MAXQDA differentiates between “document variables” and “code variables”:
Document Variables
Document variables are associated with an entire document, (e.g. the person interviewed in an interview transcript). In these cases, you can assign socio-demographic information like gender, age, education level, etc. that can then be analyzed in conjunction with the actual text.
In the following example, the age and gender of all five respondents was noted, in addition to whether they were members of an NGO:
Code Variables
The development of code variables in MAXQDA makes it possible for you to define variables within a document and to use their values as selection criteria during the evaluation process. In this way, you can, for example, activate codes by defined criteria.
