DPLS 729 Computer Analysis of Qualitative Data

Summer 2006 1 Credits

CLASS WILL BE IN THE ACT LAB OF FOLEY

Last update: June 7

Professor: James Beebe

• Office: RC 250
• Office Phone: (509) 323-3484
• Home phone: (509) 456-2571
• Office hours: Friday 3:30-5:30pm. Other times by appointment.

Class sessions: June 16-17

• June 16, Friday 6:00-10:00pm
• June 17, Saturday 8:00am-5:00pm

Optional Saturday session later in the summer for follow up with students using NVivo7 with their own data. Date to be determined.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Students are encouraged to bring their own laptops with the software installed. NVivo7 produces very large files that will not fit on a 3 1/2 disk. USB "thumb drives" should work for moving files.

Building upon the knowledge and experience acquired in DPLS 723, this course provides students with structured opportunities to analyze, interpret, and report qualitative research, using their own or sample data. For students to use their own data, they will need to have transcripts of at least two interviews, each at least 45 minutes long. Transcripts will need to be typed and ready for use during the first class session. Otherwise students will use the data from the NVivo7 tutorial. These have been transcribed, ready for analysis. The product for the course is use of the software for qualitative data analysis of either the student's data or the tutorial data.

By the end of the course the student will be able to:

• Demonstrate coding.
• Use NVivo7, qualitative analysis software, for analysis.

The class will NOT make use of Blackboard.

REQUIRED SOFTWARE

• QSR NVivo 7 (available only for the PC) You will probably need to download a service pack for NVivo. See the QSR service pack page http://www.qsrinternational.com/UpdatesReg/UpdatesReg1.asp

Download a free demo copy of the software for the PC http://www.qsrinternational.com/DemoReg/DemoReg1.asp 

REQUIRED TEXT:

Learn more about the capabilities of NVivo 7 by viewing the brochure. http://download.qsrinternational.com/Document/NVivo7/NVivo%207%20brochure.pdf

List of Frequently Asked Questions and Answers.
http://www.qsrinternational.com/support/faq/faq_search_results.asp

Getting Started: Get up and running with your NVivo Project. Print out before class. http://download.qsrinternational.com/Document/NVivo7/Getting%20Started%20Guide.pdf

Introductory Tutorials written by Lyn Richards and a companion to her book Handling Qualitative Data: a practical guide, London, Sage, 2005. are available for download -
http://www.sagepub.co.uk/richards/ Print out before class. Her book is available from Sage for $42.95.

In class we will be using materials from the Getting Started and the Introductory Tutorials.

QSR Forum. The Forum brings together users of QSR's software products with commentators, developers, distributors and teachers from around the world. You don't have to be a user of the software to take part, nor is discussion confined to QSR software.http://forums.qsrinternational.com/

Reading.

Excellent resources TQM - Teaching Qualitative Methods http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/tqm/

CLASS SESSIONS:

Session 1:June 16 Fri 6-10 pm Overview of course, Getting the data ready.

• NEW Moving up: How research and teaching will change with NVivo 7
  http://www.qual-strategies.org/previous/2005/papers/RichardsL/files/RichardsL.pps
• NEW QSR NVivo overview of the software
  http://www.qual-strategies.org/previous/2005/papers/RichardsT/files/QSR%20NVIVO%207%20Sept.ppt
• Slide show overview of qualitative data analysis software and issues regarding its use by Drisko (2004). http://sophia.smith.edu/~jdrisko/qdaslide.htm
• Introduction to Software for qualitative research http://www.audiencedialogue.org/soft-qual.html#concept
• Qualitative Data Analysis: Technologies and Representations by Amanda Coffey, Beverly Holbrook and Paul Atkinson (1996) http://www.socresonline.org.uk/1/1/4.html
• Optional. From Technological Somnambulism to Epistemological Awareness: reflections on the impact of computer-aided qualitative data analysis. Paul Trowler (updated 27.6.03) http://www.lancs.ac.uk/staff/trowler/hyperres.htm
• Optional. Text analysis resources - compiled by Harold Klein. Information on computer based text analysis, software, archives, articles, and newsgroups http://www.textanalysis.info/. (link corrected 23 aug 05)

NVivo information

Understanding qualitative research and data analysis software
Unlike quantitative research, which uses numbers to arrive at conclusions, qualitative research extracts meaning from a range of textual information such as field or case notes, articles and in-depth interview or focus group transcripts.
Qualitative data analysis software like NVivo 7 helps you to access, manage, shape and analyze this data. It removes many of the manual tasks associated with analysis, like classifying, sorting and arranging information, so you have more time to explore trends, build and test out theories and ultimately arrive at answers to questions.

The last time I checked prices, the Standard price for a Single License - (CD and manuals) excluding a software maintenance agreement was US$ 1,485. Educational institutions pricing for students, teachers who are learning, instructing or undertaking research at an educational institution, or anyone who works for a non-profit organization, are significantly less than the Standard Prices. Single License - (CD and manuals) was US$ 495 excluding the Software Maintenance Agreement that costs an additional $99. For a bulk purchase of 5 to 14 licenses there is a discount of 20% off the single license price bring the price to US$ 396 per license.

NVivo 7 Student Single License - (CD and manuals) US$ 200, but is a 12 month time limited license. At the end of the 12 months students can purchase an upgrade from NVivo 7 Student to the full version of NVivo 7 for US$ 345. NVivo7 Student appears to be identical to the full NVivo software.

An Annual Product Maintenance Agreement entitles use of QSR's Help desk and support for the maintained product, and free product upgrades for a period of 12 months. Since I have never needed to call for help, I am not sure the Produce Maintenance Agreement is worth $99. It is possible to get answers for most questions on the listserve.

Preparing transcripts for NVivo7 use

Review of coding.

Session 2 June 17 8:00 am -5:00 pm This session is designed to develop skills in using critical features. Based on the Getting Started handbook and the Introductory Tutorials.

ASSESSMENT AND GRADING

Course is offered Pass/Fail.