Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software: An Illustration of Limitations and Advantages

Computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) is a well-known acronym in qualitative research. Nowadays, qualitative researchers are inclined to apply such software for various purposes. Critiques of the use of CAQDAS in qualitative research focus on the term “analysis”, claiming that that the tool does little to analyze data. According to these critiques, some users of CAQDAS advocate a positivist or quantitative approach using CAQDAS as a so-called “devil-tool” for science. In contrast, although the use of CAQDAS can be seen to do the mechanical part of the analysis (i.e. coding), it can never fulfill the conceptual part of the analysis which requires a human-touch. Thus the better use of CAQDAS is for coding, not for analysis. This research paper attempts to illustrate the challenges of manual versus computer assisted coding by identifying events that create gaps during an ISD change process using a grounded theory methodology (GTM).