Horses for courses: Facilitating postgraduate research students' choice of Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis System (CAQDAS)
Helen Marshall
Senior Lecturer; Coordinator of Context Curriculum; Acting Honours Coordinator, School of Social Science and Planning, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, VIC
PP: 029 - 037
Abstract
Supervisors of Postgraduate students are increasingly likely to find themselves discussing whether or not the student should use a CAQDAS (computer assisted qualitative data analysis system) in their research.
This paper discusses Weitzman and Miles (1995) framework for decision-making about CAQDAS and then reports the experiences of five postgraduate students, each of whom made a different decision. (These were variously: not to use a CAQDAS, using Atlas-Ti, Ethnograph, N. VIVO and N5). It explores the fit between Weitzman's and Miles' principles and the students' experiences then suggests some modifications of the principles and strategies for advising students.
Keywords
qualitative studies; research methodology; graduate nursing; qualitative data analysis systems
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