Quirkos Qualitative Research Blog (Page 8)

10-reasons-to-try-qualitative-analysis-with-quirkos

Quirkos is the newest qualitative research software product on the market, but what makes it different, and worth giving the one-month free trial a go? Here’s a guide to the top 10 benefits to switching to Quirkos

qualitative analysis software

Fracturing and choice in qualitative analysis software

Fundamental to the belief behind starting Quirkos was a feeling that qualitative research has great value to society, but should be made accessible to more people. One of the problems that we frequently saw with this was the difficulty that qualitative researchers had in choosing

analysis

Levels: 3-dimensional node and topic grouping in Quirkos

One of the biggest features enabled in the latest release of Quirkos are 'levels', a new way to group and sort your Quirks thematically. While this was always an option in previous versions, they are now fully integrated into the search and query views

qualitative analysis software

What can CAQDAS do for you? The Five-Level QDA

I briefly mentioned in my last blog post an interesting new article by Silver and Woolf (2015) on teaching QDA (Qualitative Data Analysis) and CAQDAS (Computer Assisted Qualitative Data AnalysiS). It’s a great article, not only because it draws from more than 20 years combined pedagogical experience

qualitative analysis software

Quirkos for Linux!

We are excited to announce official Quirkos support for Linux! This is something we have been working on for some time, and have been really encouraged by user demand to support this Free and Open Source (FOSS) platform. Quirkos on Linux is identical to the Windows and Mac versions

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Engaging qualitative research with a quantitative audience.

The last two blog post articles were based on a talk I was invited to give at ‘Mind the Gap’, a conference organised by MDH RSA at the University of Sheffield. You can find the slides here, but they are not very text heavy, so don’t read well without audio!

qualitative analysis software

The CAQDAS jigsaw: integrating with workflows

I’m increasingly seeing qualitative research software as being the middle piece of a jigsaw puzzle that has three stages: collection, coding/exploring, and communication. These steps are not always clear cut, and generally there should be a fluid link between them

quirkos

Quirkos 1.3 is released!

We are proud to announce a significant update for Quirkos, that adds significant new features, improves performance, and provides a fresh new look. Major changes include

analysis

Our hyper-connected qualitative world

We live in a world of deep qualitative data. It’s often proposed that we are very quantitatively literate. We are exposed to numbers and statistics frequently

methods

Bing Pulse and data collection for market research

Judging by the buzz and article sharing going on last week, there was a lot of interest and worry about Microsoft launching their own market research platform. Branded as part of ‘Bing’, their offering, called ‘Pulse’ has actually been around for a while

analysis

Participatory Qualitative Analysis

Engaging participants in the research process can be a valuable and insightful endeavour, leading to researchers addressing the right issues, and asking the right questions.

analysis

Using Quirkos for fun and (extremely nerdy) projects

Most of our blog is a serious and (hopefully) useful exploration of current topics in qualitative research and how to use Quirkos to help you with your research. However we thought it might be fun to share something a little different

analysis

Structuring unstructured data

The terms ‘unstructured data’ and ‘qualitative data’ are often used interchangeably, but unstructured data is becoming more commonly associated with data mining and big data approaches to text analytics. Here the comparison is drawn with

qualitative analysis software

Quirkos workshops in Sheffield

On the 23rd and 24th of June, we are running a series of workshops in Sheffield: both at the University of Sheffield, and Sheffield Hallam University. The events are open to students, academics and anyone from the public sector or commercial areas who has an interest in analysing qualitative text

methods

How to set up a free online mixed methods survey

It’s quick and easy to set up an on-line survey to collect feedback or research data in a digital format that means you can quickly get straight to analysing the data. Unfortunately, most packages like SurveyMonkey, SurveyGizmo and Kwiksurveys, while all compatible with Quirkos, require a paying

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Bringing survey data and mixed-method research into Quirkos

Later today we are releasing a small update for Quirkos, which adds an important feature users have been requesting: the ability to quickly bring in quantitative and qualitative data from any spreadsheet, or online survey tool

methods

Qualitative evaluations: methods, data and analysis

Evaluating programmes and projects are an essential part of the feedback loop that should lead to better services. In fact, programmes should be designed with evaluations in mind, to make sure that there are defined and measurable outcomes.

process

Qualitative research on the Scottish Referendum using Quirkos

We've now put up the summary report for our qualitative research project on the Scottish Referendum, which we analysed using Quirkos. You can download the PDF of the 10 page report from the link above, I hope you find something interesting in there

analysis

Why the shift from Labour to the SNP in the 2015 Election in Scotland?

If the polls are to be believed, Labour are going to loose a lot of Scottish seats in Westminster to the SNP next month. This wave of support seems to come largely out of the referendum last year on Scottish Independence, but it's difficult to completely understand

analysis

6 meta-categories for qualitative coding and analysis

When doing analysis and coding in a qualitative research project, it is easy to become completely focused on the thematic framework, and deciding what a section of text is about. However, qualitative analysis software is a useful tool for organising more

process

Free materials for qualitative workshops

We are running more and more workshops helping people learn qualitative analysis and Quirkos. I always feel that the best way to learn is by doing, and the best way to remember is through play. To this end, we have created two sources of qualitative data that anyone can download and use

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Qualitative data in the UK Public Sector

The last research project I worked on with the NIHR was a close collaboration between several universities, local authorities and NHS trusts. We were looking at evidence use by managers in the NHS, and one of the common stories we heard was how valuable information often ended up on the shelf

qualitative analysis software

Upgrade from paper with Quirkos

Having been round many market research firms in the last few months, the most striking things is the piles of paper, or at least in the neater offices - shelves of paper! When we talk to small market research firms about their analysis process

quirkos

Quirkos v1.1 is here!

We are excited to announce that the first update for Quirkos can now be downloaded from here! Version 1.1 adds two main new features: batch import, and mutli-language reports.

analysis

The dangers of data mining for text

There is an interesting new article out, which looks at some of the commonly used algorithms in data mining, and finds that they are generally not very accurate, or even reproducible. Specifically, the study by Lancichinetti et al.