Introduction to MAXQDA24

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1. Name
2. Program
3. Research Interests

About Your Trainer

• PhD Candidate in Sociology
• Interviews / Computational social science / Digital scholarship
• American Jewish politics, philanthropy, and social movements�
• Qualitative Data Analysis Consultant at NYU Data Services
• data.services@nyu.edu
• Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday 1 - 5pm at Bobst
• https://guides.nyu.edu/dataservices
• Support for Atlas.ti, Taguette, R, Python, etc.

Objectives

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1. Why Use Qualitative Data Analysis Software (QDAS)
2. Accessing MAXQDA at NYU
3. Core Workflows
1. Starting a Project and Preparing Documents
2. Writing Memos
3. Autocoding
4. MAXDictio
5. Export and Save Your Project
4. Further Resources

Have you used MAXQDA before?

1 - Yes for a project

2 - Yes/maybe. I have seen it used or have downloaded it before, but not launched a project

3 - No, not yet

What is Qualitative Research?

“Research that derives data from observation, interviews, text, or verbal interactions and focuses on the meanings and interpretations of the participants.”

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• NYU Libraries, Locating Qualitative Research

Varieties of Qualitative Data

What QDA Software Does

Coding

Assigning Concepts

Classifying

Store Description Information

Annotating

Writing & Describing Conceptual Ideas

Visualizing

Articulating Connections, Relationships, Patterns

Using MAXQDA in the VCL

• NYU’s Virtual Computer Lab is hosted on Amazon Web Services (a web-based app streaming service)
• Please note: the VCL works best on Firefox or Chrome
• Click MAXQDA to be connected to a server. 
• Access here: https://vcl.nyu.edu/
• Practice data:
• https://bit.ly/sotu_qda
• https://bit.ly/friendship_data �
• You can also…
• Download a free trial from MAXQDA: https://www.maxqda.com/trial
• Visit us on the 5th floor of Bobst

Using MAXQDA in the VCL

• Upload your files to the VCL: Click on the folder icon at the top of your screen that says “My files”. Then click “Temporary Files” folder → “Upload file(s)”
• Export your project: Click on the folder icon at the top of your screen (as before) and select the project you wish to download then click “Download.”
• For further instructions on how to upload/download projects: https://www.nyu.edu/life/information-technology/teaching-and-learning-services/instructional-tools/virtual-computer-lab.html

Importing Text Data in Bulk

Starting a Project

Click the New project Icon to start a new project

MAXQDA Dashboard

Each action in MAXQDA can be accessed via the ribbon at the top of the page or through the explorer tabs on the left-hand side of the screen.

Import Primary Documents

1. Click Import then select the kind of file you would like to import

Primary Documents Manager

Import Data

Click Import to view options:

Text, PDFs, transcripts, focus group transcripts, images, audio, videos, survey (Excel/SurveyMonkey), Tweets, YouTube videos, and reference manager data.

Export Data

Use this button to export data

Classifying

Document Manager

Assigning Classification/Attributes

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Age (Age:: <30)

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Gender (Gender:: Male)

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Document Type (TypeDoc:: Interview)

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Year of Collection (Year:: 2011)

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Location (Location:: Rural)

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Site Location (Site:: NYC

Open Document Manager

Double click to open

Documents open here

Document Variables

Variables > Data Editor for Document Variables

What is Coding?

• Inductive reasoning – Creates general observations from specific data (bottom-up logic)
• You are expanding on the patterns you find in your data to create codes, categories, themes, or theories
• Deductive reasoning – Uses data to test or refine existing theory (top-down logic)
• You start with a theoretical framework or paradigm, and test to see whether or not your data confirms or refutes that paradigm.

Codes

• Code Bank – create a designated list of codes 
• Open Coding – spontaneously code as you go
• Auto Coding – code using Keyword Search Function
• List Coding— pick multiple codes from a list
• Quick Coding— use last code applied
• Focus Group Coding— automatically identify and code each speaker in focus group document

Johnny Saldaña.  The Coding Manual for Qualitative Research.

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Coding in the Document

Apply an existing code, a new code,

or code in-vivo to highlighted segments�with these buttons

Create New Code

1. Click “New Code” to create a new code

2. Enter new code name

3. Describe your code using code memo

Create New Code (continued)

1. Double click on a code

to open code manager

2. Double click on the comment space� to add a comment about your code

List Coding

1. Highlight the quote �you want to list code

2. Click on the code you �want to add to the list

3. Click the dropdown list in top left corner to add the code

4. Click first coding icon to list code with a new code

List Coding (continued)

5. Codes appear in left side coding stripe

Open Coding

1. Click this button to enter� open coding mode

2. Highlighting quotes will �prompt new code action

Focus Group Coding

• In MAXQDA2024, you can use automatic group coding to identify and code each speaker in a focus group document
• This allows for comparisons of statements by different speakers or speaker attributes (such as gender or education level).
• Document must be .docx, .json, or .xml (MAXQDA cannot automatically code a focus group in PDF or other format)  
• Works best with Word Documents that are consistently formatted to allow software to detect new speakers.

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Focus Group Coding (part 2)

1. Click on the import ribbon

2. Click on Focus Group

Transcripts & make a selection

Focus Group Coding (part 3)

MAXQDA will auto-code the transcript

(depending on how it’s transcribed) by speaker

Advanced Coding: Intercoder Agreement 

•  MAXQDA2024 comes with a sophisticated tool to measure intercoder agreement, i.e. assess the accuracy of how multiple coders analyze a given body of data.
• To use this feature, you need to code in two separate MAXQDA files, and then merge them together. Or, have two coders work on the same file. See details here:

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https://www.maxqda.com/help-mx24/coding/problem-intercoder-agreement-qualitative-research

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Memos

•  Write analytic memos about your selected quotes 
•  Write about your codes
•  Write a note to other research partners

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Memo Creation

Click on Memos ribbon

• Memo Manager pops up
• Click on New free memo
• Use the text box to write; memo saves automatically when you exit
• Can drag codes or coded segments into the memo window

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Memo Creation (continued)

Click Overview of Memos to see

an overview of all of your memos

or click Search in Memos to search

for specific memos

MAXDictio

• MAXDictio is a module for text exploration and dictionary-based analysis

Word Frequencies

1. There are many ways to create comparisons across your corpus��
2. MAXQDA by default excludes very common words. You can edit this.��
3. Try it with and without lemmatization (definition)

Word Frequencies

Keyword-in-context

Word Combinations

Word Combinations

Analysis Tools: Word Cloud

Click on the Visual Tools ribbon �and click on Word Cloud.�A window will populate the screen�asking you to drag documents.�When you click OK, a word cloud analysis�will run.

Analysis Tools: Word Cloud (continued)

Saving in MAXQDA2024

1. Click Home and Click �Save Project As

2. Name your project, �select a location, and

click Save

Export in MAXQDA2024

Export documents by clicking

this button. Depending on the�document type, files can be �exported in different formats�such as PDFs, docxs, etc.

Mac/PC Compatibility

• MAXQDA2024 can be used on both Mac and PC
• You can transfer the project between the operating systems of Windows or Mac OS without having to convert the project. 
• Projects save as .mx24 files�

More MAXQDA

• MAXQDA workshops, webinars, and video courses may be found: https://www.maxqda.com/training/live-training
• Email Data Services:  data.services@nyu.edu

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Thank you!

What questions do you have?