Software Reviews : QDA Miner CAQDAS Networking Project © Christina Silver & Ann Lewins QUIC Working Paper #008 QDA Miner 3.2 (with WordStat & Simstat) Distinguishing features and functions Christina Silver & Ann Lewins This document is meant to be read in conjunction with the ‘Choosing a CAQDAS Package Working Paper’ which provides a more general commentary of common CAQDAS functionality. This document does not provide an exhaustive account of all the features and functions provided by QDA Miner but is designed to highlight some of its distinguishing elements. Here we review version 3.2 of QDA Miner and make some reference to the WordStat and SimStat modules. The Comment section at the end details our opinions on certain aspects of functionality and usability. See also Lewins & Silver (2007) Using Software in Qualitative Research: A Step-by-Step Guide, Sage Publications and software developer website. Background http://www.provalisresearch.com/ Normand Peladeau developed QDA Miner as a mixed-method qualitative data analysis tool to facilitate the analysis of textual and, to a limited extent, visual (graphic) data. It contains features characteristic of mainstream CAQDAS packages ■ QDA Miner can be integrated with WordStat a content analysis and text- mining module (and also with SimStat a statistical data analysis tool). Utilising the suite of three packages extends the range of exploration and analytic techniques to the more mathematical, content and statistical analyses of textual data. Potentially handling thousands of cases, the combined software spans the CAQDAS, Text–retriever and Text-based Manager categories of software (see Choosing a CAQDAS package working paper) ■ QDA Miner is therefore part of a new generation of qualitative software, crossing methodological boundaries. Minimum System Specifications (recommended by developer) Windows 98, 2000 or XP, Vista (or Mac with Virtual PC, Parrallels, Boot Camp, etc.) Memory: From 64MB (Win 98) to 512MB (Vista) 20MB of hard disk space Figure 1. Showing QDA Miner coding window (left) and some possible types of content analysis available if WordStat is integrated (right) Showing one of the Content analysis tools in sister package, Wordstat – showing percentage of selected words across Cases as a percentage of all words –different graph representations possible. Normal QDA Miner coded margin view