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I recently learned NVivo and QDA Miner. Previously, I had used Nud*ist, SAS Text Miner (very good if you like the LSA approach) and SPSS TextSmart (the latter is quite buggy & slow). I found QDA Miner much easier to learn and use than either NVivo or Nud*ist. I also found the automated link to WordStat to be very helpful. You can use QDA Miner to assign codes manually or via searches, while WordStat is aimed more at creating a dictionary that will automate the assignment of codes. It’s the usual qualitative vs. content analysis difference in perspective, but what unique about them, AFAIK, is the ability to easily combine these two methods. A major coding theme might jump out at you but be very subtly worded. You could use QDA Miner to code that, and then use WordStat to do content analysis only within those coded sections (see brief steps below). With a clearly defined area such as open-ended survey questions I have been happy starting with WordStat. Describing the steps involved is almost as fast as doing them: toss out the low-information words, ask to see only those words used by at least N people (perhaps 5% of your sample), see how the words cluster, change the number of clusters until you see categories that make sense (they're displayed in a tree diagram) & save the cluster membership. These steps take just a few minutes since each is a click away and the program is pretty fast. Now, I'm not saying you're anywhere close to being done with a decent analysis, but in well defined areas you can get a general idea of where you're headed quite quickly. Both QDA Miner and WordStat are easy to learn & fun to use. I recommend downloading the demos at www.simstat.com. Also, the company offers academic site licenses that are very reasonably priced. Bob Muenchen =================================================== Bob Muenchen (pronounced Min'-chen), Manager Statistical Consulting Center U of TN Office of Information Technology Voice: (865) 974-5230 FAX: (865) 974-4810 Email: [log in to unmask] Web: http://OIT.utk.edu/scc =================================================== ________________________________________ From: qual-software [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ian Roberts Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2004 11:56 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Comparison between QDAMiner and other software Can anyone comment on the new QDAMiner software? I tried it and it is easy to learn and use and cheaper than other software I have seen. It also offers some cool analysis tools that I did not found in other software (cluster, concept maps, bar charts). How does it compare with other software like Nvivo or Atlas-ti? Is there anything I won't be able to do with this software (beside coding graphics and sound file)? Ian ________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Search - Find what youre looking for faster.