process Don't share reports with clients, share your data! When it comes to presenting findings and insight with colleagues and clients, the procedure is usually the same. Create a written summary report, deliver the Powerpoint presentation, field any questions, repeat until everyone is happy
quirkos Quirkos launch workshop This week we had our official launch event for Quirkos, a workshop at the Institute of Education in London, but hosted by the University of Surrey CAQDAS network. It was a great event, with tea and cake
analysis Is qualitative data analysis fracturing? Having been to several international conferences on qualitative research recently, there has been a lot of discussion about the future of qualitative research, and the changes happening in the discipline and society as a whole. A lot of people have been saying
qualitative analysis software First Quirkos qualitative on-line workshop - 25th Nov 2014 Places are filling up now for our London launch and workshop on the 9th of December, but you can still come along for a free lunch by booking at this link. However, we will soon be running the first of our monthly
quirkos QHR2014 and Victoria, BC It's been a busy month, starting with our public launch, and including our first international conference, Qualitative Health Research 2014, hosted by the International Institute for Qualitative Methodology at the University of Alberta. The conference created a great environment
quirkos Quirkos is launched! It's finally here! From today, anyone can download the full 1.0 release version of Quirkos for Windows or Mac OS X! Versions for Linux and Android will be appearing later in the month, but since Windows and Mac account for most of our users,
quirkos Announcing Pricing for Quirkos At the moment, (touch wood!) everything is in place for a launch next week, which is a really exciting place to be after many years of effort. From that day, anyone can download Quirkos, try it free for a month, and then buy a licence if it helps them in their work
quirkos Quirkos is just weeks away! It's been a long time since I've had time to write a blog article, as there are so many things to put in place before Quirkos launches in the next few weeks. But one-by-one everything is coming together. Feedback has helped us tweak the interface, testing
analysis Using Quirkos for Systematic Reviews and Evidence Synthesis Most of the examples the blog has covered so far have been about using Quirkos for research, especially with interview and participant text sources. However, Quirkos can take any text source you can open on your computer, including text PDFs
process Getting a foot in the door with qualitative research A quick look at the British Library thesis catalogue suggests that around 800 theses are completed every year in the UK using qualitative methods*. This suggests that 7% of the roughly 10,000 annual British PhDs completed use qualitative methods. There are likely to be many more
analysis Knowing your customers As consumers, it feels like we are bombarded more than ever with opportunities for providing feedback on products and services. While shopping on-line, or even when browsing BBC News we are asked to complete a short questionnaire
qualitative analysis software Paper vs. computer assisted qualitative analysis I recently read a great paper by Rettie et al. (2008) which, although based on a small sample size, found that only 9% of UK market research organisations doing qualitative research were using software
qualitative analysis software Analysing text using qualitative software I'm really happy to see that the talks from the University of Surrey CAQDAS 2014 are now up online (that's 'Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software' to you and me). It was a great conference about the current state of software for qualitative analysis
qualitative analysis software Quirkos Beta Update! We are busy at Quirkos HQ putting the finishing touches on the Beta version of Quirkos. The Alpha was relased 5 months ago, and during that time we've collected feedback from people who've used Quirkos in a variety of settings
methods Evaluating feedback We all know the score: you attend a conference, business event, or training workshop, and at the end of the day you get a little form asking you to evaluate your experience. You can rate the speakers, venue, lunch and parking
qualitative analysis software Touching Text Presenting Quirkos at the CAQDAS 2014 conference this month was the first major public demonstration of Quirkos, and what we are trying to do. It’s fair to say it made quite a splash! But getting to this stage has been part of a long process
analysis Top-down or bottom-up qualitative coding? In framework analysis, sometimes described as a top-down or 'a-priori' approach, the researcher decides on the topics of interest they will look for before they start the analysis, usually based on a theory they are looking to test. In inductive coding the researcher takes a more bottom-up approach
analysis Participatory analysis: closing the loop In participatory research, we try to get away from the idea of researchers doing research on people, and move to a model where they are conducting research with people. The movement comes partly from feminist critiques of epistemology, attacking the pervasive notion that
qualitative analysis software True cross-platform support Another key aim for Quirkos was to have proper multi-platform support. By that, I mean that it doesn't matter if you are using a desktop or laptop running Windows, a Mac, Linux, or a tablet, Quirkos is the same across them all. You can swap files between different
methods 10 tips for semi-structured qualitative interviewing Many qualitative researchers spend a lot of time interviewing participants, so here are some quick tips to make interviews go as smooth as possible: before, during and after! 1. Let your participants choose the location. If you want your interviewees to be comfortable
qualitative analysis software Quirkos is coming... Quirkos is intended to be a big step forward for qualitative research. The central idea is to make text analysis so easy, that anyone can do it. That includes people who don't know what qualitative analysis is, or that it could help them to better understand
methods An overview of qualitative methods There are a lot of different ways to collect qualitative data, and this article just provides a brief summary of some of the main methods used in qualitative research. Each one is an art in its own right, with various different techniques, definitions, approaches and proponents
process What is a Qualitative approach? The benefit of having tastier satsumas is difficult to quantify: to turn into a numerical, comparable value. This is essentially what qualitative work does: measure the unquantifiable quality of something. Just don’t ask what we mean by Quality
process Why qualitative research? There are lies, damn lies, and statistics. It’s easy to knock statistics for being misleading, or even misused to support spurious findings. In fact, there seems to be a growing backlash at the automatic way that significance tests in scientific papers are assumed
quirkos A new Qualitative Research Blog While hosted by Quirkos, the main aim for this blog is to promote the wider use of qualitative research in general. We will link to other blogs and articles (not just academic), have guest bloggers, and welcome comments and discussion.