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Ed raises several important points here, but I want to be clear that by no means was I advocating ignoring qualitative software. I was just talking about one special case where researchers only have lists of words in responses. In our experience we find that these circumstances usually accompany situations where analysis time is tight and researchers are not intending on pursuing qualitative analysis in more depth than the short word or words in response to items in a couple of open ends. Usually they are only looking to count, which quantitative software is built to do. >>From Ed's message: "But isn't it rather short-sighted to encourage researchers to continue using programs because they have them rather than because they offer the best way to perform qualitative research?" ...I absolutely agree with Ed here...but question his definition of qualitative research... Here's the point of potential disagreement...is it really qualitative research when you only have a word or two in response to each open end? Sophisticated tools should not re-define the field to a place where a word is seen as enough to call something qualitative. If by brief we mean a word or two - I worry that people define that as qualitative...move to a sentence or paragraph, then use and abuse qualitative software...and Ed and I are then in the same camp... The issue is how open is open, not who is supporting the qualitative software movement...my record clearly supports use of software in a range of ways...with a range of data and along a spectrum of creative applications. Raymond C. Maietta, Ph.D., President ResearchTalk Inc. 1650 Sycamore Ave, Suite 53 Bohemia, NY 11716 1-631-218-8875 www.researchtalk.com Raymond C. Maietta, Ph.D., President ResearchTalk Inc. 1650 Sycamore Ave, Suite 53 Bohemia, NY 11716 1-631-218-8875 www.researchtalk.com -----Original Message----- From: Ed Brent [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2003 11:17 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: since when is a qualitative package for qualitative analysis "too much" while a quantitative analysis program is not? I really have to object to Ray's comment that qualitative analysis programs are too much program for doing simple qualitative analysis while quantitative databases or spreadsheets are not. Qualitative researchers have spent entirely too much time already tryng to limp along doing qualitative analyses on programs designed for quantitative purposes. Even for something simple like coding brief open-ended answers, any of the qualitative analysis programs are superior to a spreadsheet or database program. I'll let other developers speak for themselves, but Qualrus offers a number of significant advantages over a spreadsheet or database for this task. With Qualrus you can - use the categorizing tool to easily group similar responses and then assign a standard code in one step - use scripts and the intelligent tools to automatically assign codes to segments - use simple qualitatively oriented tools like search or scripts to examine segments having particular codes or code/text combinations to check coding accuracy - use logical relationships among codes to exploit hierarchies and other logical dependencies that can help you generalize your findings and refine your codes. The other qualitative analysis programs offer advantages over spreadsheets and database programs as well. The only advantage of a spreadsheet or database program is that the person may already have one of those on their computer. But isn't it rather short-sighted to encourage researchers to continue using programs because they have them rather than because they offer the best way to perform qualitative research? It seems to me we ought to be encouraging young qualitative researchers to explore the tools available and become competent in their use so that throughout their careers they can take maximum advantage of those tools and not be forced to continue limiting future projects to fit the standard mold of off-the-shelf quantitative packages. Edward Brent, Ph.D. President, Idea Works, Inc. 100 West Briarwood Columbia, Missouri 65203 USA (573) 445-4554 (573) 446-2199 (fax) [log in to unmask] www.ideaworks.com www.qualrus.com > > If the open responses or only one or two words, you may be better off not using a qualitative software package and just entering responses into a quantitative database. > Bottom line - think about whether or not you are buying too much of a package for your purpose. > > Hope that helps, > Ray > > > Raymond C. Maietta, Ph.D., President