Project interchange with REFI-QDA

Moving projects to and from Quirkos with the REFI-QDA standard

Quirkos supports the REFI-QDA Project exchange standard for qualitative data, and this guide will help you bring coded data projects from all major qualitative data analysis software packages, and create standard data files for qualitative archives. Below are instructions for Quirkos, NVivo, ATLAS.ti and MAXQDA. However, the exchange is also supported by Transana, QDA Miner, f4analyse and Dedoose.

Quirkos exchange

To import REFI-QDA projects in Quirkos 2, click on the Open Other... button (or Upload File in Quirkos Cloud). Then use the dropdown filetype selector to select the .qdpx file option. Then click Open to import the file into a new Quirkos project. Note that Quirkos only supports text data, so can't bring in any audio, video or picture elements.

To export a REFI-QDA project, open the project and click on the Export button, then choose the Export as REFI-QDA option, and select a location for the saving the QDPX file.

NVivo exchange

To import REFI-QDA projects in NVivo 12, choose the Open Other Project on the first screen (in the left blue column).

Then in the file type selection box, choose the .qdpx or .qde option to show REFI-QDA exchange files.

To export projects from NVivo, open the project and choose the Share tab, then Export Project. Select the REFI-QDA Project option, and choose a file name for the exported project.

ATLAS.ti exchange

To import a REFI-QDA project in ATLAS.ti 8, choose Import Project on the first screen.

Next you can choose the .qdpx option, although the All Project Files selected by default will show REFI-QDA project files.

To export to REFI-QDA, you must use the File and then Export option, not the Import & Export option in the top ribbon bar.

MAXQDA Exchange

To import REFI-QDA projects in MAXQDA 2020, choose the Open Project button in the first window, then the *.qdpx file extension in the file browser.

To export a project, click on the Home tab once your project is opened. From here, look for the Save Project As button, which is to the far right of the ribbon menu. From here, select the REFI-QDA Project option in the file type dialogue.

Learn More

For more information on the REFI-QDA standard, including information about what is supported for exchange in qualitative data analysis projects or codebooks, and archives that encourage the submission of qualitative research data in QDPX format, please visit https://qdasoftware.org.

Quirkos is proud to support the Rotterdam Exchange Format Initiative, and to have been a founder member involved in the creation and development of the standard, one of the most important developments in qualitative data analysis software for decades!