Using Web 2.0 Tools for Qualitative Analysis: An Exploration

CAQDAS (Computer-Aided Qualitative Data Analysis Software) has been around since the 1980s but uptake has been slow compared to the uptake of statistical packages among social science researchers using quantitative data. While these packages have improved over the years, they are still not very intuitive but more importantly they are not part of the practice of senior researchers in the field and many researchers who have tried to use this software without support have failed and given up. At the same time, the development of Web 2.0 tools has exploded in recent years. They are intuitive and free or low cost. There are many Web 2.0 tools that would support the analysis of qualitative data - in particular, collaborative analysis in teams. This paper will explore the benefits of using these tools as well as the challenges - especially, issues of privacy, ownership, and lack of affordances offered by current CAQDAS packages.