To Use or Not to Use: Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software Usage among Early-Career Sociologists in Croatia

Authors

  • Petra Rodik University of Zagreb
  • Jaka Primorac Institute for Development and International Relations

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-16.1.2221

Keywords:

computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software, CAQDAS, Croatian sociology, case study, mixed-methods approach, interviews, online survey

Abstract

In this article we critically analyse the usage of computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) among early-career sociology researchers in Croatia. In Croatia, the CAQDAS community is very small and is dominated by problems of great expectations coming from early-career researchers. This is elaborated through a case study that addresses issues of spread and availability of CAQDAS, opportunity for its usage, reasons why early-career researchers decide to use it or not and grounds for their decisions for use of a particular software package. The perceived advantages and limitations of CAQDAS are analysed and some misconceptions about CAQDAS are contextualised and related to the dominant quantitative research framework in Croatian sociology. The broadening of the number of qualitative researchers in the sociological community in Croatia, together with more educational programmes on CAQDAS, which would highlight reflexive usage of software, open perspectives for strengthening of qualitative research in Croatia.

URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1501127

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Author Biographies

Petra Rodik, University of Zagreb

Petra RODIK works as an Associate Professor at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Sociology, where she earned her PhD in sociology in 2011. She introduced CAQDAS workshops within the postgraduate studies programme in sociology, since 2014 has been teaching a graduate-level "Selected Topics in Qualitative Research" course and is an active member of the qualitative methods strand of the Croatian Sociological Association.

Jaka Primorac, Institute for Development and International Relations

Jaka PRIMORAC works as a Research Associate at the Department for Culture and Communication at the Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO) in Zagreb, Croatia. She holds a PhD in sociology from the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Zagreb. Her research interests intersect the fields of cultural and creative industries, cultural and creative labour, media and cultural policy and digital culture. She is also interested in the implications of the usage of qualitative research methods in sociological research.

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Published

2015-01-28

How to Cite

Rodik, P., & Primorac, J. (2015). To Use or Not to Use: Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software Usage among Early-Career Sociologists in Croatia. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-16.1.2221

Issue

Vol. 16 No. 1 (2015)

Section

Single Contributions

License

Copyright (c) 2015 Petra Rodik, Jaka Primorac

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.