Using Software in Qualitative Research: A Step-by-Step Guide

Using Software in Qualitative Research combines several aspects of Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis (CAQDAS), helping the reader choose the most appropriate package for their specific needs and get the most out of the software once they are using it. The text considers tasks and processes, bringing them together to demystify qualitative software and encourage flexible and critical choices and uses of software in supporting analysis.

This text can be read as a whole or chapters can be treated on a more stand-alone basis, building on one another to provide a holistic sense of the analytic journey without advocating a particular sequential process.

Accessible and comprehensive, Making Sense of Software in Qualitative Research provides a practical but analytically grounded guide to thinking about and using software and will be an essential companion for any qualitative researcher.

For much of her working life Ann Lewins was not an academic. She held a commission in the Royal Air Force as an Air Traffic Controller and later ran a growing sports business with her husband until his death in 1988.  In 1992, at the age of 45, having just gained a first class honours  degree in Modern History & Politics, she started postgraduate study. Two years later she was appointed to a sole, part-time Research post at the University of Surrey with the newly formed CAQDAS   Networking Project (Computer Assisted Qualitative AnalysiS). The project, conceived by Nigel Fielding and Ray Lee was born out of a ground-breaking international Research Methods conference convened at Surrey in 1989, a key moment in the coalescing of a new awareness of a small range of early qualitative data analysis software programs. Ann set up online support resources and began hosting a vigorous program of seminars and training workshops to help researchers know the different software programs available and  to teach their use. By 2000, Ann, together with Christina Silver had ensured that the CAQDAS Networking Project was reaching thousands of researchers who visited Surrey for support. Their specialist joint initiative, QDAS (Qualitative Data Analysis Services), was created  to widen customised teaching and project support on-site at many other universities and research institutions worldwide.

Christina Silver, Ph.D. SFHEA, FAcSS is Associate Professor (Teaching) in the Faculty of Social Sciences (Sociology) at the University of Surrey, UK, and since 2023 Director of the CAQDAS Networking Project (CNP). She joined the CNP in 1998, which from 1994 has provided impartial information, advice and training in software designed for qualitative data analysis. Christina also co-founded, with Ann Lewins,  Qualitative Data Analysis Services (QDAS), which provides customised analytic consultancy for teams and individuals. Christina’s interests are in the relationship between technology and methodology, and the teaching of computer-assisted qualitative analysis. She has published widely on these topics, including co-developing the CAQDAS pedagogy: Five-Level QDA with Nicholas Woolf. She is experienced in using a range of digital tools to enact methods across academic disciplines, and in applied, government and commercial contexts. Christina’s recent work has focused on enabling researchers to navigate the terrain of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in qualitative research encouraging balanced and critical perspectives about its potential role. This includes when the use of AI, particularly generative forms, is not appropriate, and when it might be. Christina is widely seen as a leading voice on methodologically-informed use of CAQDAS-packages and balanced and critical engagement with the implications of Generative-AI on qualitative research.