However, when we want to broaden or deepen our understanding of how things came to be the way they are in our social world, qualitative research has no substitute 1. Quantitative research tells us how often or how many behave in a certain way. CAQDAS are basically data management packages, which support the researcher during analysis. In other words, researchers must equally know that no software can analyse qualitative data. The key message is that unlike statistical software, the main function of CAQDAS is not to analyse data but rather to aid the analysis process, which the researcher must always remain in control of. In this paper, the author reflects on his experience of interacting with one of the popular CAQDAS (NVivo) in order to provide evidence-based implications of using the software.
While the issue of mastering CAQDAS has received ample attention, little has been done to address the misconceptions associated with CAQDAS.
This may be due to the difficulties that one has to go through to master the software and the misconceptions that are associated with using CAQDAS. Although the CAQDAS has been there for decades, very few qualitative health researchers report using it. However, Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS) are increasingly being developed. For a long time, electronic data analysis has been associated with quantitative methods.
