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Diffusion of a methodological innovation: CAQDAS in the UK.

Part of a special section on the social science community and the diffusion of a new technological development called Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS). The writers discuss how the methodological innovation represented by computer-based methods for qualitative data analy...

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Published in:Current Sociology Vol. 44; pp. 242 - 259
Main Authors: Fielding, Nigel G., Lee, Raymond M.
Format: Article
Published: Sage Publications, Ltd. Winter 1996
Subjects:
Diffusion of innovations
Social sciences education
Sociology methodology
Sociological research
Sociology
Computer software
United Kingdom
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Summary:Part of a special section on the social science community and the diffusion of a new technological development called Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS). The writers discuss how the methodological innovation represented by computer-based methods for qualitative data analysis came to be established in the U.K. and examine some of the consequences that resulted from the adoption of this innovation. They consider a variety of responses to the advent of CAQDAS in the U.K., some of which were shaped by the social organization of the research infrastructure in the country. They propose that the diffusion of qualitative data analysis software has important implications for teaching qualitative methods. They conclude by examining some of the implications of software use and posing questions concerning a number of assumptions that have commonly been made about those consequences.