On 17th October 2018 Christina Silver opened Digital Tools day at the World Conference on Qualitative Research (#WCQR2018) in Lisbon, Portugal with a talk about mindsets for harnessing digital tools powerfully

1. THE FIVE-LEVEL QDA®
METHOD
Christina Silver, PhD.
MINDSETS FOR HARNESSING DIGITAL TOOLS IN
QUALITATIVE & MIXED-METHODS ANALYSIS

2. MINDSETS FOR HARNESSING DIGITAL TOOLS
OVERVIEW
▸ The CAQDAS landscape
▸ Genesis of the Five-Level QDA® method
▸ Overview and principles
▸ Making unconscious expertise explicit
▸ Implementation
▸ Opportunities
▸ Future CAQDAS landscape

3. MINDSETS FOR HARNESSING DIGITAL TOOLS
THE CAQDAS LANDSCAPE
▸ Long history, lots of choice
▸ Periods of convergence and divergence
▸ No one market-leader has emerged
▸ Differentiating programs
▸ Methodological
▸ Technological
▸ Collaborative
▸ Ease of use / intuitiveness
▸ No ‘best’ CAQDAS program

4. MINDSETS FOR HARNESSING DIGITAL TOOLS
DIFFERENTIATING CAQDAS - CONTINUA
Methodological
Technological
Collaborative
Ease of use / intuitiveness
Data type
Visualising ideas
Representing results
Pure QUAL Pure QUANT

5. PERCEPTIONS OF CAQDAS
Jackson, K., Paulus, T., & Woolf, N. H. (2018). The Walking
Dead Genealogy: Unsubstantiated Criticisms of Qualitative
Data Analysis Software (QDAS) and the Failure to Put Them
to Rest. The Qualitative Report, 23(13), 74-91
MINDSETS FOR HARNESSING DIGITAL TOOLS

6. WHAT IS THE FIVE-LEVEL QDA METHOD?
▸ Pedagogy
▸ Unpacks unconscious expert processes
▸ Mindset
MINDSETS FOR HARNESSING DIGITAL TOOLS

7. GENESIS OF THE FIVE-LEVEL QDA METHOD
▸ Answering unwarranted critiques
▸ Challenges in gaining expertise
▸ Limited / superficial use
▸ Cessation of use
▸ Allow software to drive the process
▸ Addressing those challenges
MINDSETS FOR HARNESSING DIGITAL TOOLS

8. PRINCIPLES OF THE FIVE-LEVEL QDA METHOD
▸ Strategies and tactics are distinct
▸ Strategies – what you plan to do
▸ Driven by project objectives and research questions
MINDSETS FOR HARNESSING DIGITAL TOOLS

9. PRINCIPLES OF THE FIVE-LEVEL QDA METHOD
▸ Tactics – how you plan to do it
▸ Highlighters, whiteboards, general purpose software,
CAQDAS programs
“An alternative search strategy is to select a sample of
journals and to search for articles…this tactic was
employed…”
Bryman, A. (2006). Integrating quantitative and qualitative research: How is it done?
Qualitative Research 6(1), 97-113
MINDSETS FOR HARNESSING DIGITAL TOOLS

10. PRINCIPLES OF THE FIVE-LEVEL QDA METHOD
▸ Analytic strategies and software tactics are contradictory by
nature
MINDSETS FOR HARNESSING DIGITAL TOOLS

11. PRINCIPLES OF THE FIVE-LEVEL QDA METHOD
▸ Avoidance or compromise are problematic ways to manage
the contradiction
MINDSETS FOR HARNESSING DIGITAL TOOLS

12. PRINCIPLES OF THE FIVE-LEVEL QDA METHOD
▸ The contradiction can be transcended through translation
▸ Translation is driven by analytic strategies
MINDSETS FOR HARNESSING DIGITAL TOOLS

13. MAKING THE UNCONSCIOUS EXPLICIT
▸ Steps of translation
MINDSETS FOR HARNESSING DIGITAL TOOLS

14. MAKING THE UNCONSCIOUS EXPLICIT
▸ Heuristic process
MINDSETS FOR HARNESSING DIGITAL TOOLS

15. MAKING THE UNCONSCIOUS EXPLICIT
▸ Tools for learning translation
▸ Components and actions
▸ Analytic Planning Worksheets
MINDSETS FOR HARNESSING DIGITAL TOOLS

16. IMPLEMENTATION
▸ Iterative – research, testing
▸ Adaptation examples
▸ Trena M. Paulus, Elizabeth M. Pope, Nicholas Woolf & Christina Silver (2018) It will
be very helpful once I understand ATLAS.ti”: Teaching ATLAS.ti using the Five-
Level QDA method, International Journal of Social Research Methodology
MINDSETS FOR HARNESSING DIGITAL TOOLS

17. OPPORTUNITIES
▸ Adaptable framework
▸ Teaching community
▸ Other digital tools
▸ Integrated curricula
MINDSETS FOR HARNESSING DIGITAL TOOLS

18. FUTURE LANDSCAPE
▸ Responsibilities
▸ Teaching current and future generations
▸ Illustrate quality in process
▸ Digital developments
▸ Avoid being left behind (researchers, developers,
teachers)
MINDSETS FOR HARNESSING DIGITAL TOOLS

19. ROTTERDAM EXCHANGE FORMAT INITIATIVE
MINDSETS FOR HARNESSING DIGITAL TOOLS

20. THANK YOU
MINDSETS FOR HARNESSING DIGITAL TOOLS
References
▸ Bryman, A. (2006). Integrating quantitative and qualitative research: How is it
done? Qualitative Research 6(1), 97-113
▸ Jackson, K., Paulus, T., & Woolf, N. H. (2018). The Walking Dead Genealogy:
Unsubstantiated Criticisms of Qualitative Data Analysis Software (QDAS) and
the Failure to Put Them to Rest. The Qualitative Report, 23(13), 74-91
▸ Trena M. Paulus, Elizabeth M. Pope, Nicholas Woolf & Christina Silver (2018) It will
be very helpful once I understand ATLAS.ti”: Teaching ATLAS.ti using the Five-
Level QDA method, International Journal of Social Research Methodology
▸ Woolf, N & Silver, C. (2018)​ Qualitative analysis using ATLAS.ti: The Five-
Level QDA Method, Routledge
▸ Woolf, N & Silver, C. (2018)​ Qualitative analysis using MAXQDA: The Five-
Level QDA Method, Routledge
▸ Woolf, N & Silver, C​. (2018) Qualitative analysis using NVivo: The Five-Level
QDA Method, Routledge