“Why was I not taught to use this software earlier?” A gendered exploration of university students’ beliefs towards their future use of CAQDAS

• Authors: MacCormac, Megan

Abstracts

EN

The use of computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) for the organization and analysis of qualitative data has been a hotly debated topic among qualitative researchers since the inception of the technology in the 1980s (Smith & Hesse-Biber, 1996; and Bong, 2002). Proponents of the software claim that QDAS can help strengthen the validity, reliability, and accuracy of data analysis, whereas critics have cautioned that the use of such software distances the researchers from the data and attempts to make the data objective (Saldaña, 2013). The debates surrounding the use of qualitative software have contributed to a lack of student training in academic settings. Consequently, few studies have examined the student experience and decision-making process regarding the use of QDAS in the university setting (Paulus, Woods, Atkins, & Mackin, 2015). Using reflective response data collected from participants of a beginner qualitative coding workshop, this paper adds to the limited literature on student experiences using QDAS by examining gender differences in how participants critically reflected on their first experience using QDAS and examines the likelihood that participants would use QDAS in their future work. Findings from this study indicate that participants who used QDAS for the first time perceived that there are more potential benefits to using QDAS versus manual coding. Gender differences were present with female participants strongly believing that the software would allow them to be more effective and efficient researchers, and male participants believing that they would be better able to gain deeper insights into their data.

Keywords

EN

QDAS; technology; teaching qualitative research; computer software; research methodology; gendered reflexivity

• Publisher: Akademia Pedagogiki Specjalnej im. Marii Grzegorzewskiej. Wydawnictwo APS
• Journal: International Journal of Pedagogy, Innovation and New Technologies
• Year: 2019
• Volume: 6(1)
• Pages: 58-70

Dates

published

2019-07-12

Contributors

author

MacCormac, Megan

Identifiers

DOI

10.5604/01.3001.0013.2878