Using Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software to Develop a Grounded Theory Project

Abstract

This paper discusses the challenges of how to provide a transparent account of the use of the software programme QSR*NVIVO (QSR 2000) within a Grounded Theory framework (Glaser and Strauss 1967;Strauss and Corbin 1998). Psychology students are increasingly pursuing qualitative research projects such to the extent that the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) advise that students should have skill in the use of computer assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) (Economic and Social Research Council 2001). Unlike quantitative studies, rigid formulae do not exist for writing-up qualitative projects for doctoral theses. Most authors, however, agree that transparency is essential when communicating the findings of qualitative research. Sparkes (2001) recommends that evaluative criteria for qualitative research should be commensurable with the aims, objectives, and epistemological assumptions of the research project. Likewise, the use of CAQDAS should vary according to the research methodology followed, and thus researchers should include a discussion of how CAQDAS was used. This paper describes how the evolving process of coding data, writing memos, categorising, and theorising were integrated into the written thesis. The structure of the written document is described including considerations about restructuring and the difficulties of writing about an iterative process within a linear document.Keywords: Grounded Theory, CAQDAS, QSR NVIVO, computer, structure, writing, Qualitative Research Solutions, International (QSR) has developed two product lines for qualitative data analysis. The original programme, NUD*IST, which stands for Nonnumerical Unstructured Data, Indexing, Searching, and Theorising, was first created by Professors Lyn and Tom Richards in the early 1980s when the former was looking for more efficient ways to manage her data than the chaotic task of photocopying, cutting, highlighting, and filing interviews and coding by hand. It is also difficult to conduct complex searches of the data without the assistance of a computer. Tom Richards, a computer scientist, created the answer to her problem by creating NUD*IST, a programme that was easy to use, organised data, allowed for links between the data, allowed for detailed memos to be added to the documents or coding, and enabled complex searching of the text and coding. QSR NUD*IST VIVO (NVIVO's less commonly used full name) was first produced in 1999 and was designed to provide the same services as NUD*IST but in a much more refined way. It was named for 'in vivo' coding, that is, naming a category directly from a participant's own words. The programme facilitates naming in this way but does not require it.With the development of CAQDAS has come debate about the appropriateness of using computers to analyse qualitative data (see for example, Catterall and Maclaran 1997; Use of NVIVO in GT Study 4

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