
being invalidated) and "mark up" text in color, font etc just as they would
in the word processor. Write up rich text field notes, coding as they go. In
particular, coding is more like thinking aloud (code any characters, as you
write or read, drag and drop, or one mouse click.) A lot of what's
methodologically new about NVivo is also really important for teaching the
qualitative craft - integrated searches and live models and hyperlinks to
other multimedia data, and links from anywhere to anywhere within the
project. So for me for the first time the process of growing understanding
happens without a software barrier.
There are free versions of both programs, to explore in tutorial no-save
mode. With NVivo we've provided a free Viewer which lets anyone play in any
real project without having the real software. I'd use that for students to
put on their own home computers with the class's data - I'd make a project
on the real software with e.g. data students themselves had made and give it
to them to explore for learning the software in their time out of class.
NVivo comes with its own methods text, Using NVivo in Qual Research, which
Sage markets as a separate book. (Both N4 and NVivo are also documented in
the appendix to Russell Schutt's introductory text with Sage.)
Please feel free to ask us questions offlist if that helps. You can check
out the website for demos, teaching books etc. And if you do use QSR's
software please get in touch - we offer free help to anyone, and course-plan
help to teachers, if they so wish.
cheers
Lyn
Lyn Richards,
Research Professor of Qualitative Methodology, University of Western
Sydney,
Director, Research Services, Qualitative Solutions and Research.
(email) [log in to unmask]
(Ph) +61 3 9459 1699 (Fax) +61 3 9459 0435
(snail) Box 171, La Trobe University PO, Vic 3083, Australia.
http://www.qsr.com.au
-----Original Message-----
From: Vivian Hajnal [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, November 04, 1999 11:10 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Computer programs for qualitative data analysis
We need to make a decision about purchasing and supporting one qualitative
data analysis computer program in our College. I would appreciate receiving
your suggestions and hearing about your experiences with students.
Thanks for your help.
Vivian
Vivian Hajnal phone 306-966-7649
Associate Dean fax 306-966-7624
College of Education
University of Saskatchewan
28 Campus Drive
Saskatoon, SK
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