Journal of Advanced Nursing, 1998, 28(1), 106116 Methodological issues in nursing research

The role of computer software in the analysis of

qualitative data: efficient clerk, research
assistant or Trojan horse?
Moya Morison PhD BSc MSc BA RGN
Senior Lecturer

Jim Moir PhD BEd MEd

Senior Lecturer, School of Social and Health Sciences, University of Abertay, Dundee,
Scotland

Accepted for publication 3 July 1997

MORISON M. & MOIR J. (1998) Journal of Advanced Nursing 28(1), 106-116

The role of computer software in the analysis of qualitative data: efficient
clerk, research assistant or Trojan horse?
In the last 15 years there has been a proliferation of computer software packages
designed to facilitate qualitative data analysis. The programs can be classified,
according to function, into a number of broad categories such as: text retrieval;
text base management; coding and retrieval; code-based theory building; and
conceptual-network building. The programs vary enormously in the extent to
which they can facilitate the diverse analytical processes involved. The
decision to use computer software to aid analysis in a particular project may be
influenced by a number of factors, such as the nature of the data and the
researchers preferred approach to data analysis which will have as its basis
certain epistemological and ontological assumptions. This paper illustrates the
way in which a package called NUD.IST facilitated analysis where grounded
theory methods of data analysis were also extensively used. While highlighting
the many benefits that ensued, the paper illustrates the limitations of such
programs. The purpose of this paper is to encourage researchers contemplating
the use of computer software to consider carefully the possible consequences of
their decision and to be aware that the use of such programs can alter the nature
of the analytical process in unexpected and perhaps unwanted ways. The role
of the Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis (CAQDAS) Networking
Project, in providing up-to-date information and support for researchers
contemplating the use of software, is discussed.

Keywords: qualitative data analysis, computer software, theory development

Correspondence: Moya Morison, School of Social and Health Sciences,

University of Abertay, 158 Marketgait, Dundee DD1 1NJ, Scotland.

106 1998 Blackwell Science Ltd

Methodological issues in nursing research
INTRODUCTION
Some qualitative researchers still consider analysis to be an art
form and insist on intuitive approaches to it. We are left with the
researchers telling us of classifications and patterns drawn from
the welter of field data, in ways that are irreducible or even incom-
municable. We do not really see how the researcher got from 3600
pages of field notes to the final conclusions, as sprinkled with
vivid illustrations as they may be.
(Miles & Huberman 1994 p.2)
In this paper it is argued that the quality of knowledge
produced by an investigation, that is its credibility and the
dependability of the findings, rests on the quality of the
craftsmanship with which every stage of the research pro-
cess is conducted, including the rigour of the verification
process. Evaluation of the craftsmanship of a study by
others requires that the research procedures used be made
explicit and transparent (Kvale 1989, 1995) yet in many
published research reports a detailed explanation of the
strategy employed for data analysis, and its benefits and
limitations, is noticeable by its absence.
This paper illustrates the way in which a computer
software package called NUD.IST (Non-numerical
Unstructured Data. Indexing, Searching and Theorizing)
(Richards & Richards 1994a, 1994b) was used to facilitate
analysis in an ethnographic study where grounded theory
methods of data analysis were also extensively employed.
The paper begins with a brief overview of the study itself.
THE STUDY
The purpose of the study was to explore families experi-
ences of living with a young person who wets the bed.
Nineteen families and 20 young people living in central
Scotland took part. A review of the literature had con-
firmed that there was a great deal still to be learned about
how families manage bed wetting in the context of every-
day family life and about its impact on everyone in the
family. A qualitative research approach was deemed to be
most appropriate. The paradigm guiding the methods
selected was the naturalistic paradigm (Lincoln & Guba
1985). Underlying the approach taken was the assumption
that there could be concepts pertaining to the phenomenon
of bed wetting that had yet to be discovered, or at least
articulated in a coherent way, and the feeling that the
relationships between concepts reported in the literature,
such as maternal tolerance and the outcome of behav-
iourally orientated treatment (Butler et al. 1986, 1988,
1993), were poorly understood and underdeveloped.
Data analysis began from the first contact with the first
family. The following questions emerged during this early
phase of data collection and data analysis:
$ How do young people feel about wetting the bed?
1998 Blackwell Science Ltd, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 28(1), 106116
Role of computer software
$ How do parents feel about the young persons bed
wetting?
$ What do family members perceive other peoples atti-
tudes to be?
$ What are parents and young peoples beliefs about the
causes of bed wetting?
$ How do families manage the day to day consequences
of bed wetting and what part do the different family
members play?
$ When is a young persons bed wetting identified by the
family as a problem requiring action?
$ What do parents do of their own volition to encourage
the young persons bed wetting to stop?
$ What are the families experiences of the methods
suggested and the help received from health care
professionals?
$ What are the social consequences of bed wetting from
the young persons perspective and the parents
perspective?
These questions were culled from the earliest organiza-
tions of the themes emerging during the open coding of
the conversation transcripts and became major nodes in
the hierarchical coding tree developed to facilitate more
rapid access to the data (Figure 1). Many more questions
came to be asked of the data during analysis, in particular,
questions about the relationship between emerging
concepts, such as:
$ What is the relationship between parents beliefs about
bed wetting and their behaviour towards their bed wet-
ting child?;
$ Does the young persons behaviour on wet mornings
have any influence on the parents behaviour?
These questions rapidly took the emphasis of the study
beyond a descriptive understanding of the meaning of the
experience of bed wetting, from the perspective of individ-
ual family members, towards a new understanding of the
processes going on within families and the conceptualiz-
ation of the family as a unique, multigenerational social
system. The questions were addressed using grounded
theory methods of data analysis, facilitated by the use of
computer software specifically developed to aid such
analysis.
Grounded theory methods of data analysis
A grounded theory is a theory grounded in data, which
has been arrived at inductively rather than deductively.
Adopting a grounded theory approach from the outset of
a study defines the generation of a theory as the primary
purpose of the inquiry. The theory does not emerge as a
serendipitous outcome but through the systematic use of
a set of analytical procedures, as originally articulated by
107
M. Morison and J. Moir

1. Mothers 2. Fathers 3. Young 4. Siblings 5. Health

view view persons view view visitors view

3. Attitudes 7. Description of 8. Family

1. Base data 2. Feelings 4. Beliefs 5. Behaviour 6. Consequences
of others young person history

Figure 1 The principal parent nodes in the NUD.IST hierarchical indexing system and the first level nodes under the mothers view.

Glaser & Strauss (1965, 1967, 1968). The analysis process
involves a number of activities which are summarized in
Table 1.
What role, if any, can computer software play in this
analysis?
THE USE OF COMPUTER SOFTWARE TO
FACILITATE DATA ANALYSIS
Over the last 15 years there has been a proliferation of
computer software to facilitate qualitative data analysis.
The programs can be classified into the following broad
categories:
$ Text retrievers such as Metamorph, Orbis, Sonar
Professional, The Text Collector.
Table 1 Some procedures used in grounded theory data
processing and analysis
Correcting and revising conversation transcripts (both for the
accuracy of the words themselves and for the manner of their
delivery.
Data storage and retrieval.
Preliminary content analysis.
Open and selective coding.
Reflective memo writing.
Writing a story line (that is, summarizing the way in which
a situation is perceived by the researcher at a point in time).
Organization of concepts in the form of logic diagrams or mind
maps.
Using a coding paradigm, such as axial coding, to facilitate
concept organization and to clarify temporal and spatial
relationships between concepts.
Theory building, which may result in the development of a
conditional matrix (Strauss & Corbin 1990).
$ Text base managers such as askSam, FolioVIEWS.
MAX, Tabletop.
$ Code and retrievers such as HyperQual 2, Qualpro,
the Ethnograph.
$ Code-based theory builders such as AQUAD,
ATLAS/ti, HyperRESEARCH, NUD.IST.
$ Conceptual network builders such as Inspiration,
MECA, MetaDesign, Semnet.
These programs vary enormously in the extent to which
a number of analytical activities can be undertaken
(Anderson 1987, Heise 1988, Knafl & Webster 1988,
Pfaffenberger 1988, Tesch 1990, Huber & Garcia 1991,
Richards & Richards 1991, 1994b, Fielding & Lee 1993,
Moseley & Mead 1993, Russell & Gregory 1993, Walker
1993, Weitzman & Miles 1995). As yet, there is no common
interface between most packages and the decision to pur-
chase a particular piece of software is a significant one that
needs to be made in an informed way (Lewins 1996).
The Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis
(CAQDAS) Networking Project, funded by the UK
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), aims to
encourage debate, disseminate information and offer train-
ing and support for professionals working within the social
and behavioural sciences. Further details of CAQDAS are
to be found at the end of this paper.
However, there are still many qualitative researchers
who either ignore or actively question the use of such
software, implying that its use, in conjunction with more
traditional methods of analysis, is corrupting. In their
book Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory
Procedures and Techniques, which formed an invaluable
and much used guide during the analysis of data in this
study, Strauss & Corbin (1990) barely mention the use of
computer software to facilitate data storage, data handling
and analysis. Becker (1993) suggests that the use of com-

108 1998 Blackwell Science Ltd, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 28(1), 106116
Methodological issues in nursing research
puters for data analysis in grounded theory studies results
in flat and over simplified descriptive results.
It is easy to understand, on an intuitive level, why some
researchers feel that the use of computer software could
stifle the creativity of the processes involved in inductive
analysis. There is also the largely unspoken fear that a
computer is like a genie in a bottle which, once released,
will transform the activity of field research in unnoticed
and unwelcome ways (Lee & Fielding 1993).
In an article entitled The right brain strikes back Agar
(1993, p.182) describes the dangers of what he calls com-
puter lust where the means become the end. In what he
calls his paranoid fantasy he sees computers mutating from
an item in a context to the context itself. The main counter
to this argument is that the fault lies not so much with the
computer software as with the researcher who uses it inap-
propriately. The use of computer software to facilitate
theory generation and testing does not replace the right
brains ability to make conceptual connections from data
from social situations that appear at first to be quite differ-
ent. Instead, by facilitating and greatly speeding up the
clerical tasks associated with data handling, it can free up
the researchers time (Tesch 1990, 1991) to discover theory
creatively and intuitively in the way that Glaser & Strauss
(1967) originally conceived it.
The final decision to use a computer software package
to aid data storage, data handling and some aspects of data
analysis was taken after a careful analysis of the nature of
the task in hand and an appraisal of the facilities provided
by the software then available. With the stated and over-
arching purpose of theory building very much in mind the
following facilities were sought:
$ a flexible coding system into which new codes could
be added at any time;
$ the ability to view text retrieved in its context;
$ powerful search facilities;
$ a theory testing capability;
$ a way of keeping track of the project.
The NUD.IST package was selected because of the power
of its hierarchical indexing system and because the devel-
opers original use for it was much like the researchers
own.
Gerson (1984) suggests that the principal benefit of com-
puter technology is its potential for increased rigour in
analysis. Freeing up time and energy for the researcher to
think creatively is perhaps one of the most compelling
reasons for using a computer, especially when the time so
spent leads to the development of a powerful, precise and
tightly integrated theory. In practice, it was found that the
use of computer software did indeed shift the balance of
time spent on the mechanics of data handling per se and
on data analysis, strongly in favour of data analysis, by
considerably speeding up the clerical tasks involved in
1998 Blackwell Science Ltd, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 28(1), 106116
Role of computer software
searching for and retrieving data. It also added rigour to
the verification process, as is described below.
The analytical processes employed in this study
Induction is the essence of naturalistic inquiry and the
basis of the grounded theory approach to data analysis.
Concepts are ultimately the units of interest in grounded
theory research. All the procedures described in this sec-
tion have the purpose of identifying, developing and relat-
ing concepts. The analytic process is recursive. There is a
constant interplay between proposing and checking. This
is what makes the theory developed grounded in the data.
Open coding and the use of memos and diagrams
Open coding is the process of breaking down, examining,
comparing, conceptualizing and categorizing data. The
processes involved in open coding are described by Corbin
(1986), Miles & Huberman (1994) and others. The purpose
is to identify and name phenomena, which is a necessary
first step in concept development.
From the time of the earliest analysis of the first conver-
sations with families the emerging categories were ident-
ified and named. The coding was refined and new codes
added in an ongoing way. Keeping track of the coding was
at first achieved by updating a loose leaf coding book with
the aid of a word processing package (Word for Windows
2c). Six months into the study this process was transformed
with the help of the NUD.IST software package.
Two analytical procedures which help with concept
clarification are making comparisons and asking ques-
tions. These procedures were used constantly. This is what
is meant when a grounded theory approach is described
as a constant comparative method of inquiry (Glaser &
Strauss 1967).
Memos and diagrams were used as adjunctive pro-
cedures throughout the 18 months of data analysis to help
to explore the possible relationships between concepts,
using techniques described by Glaser (1978), Corbin
(1986), Miles & Huberman (1994) and Richards & Richards
(1991, 1994b).
Developing a hierarchical indexing system
The facility to develop hierarchical coding trees to
organize emerging categories and to help to explore the
relationships between them was regarded as a key feature
of NUD.IST which would help to bring order out of chaos
(an anticipated mountain of data) and greatly facilitate the
inductive analytical processes.
Richards & Richards (1994b) liken NUD.ISTs indexing
system to a library index which enables the researcher to
store and locate data very easily. If the indexing (coding)
categories are organized hierarchically the result is an
109
M. Morison and J. Moir

indexing tree which is like a map of the project. Each node
on the tree is like a pigeon-hole in which like data and
the researchers thoughts about them can be stored. The
software has been designed to enable the indexing system
to grow and change shape as the researchers thinking
about a project grows and develops. At any point it shows
the concepts being explored and it is therefore a reflection
of the progress of the researchers analytical thinking.
Over a 1-year period a hierarchical indexing system was
developed to store the researchers thinking about the pro-
ject. The principal parent nodes are illustrated in Figure 1.
Nodes one to five contain the data from the perspectives
of the mothers, fathers, young people, siblings and health
visitors who took part. Figure 1 illustrates the major sub-
categories where data about facets of the mothers view
were stored.
The sequence of the steps involved in data transcription,
importing, coding, search and retrieval is illustrated in
Figure 2. Following open coding the transcripts were
systematically re-coded using codes developed through-
out the year. A coding map (the index system) was
available on the computer screen. It was also pinned to
the researchers study wall and indicated the main
indexing trees.
The individual trees were compiled in a loose-leaf
coding book as well as being available on screen. A rigor-
ous account was kept of the coding process for data from
each family and back-track cards were developed and
attached to transcripts whose coding had been entered
before the new codes were created. The transcripts were
then re-checked for the occurrence of these categories. The
transcripts from the first three families to be coded were
completely re-checked. For later families less back-
tracking was required as there were fewer new codes. This
process took many months, but through such close con-
tacts with the data, over a prolonged period, theoretical
sensitivity was enhanced and many new ideas were gener-
ated. Theoretical sensitivity refers to the attribute of having
insight, the ability to give meaning to data, the capacity to
understand, and the capability to separate the pertinent
from the rest. All this is done in conceptual rather than
concrete terms. It is a requirement for the creativity which
can help to uncover new ways of looking at a phenomenon.
Richards and Richards regard the development of the
indexing system and the coding (indexing) of data as much
more than just a clerical exercise:

Conversations transcribed and Decisions are being made about what is a category of significance
A. boundaries of text units delineated to the study, what questions are being asked, what concepts devel-
using a word processor
oped, what ideas explored, and whether these categories should
be altered, re-defined, or deleted during analysis.
(Richards & Richards 1994b p.447)
B. Data imported into NUDIST

Figure 3 illustrates part of the indexing system for the

mothers comments on their beliefs about various aspects
Indexing (coding) attached to of the young persons bed wetting. The six sub-categories
text units and references to
C.
these text units placed into the which emerged during conversations with mothers as
hierarchical indexing system important to them were the mothers perceptions of:

$ the cause of the bed wetting;

Indexing system searched and $ the young persons control over the phenomenon;
D. data retrieved according to $ the extent to which the young person was making an
specified search parameters effort to be dry;
OUTPUT
finds of the search $ the young persons desire to be dry;
could be: $ possible factors which might increase the young per-
viewed on put back into sons motivation to be dry; and
Facilitating screen programme $ whether and when the young person would become
printed as attached to an reliably dry at night in the future.
a report indexing node

The nature of these beliefs proved to be important deter-

Theory generation and the
minants of parents attitudes towards bed wetting.
Primary The major indexing trees became the source of a thick
testing of relationships
purpose:
between concepts description (Richards & Richards 1994b) of families
experiences of bed wetting. While the principal indexing
Figure 2 A flow diagram to illustrate the processes of data tree nodes highlighted the broad issues, attention to the
transcription, importing, coding, searching and retrieval using details within each tree helped to ensure a balance when
the computer software package: NUD.IST Power Version 3.0. writing descriptive accounts.

110 1998 Blackwell Science Ltd, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 28(1), 106116
Methodological issues in nursing research
1. Mothers view
4. Beliefs
1. Bed wetting
2. Young persons
1. Cause of 3. Young person trying
control over the
bed wetting to be dry?
phenomenon
Figure 3 Part of the indexing system for mothers beliefs about bed wetting and parenting more generally.
CONSTRUCTING AND TESTING A
GROUNDED THEORY
The data handling tasks associated with theory develop-
ment are complex. Theory testing is an integral part of
theory construction, not a subsequent stage. In the present
study the use of NUD.IST paved the way for the develop-
ment of an integrated theory. However, the final inte-
gration of concepts was facilitated by the use of a coding
paradigm, called axial coding (Strauss & Corbin 1990).
Axial coding
Axial coding is a set of procedures whereby data are put
back together in a new way, after open coding, by making
connections between categories. This is achieved by
using a coding paradigm involving: causal conditions (con-
ditions which give rise to a phenomenon); the phenomenon
or central idea; aspects of the context in which the phenom-
enon is embedded; intervening conditions; action/inter-
actional strategies; and the consequences or outcomes of
action and interaction, as illustrated in Table 2. The linking
and development of categories takes place with the help of
the basic analytical procedures used from the very outset of
open coding such as asking questions about: what is going
on, when and why, and making comparisons of instances of
the phenomenon to gain an understanding of the conditions
in which events take place. The components of this coding
paradigm can be clearly traced back to the contents of the
hierarchical coding trees, illustrated in Figures 1 and 3.
Strauss & Corbin (1990) describe the process of axial
coding as quite complex because the analysis involves per-
1998 Blackwell Science Ltd, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 28(1), 106116
Role of computer software
2. Parenting more
generally
4. Young persons 5. Motivators
6. Future outcome
desire to be dry to be dry
forming four distinct analytic steps almost simultaneously.
These are:
$ the hypothetical linking of concepts;
$ the verification of the hypotheses against data;
$ the continued search for the properties of the concepts
and their dimensions; and
$ an exploration of the variation in expression of the
phenomenon.
This involves moving back and forth between inductive
and deductive thinking.
The identification of the core concept
Theory generation is facilitated by the identification of the
core concept, that is the central phenomenon around
which all, or the great majority of the other concepts and
categories can be integrated.
The phenomenon of perceived helplessness was ident-
ified as a category early in this study. Individuals who
perceived themselves (or others) to be helpless believed
that they (or others) were unable to influence the situation,
that is they believed that the outcome was not contingent
on their (or others) efforts. During analysis it became
apparent that perceived helplessness was a widespread
phenomenon, linked with many negative emotions in that:
$ almost all the young people in this study who wet the
bed perceived themselves to be helpless to stop it and
felt ashamed that they could not achieve an easy task
that most 3-year olds could accomplish.
$ all the parents spoken to had perceived themselves to
111
M. Morison and J. Moir

Table 2 Parents attitudes and responses to their childs bed wetting: causal conditions, intervening conditions, interactional strategies
and consequences. (The structure of this table is based on Strauss and Corbins (1990) axial coding paradigm)

Parents attitude

Rejection and
Acceptance and tolerance intolerance

Primary Resigned Optimistic Resigned

unconditional Transitional pragmatic pragmatic Ambivalence Proactive reactive

A. Causal conditions
1. Bed wetting is defined by the Yes Yes No No No No No
parent as appropriate for the
young persons age

2. The parent is concerned that No Yes, to Yes Yes, to Yes Yes Yes
the young person still wets some extent varying
the bed extents

3. Parent believes that the bed No Not No No Perhaps Yes Yes

wetting is within the young completely
persons control

4. Parent believes that he/she

has:
a. the capacity to influence No Yes No Yes, in Perhaps, in Yes No
the situation now some ways some ways

b. the capacity to influence Yes Yes No Yes Probably Yes No

the situation in the future Yes
B. Phenomenon
Parents overall attitude to the Parent accepts and tolerates a situation which he/she Parent has Parent does not
young persons bed wetting believes: mixed accept and is not
cannot be should cannot, or could feelings prepared to tolerate
changed change is change about a a situation that
now, but soon unlikely soon situation he/she believes can
will change to, which be changed:
in time change he/she primarily only by
ever believes by the the
can young young
probably person person
only be
changed
by the
young
person,
facilitated
perhaps
by the
parents
encourage-
ment
C. Intervening conditions
1. Parents beliefs and feelings about:
(a) parenting, e.g. the appropriateness/inappropriateness of the use of physical punishment to discourage unacceptable
behaviour
(b) the young person as an individual and as a member of the family
(c) the quality of their relationship with the young person more generally
2. The priority of bed wetting on the parents agenda for action
3. The attitude of the parents spouse or partner, wider family and friends to the young persons bed wetting

1998 Blackwell Science Ltd, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 28(1), 106116

112
Methodological issues in nursing research Role of computer software

Table 2 (Continued)

Parents attitude

Rejection and
Acceptance and tolerance intolerance

Primary Resigned Optimistic Resigned

unconditional Transitional pragmatic pragmatic Ambivalence Proactive reactive

D. Interactional strategies* *(The form that these strategies take depends upon the intervening conditions and the way that
these interact)
1. Parent takes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No
responsibility for
helping the young person
to learn the skill of being
dry at night
2. Parent blames young No No No No Yes, Yes Yes
person on those sometimes
occasions when he/she
loses night time
bladder control
E1. Consequences for young Yes Yes Yes Yes Mixed No No
person
The emotional and social
environment for learning
to be dry at night (if this
is possible) is supportive
E2. Consequences for parent
In relation to bed wetting,
feelings of:
(a) anger towards the No No No No Yes, Yes, Yes,
young person sometimes often very
often
(b) frustration at Perhaps Perhaps Yes Perhaps Yes Yes Yes
the situation

be helpless to control the situation at one time or
another and many said that they had experienced feel-
ings of hopelessness and despair at those times when
they had felt most helpless.
$ most parents had come to believe, from experience, that
the health care professionals to whom they had turned
for help were also helpless to influence the situation in
a therapeutic way.
Perceived helplessness appeared in many guises in the
data and was at first identified as the central phenomenon
or core concept in this study.
Conceptual analysis of the phenomenon of perceived
helplessness involved going back to the data and asking
many questions, such as:
$ what are the conditions that lead individuals to believe
that they are helpless?
$ how stable is perceived helplessness over time?
$ how do parents and young people respond to a situation
when they believe that they are helpless to influence it?
$ is their response affected by any intervening
conditions?
$ how do young people and their parents interpret and
respond to each others behaviour when either or both
believe themselves to be helpless?
$ what are the consequences of perceived helplessness
for the young people and their parents?
While perceived helplessness was confirmed as being a
commonly experienced phenomenon, it was found that
some parents who believed themselves to be helpless to
influence the situation at the present time nevertheless felt
optimistic that their child would one day be dry, while
others were pessimistic that the situation would ever be
resolved. Optimism about the future seemed to be a par-
ticularly important factor in influencing both the parents

1998 Blackwell Science Ltd, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 28(1), 106116 113
M. Morison and J. Moir

ones way rather inefficiently and uncomfortably in a horse-

Young person, who wets the bed, believes drawn cart. While illustrating the many benefits that can
that he or she is HELPLESS
accrue from using computer software to facilitate a number
YES NO of analytical processes, the limitations of such programs, as
well as their potential hazards are now described.
NO ACTION ACTION UNLIKELY The first problem has been alluded to earlier, and con-
No action taken by While young person cerns the categorization of the data. This is an active ana-
YES parent or young may believe that taking
person to stop action could lead to
lytical process involving attending to meanings and
the bed wetting more dry nights, action representations which participants themselves make use
is unlikely as parents of and attend to. It might be tempting to view the use of
are the gatekeepers
to resources needed
computer software as a way of assisting in this process but
Parent
to take action the danger here is that the researcher imposes his or her
believes
that he own meaning on the data in a too rigid and unreflexive
or she ACTION MAY BE BEST CHANCE manner. One of the hallmarks of qualitative social research
is INITIATED BUT IS THAT ACTION WILL
UNLIKELY TO BE BE BOTH
is the researchers own reflexive awareness of his or her
HELPLESS
SUSTAINED INITIATED AND understanding in the production of findings. However,
Parents may attempt SUSTAINED the use of computer packages can pose a hazard to this
to initiate a treatment Parent(s) and young kind of reflexivity by drawing the researcher into literally
regime but young person actively engage
persons co-operation together in methods to
a programmatic type of data analysis based upon the sys-
NO
and commitment is at stop the bed wetting tematization of the research process. Now, whilst some
best half-hearted as UNLESS the resolution kind of systematic analytical procedure is necessary, it is
their expectancy of of the young persons
success is low bed wetting is out-
by no means a homogeneous process that applies across
competed on the all qualitative investigations. In other words, there is a
familys agenda by more danger of adopting too rigid a cook-book approach with-
pressing priorities within
out adapting the recipe to suit the type of data and
the family at the time
analytic purpose at hand.
The danger of systematizing the analytical approach at
Figure 4 The hypothesized relationship between the parents and
the expense of the fine-grain complexity of the material is
the young persons belief in helplessness and likelihood of action
an issue faced by researchers who adopt a discourse ana-
being taken to encourage the bed wetting to stop, once the bed
wetting has been identified by them both as a problem.
lytic perspective (e.g. Moir & Abraham 1995, 1996).
Striking a balance between the researchers categorizations
and how participants themselves orientate towards each
and the young peoples present feelings about the bed other in interaction is a fundamental problem in qualitat-
wetting. ive research. This raises a second issue, namely what kind
Re-evaluation of the concept of perceived helplessness of qualitative research is being undertaken, and how appli-
suggested that the concept was transcended by the concept cable is any given computer package in relation to the
of perceived control. This concept helped to explain the perspective adopted. A conversation analytical orien-
variety in the data and was found to be of central im- tation, for example, involves focusing on the way in which
portance both for young people and their parents. peoples utterances are shaped in relation to previous con-
The relational aspects of perceived control, that is how versational turns. This approach examines the action-
much control individuals perceived others to have over orientation of what was said, that is, interactive functions
the situation, was found to be particularly important. such as blamings, excuses, assessments, etc. However, an
Hypothesized relationships and their consequences are ethnographic approach will attempt to examine the data
illustrated in the form of a conditional matrix (Figure 4). in broader terms, and will focus on participants under-
Detailed findings from this study and their implications standings. Therefore, computer packages involving coding
for practice are summarized in Morison (1996). functions may only be suitable for the latter, whilst the
former approach might be able to make use of the storage
and retrieval functions of instances of transcript material.
The limitations and potential hazards of using
Whether this type of research requires anything beyond a
computer software to facilitate analysis
standard word-processing package is a moot point.
With the proliferation of software packages it is easy to be A third problem, is that of variability in how participants
convinced by the salesmanship of computer enthusiasts make use of particular descriptions and explanations.
into thinking that contemplating qualitative data analysis Discourse analysts (e.g. Potter & Wetherell 1987) point out
without enlisting the services of a computer is like ignoring that people flexibly construct what they say or write with
the invention of the motor vehicle and choosing to make respect to the social practices they engage in, in order to

114 1998 Blackwell Science Ltd, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 28(1), 106116
Methodological issues in nursing research
accomplish a variety of ends. Again working with fixed categ-
ories through the use of a computer package can miss the
way in which people draw upon different discursive formu-
lations in a flexible manner in relation to different social
practices and interactional contexts. Attempting to tag cer-
tain codings to the data in terms of consensual agreement on
how people view matters can miss the rhetorical (Billig 1987)
way in which people work-up what they say and the level
at which disagreements and differences of view may occur.
Reifying these codings and categorizations can lead to them
being treated as actually present in the data rather than as
researchers interpretations. In other words, their production
via a computer can mask their interpretative status by
lending an air of objectivity to their production.
Finally, a fourth problem is associated with the notion
of freeing up time which is claimed for computer pack-
ages. This claim tends to be commonplace in our society
which is organized and regulated according to time.
Anything that saves labour is seen as desirable, after all
who is going to disagree with the idea that routine work
should be kept to a minimum. Hence, it is argued that
computers afford the researcher the opportunity to cut
down on such work and get on with the real business of
analysis. However, it can be argued that familiarity with
the data engendered through repeated handling, reading
and re-reading is part of the analytical process itself. Using
a computer undoubtedly saves time, but it is not clear if
this adds to the analysis or detracts from it by distancing
the researcher from the data through the mediation of
computer software.
None of these problems discussed above kill off argu-
ments in favour of the use of computers in qualitative data
analysis, but they do raise searching questions about its
applicability in relation to the kind of qualitative analysis
being undertaken. Indeed the use of such software cannot
be divorced from wider theoretical and methodological
issues in qualitative research. The use of certain software
packages presupposes a certain kind of qualitative analy-
sis, most commonly ethnographic or content analytic.
Letting the understandings of participants emerge
through these procedures closes the data to alternative
readings and, as noted above, masks the creative role of
the analyst in producing a reading. Even partially includ-
ing computers in this role can make it appear as though
the data have spoken for themselves. Nevertheless,
despite the danger of this kind of empiricism we still see
a place for computer software in aiding the development
of a take on the material being analysed. However, at the
end of the day, attempts to provide analytic integrity to
the data result from struggling with it, rather attempting
to ease this through appealing to discovery through the
use of apparently theory-free technology. As noted pre-
viously, qualitative research is based on the premise that
the researcher is central to the sense that is made, and in
this regard she must reflexively engage with her data in a
1998 Blackwell Science Ltd, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 28(1), 106116
Role of computer software
way that does not simply attempt to manage it. As
Silverman (1997) notes, there is an aesthetic at work in
qualitative research which often involves a meticulous
examination of our taken-for-granted practices and con-
cepts, and in so doing provides us with startling insights
into the world-known-in-common. Computer packages do
not as yet have the capacity to generate this aesthetic qual-
ity, although of course in making this statement, it could
be argued that we are attempting to put (and keep)
computers in their place to make a reflexive point!
CONCLUSION
In answer to the question posed in the title of this paper
The role of computer software in the analysis of qualitat-
ive data: efficient clerk, research assistant or Trojan horse?
it is posited that the nature of the role that computer
software can play is a function not only of the inherent
properties and capabilities of the software itself but also
of its use by the researcher. The developers of much
software would make no claims for it beyond the level of
efficient clerk. It is also possible for a researcher to under-
utilize software with higher order capabilities, such as
packages specifically designed for theory building. When
inappropriately used even the best designed software can
be a Trojan horse if the mode of its use threatens the val-
idity of the studys findings and contradicts the epistemo-
logical and ontological axioms underpinning the chosen
research approach.
It is almost axiomatic to say that the use of computer
software to facilitate qualitative data analysis is an adjunct
to more traditional methods and it is certainly no substi-
tute for thought. As demonstrated in this paper, software
can be particularly helpful for data storage, searching
and retrieval and certain aspects of concept organization
and theory testing, but it cannot replace those mom-
ents of intuition when the relationships between concepts
crystallise in the researchers imagination.
At the individual level, researchers face difficult
decisions as well as practical challenges in making the best
use of state-of-the-art software. Ultimately a researchers
decision to use a computer programme to facilitate data
handling and data analysis is a personal one and needs to
be based on a thorough understanding of the purpose of
the inquiry and an appraisal of the facilities of the different
packages available at the time. Seeking out local software
users and benefiting from their experiences can be useful
but it is worth bearing in mind that the user may have
selected the program at the start of a project, perhaps
2 to 3 years previously and that the technology will
almost certainly have moved on. In some cases the user
may also be aware of only a fraction of the softwares capa-
bilities and may therefore not be the best authority on the
subject, convenient though it may be that their office is
just next door. It is for these reasons that readers are
115
M. Morison and J. Moir
encouraged to make use of the services of the Computer
Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis (CAQDAS) Network-
ing Project, which include Internet resources, a
support line, training courses and academic seminars.
The CAQDAS Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is:
http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/caqdas/. A researcher may
still decide, for excellent reasons, that there is no software
available that meets his/her needs, but at least the decision
will then be an informed one.
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