Corbin: Basics of Qualitative Research – Study Site
Juliet Corbin: Basics of Qualitative Research
Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory – 3rd Edition
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1. General Information
This website provides all the information you will need in order to work on the data presented in the book and to do the exercises using MAXQDA. The MAXQDA project file “JC-BasicsQR.mx3″ will enable you to follow all the steps of the analysis presented throughout the chapters of the book, and – moreover – you will be able to add your own analytical work. You can write down your ideas in memos, code text segments, define new codes, and run searches in the memos, the coded segments, the texts, etc. All exercises in the book may be done within the project “JC-BasicsQR.mx3″. In the end the project will not be the same any more; it will contain Julie Corbin’s analysis together with your own contributions, changes, etc. You may even enrich and enlarge the database and the analysis by adding your own new texts – from articles, interviews, etc. – and analyse them.
Throughout the book you will find screenshots demonstrating options for working out the analysis with MAXQDA. These references include the add-ons to MAXQDA, MAXDictio and MAXMaps. Most of the graphics in the book were created with MAXMaps – it is a graphics tool that helps with laying out and sorting the data in a visual way. It can also be used independently of the data to create graphics for other purposes.
TIP: You can also find this information inside the project “JC-BasicsQR.mx3″. In the “Document System” window of MAXQDA you will find the text “General information” as part of the text group “Readers information”. Thus it will be easy to get back to the information provided on this website in case you want to double check.
2. New to MAXQDA?
For those of you who are not familiar with MAXQDA, we can provide comprehensive help. You will be surprised how easy it is to become familiar with the software! The free online tutorial, set up with 11 lessons, gives a step-by-step introduction. It will take less than one hour to catch on to the basic functions (lessons A to D): bringing in texts, doing your own coding, creating memos to write down your ideas, running searches and managing your code system and memos.
Introductory Tutorial
In addition, you have access in the help menu of MAXQDA to a comprehensive, easy-to-navigate manual for MAXQDA and MAXDictio. The latter allows the user to create frequency lists and dictionaries directly out of the data; it is a strong tool for data exploration, especially designed to perform a professional content analysis. MAXDictio and MAXMaps are both integrated into the demo version. The manual for MAXMaps is accessible from the help menu of MAXMaps, which you can open up from the button “Visual Tools“ in the upper menu bar.
Download Trial Version
IMPORTANT: After the 30-day demo version has expired, you can still access the project and the work you have done with it. MAXQDA Reader can be downloaded and used without time limit for free. The MAXQDA Reader allows use of all search and export functions but does not allow for any changes or editing of the data. You will not be able to continue coding, writing memos, etc.
Download MAXQDA Reader
Note: MAXQDA and MAXQDA Reader may both be installed on the same computer.
3. How to Use the Project JC-BasicsQR.mx3 – Information & Instructions
You may download the project “JC-BasicsQR.mx3″ from the following link:
Getting the Project into MAXQDA
Once you have downloaded the file “JC-BasicsQR.mx3″, you should save it in a folder of your choice (e.g. create a folder “Corbin-Basics-MyProject”). It is very easy to bring the project into MAXQDA or MAXQDA Reader – just follow these 4 steps:
- Double click the MAXQDA or the MAXQDA Reader program icon on your desktop.
- Click the option “Other Projects” then “OK” in the dialogue box.
- A new dialogue box “Open project” will show up allowing you to navigate to the folder where you have saved the project file (e.g. to “Corbin-Basics-MyProject”).
- Open that folder and click on the project file (“JC-BasicsQR.mx3″) in order to bring it into the field “file name” of the dialogue box, then click “open”. The project will open up in MAXQDA and you can start working.
Four Windows – The Basic Screen of MAXQDA
The screen shows the four main windows of MAXQDA. They provide a clear working space allowing immediate access any time to the main areas of your analytical work. You may adjust the size, open or close any of the windows at any time to organize the screen conviently.
Design of the Project
The Texts
This is how the project has been set up: the MAXQDA “Document System” contains all the project data. All the texts provided in the book in Appendix A, B, and C are displayed in the same order in the “Document System” window. The texts are arranged in MAXQDA in three different text groups according to the type of data. The text groups “Data-Health Topic” and “Data-Pain Topic” contain all interview data and email communications. The text group “Literature” contains quotations and paraphrases taken out of books. You will also find a text group “Readers Information” in the “Documents System” window, which contains three texts:
- “general information” – this text contains all information given on this website.
- “explain code colors” – MAXQDA allows for researcher-driven assignment of colors. This text explains the meaning of the colors that have been assigned to the codes.
- “explain memo types” – this text lists the different memo types used in this project (see paragraph below “Working with memos”).
The Codes
The code system contains all codes being developed throughout the analytical process in the book. Most of the codes are “empty”, meaning they don’t contain any coded segments. This is natural, because the codes are developed using a very small database. The greater the amount of data that is analysed, the more the likely it is that the codes would be “filled” with segments of different texts. There are two very different topics analysed in the book: Pain and The War Experience. You will find two first-level codes in the code system, which distinguish between the two topics: “Pain Experience” and “Vietnam War”. You will realise that the MAXQDA code system is organised much like the Windows Explorer. The current code system of the project does not reflect a highly-elaborated end stage of the analysis, but rather an in-between stage. The reader is encouraged to take over the challenge of working on the categories. One can differentiate the level 1 codes by defining sub-codes, deleting codes, rearranging codes, creating new ones, etc. The technical procedures to do this are very easy – you will find step-by-step instructions in the online tutorial.
The Memos
In the book you will see a section of text at the top of each memo. This text segment quotes the passage that the memo pertains to. In MAXQDA, memos are attached right beside a text line, just like “Post-its”. Memos are displayed in the margin beside the text in the “Text Browser” as shown in the screen shots below. Double-clicking a text in the “Document System” will open it up in the “Text Browser” window. Double-clicking in the memo margin will open a blank memo form, where you may type in your ideas, comments, etc. or paste in any text material inside or outside your project. You may assign up to 11 different icons to a memo, which allows you to create different memo types, visible at a glance. Double-clicking a memo icon in the margin will open up the complete memo. Memos are accessible from the text line to which they are attached as well as directly from each code and each text. Right-clicking on a code in the “Code System” gives acces to all memos linked to that code (SCREEN 4). Right-clicking on a text in the “Document system” opens access to all memos attached to this text (SCREEN 5). The MAXQDA Memo System allows a one-click access to all your memos via the “Overview of memos” (SCREEN 6). Click on “Memos” in the upper menu bar and the “Memo system” will display all your memos in a well-organized table; clicking a header of a column of that table will organize the table according to this specific column. So clicking on the first column, memo type, will present all your “L” (literature), „T“ (theoretical), etc. memos one after the other.
Memos in the book Memos in MAXQDA
Text Memos and Code Memos:
Besides attaching memos to any line of an opened text in the “Text Browser” window, memos can also be attached to an entire text in the “Document System” window – it will then contain any (context) information, comments, etc. referring to the text as a whole. You will find one such text memo in the project, attached to the text “Participant #1”. A code memo can be attached to a code, which is very useful to get access at any time to the definition of a code, an anchor example or any important comment referring to the code. Text memos and code memos are visualised in the same way as they are within the “Text Browser”. Important: The memo types assigned in the project are explained in the text „explain memo types“.
Searches
Searching for Coded Segments:
Searches are mostly determined via “activation” (SCREEN 8). You may activate your texts and your codes in any thinkable combination. Activation is done by right-clicking the desired text(s)/code(s). All activations may be cancelled by clicking on “Reset Activations” in the upper menu bar (SCREEN 9).
In order to search (e.g. for all text segments coded with “Patriotism” and “Enemy” in the interview of Participant #1), you would activate the text of participant #1 and the two codes “Patriotism” and “Enemy”. The result of this search is made avaiable instantly in the “Retrieved Segments” window (SCREEN 10). Simultaniously the original text is brought up in the “Text browser” window; the retrieved text segment will be highlighted.
Free Searches:
Using the lexical search function allows for finding any given word, term, sentence, etc. which you write into the field “search string”. The result can be coded automatically. Lexical searches can be operated/executed in the texts and in the memos.
TIP: You may want to save an untouched version of the project, which should be done before you open it the first time in MAXQDA and start doing your own work. As long as you use MAXQDAReader, the project will of course stay in the original version. You should carefully decide the first day you install the MAXQDA demo version. Keep in mind, that the 30 days run time limit starts with the installation. After that time you will not any more able to make any changes in the project file!
We wish you much success and enjoyment with the project!!
Julie Corbin and the MAXQDA Team
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