CAQDASchat with Christina

I often get asked what I think about AI in qualitative research, and why, so here goes....

There are 6 sections, around some “headlines” as I currently see them underthese headings:

·      Background: from whence my thoughts derive

·      What I think of the development of AI tools for Qual

·      What I think of the capabilities of AI tools for Qual

·      What I think about the implications of AI onQual

·      How I will – and will not – use GenAI

·      The evolving relationship between methods and tools

Episode links

·       For the written version, containing the full transcript, see the CAQDAS blog or the QDAS blog https://www.qdas.co.uk/post/what-i-think-about-what-s-happening-in-the-qual-ai-space

·       Forthcoming chapter Silver C (underreview) The Five-Level QDA Method in the Gen-AI Era: Rethinking QualitativePedagogy and Practice. Invited chapter for D. Morgan and S. Friese (Eds.) QualitativeData Analysis with Artificial Intelligence: Theory, Methods and Practice.)

This is the first part of a two-part podcast episode in which Christina Silver chats with Pat Bazeley. An inspiration to those of us with a keen interest in qualitative and mixed-methods methodologies, and the use of software, this episode will be of interest. Pat recounts how she got into the field, and we discuss what she enjoys about methods, some of her research experiences and writings, and much more.

Episode Links

In this episode I am chatting with the developer of Transana, David Woods. We chat about the history and development of Transana, including how features are developed from David's own research and the experiences and requests of users. We also chat about automated transcription, and David's current thoughts on the role of AI in qualitative analysis. If you're interested in the analysis of any qualitative materials, but especially audiovisual data, you'll find this one interesting. Enjoy

In this episode I’m chatting with the one person who has had the most significant influence on my CAQDAS career, the person who sparked my interest, who mentored and encouraged me in every step of my career, and ultimately became one of my best friends, the amazing Ann Lewins.

Ann was at the forefront of developing the CAQDAS Networking Project, leading the day-to-day aspects from the get-go n 1994, until she retired in 2010. In our chat, Ann recounts some of her memories about those early days, and we also chat about many of the key figures in the CAQDAS field who influenced Ann, as well as sharing a few of our own cherished memories of working together, writing together, and teaching together.

Unfortunately we don’t get the chance to see each other as much as we would like these days, so it was a delight to be able to sit down on the sofa together and reminisce. If you’re interested in the history and development of the CAQDAS field I’m sure you’ll enjoy this episode.

Today I'm chatting with Dr Janet Salmons, a free range scholar, author, creative and expert qualitative researcher with a particular interest in online research methods and ethics.

We chat about Janet's interests, writings, and current work at the Centre for Advanced Internet Studies in Bochum, Germany. But much of our chat is about the ethics of the use of AI tools for qualitative research. This is actually a massive topic and Janet and I zoom in on phases in the qualitative research workflow to pick up on some of the key ethics questions qualitative researchers must critically engage in when choosing to use AI tools for their analysis Episode Links

Today in Episode 9 I am chatting with Dr Elizabeth Pope, who is Associate Professor of Educational Research and also Interim Director of 
Research Compliance at the University of West Georgia. We start off with how Elizabeth used ATLAS.ti and other tools for her dissertation on interfaith dialogue, discussing combining manual methods with electronic working, and also how she has evolved in her thinking about and use of software over the years, as the tools themselves have evolved.

And of course we chat about one of the hot topics of the moment – the use of AI for qualitative analysis, and Elizabeth reflects on what AI is good at, how it can contribute usefully to the qualitative research process, and also what it just isn’t good at, and why we should also be cautious. And she emphasises the importance of disclosure if using AI, and being proactive rather than reactive, which circles us back to issues of quality and rigour and reflexivity, and Elizabeth’s roots in learning about and researching religion.

EPISODE LINKS

 For more info on Elizabeth’s work see the following  Elizabeth’s University of West Georgia Profile

In this episode Christina is chatting with Dr Stuart Shulman, CEO and Founder of Textifter, the company the develops the online qualitative text analysis and machine learning tool, DiscoverText. Stu used to be Professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts and was also founder and director of the Qualitative Data Analysis Program  - a joint endeavour at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Massachusetts

In our chat we cover how Stuart became involved in using computers for qualitative analysis, which takes us from literary criticism, through organic garlic farming and political science to the development of collaborative online analytic tools that balance what humans and computers are best at. We chat about methodological dogma, opening up academic minds about the role of methods and tools, and advocating for tolerance and flexibility in methods. Stu also explains how Discovertext came about, and describes its five main sets of tools, and how they can be used for high-quality, rigorous and collaborative qualitative analysis of large amounts of data. Discovertext is free for academic researchers and Stuart tells us how you can get hold of it, and also reflects on how it can be used to teach qualitative analysis.

There’s a whole bunch of other juicy topics in this one, which raise some old and ongoing debates in our field, as well as some important things to reflect on as we move forward. Before we started recording Stuart was telling me about his gorgeous new puppy so there’s a few references to dogs along the way, in case you’re wondering. I hope you enjoy our chat. We recorded this around the time when all the hoo-ha about AI tools like ChatGPT and such were gaining traction, but Stuart recounts, machine learning isn’t new in our field, he first started developing them almost 20 years ago, and if you’re not yet familiar with what his tools can do, I hope this chat will get you motivated to find out what they can really do…

Dr Kristi Jackson is a qualitative researcher, methodologist and trainer and co-author – with Pat Bazeley – of the very well-renowned textbook Qualitative Data Analysis with NVivo. Kristi has an enormous amount of experience through her own research and the consultancy, coaching and training she does through her business, Queri, and she shares some of this with us in this episode. We begin with how Kristi got interested in qualitative tools, and why she focused on transparency and digital tools for her dissertation, which leads us to chat about the role of software and the subcultures in our communities of practice. We chat about what we both enjoy most about teaching, the challenges of self-learning and issues with the emphasis in academia around individual career paths and expertise rather than collective learning and collaborative practices. Then we get on to metaphors, analogies, personalities and how our brains work in the context of teaching, learning and using qualitative tools. We finish up reflecting on pivotal moments in the past, and what she thinks we need to consider in the CAQDAS field as we move forward, and that gets us talking about being stuck in old conversations and some creative ideas for qualitative tools of the future. 

Episode links:

Professor Udo Kuckartz is the brains behind the qualitative software program, MAXQDA, one of the leading CAQDAS packages, and also Emeritus Professor at Phillips University Marburg in Germany. In this episode, Christina chats with Professor Kuckartz about how he first became interested in the use of computers for qualitative analysis, when he was doing his doctoral dissertation, and about his background and focus as a sociologist and methodologist. We also discuss the relationship between methods and technology and what has changed over the years. This episode is full of insights from someone who has been a key figure in the CAQDAS field right from the outset, and full of interesting insights about the past, present and future.

Episode links:

A little hello from Christina to let you know what this podcast is all about. Find out who Christina is, what she does, and why this podcast came about.