PD26-06 Quantitative Tools for Qualitative Data Analysis: A Truly Equal Status Data Science Design for Transparency, Rigorosity, and Data Science StoryTelling

Session Type: Professional Development Course

Abstract

In qualitative research, meaning emerges through sustained, context-sensitive engagement with text—be it interviews, observations, reflections, or narratives. As textual datasets grow in size, complexity, and diversity, researchers increasingly face a core challenge: how to maintain interpretive depth while achieving structural clarity across expansive bodies of narrative data. This course uses open access software tools to synthetize qualitative evidence and strengthen data science storytelling. This applied course introduces four methodological frameworks, each accompanied by accessible, no-code software, to address the need for innovative tools that may enable qualitative and mixed methods researchers to tap into the insights that come out of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and state of the art Data Science and Visualization methods with absolutely no computer language literacy requirements. Following Truly Equal Status Design (TESD), this course will focus on four tools: LACOID, MDCOR, SENA, and GeoStoryTelling.

These tools do not seek to replace qualitative insight with quantification. Instead, they enhance and extend it—amplifying interpretive possibilities through transparent, rigorous, and iterative engagement. There are no prerequisite skills as the course and materials have been designed to expand access to data science without any prior data science or statistical programming experience. This course is ideal for graduate students, early career scholars, as well as advanced researchers interested in the use of data science in qualitative research.

Sub Unit

• Professional Development and Training Committee