Qualitative Analysis with Quirkos
Making Qualitative Analysis Constant With Quirkos is an online tutorial that we held in February 2022. Here we share the webinar video with you. We have also added the questions that were asked during the live session and their responses. If you have a question, please send it through using the form below, and we will follow up with a response and any other resources.
This session shows how to do Constant Comparative Analysis and Grounded Theory for teams of researchers small and large, and working together in real time with the simple qualitative data analysis software, Quirkos.
About the Tool
Quirkos is a research software tool helping manage small qualitative text analysis. You can get 25 percent off using the code SAGE25.
About the Speakers
Dr Daniel Turner is the founder and director of Quirkos, which he left academia to start after a decade focusing on qualitative health research. He runs workshops and training on all kinds of qualitative methods, and writes a popular qualitative blog.
Additional Resources
The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers, by Johnny Saldana, 2021 edition here.
Q&A
+ What is Quirkos?
Quirkos is a software tool for helping manage small qualitative text analysis. It is designed to be easy to use, visual and affordable.
+ How does it Compare to other software packages (ATLAS, NVIVO and QDA specifically)?
Quirkos does not support multimedia data like these packages can, nor mixed-method or quantitative data. However, it has a more visual interface, is cheaper and has a lower learning curve.
+ Can you create sub-codes in Quirkos?
Yes! Just drag and drop codes onto each other to create sub-categories.
+ Can you keep two separate coding sessions for a project so that you can compute inter-rater reliability?
You can keep separate projects for each coder, and then merge together to see the differences. However, Quirkos doesn’t have built in quantitative metrics for calculating inter-rater reliability, but has exports to SPSS/R where you can run these statistical tests.
+ What about multiple subsets at once?
Yes, you can work on multiple subsets at once in Quirkos: the Query view will let you see work from one (or more) subset at any time.
+ How do you standardize the interview schedule or how can you check the reliability and validity of the interview schedule?
Check your epistemological stance here: structured and standardised interviews are rarely used in this type of qualitative research. Usually unstructured or semi-structured guides are used to cover the main topics but to allow for deviation and discussion to get more detail. It’s more important to train interviewers to not ask leading questions, but be able to formulate new questions on the fly to unexpected answers.
+ Could you explain how to analyze multi qualitative sources like dairy, interview, social media?
All these sources can be brought into software like Quirkos, where you should try and code them with the same code set. You would then use the Query view to see just results from one data type (if necessary).
+ Can Quirkos read languages besides English?
Yes, Quirkos can display any language or character set (including non-Latin like Korean or Chinese).
+ Your top two tips on recruiting and scheduling interviews?
I think sampling and recruitment are two separate and important considerations, this blog post gives more detail My two tips would be to try and recruit in different ways to make sure you get diverse respondents, and continuously check your sample to make sure you are talking to the right people.
+ Can this method be used only when your research questions seek to compare?
No – I think Constant Comparative Method is useful even when comparing within your internal coding and framework process, the aim doesn’t have to be to compare one group with another, or against different research findings.
+ Where are Quirkos data stored?
You can choose the offline storage (where everything is only stored on your computer), or the Cloud subscription, which saves project data on a global network of secure, encrypted servers across the world. We store the data as best we can for local data protection requirements (eg a separate server for Canada, as they do not allow international data transfer).
+ How do you access social media especially with issues of ethical consent and how can you use these without identifying users?
Is social media considered public data? It’s a good question, and one that your IRB might have strong views on. It’s always better to get explicit rather than implied consent, and remove any unnecessary identifying information - not just usernames, but mentioned locations etc.
+ Does Quirkos offer training to institutions or individuals interested in subscribing?
Yes! We provide free training to groups when they register, and also free introductory sessions for groups interested in evaluating or learning Quirkos for the first time. Just contact us to set one up.
+ If using Quirkos to work with a large amount of data (e.g. 500 sources), what will happen?
It will not be a great experience – some searches will be slow, but mostly there isn’t an easy way to browse hundreds of sources, there’s just one long list. Our interface is designed to work mostly with smaller datasets.
+ Is Quirkos accessible to blind users who use screen readers?
We have several visually impaired users, in our experience it depends on the screen reader and hardware they are using, as some work better than others. We are always happy to help get a particular tool working.
+ Does Quirkos work for phenomenological analysis?
Yes, Quirkos supports memos and reflexive writing often used in line-by-line approaches like IPA and in-vivo coding, which can be later added to codes and themes.
+ How might coding themes be co-produced and refined in process?
Good question – one that depends a lot on the analytic design. It’s usually a good idea to co-develop rough guidelines for when codes will be created, how they will be described (with usage guides and definitions). Often some basic codes will be agreed in advance through the use of a codebook, like this
+ Do you have any discounts?
Absolutely. You can sign up for a free trial and get 25 percent off with the code SAGE25.
