Computer-Based Qualitative Methods in Case Study Research

Abstract

In recent years the practice of qualitative data analysis has been substantially influenced by the emergence of CAQDAS computer-assisted qualitative data analysis. Qualitative software has enabled more formal and systematic approaches to qualitative data analysis, facilitated closer integration of findings from qualitative and quantitative research and stimulated engagement with multimedia data sources. However, both the methodological literature and developers of qualitative software have largely confined their attention to code-based rather than casebased approaches to qualitative data analysis, and software developed to support the analysis of case study data in the pursuit of causal analysis has been neglected outside that field. The case study field may benefit from a closer engagement with qualitative software, and users of qualitative software may benefit from widening their horizons to include software developed with case study analysis in mind.