The purpose of this blog is to reflect on my ever-evolving thoughts around what it means to do qualitative research. Yes, it is a requirement for the digital tools class I am currently taking, but I am going to make a concentrated effort to challenge myself to take it further than that and make it the beginning of a true reflexive research journal as I move towards my dissertation.
As part of that reflective process, I can't help thinking about how much my understanding has changed in the last year and half. I entered the Intro to Qualitative Research class in the Spring semester of 2010 as a completely blank slate. I had NO IDEA what I was getting myself into, and I chuckle now when I think back to some of my early thoughts. I remember thinking what a chore transcription was and how it would be nice to have someone (or something?) do it for me, and when I first heard about Atlas.ti, I thought, ooh, it will code the data for me!
Now a year and half later and a couple more qualitative classes under my belt, I can't imagine removing myself from my data in those ways. I now see transcription as analysis and would never want anyone but myself handling that "chore." In fact, thanks to my introduction to discourse analysis, I can't even look at transcripts as text anymore, but now see the need to be listening to the original recordings and reading the transcripts simultaneously. And as for any sort of tool coding for me, I now realize that just wouldn't be qualitative research. I, as the researcher, am in control of determining those codes.
With all that said, though, I am very eager to learn about digital tools that can aid me in doing a more efficient job with the intensive, time-consuming work involved in qualitative research. I see a lot of potential in tools such as Mendeley, Atlas.ti, or Transana. I am not very tech savvy, so it will be wonderful to learn alongside others. I'm a bit anxious about some of the programs working for me. I am a die-hard Mac user, and I really hope I can make Atlas.ti work for me, so I am playing around with a program called Parallels, as I have heard others have not had as much success with Bootcamp. Any other Mac users out there with tips on this issue?
I can put you in touch with Rachael Gabriel, Debby Lee, Doug Canfield and others who have been using Parallels (or boot camp or something) - for the same reason as you. If you run into trouble, just let me know.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of all the tools, I am looking forward to learning right along with you!