Progam with QDA Qualitative Data Analysis features? Coding/tagging blocks of text?

Posted by Carrot
Aug 2, 2012 at 03:42 AM

I am analysing a large body of field-notes and interview notes in both English and Chinese for my PhD dissertation. I was thinking about using a QDA application such at AtlasTI, or HyperResearch to code blocks/selections of text and use this software to help me identify trends in the data, and to be able to call up all sections of similarly-coded data.

BUT the problem is this. The student versions of such QDA applications cost $100-200 and the normal-user versions are around $600. And the programs basically all have time limits so it expires when student status is finished. I for one, do not want to spend months or years inputting my data into one of these programs for my PhD and then have to spend $600 a few years down the road when I want to revisit my data.

Many many others feel the same way. ie) the guy who wrote WEFT, an open-source QDA
“Weft QDA was originally written out of curiosity whilst completing a Masters in Social Research Methods at the University of Surrey in 2004. I was annoyed by over-priced and over-complex commercial CAQDAS. The software was tidied up and documented, and then first released in 2005.”
(Unfortunately, the developer of open-source WEFT QDA has been unable to continue work and has not found any group to pick up his project either. So, if you know anyone who wants to take up an amazing project, maybe we can help them restart.)

I am wondering if there is any application out there that has simple QDA (qualitative data analysis) features: namely the ability to:

select blocks of text and assign a code/tag to the block.
allow me to go through the document, and assign tags/codes to each section of text. T
program will allow me to search for all of the similarly-tagged blocks of text and see them in context

I have checked and found that the following applications do not have the ability to tag/coded of paragraphs or sections of text.: MyInfo, Ultra-Recall, InfoQube, KeepNote,

If you have any suggestions, for applications that can do this, or for other alternatives, I’d greatly appreciate your suggestions!