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Hi As a fellow postgrad I well understand the financial constraints of buying something like Nudist. Analysing my own data is, however, only part of the picture for me. I would like to get a job at the end of my PhD and I think that for that reason it is important to learn one of the packages that is most widely used. Sharon > ---------- > From: Alain Vaillancourt[SMTP:[log in to unmask]] > Reply To: [log in to unmask] > Sent: 17 June 1999 02:41 > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: Student Prices and Limited Versions > > > > Alexandre Enkerli wrote : > > > > Lyn says: > > "With the introduction of NVivo, N4's price has dropped and a student > price > > is available, making it one of the most accessible qual software > packages." > > > > Hm, this might be true but for some students, even a "mere" $175US > really > > is a lot of money to spend on an unfamiliar program. > > Just a thought, would it be possible for a QDAS company to make a > > bare-bones package available for free or for a very very low fee so that > > QDA can become more pervasive among graduate students? Something like > > "Eudora Light", "Photoshop LE", "OmniPage LE" or "Nisus Compact". As a > > marketing strategy, it can make a lot of sense and it could help a lot > of > > us students get on the right track with QDA. > > At least, it works very well in other software categories (such as word, > > audio or image processing). And more specifically for QDA, it would > justify > > the investment in time needed to start with QDA. > > > > Again, this is just a thought. Although there are QDA packages available > on > > campus here, a free (but feature-limited) package would be a > benediction. > > Yes, but what features would you put into such a piece of software? > > As part of my Ph.D. work I did a study of several QDA packages, mostly > from a human factors point of view, but also looking at the features > offered. > > I found all the packages I looked at usable and even useful but I found > them very poor on several aspects of their interfaces. Most of them > ignored basic human computer interface principles and practices and > quite a few crashed regularly or led me astray with arcane menu > arrangements. I started wondering if it would be possible to cobble up > a limited but humanly decent QDA package from all the ready to roll > modules available in advanced versions of Visual Basic and then > distribute it as shareware. The idea would not be to compete with the > top sellers in the field but just give an entry level package to those > who could not afford the price or the complexity of the biggies. > > After months of study and watching two qual software lists regularly I > am still wondering. In fact I am dumbfounded as to what could really > constitute the basic featrures for such a package. I have the > impression that the market, the user base, is too small and segmented to > define "must-have" functions common to all. There are millions upon > millions of users for Mail, WP or graphics software but potential QDA > software users only number in the tens of thousands. > > In the meantime I will go on just dreaming of the small usable piece of > QDA software I would like to see running on my machine instead of the > labyrinthine beasts I currently have. > > Au revoir! > > Alain Vaillancourt > %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%