CAQDASAssistance or Analysis?

Managing learners' expectations

Ian Fouweather

July 2014

CAQDASAssistance or Analysis?

Managing learners' expectations: A Personal Perspective

Do students understand what Qualitative Research is?Do we expect too much from technology?How can we respond in the teaching lab?

Qualitative Research

What is Qualitative Research?

“Qualitative researchers aim to gather an in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern such behavior. The qualitative method investigates the why and how of decision making, not just what, where, when. “

Wikipedia: Qualitative Research

But How?

The “how” of Qualitative Research?

Possible options:

1. Rigour, objectivity and quantification (Seale and Silverman 1997)

2. Systematic interrogation of the data (Grounded Theory)

3. Hermeneutic Approaches4. Critical Approaches5. Stories and Narratives

Qualitative Research

• Qualitative Research is a craft

• Meaning is created by the researcher engaging with data

• There is no definitive interpretation

• There is no definitive method

• Context is everything

• Linguistic Circularity

What is Qualitative Analysis?

So How to Proceed?

When you have • never studied qual• been bamboozled by jargon• little or no grasp of epistemology• no guidance available• masses of data

“Doing Qual” in the Google Age

Technology is: • Part of our world.• Embedded in our society,• Really helpful—it makes things faster.• Able to help us grasp abstract

concepts • A great teaching tool.

(Oblinger and Oblinger 2005)

“Doing Qual” in the Google Age

NVivo seems to be seen as that Killer App.

“It will analyse my data”

“My supervisor says I need to use it”

“It will make my analysis better”

“I’ve never done qual and I thought Nvivo would do it for me”

So how to proceed?

When you have 20 students some of whom may have • never studied qual• already been bamboozled by jargon• Limited grasp of methodology• masses of data• no data

• enormous expectations of the software• a desperate need for a solution

Manage Expectations

Explore the Acronym: CAQDAS • Nvivo is a tool for Computer Assisted

Qualitative Data Analysis

• Nvivo will NOT Analyse your Data

• You will have to Analyse your Data, but Nvivo may help you.

• But it may NOT be the tool for you

• It will require time and effort

Nvivo

An Introduction

Today’s Course

Objective:

To demonstrate the capability of NVivo as a qualitative data management and analysis tool.

Today’s Course

Learning outcomes: By the end of today you will be able to decide if NVivo could be useful for your project and how you might use it.

Nvivo Basics

What we are going to look at

i. Sources ii. Word Searching and “Content Analysis”iii. Nodes iv. Classification and Attributesv. Memosvi. Links (Cross Referencing)vii. Sets

Working with your Data

i. Creating a new Projectii. Importing Dataiii. Nodes and Codingiv. Creating Source Nodesv. Coding Datavi. Classification and Attributesvii. Simple Queries

CAQDAS

Things to remember • Technology failure

• Working with a suitable data set

• Questions of theory

• Mixed ability groups

• Finding a common language

• Keep it simple

CAQDASAssistance or Analysis?

Managing learners' expectations: A Personal Perspective

Do students understand what Qualitative Research is?Do we expect too much from technology?How can we respond in the teaching lab?

Any Questions