Depeche Mode last year published a disc remastering of "Rapist" , which includes a video performance on the editing process of the album entitled "If you want to use guitars, use guitars," directed by Anton Corbijn . The video's title refers to the change in the group's musical style from the album "Violator." Since then, Depeche Mode goes from being a techno-pop group to become a rock band that uses synthesizers. The transition is marked by the use of electric guitars in the songs. Somehow, the taboo of guitars techno viewed from the side prevented the entire group will develop their creative abilities. With the inclusion of riffs string, Depeche Mode has kept its essence (something central) and at the time, has created a new style of rock music.
Using content analysis software in qualitative research presents certain similarities with the guitars in techno music. In many cases, researchers delegate to the possibilities of software management data and information collected during the fieldwork. In addition, the quantitative potential of this type of software used for many other things in qualitative research. A good program can help in contextualizing the object of study to the extent that it is able to organize and prioritize large volumes of data that initially appear disconnected. You can also support the construction of theories when it comes to generating knowledge inductively from particular facts (as in the 'Grounded Theory' ). Finally, as with Guitars in music, one of its biggest advantages is that it broadens the audience (the 'target') interested in a particular investigation. The way of presenting data in tables and graphs using lattice makes the information accessible (ie, recognizable and interpretable) for a first look at a number of researchers from other methodological approaches. At first glance, seems to be agreement that the use of software is required to support the research process and present the results of a qualitative research on an "adequate." At least, in the manner preferred by the academy.
However, this agreement is not total. Critics of the qualitative software saying that the mere fact of applying it alters the "natural" process of the investigation. Hierarchies and categorization imposed on the understanding and the relationship of meaning, and prevent the deepening research on what really matters: obtaining a vision of order different from the positive sciences, that fence beyond the numbers and simple causal relationships.
The issue is therefore how to use software in qualitative research so that you can delve into the particular dynamics of a study at the same time and place the results in the 'mainstream' science.
And the answer is in the title Video of Depeche Mode. So, "if you want to use software, use software."
Condemn the use of software in qualitative research is simply crazy. It's not just the software. The technology, in general, is present in any research process. Technology is a social component and, therefore, is no stranger to any study that deepens in this area. That is not the issue, then. The point is the attention to the process and purpose of qualitative research. Research that seeks to describe and organize information is essentially qualitative. The debate is old, you can make use of techniques qualitative analysis that introduce various levels not included in the analysis of experimental or quasi-experimental, but his presence alone does not make a qualitative study. It is qualitatively different: ontological, epistemological, methodological and ideological. When a researcher uses a certain software to manage your data is introducing an element that conditional on the job. The result can be enriching for the qualitative, or not. Not when the data are presented as independent of the research process. But, as in the performative social science the software and Internet use may prove essential within lines emerging as the same virtual ethnography or studies of cyberspace. And if that enrichment is a higher order - as does the phenomenon of the 2.0 - you may need to change some paradigmatic principles in the qualitative approach. We ...
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