Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis

Qualitative and quantitative research are embedded in different epistemological traditions and typically differ in tools applied in data analysis. The computer software was mostly used within quantitative design to carry out statistical analysis. Among qualitative researchers there is a widespread opinion that computer software applied in qualitative analysis might kill (by subsuming to the standardized, uniformed procedures) the freshness and relevance of rich and non-reductionable empirical data. Nevertheless, since early nineties, the computer software has been growing more and more popular in qualitative research process. The software is more and more widely used in cataloguing, sorting out and data retrieval done throughout the qualitative data analysis process. We argue that the CAQDAS (computer assisted qualitative data analysis software) provide a useful tool for improving the rigor of analytical work as well as it might be a help in arranging data in synthesis in qualitative research. The aim of this article is to show the possibilities and usefulness of computer assisted qualitative data analysis (mostly: Atlas.ti and Nudist) based on examples drawn from two qualitative researches.