| Summary: | This paper examines two planning tools incorporating the use of a computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software package as applied to an actual research study. The first is the ‘NVivo Shell’ In creating a shell, the researcher is prompted to consider the role qualitative research software will take within the context of the project as a whole. Further, it acts as an initial framework to contemplate how the collected data might be organised and provides a way to organise it from the very beginning. The second tool is visual modelling. At a basic level, it can literally provide a map of the research process, which can be used to chart the progress of the research. With ever-increasing complexity, it can be a way to visually represent a variety of ideas, concepts, sources, or beliefs and explore existing or potential relationships between and among them. The study used to contextualise their application is a doctoral dissertation (Robertson, 2007). Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
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