Progam with QDA Qualitative Data Analysis features? Coding/tagging blocks of text?

Posted by Peter
Aug 14, 2012 at 09:22 AM

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:
I’d say
>that most of the software we talk about here works at a much higher level—whole texts
>for 2/3 pane info managers, paragraphs for outliners.

This is a very important distinction! The question of outlining levels often gets blurred or forgotten when discussing “outliners” more generally. This forum could be improved perhaps if we kept that distinction in mind. For instance, Daniel Wessel on his blog makes an important distinction between “content” and “structure” outlining, using the comparison between Circus Ponies Notebook and Scrivener: http://www.organizingcreativity.com/2012/02/outliner-in-scrivener-vs-outliner-in-cpn-structure-scrivener-vs-content-cpn-outlines/

Both of these “levels” are important in my (qualitative) analysis and writing and one measure of a good app (for me) is one that allows working across these levels. QDA software, in my opinion, has traditionally done the “content” better but we’re seeing some interesting convergence with apps like Tinderbox and DevonThink (I think).