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>I am currently exploring the various CAQDAS in order to support a >qualitative study of the roles and responsiblities at the health and >social care interface. The study will be based on 8 case studies. A >case comprises a client and their surrounding web of carers - informal - >formal.- The research is being carried out in two different academic >institutions. I am currently looking into software in order to >support the project. > >My own experience has been with FolioViews (in the context of two >ethnographic studies) - and I have been very impressed with both the >ease of coding and the speed of its searches. However I have only >ever used this program on single researcher projects - where pen and >paper diagrams sufficed in the analysis stage - and so it's lack of >'theory-building' capabilities was never an issue. Given that this new >project would involve a number of researchers involved in the analysis >I thought it would be useful to look at packages where 'current >thinking' could be represented in visual form. I've spent some time >looking at the demos - Altasti, HyperResearcher, Ethnograph, Decision >Explorer - but I have to say that past experience has made me deeply >suspicious of demos. > >I just wondered if you could advise me as to whether any of these >alternatives would be most able to support the kind of work we have >in mind and be a better option than FolioViews. > >One option I did consider was to look at Decision Explorer to support >the analysis and thinking but use FolioViews for search and >retreival. Both packages seem to do both well - but to use two rather than one >seems a bit cumbersome somehow. > >I'm interested to note how little FolioViews figures in discussion >of softward packages. ( Which is one of the reasons why I'm thinking about alternatives.) Is there any reason for this? To me it has >much to commend it - not least it user-friendliness! > >As you can see I am in a quandry. I would greatly appreciate any advice. > > >Davina Allen >Nursing Research Centre >School of Nursing Studies >UWCM >Heath Park >Cardiff >CF4 4XN > >Email:[log in to unmask] > >tel: 0122-743837 > Davina Allen Research Unit School of Nursing Studies UWCM Heath Park Cardiff CF4 4XN Email:[log in to unmask] tel: 0122-743837 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%