How Has CAQDAS Technology Affected Qualitative Research?

By analysing 30 years of academic literature this research identifies and conceptually models how the evolution of computer-assisted qualitative data analysis (CAQDAS) technology has affected research practices for collecting, analysing and reporting qualitative data. The paper models various approaches to CAQDAS-supported research to illustrate the implications of this evolutionary process for contemporary qualitative research practice and methodological debates

A Metamodel Recommendation System Using Meta-learning

The importance and value of statistical predictions increase as data grows in availability and quantity. Metamodels, or surrogate models, provide the ability to rapidly approximate and predict information. However, selection of the appropriate metamodel for a given dataset is often arduous, and the choice of the wrong metamodel could lead to considerably inaccurate results. This research proposes and tests the framework for a metamodel recommendation system. The implementation allows for virtually any dataset and preprocesses data, calculates meta-features, evaluates the performance of various metamodels, and learns how the data behaves via meta-learning, thus preparing and bettering itself for future recommendations. Testing on over 500 widely varied datasets, the framework provides positive results, often recommending a metamodel with similar performance as the actual best metamodel

Reflecting on the Strategic Use of CAQDAS to Manage and Report on the Qualitative Research Process

As an increasing number of researchers have been trained to u s e programs such as Atlas/ti, NUD*IST, Nvivo, and ETHNOGRAPH their value in analyzing qualitative data has gained greater recognition. Drawing on the experience of two PhD candidates at the University of Tasmania, this paper reflects upon some potential uses of a suite of computer software programs to make the research and analysis process more logical and transparent. In addition, this paper argues for the introduction of a Computer Aided Qualitative Data Analysis Protocol to give readers of the research report a better understanding of the analysis process undertaken by the researcher

Can educational policy redress historical discrimination? Exploring a University Community’s experiences with India’s caste-based affirmative action policy

This research engaged a grounded theory process to explore whether or not and, if so, in what ways, an affirmative action quota policy disrupted historical power structures towards generating change in one university community in rural India. This rural university community has implemented an affirmative action quota system for three decades. Participants’ embrace of and resistance to diversity and caste-based social transformations were identified through an analysis of in-depth interviews with 6 Upper caste faculty and staff, 3 Dalit students, and 7 and Upper caste students. Strategies of embracing and resisting diversity and broader pushes for social transformation to create a more inclusive community included participants positioning themselves in favor of or opposed to the affirmative action quota policy. Implications for change at individual, community, institutional, and national levels are discussed

Current Reporting Practices of ATLAS.ti User in Published Research Studies

Scholars investigating Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS) have noted that we know relatively little about how researchers use packages such as ATLAS.ti in their practice. We report findings of a content analysis of 321 empirical articles, published between 1994 and 2013, on the use of data analysis software. The purpose of this analysis was to characterize both who is reporting the use of CAQDAS tools, and how they are reporting that use in their publications. Studies were analysed for subject discipline and researcher country of origin, overall methodological approach, and use of the software in different phases of the research process. We found that researchers were predominantly from the health sciences (69%) and published in health sciences journals (66%). Forty-eight percent of corresponding authors were from the United States, with 43 countries represented. Interview and focus groups were the most common data sources used; most studies did not identify a particular methodology beyond “qualitative”. Few studies (13%) provided any details on their use of ATLAS.ti beyond mentioning that it was used, and 97.5% of the articles used it only for data analysis. We encourage researchers to provide more detail as to their use of ATLAS.ti and explore the potential for ATLAS.ti to support aspects of their study beyond data analysis

Integrating environmental sustainability considerations into food and nutrition policies : insights from Australia\u27s national food plan

The environmental sustainability (ES) of food systems is a critical challenge for policy makers. This is a highly contested policy area with differing views among stakeholders. The aim of the study was to develop a better understanding of how ES considerations are addressed in Australian food and nutrition policies and the way that consultation processes affect final policy outcomes. A mixed-methods study design combined a detailed chronology of key policy developments (2009-2015), a content analysis of written submissions obtained during the NFP\u27s consultation period (2011-2013) and a frame analysis of the sustainability perspectives - efficiency, demand restraint, and system transformation - in the NFP\u27s Issues, Green, and White Papers. There were 555 written submissions responding to two consultation papers. Stakeholders represented all sectors of Australia\u27s food system including government, non-government organizations, the food supply chain, research and academic institutions, and members of the general public. Around 74% of submissions referred to ES considerations and ~65% supported their inclusion into the final policy. Efficiency frames were most dominant; emphasizing a production-oriented approach that regards the environment as a natural resource base for food production but overlooks consumption and equity concerns. Despite strong support for the inclusion of ES considerations in the NFP, the influence of Australia\u27s socio-political context, powerful, industry-dominated stakeholders, and a reliance on traditional production-oriented perspectives delivered a business-as-usual approach to food policy making. It has since been replaced by an agricultural strategy that provides only cursory attention to ES. Our findings indicate that Australia\u27s political environment is not sufficiently mature for ES considerations to be integrated into food and nutrition policies. We propose reforms to the current consultation process in Australia to better support this integration by promoting greater transparency and participation in the development of food and nutrition policy making

Re/producing the nation : women making identity in New Zealand, 1906-1925.

In the period 1906-1925, several women's organisations offered an interpretation of political life that emphasised the role of women as maternal citizens and saviours of the "race". Through an examination of the activities of eight women's organisations, it is argued that women were active participants in the construction of the New Zealand nation. By abandoning traditional androcentric definitions of the "political", it is demonstrated how women during this period worked to extend the "private" sphere of the home into the community, and ultimately the nation. As social purists, war time voluntary workers, instructors of young women, and as mothers, New Zealand women were crucial to constructed national identities. Through emphasising traditional maternal functions, such as care and nurture, women could, and did, negotiate a place for themselves in the New Zealand nation

Optimizing Sequence Coverage for a Moderate Mass Protein in Nano-Electrospray Ionization Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

Sample pretreatment was optimized to obtain high sequence coverage for human serum albumin (HSA, 66.5 kDa) when using nano-electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (nESI-Q-TOF-MS). Use of the final method with trypsin, Lys-C and Glu-C digests gave a combined coverage of 98.8%. The addition of peptide fractionation resulted in 99.7% coverage. These results were comparable to those obtained previously with matrixassisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). The sample pretreatment/nESI-Q-TOF-MS method was also used with collision-induced dissociation to analyze HSA digests and to identify peptides that could be employed as internal mass calibrants in future studies of modifications to HSA