QDA Software Options
Qualitative Data Analysis Software
- NVivo at IUPNVivo is is one of the most popular tools for QDA and is provided by IUP free-of-charge to student and faculty researchers. NVivo is installed on individual devices. You can analyze text and multimedia data with NVivo, as well as open-ended survey data. It includes tools for automatically coding text data.
The NVivo collaboration feature is not included with IUP's license. Users wanting to use this feature are responsible for purchasing that separately.
There are some free tools available for QDA. Free tools sometimes have fewer features and less-sophisticated interfaces than their paid counterparts that are developed by a for-profit company. In most cases, free and open-source programs are created and maintained by an individual or small group doing this work in addition to their main job.
- TaguetteTaguette is an open-source tool for QDA of text data. You can use the software on your own device, on your own server or on the server provider by Taguette. If you use the software on a server, you can collaborate in real time with other researchers.
- Qual CoderQualCoder is an open-source tool for QDA. It is installed on your device and includes features comparable to paid software.
- R for QDAThe open-source data analysis program R can be used for text analysis.
There are many licensed (use requires a paid fee) programs for QDA. Most vendors offer a free trial period to let you test out the software before you purchase a license. Vendors will also usually offer a much reduced rate for current students.
- Atlas.ti - Desktop or WebAtlas.ti has both a desktop and web version of its software. The web version allows analysis of text data and for researchers to work together on the same project with data stored online.
The desktop version is installed on individual devices and allows collaboration through merging files. With Atlas.ti, you can analyze text and multimedia data, as well as open-ended survey data, social media content, and more. Analysis features include sentiment analysis and automatic coding of text data. - MAXQDAMAXQDA is installed on individual devices and collaboration is conducted by merging files.
MAXQDA allows analysis of text and multimedia data, as well as social media content and open-ended survey data. MAXQDA includes the ability to automatically code text data. - Quirkos - Desktop or CloudQuirkos offers both a web-based and desktop software for a monthly fee or one-time license fee. You can analyze text-based and survey data.
QDA software has traditionally been installed on individual computers with collaboration made possible by merging files after each researcher has conducted coding (or some other analysis strategy).
In recent years, there has been a growing number of tools made available online. These tools allow research teams to collaborate in real-time using data stored online. This processes raises questions about data security however. You must ensure that the storing the data on a server owned by a software vendor is allowed within the guidelines of your IRB and agreements with any research participants.
- TaguetteTaguette is an open-source tool for QDA of text data. You can use the software on your own device, on your own server or on the server provider by Taguette. If you use the software on a server, you can collaborate in real time with other researchers. Taguette is discussed in the workshop on free tools for QDA.
- Atlas.ti (Web)Atlas.ti Web is a paid software with a monthly fee that allows researchers to analyze text data online and collaborate in real-time with fellow researchers.
- DedooseDedoose is a paid software with a monthly fee for users. You can analyze text or multimedia data and collaborate with other researchers in real time.
- DelveDelve is a web-based tool for analyzing qualitative data. It requires a monthly fee for each active user of a project, but supports online collaboration in real-time.
- Quirkos CloudQuirkos offers both a web-based and desktop version of its QDA software (for a monthly fee). Researchers working on a shared cloud project can collaborative live.
The table below shows some of the major features that researchers will use when deciding which QDA software may be most useful for their research.
| Free? | Student license? | Multimedia data | Survey data | Automatic coding | Real-time collaboration | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlas.ti (Desktop) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No - merge only |
| Atlas.ti (Web) | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Dedoose | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Delve | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| MAXQDA | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No - merge only |
| NVivo |
Yes for |
Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No - merge only |
| QualCoder | Yes | NA | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Quirkos | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| R | Yes | NA | No | No | No | No |
| Taguette | Yes | NA | No | No | No | Yes |
Definitions for each characteristic:
- Free? Indicates whether the software is available for free to researchers. Yes indicates that the software is either free-to-use or licensed for use open-source.
- Student license: Indicates whether there is a reduced fee for the software for current students.
- Multimedia data: Indicates whether the software can upload and support direct analysis of video, audio, or image data.
- Survey data: Indicates whether you can upload or import open-ended survey data and directly analyze the survey data.
- Automatic coding: Indicates whether there are is any ability to identify and automatically code text data within the software.
- Real-time collaboration: Indicates whether members of a research team can work with the same data that is stored online or "in the cloud" and see each other's work in real-time.
NVivo Resources and Tutorials
- NVivo GuideUseful guide from Penn Libraries about NVivo with links to resources and how-to videos.
Qualitative Data Analysis with NVivo by ISBN: 9781446256558Publication Date: 2013-05-29This straightforward, jargon-free book provides an invaluable introduction to planning and conducting qualitative data analysis with NVivo.
