Companion Website- Chapter 11

[260165718 |

Francisco Freitas
Centre for Social Studies,
University of Coimbra,
Portugal.
franciscofreitas@ces.uc.pt]

>Example file of coding qualitative data using MAXQDA

11
There are several reasons for using software in qualitative research.
With a software package, you are offered other possibilities for
organizing, evaluating and interpreting data, as well as a range of
tools to explore it in different ways. Reporting and visualizing facilities
are an option too. Still, software is never intended as a substitute for
the role of the researcher or a team of researchers, or the analytical
skills involved. Research methodology and research techniques
remain the key elements; therefore mastering them must be the
focus, bearing in mind that the software is simply a tool for that
craftsmanship work of finding relevant patterns in data. Nevertheless,
all stages of the research can be assisted using software and software
offers other possibilities in terms of data exploration.
MAXQDA is a professional tool for qualitative and mixed methods
research. Developed in Germany, it is an extremely reliable software,
that includes a very complete set of functions, making it adaptable
and therefore suitable for users from very different fields of research.
MAXQDA had its first appearance back in 1989; consequently it is very
Barbour, Introducing Qualitative Research second edition (2013)

Companion Website- Chapter 11

easy to find articles or books providing examples of research

conducted with this software. Due to it's very intuitive interface,
MAXQDA is very easy to use and affords a very fast learning curve,
allowing

its

users

to

focus

on

the

research.

Very

different

methodological approaches can be implemented, including forefront

methodologies

designed

to

deal with more

extensive

datasets.

Importing data generated via myriad sources and exporting data from
and into MAXQDA is very easy, and

MAXQDA's interoperability with

other software packages is guaranteed due to its openness. Thus, it has

the ability to dialogue with statistical software packages or to
incorporate qualitative data on a Geographical Information System.

Barbour, Introducing Qualitative Research second edition (2013)

Companion Website- Chapter 11

The screen in MAXQDA is divided into four different windows where

most of the opperations are performed:

Picture 1: MAXQDA General View

On the top left, there is the Code System, where the user can
implement a table of categories. Both deductive and inductive coding
approaches

are

supported.

Coding

in

MAXQDA

is

very

straightforward activity. One simply works directly in the files, using

the original file format, and the files are not limited to textual
elements anymore: PDFs are fully supported, as well as pictures or
video files. Audio files are supported too, so the transcription can be
performed inside MAXQDA. The Code System is presented as a tree
structure on the screen. One can build a hierarchy using multiple
categories and subcategories up to more than ten different levels.
The user, therefore, is able to expand, close, edit or rearrange every
entry at any moment:

Barbour, Introducing Qualitative Research second edition (2013)

Companion Website- Chapter 11

Picture 2: Code System

On the right side of every code, you find the number of coded
segments. After defining a code, any number of text segments can be
allocated to it and there several functions to perform that, including the
autocoding possibilities. Colors can be assigned to every code, in
order to differentiate the coding and/or the segments. The Visual Tools
are based on this principle of assigning colors to categories or codes.
As mentioned, there are many way of coding data inside MAXQDA, and
this is important, considering the centrality of coding to qualitative
research. From classical coding, to free coding, or targeted/selective
coding, highlighting or color coding, or even in-vivo coding, the
assignment of data to codes in order to retrieve information
afterwards can be completed in numerous ways, so the idea is to offer
flexibility. Using weight scores in coding is another possibility.
Currently a particular feature of MAXQDA are the Emoticodes, that
allow coding using emoticons or symbols. Below you can find some of
the icons used for coding data in MAXQDA:

Barbour, Introducing Qualitative Research second edition (2013)

Companion Website- Chapter 11

Picture 3: Coding Commands in MAXQDA

Picture 4: MAXQDA Emoticodes

The coded passages presented below are displayed using coding stripes
on the left side. Naturally, codings can overlap in a given segment.
That means that a certain unit is meaningful for more than one
category. Again, everything is performed using the original file format,
which is displayed in the Document Browser:

Picture 5: Coding Stripes in MAXQDA

A certain segment can be highlighted, selected and coded. The

original resource is displayed afterwards, with no pixelation, a feature
Barbour, Introducing Qualitative Research second edition (2013)

Companion Website- Chapter 11

that can be very useful, if one is making using of pictures or relying on

field notes, for instance. As long as data is available in a supported
digital format, the number of possibilities increases to a vast extent
(portability included) and that can represent an advantage for those
making use of software:

Picture 6: Coding a PDF

Using the right-click after hovering the cursor in a certain document

offers the user several options. That is a basic principle in MAXQDA,
not only for coding, but to simply access any command or function in a
document or a code:

Picture 7: Coding a Region Using the Right-Click

Barbour, Introducing Qualitative Research second edition (2013)

Companion Website- Chapter 11

After coding, in order to retrieve coded segments there is - on the

bottom right of the screen - a Retrieved Segments window. MAXQDA
makes use of the activation principle. In other words, this means that
the user is able to tailor and to refine the search for relevant
information. In more practical terms, the user is able to activate the
documents and the codes that would s/he would like to analyze, whether
this is a single code or document or the whole dataset. Retrieving
coded segments is the very first level of analysis. Every time all of the
coded segments retrieved through the selection or activation of
certain texts and codes are shown in the Retrieved Segments
window:

Picture
Box

9:

Tooltip

Picture 8: Retrieved Segments Box

In addition the user is able to find a tooltip informing her/him to which

document group the coding pertains, the code used and the relevant
paragraph. The paragraph is the unit of analysis in MAXQDA. When
you click anywhere on this box, the original text from which this
segment was taken will be opened in the Document Browser window
at the position of the coded segment. This dynamic and the
assembled linkages between the different parts of the dataset represent
some of the main advantages of using software for qualitative analysis.
In the example above, the following information is given: the segment
was taken from paragraph 12 of the text Joanna from the text group
New York.

Barbour, Introducing Qualitative Research second edition (2013)

Companion Website- Chapter 11

Like in any other window, a toolbar is located on top of the Retrieved

Segments window where you have access to frequently-used
functions. Here you can also switch to the Overview of retrieved
segments by clicking the appropriate icon. Information and results
can be exported at any moment.

*For further information regarding MAXQDA usage, you may find a

dedicated support site here (http://www.maxqda.com/support/needhelp-look-here-for-a-quick-solution) and obtain manuals and other
written resources here http://www.maxqda.com/downloads).

Barbour, Introducing Qualitative Research second edition (2013)