QUIC Results Conference May 2011

Report on QUIC Results Conference
4th & 5th May 2011

Event title: Harnessing technology for methodological purposes: CAQDAS packages and the analysis of visual, geographical and survey data

We are pleased to say that the QUIC Node Conference, held in May 2011 at the University of Surrey, was a success. Comprising 55 delegates, 5 of which were CAQDAS software developers, the event provided an opportunity for ongoing dialogue within the CAQDAS user and developer community, fostering links and generating fruitful discussion.

The conference examined the application of developments in digital technologies to support social research. In particular, it evaluated the ways in which computer-assisted qualitative data analysis (CAQDAS) enables, or falls short of enabling, innovative analytical approaches.

Qualitative Innovations in CAQDAS (QUIC) is an ESRC National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) research node, funded from September 2008 to September 2011. QUIC has examined CAQDAS packages in the context of three strands of methodological developments: the integration of quantitative and qualitative data, the systematic analysis of multi-stream visual data and the convergence of geo-referencing technologies and methodologies with qualitative software. In addition, QUIC has maintained a training and capacity building programme to raise awareness of, and skills in, qualitative software use. The conference provided an opportunity to evaluate some recent technological developments in empirical social research, as well as to reflect on their potential place in the future.

The programme for the event, as well as the PowerPoint slides from the talks are provided below. Special thanks go to Professor Alan Bryman, Professor Les Back, Dr. Stephen Burgess, Dr. Silvana di Gregorio and Dr. Graham Gibbs for their contributions as Discussants and Chairs of sessions over the two days. Thanks also go to Andy Crabtree (DRS), Thomas Muhr and Susanne Friese (Atlas.ti), and Udo and Anne Kuckartz (MAXQDA).

Wednesday 4th May
12:00 – 13:15 Registration & Lunch
CEC, Senate House

13:15 – 13:30 Welcome & Introductions
Context and overview of QUIC - Professor Nigel Fielding

13:30 – 14:45 Session 1: "Zooming in and zooming out": Mixing qualitative and quantitative approaches to the analysis of textual data - Graham Hughes
Discussant: Professor Alan Bryman

This session explored the role of CAQDAS packages in integrating qualitative and quantitative analyses of qualitative data. Alan Bryman (University of Leicester) contextualised QUIC’s work by providing a broad framework with regards to what constitutes ‘mixed methods’. Graham Hughes presented QUIC’s research in comparing the affordances of four CAQDAS packages in facilitating the analysis of responses to open-ended questions in surveys. The session concluded with discussion around the tensions and opportunities for mixed methods research resulting from technological advances in the area.

14:45 – 15:15 Break

15:15 – 16:45 Session 2: "Something old, Something new": an examination of the challenges and affordances of using CAQDAS packages in the analysis of video data - Dr. Christine Rivers & Dr. Sarah L. Bulloch
Discussant: Professor Les Back

This session showcased QUIC’s work regarding innovations in computer-assisted analysis of video data. Building upon the foundation of previous research conducted by Nigel Fielding; Christine Rivers and Sarah Bulloch illustrated the utility of Access Grid technology for virtual fieldwork, as well as discussing the challenges and affordances of analysing resulting multi-stream video data using CAQDAS. To close, Les Back (Goldsmiths, University of London) led a discussion on the session. In the context of his work on the importance of listening, the discussion focussed on making sense of real life and the extent to which technology shapes and assist in its exploration.

16:45 – 18:15 Developers’ Forum
Discussion on current and future challenges for developers and users of CAQDAS
Representatives of Atlas.ti, MAXQDA, and DRS
Chaired by Professor Nigel Fielding

This session was an open discussion on a number of topics:
1) How might we analyse visual data in accordance with ethical safeguards without obscuring the very things we want to analyse? At present, researchers address this issue at either the data collection stage (through the gaining of various levels of consent) or at the data processing stage (through the obscuring of images that are disseminated). Can we do better than this?
2) A substantial proportion of users want to work with handwritten texts. It seems likely to rise due to more archival information becoming available online via formal public archives/museums.  CAQDAS currently supports the analysis of this kind of data by features available for analysis of images, yet these are less fully-features than the tools provided to work with textual data. Are developers interested in providing this kind of support? A little more widely, if the tools for image analysis are less developed than for text analysis, is there interest in building up the tools for visual analysis?
3) Geo-referencing (or geo-coding or geo-linking) has been one of the recent growth points in CAQDAS development. Another has been timestamps that can be created in other programmes. For instance, the F4 application works with several CAQDAS packages in creating recognisable timestamps to link audio and textual data. In that context, what scope is there for CAQDAS packages to integrate with other packages like Paint and Photoshop, or citation software like EndNote or Zotero? Are developers picking up a demand for that kind of integration?
4) To what extent is interoperability between packages a necessary or desirable future development? Could HTML be a mechanism for achieving that?
5) There is a surge in citizen research. The uptake of web survey software by untutored individuals is on the rise and it is possible to download free web survey packages and know nothing of methods. This uptake cannot be stopped. ‘Classic’ CAQDAS packages are developed within a framework of education for social researchers.  Do we educate people engaging in citizen research? If so, how?

18:15 – 18:45 Drinks reception, CEC, Senate House

19:00 Dinner at Lakeside, campus restaurant

Thursday 5th May
09:30 – 11:00 Session 3: "Everything in its place": Investigating the affordances of integrated data display in analysing neighbourhood experiences of crime and disorder - Dr. Jane Fielding & Graham Hughes
Discussant: Dr. Stephen Burgess

This session discussed the implications arising from QUIC’s explorations into cutting-edge CAQDAS developments to integrate georeferencing technology with qualitative analysis tools. Jane Fielding opened the session by exploring the affordances and synergies of introducing place and space into a mixed data project through exploratory spatial data analysis and geovisualisation. Graham Hughes illustrated how precise geographical locations may be incorporated into analysis functions using CAQDAS and Google Earth, discussing how such technology offers new opportunities but also carries some risk of ethical problems. Stephen Burgess led a discussion of the implications of these developments, focussing on the extent to which CAQDAS visualisations are sufficiently sensitive to spatial context and examining directions for further technological development.

11:00 – 11:30 Break

11:30 – 13:00 Session 4: "Learning from the learners": drawing on experiences of researchers to develop online learning materials and improve software training provision - Dr. Christine Rivers
Chair: Dr. Graham Gibbs
Discussant: Dr. Silvana di Gregorio

This session focussed on QUIC’s training and capacity building activities. Christine Rivers presented findings of our qualitative longitudinal project of users’ experiences of learning and using CAQDAS packages, and outlined how these findings are impacting upon our long-standing training programme. Our e-Learning consultant, Graham Gibbs (University of Huddersfield), provided headline results from his survey on the teaching of qualitative data analysis in Universities in the UK, the US and Europe, and contextualised these within a discussion on the teaching of CAQDAS. The session concluded with expert CAQDAS user and trainer, Silvana di Gregorio (SdG Associates) leading a discussion of the role of software in learning about and teaching qualitative methods, reflecting on various possible models of teaching and learning.

13:00 Close & Lunch

Conference organiser: Zoe Tenger z.tenger@surrey.ac.uk