In dieser Kurzanleitung wird gezeigt, wie Metaphern in MAXqda aus einem Text isoliert werden können. Die zugrundeliegende Methode (ausführlich: Kruse/Biesel/Schmieder 2011) baut auf Rudolf Schmitts (1997; 2003) Vorschlägen zur handwerklich-analytischen Umsetzung des Metaphernkonzepts von Lakoff/Johnson (2003) auf. Eine sehr anschauliche Umsetzung mit MAXqda wurde bereits von Marsch (2007, Link) vorgestellt, welche allerdings ein zentrales Element – die Textfragmentierung – außenvor lässt.

Es handelt sich bei dieser Anleitung nicht um eine Methode, sondern um die Beschreibung einer möglichen Umsetzung einer Methode – um die Vorstellung einer Funktionalisierung des Programms. Die methodologischen Grundüberlegungen finden Sie in Kruse/Schmieder/Biesel 2011). Ein PDF dieses Guides finden Sie hier.

Schritt 1: Fragmentieren und sammeln

Im ersten Schritt werden die Metaphern identifiziert und per drag & drop in einen eigens erstellten Sammel-Code („MetaphernSAMMLUNG”) gezogen. Der Text soll in diesem ersten Schritt fragmentiert werden, damit der metaphorische Gehalt der Textteile bei einem zweiten Lesedurchgang besser in den Vordergrund rückt (Schmitt 2003: 19). Dies wird erreicht, indem der Edit-Modus von MAXqda aktiviert und die Textfarbe der markierten Textteile auf „weiß“ umgestellt wird.
Generell gilt: Erhöhte Vorsicht, wenn der Edit-Modus aktiviert ist! Der Text ist nun „verletzlicher“, da Textteile versehentlich gelöscht und Absätze eingefügt werden können. Nach diesem Schritt sollte der Edit-Modus daher wieder deaktiviert werden.

Schritt2: Kategorisieren

Im zweiten Schritt werden die Metaphern einzelnen Metaphernkategorien zugeordnet (ausführliche Identifikationsregeln siehe Kruse/Biesel/Schmieder 2011). Hierzu werden zunächst der bearbeitete Text (oder die bearbeiteten Texte) sowie der Sammel-Code aktiviert. In der Liste der Codings (das Fenster rechts unten) erscheinen nun die Textstellen – sie sind ebenfalls „unsichtbar“, da sie die Textstellen im Dokument repräsentieren. Ein Linksklick auf die Karteikarte neben den Textstellen markiert die Metapher jedoch und macht sie dadurch sichtbar – außerdem springt MAXqda automatisch die entsprechende Textstelle im Dokumenten-Browser an. Hierdurch wird der verfremdende Effekt der Fragmentierung abgefedert, und die Textstellen sind für diesen Arbeitsschritt sowohl isoliert als auch eingebettet sichtbar.
Die Textstellen können einer Unterkategorie zugeordet werden, indem die Karteikarte neben der Textstelle mit der linken Maustaste festgehalten und in die Unterkategorie gezogen wird. Mit einem Rechtsklick auf die Karteikarte kann die zugeordnete Metapher dann aus dem provisorischen Sammelcode gelöscht werden. Falls dies nicht gewünscht ist, kann der Textstelle (ebenfalls durch Rechtsklick auf die Karteikarte) auch ein Gewicht zugewiesen werden, das anzeigt, dass die Stelle bereits einer Unterkategorie zugeordnet wurde. Mit einem Rechtsklick auf die Fläche zwischen den Karteikarten können die Textteile dann nach Gewicht sortiert werden. So kann ebenfalls schnell erkannt werden, welche Metaphern noch der Zuordnung bedürfen.

Falls die Metaphern nicht aus dem Sammel-Code gelöscht werden sollen, der Sammel-Code aber vorübergehend für die weitere Arbeit nicht relevant ist, kann die Anzeige der mit dem Sammel-Code „codierten“ Textstellen im Dokument-Browser ausgestellt werden:

Schritt 3: Archivieren und defragmentieren

Im dritten Schritt wird der fragmentierte Text in einem gesonderten Dokument per copy & paste archiviert. Nachdem dies geschehen ist, kann der Edit-Modus wieder aktiviert werden, und dem Text wird die ursprüngliche Farbe zugweisen.
Der Text kann nun je nach Analyseansatz weiter markiert („codiert“) und modifiziert werden. Die eigentliche Analyse der Metaphern kann in Code-Memos festgehalten werden.

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Literatur

Kruse, Jan / Biesel, Kai / Schmieder, Christian (2011): Metaphernanalyse. Ein rekonstruktiver Ansatz. Wiesbaden: VS. (Reihe “Qualitative Sozialforschung”, herausgegeben von Ralf Bohnsack,  Uwe Flick, Christian Lüders & Jo Reichertz).
Lakoff, George / Johnson, Mark (2003): Leben in Metaphern. Konstruktion und Gebrauch von Sprachbildern, 3. Aufl. Heidelberg: Auer Systeme.
Marsch, Sabine (2007): Metaphern des Lehrens und Lernens - Metaphernanalyse mit MAXQDA. In: Udo Kuckartz (Hg.): CAQD 2007: Computergestützte Analyse Qualitativer Daten. MAXQDA Anwenderkonferenz. Philipps-Universität Marburg 7. bis 9. März 2007, S. 34 – 43. Online verfügbar: http://www.caqd.de/attachments/028_band2007.pdf [Zugriff: 07/2010].
Schmitt, Rudolf (1997): Metaphernanalyse als sozialwissenschaftliche Methode. Mit einigen Bemerkungen zur theoretischen "Fundierung" psychosozialen Handelns. In: Psychologie & Gesellschaftskritik, Nr. 1/1997, Frankfurt, S. 57 - 86. Online verfügbar: http://www.hs-zigr.de/~schmitt/aufsatz/kritmeth.htm [Zugriff: Juli 2010].
Schmitt, Rudolf (2003, Mai): Methode und Subjektivität in der systematischen Metaphernanalyse [54 Absätze]. In: Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung, Nr 4/2. Online verfügbar: http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/714/1546 [Zugriff: 07/2010].

To import your spreadsheet, right click on the documents icon in the document system window -> ‘import documents from spreadsheet’. As you click on this, a window will open with information reminding you of the necessary structure of your spreadsheet outlined above.

Exporting variables

Let’s start off with exporting our variables from MAXQDA. Open up the the variables window first.

Note that MAXQDA will only export the variables you chose to be displayed (you can change this in the list of variables; to get there, click on the icon on the far right from the export button or push ctrl-o). Upon export, MAXQDA will create a new spreadsheet and Excel will open. Your variables will look like this in Excel:

The document name row and the document group row (marked with red arrows) contain crucial information for MAXQDA when we  import variables later: Your spreadsheet file has to contain these two variable rows – and the document names and document group names/affiliations have to exactly correspond to the information in MAXQDA – otherwise the program will not know where to assign the values.

Why edit variables in Excel?

Creating and editing your variables in Excel can save you a lot of time: if you have many documents written by the same author, you can use the fill handle tool in Excel to fill the colums, instead of assigning every entry manually in MAXQDA. Also, it is easy to find and replace values in Excel -  you can’t do that in MAXQDA. If you do not want to re-assign every value ‘manually’, you can export the variable matrix, rename the variables in Excel, and re-import the matrix – this can save you a lot of hassle.

Adding variables in Excel

To add a new variable, add a new row in Excel – in the screen shot I’ve added “Authors/Interviewers” as an example.

…and back to MAXQDA: importing variables from a spreadsheet

In order to import the variables, you will need to save your table as an *.xls file. Close the file before you go back to MAXQDA – if the Excel sheet is still used by another program, you won’t be able to import it.  Now open your MAXQDA project. Here, you choose the “Variables” menu on top and select “Import”

Now the window below will show up. Here, you can choose which of the variables found in the document you want to import. In our example I have unchecked “Publication Date” because this variable is already in my variable matrix in MAXQDA.  In the “Target” row the program indicates a) which variable type is created if the variable is new or b) which variable will be updated. For example, if I had changed some publication dates in Excel and chosen to import the variable “Publication Date”, the program would overwrite the values in this category. The “target” row indicates, in this case, that the values for the variable “Publication Date” will be replaced upon import.

With a double click on the variable type (in our example <String> for the Authors/Interviewers variable) you can also change the variable type (string, integer, floating point, date&time, or boolean)

Click on “Import”, and your variables will be imported.

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The phone interview (and this applies as well for Skype conversations without video connection) features all the advantages and disadvantages of a conversation lacking face-to-face contact. Shuy (2002:540) suggests that in such a setting, interviewer effects might be reduced and that in result the interviews might reach a higher level of standardization and uniformity. Furthermore, higher anonymity might be provided, and interviews might be conducted more cost-efficient and faster because the researcher does not have to meet up with the interviewees (cf. Shuy 2002:540). Depending on the topic and the interviewees, a phone interview can also be safer for the researcher himself/herself (Shuy 2002:540). On the other hand, Shuy (2002: 542) notes that the asymmetrical distribution of power in interviews might be harder to tone down in interviews without face-to-face contact.

Not everybody feels comfortable with talking on Skype

Although high anonymity and disembodiment are provided when interviews are conducted via phone or VoIP (Voice over IP, “internet phoning”), the researcher has to determine whether he/she as well as the participants feel comfortable using this form of communication (cf. Kazmer & Xie 2008: 273). In order to not create an uncomfortable interview situation, you should set up Skype conversations only with people who are comfortable with using Skype or similar programs – talking to a PC screen can feel very strange if you’re not used to it. Kazmer & Xie (2008: 274) note  that “[i]n all media, participants’ or the interviewer’s discomfort with the medium can be mistaken for discomfort with the interview topics, or vice versa: discomfort with the topic can be ascribed to discomfort with the medium”.

Quality of Data

It can be also problematic to conduct phone or Skype interviews if a personal topic should be discussed (Shuy 2002: 544). Shuy (2002:542 p.) also suggests that face-to-face interviews might yield to better data concerning the effectiveness with complex topical issues and the thoughtfulness of the interviewee’s responses – but this probably also depends on the interviewees and the communicative behavior they are used to.

Confidentiality & Distractions

Another problem consists in the less controlled environment on the interviewee’s side: The researcher does not know who else might be present in the room with the interviewee, and the interviewee might be easily distracted by his/her environment (this might pose a problem for research confidentiality). In the case of interviews via Skype, the fact that interviewees are sitting right in front of an online computer might even increase the problem of possible distraction (browsing, working, checking mail…).

Technical Issues & Considerations

There is also a range of possible technical issues. The call quality when using Skype can dramatically diverge, depending on your internet and computer speed. If you call another Skype user, his/her internet quality and computer speed will also influence the call quality. If the connection is bad, you and your interviewees might sound very choppy, break up, sound somewhat “distant” or distorted, and there might be a delay or echo when speaking (especially if you or your interviewees use speakers instead of earphones). These technical issues can make interviewees feel less comfortable with the overall interview situation or leave them somewhat confused – especially if your interviewees are not familiar with VoIP technology and its deficiencies. If you suspect sound issues you should explain prior to the interview that you are calling from a computer, and that your voice might sound choppy sometimes, or that the conversation might break up – but that you’ll call again right away. Before you start to conduct interviews via Skype you should therefore not only make sure that you and your interviewees feel comfortable with the mode of communication – but also check if you and the interviewees are familiar with the technology (and problems) connected to it.

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Literature

Kazmer, M. & Xie, B. (2008): Qualitative interviewing in internet studies: Playing with the media, playing with the method. Information, Communication, & Society, 11, pp. 257-278.

Shuy, R.W. (2002): In-person versus Telephone Interviewing. In: Gubrium / Holstein (Eds.): Handbook of interview research: Context & Method. SAGE: Thousand Oaks, pp. 537-557.

What you need

• Skype. Skype is free, and it is free to call other Skype users. If you want to call phones from your computer, you need to buy calling credit from Skype.
  
• A microphone & headphones (or a headset). I do not recommend using speakers, because they sometimes create annoying feedback. (If you interview other Skype users, you should make sure your interview partners have a microphone & headphones as well…)
• “Mp3 Skype Recorder” (free), download here.

Installing and setting up the recorder

Download the recorder and install it on your computer. Start the recorder, and then start Skype. During the very first startup, Skype will ask you whether you want to allow the recorder to connect with Skype – click on “yes” at this point. Depending on your firewall settings, a warning might pop up, informing you that the recorder is trying to access Skype. You will have to allow this; otherwise, the recorder will not be able to record your calls.

If you want to change the recorder’s access to Skype at a later point: You can manage the access of external programs in Skype under Tools -> Options -> “Advanced” tab -> “manage other program’s access to Skype”.

Recorder options

To record a Skype phone call or a conversation with another Skype user, Skype as well as the recorder have to run.

The recorder functions are pretty straightforward: You can change the bitrate of the recording, and you can choose whether you want to record mono, stereo (caller on one channel, called person on the other) or joint stereo. Furthermore you can specify if the program should start on Windows startup, and you can change the folder in which the program stores your conversations. The conversations will be saved as mp3-files.

How to record

The recorder can be set up to start a recording as soon as your conversation partner picks up (I strongly discourage this, because it might lead to accidental recordings without the interviewee’s prior consent; refer to the Belmont Report for ethical guidelines). If the recording button has no square around (click on the recording button prior to the Skype conversation), the recording will automatically start as soon as the next Skype conversation starts (note that the recorder is not recording prior to the call).

If the recording button doesn’t have a square surrounding it, the recording will NOT start on start of the conversation – you can start it manually whenever you want to during the conversation. If the player is set up like this and not recording, you will see a red bar on the bottom of the recorder with the message “recording off”.

Every time a recording is started, this window will pop up for a short time, indicating that you are actually recording:

The recordings will stop either when you push the stop button or when you hang up your call. The file will then be automatically saved – another pop-up window will inform you of that. The file will be saved in the location that is shown on the player.

Before calling your interview partners, you should do some test calls in order to get acquainted with the controls, and to make sure the quality is alright.

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Step 1: Basic formatting

After importing the data, you should do some basic formatting: Change the page orientation to ‘Landscape’ (Page Layout tab -> Orientation -> Landscape). Then you should insert a header identifying the interview (Insert tab -> Header) and pagination (Insert tab -> Page number).

If you or members of your team like scribbling ‘between the lines’, you should also increase the space in-between the table lines; between 0.4” and 0.6” should do the job (Right-click on the four-arrowed square on the upper left of the table -> Table Properties -> Row tab).

Step 2: Cleaning up the table

Left-click on the four-arrowed square on the upper left of the table to select the whole table and follow the instructions in the screen shot below to make the table borders visible. You do not have to do this if you are using data from MAXqda, since the export function already delivers a table with borders. Also, you will not have to delete any content if you exported from MAXqda, since the table only comes with two columns (line numbers and text).

Making table borders visible

Step 3: Modifying the table

You can add more columns or rows, or merge cells in the ‘Layout’ tab underneath the ‘Table Tools’ tab. If you use data from MAXqda, make sure to reduce the width of the column containing your text before adding any new columns to the left.

Step 4: Inserting the header row

Now you should add a header row to the table. This row will always show up at the beginning of every page.

Step 5: Locking the cell width

After you have done that, you should adjust the width of the columns containing your line numbers and your text, so can eliminate ugly line breaks within a table cell. You can adjust the cell width by moving your mouse over one of the vertical lines separating cells and holding down the left mouse button while moving the mouse left and right. Since word will keep automatically adjusting the cell width if you type something into a cell, you should deactivate this feature:

Step 6: Deactivate language tools

Depending on your kind of data, you also might want to deactivate the the language and grammar check (In case you are bothered by red and green lines under your text):

Printing or keep working in Word? Or both?

Now your table is ready to print: you now have a document with exact line numeration: You have plenty of space to scribble, and you have additional rows fitting to your needs during analysis. You can also keep working with your data in Word, using formatting and review tools. And of course, you can combine both: The document you created can serve as your protocol document if you work in a group. You can attach the results of your discussions right next to the text, distinguish between who said what, and on what you agreed (or didn’t agree).  This might look something like this:

This table can help you condense the results of your analysis session. In a second step, you could condense these results again, writing them up into a memo attached to the text or a certain passage within your QDA software.

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This is the first part of the guide, which deals with preparing your data for export. The second part guides you through formatting the worksheet – you can find it here.

Preparing and exporting your data from MAXqda

Depending on your preferences, you can structure your data either by paragraph breaks or by line breaks.  By default, MAXqda seperates data by paragraphs. If this works for you, you can skip the first two steps described in the screen shot below.

If you want the text to be indexed more finely (often helpful for ‘line-by-line” analysis), you should…

• …assign line numbers right after you imported the text.
• …assign the correct line length. You might want to play around with what length works best for you.

You can not undo breaking up the text into lines after you have switched off the edit mode (and the undo button in the edit mode only fixes one line at the time).

If you chose to break up your text into shorter lines, your text will look like this:

Optional: Save the .rtf file as a .doc or .docx file in Word. After you have exported the text as a table in a .rtf file, you are ready for formatting  your data in your word processor – learn more in part two of this guide.

Extracting and inserting your data from OpenCode

OpenCode does not support fine-grained coding, but depending on your approach, you might not need it: You could, for example, roughly ‘code’ your text, for example by topics, have the software retrieve parts of your text you need for certain steps in your analysis – but then do the analysis itself on paper or in a word processor (or both). You can then bring the results of your analysis back into the software, for example in the form of memos attached to ‘codes’ or parts of your text. This last step might seem like a waste of time, but it can be in fact a great opportunity to reflect upon your analysis results and to condense them before you reattach them to your project file.

So let’s say you would like to host an analysis session with your student workers or your research partners – how would you prepare your data? First of all, the data has to be exported. Although OpenCode has some nice printing features (see this blogpost), we will copy and paste the text this time. In the screen shot below I copied the text from the document. You can also copy the text OpenCode retrieves you as search results like described below.  The neat thing about copying the table is the consistency of your numeration: Since the text is cast into a table, you can’t change your line numeration accidentally by pushing “Enter”, by deleting text or by reformatting. Your exported lines will always correspond with the lines in OpenCode.

Now create a new blank document in your word processor.

You are now ready for formatting your data in your word processor – learn more in part two of this guide.

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“I think one DOES think with one’s hands. I think that’s why a keyboard is not a good place for me to think. Some people think very well on the keyboard; and I need this kind of a fidgeting of charcoal, scissors, or the tearing of something in my hand. As if there’s a different kind of brain that is controlling how THAT works. There’s an uncertainty of what you’re doing, an imprecision; so that what you do when you look at it is not KNOW something which you’re carrying out; but rather rely on recognizing something as it appears.”

William Kentridge in the PBS documentary “Anything is posssible” (2010, PBS art 21 series. Director: Charles Atlas).

Not all steps of analysis can be easily (or conveniently) undertaken in QDA software – depending of course on the program and methodological approach, but also on your personal preference of working with text. Many researchers feel awkward, or at least ‘different’ when they analyze data on screen, instead of working with a pencil and paper – I find this especially true for people who work very closely to their texts, doing for example very fine-grained, multi-layered analyses of spoken conversation.

What to do if you do not want to do all of the analysis on the computer (or within your QDA software)? In order to not lose the organizational benefits that come with QDA software, it is important to use the data you imported into your QDA software. Use QDA software as your data’s home base. If you need your data in a different program (like a word processor): Pull it only from the project file created by the software. This saves you a lot of trouble, first and foremost the hassle of synchronizing line numerations or document changes (like getting rid of typos, additional anonymization…).

Using QDA software does not imply that everything has to be done with the software. Flexible and reflected use of software includes to flexibly not use it as well. QDA software is not a trap, as long as we do not trap ourselves. And while many features of QDA software can be really convenient and helpful, not all work flows that work for researchers can be replicated with just sticking to a certain program – or with sticking to the computer screen.  This is why format and looks of data output can be just as crucial for your work as the features for data input. You should make sure to test software concerning export options beforehand – especially if you are used to working with paper and pencil , or if you think you might not feel comfortable working many hours on the computer.

The central analytic task in qualitative research – understanding the meaning of text – cannot be computerized […] (Kelle 1995: 3)

Whether because colleagues say so, whether it is implied by the software companies or whether it’s just a firm belief in today’s technology: Many people have high, yet very vague expectations when first approaching QDA software.

The biggest misconception concerning QDA software: That it does some kind of analysis (and who wouldn’t expect a program to actually DO something after having spent 700 dollars for it?). The sociologist Udo Kelle made it clear over 15 years ago in the first anthology dedicated to QDA software, and it’s still true: Qualitative data analysis software can’t do analysis for you. It does as much analysis as your running shoes run. It can surely aid the crafts aspect of analysis, but in the end of the day, QDA software is nothing but a brainless clerk.

But what can software actually do?

Your good old bread-and-butter QDA software can support you with the mechanical, organizational tasks that come with qualitative analysis. No matter how fancy or method-infused these features sound in a program – the main functions can be broken down to serving four organizational tasks: managing, marking, retrieving, exporting data.

Manage
Different kinds of data can be imported: most commonly text, but depending on the software also pictures, videos, even pdf files or charts. Data can be organized in folders, and additional information (eg. statistical metadata or case descriptions) can be attached. The data is commonly saved in (or, in the case of videos and other bigger files, often linked to) one project file. This way, all your data is in one place, and this makes it easier to keep under control. QDA software can become the home base of your data.

Mark
You can highlight, tag and group together parts of your data: for example all passages in an interview in which your interviewees talked about topic A. Depending on the software, this is called “coding”, “noding” or “categorizing” – no matter what the name, you basically use the software to highlight and sort data. Marked passages can be organized: mostly hierarchically, but also in networks. Most commercial programs give you opportunities to do it either way, mainly the handling differs from program to program.*

Retrieve
By using CAQDAS, you basically build your own database, and the software helps you to retreive chunks of data. Let’s say you sorted different sections of your interviews by topics. If you want to see what people said about topic A, the software can provide you with that information in few clicks. Depending on the software, you can be more sophisticated than that: The software could display all passages of text where female interviewees working in middle-sized enterprises talked about topic X followed by topic Y.

Export
Your data and everything you attach to it (memos, notes…) can be exported: for example as documents compatible with word processors. And of course you can print your data.

That’s it. Everything exceeding the support with these tasks would require the software to have an analytical mind – and no QDA software has one of those.

* To these four very basic tasks I could probably add the new trendy thing in commercial QDA software: “visualization” of data – but I’ll discuss these flashy gimmicks in another post…

Literature

Kelle, U. (1995): Introduction: An Overview of Computer-aided Methods in Qualitative Research. In: U. Kelle (Ed.): Computer-Aided qualitative Data Analysis. Theory, Methods and Practice. Sage: Thousand Oaks, pp. 1-17.