QualCoder 3.5 released

The latest QualCoder software, version 3.5, has been released. This included executable files for Windows 10/11 and Ubuntu 22.

Main changes are some bug fixes, a word cloud option and an exact text matches report where multiple codes are applied to the same text.

Some errors have been identified post-release:

The Code Audio/Video Segment right-click context menu does not work when using the Windows exe. (a brief flash then disappears). Download and run the source code instead, if this is a feature you need.

Issue with the python vlc module with Fedora 39. Unable to resolve this.

Issue with installing pyqt6 on ChromeOS. Unable to resolve this.

https://github.com/ccbogel/QualCoder/releases/tag/3.5

A PDF manual of the 3.5 release can be purchased from:

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ccbogelb/extras

Wordclouds

Qualcoder can now create wordclouds using its own wordcloud code. All words will be presented horizontally, and there are options for sizing the image, colour ranges, and using one word up to phrases of 4 words.

Also a 3.5 release version is coming out very soon.

University of Albany video

The librarian from the University of Albany has uploaded a video showing the use of Taguette and QualCoder.

Grad Coach Thematic Analysis

I like the series of you tube videos from Grad Coach. I think they are clear and easy to follow.

Cómo subir archivos a Qualcoder

Another video in Spanish, showing loading files and file manipulation. This uses the older QualCoder 3.0 version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGlzk3g2JaM

Free QDAS comparison in japanese

Shin Kyogoku, Ph.D. Professor at Kibi International University has written a comparison between QualCoder and Taguette.

https://www.thriver.one/free-qualitative-coding

QualCoder 3.4 Released

The latest update to QualCoder has been released.

Install from source code or use the Windows exe.

Details of changes are described on the link page. The major change is the ability to view, and code the text of pdf pages, presented roughly in a pdf format.

The second bigger visual change, is that the journals window is now a floating window. This makes it easier to enter journal notes while viewing coding, and coding reports.

https://github.com/ccbogel/QualCoder/releases/tag/3.4

Conociendo Qualcoder

Getting to know QualCoder

A new YouTube video in Spanish. Thanks to Ernesto Bouey.

Upcoming talks from Temple University

What QDA Tool is Right for You? 

Tue, October 3, 12:30pm Online via Zoom 

Register: https://library.temple.edu/events/1529 

Qualitative Data Analysis software can save time and support all stages of your research, from collecting, organizing, and processing qualitative data, to coding, annotating, querying, and visualizing your analyses. QDA platforms can also enhance teamwork, mixed methods analysis with quantitative data, writing, and reporting. This workshop introduces and compares Atlas.ti, NVivo, Dedoose, Taguette, and QualCoder. 

ATLAS.ti for Qualitative Data Analysis 

Wed, October 25, noon Online via Zoom 

Register: https://library.temple.edu/events/1540 

This online workshop will introduce ATLAS.ti, commercial qualitative data analysis software that can help save time and support many stages of qualitative research. You will learn how to manage, code, auto-code, annotate, and report on different types of qualitative data in ATLAS.ti, such as text, images, video, geoplaces, and focus group and survey response data. 

QualCoder for Qualitative Data Analysis 

Fri, November 3, noon Online via Zoom 

Register: https://library.temple.edu/events/1543 

This online workshop will introduce QualCoder, free and open-source qualitative data analysis software that can help save time and support many stages of qualitative research. You will learn how to manage, code, auto-code, create relationships and annotate text, images, videos, survey responses and other types of qualitative data. You will also view different charts, graphs, and other visualization, reporting and export features. 

 

NVivo for Qualitative Data Analysis 

Mon, November 13, 11am Online via Zoom 

Register: https://library.temple.edu/events/1546 

This online workshop will introduce NVivo, commercial qualitative data analysis software that can help save time and support many stages of qualitative research. You will learn how to manage, code, auto-code, create relationships and annotate text, images, videos, survey responses, social media and other types of qualitative data. You will also view different charts, graphs, and other visualization, reporting and export features. 

Pdf display and coding

Hi all,

QualCoder uses pdfminer.six for the pdf text extraction. Thanks to the maintainers of that project.

People have asked that direct pdf coding be an option. I can see the advantage is when coding text, you can see where the text is located near other text and images on the page. However, this is quite a challenging request.

The challenges: Unlike Microsoft Word or LibreOffice Writer or plain text documents, Pdfs are very different. They are designed in a print format and not designed to have text extracted. Some Pdfs may present the text as a full page image – so text extraction is not possible without using optical character recognition software. This will not be an option in QualCoder -you would have to do this separately and import the plain text. Where there is text on a Pdf page, the text does not naturally flow from one bunch of words to the next like in a Word document. Instead the text is displayed in text box chucks with x and y coordinates to position each text chunk on the page. Text extraction, like using pdfminer, estimates what the next flowing bit of text is, based on these x, y coordinates. This can be good and it can be wrong sometimes too.

I am experimenting with displaying a pdf, within the Qt graphics interface that is used by QualCoder. This uses pdfminer, so I work within the limitations of pdfminer and my limitations of re-interpreting a pdf and using pdfminer. The intention is to allow some text coding directly using a mouse with the pdf.

So far, pdf rendering is adequate I think, to be able to perform text coding.

There are quite a few limitations regarding displaying the graphics – Images and Polygon shapes. Pdfminer does not find all the images on a page and some images appear to be like photo negatives. Often images have a mask to display a portion of the image and not the full image – I cannot work this out yet. Other problems I have come across, is the order of displaying items, particularly, lines, rectangles, curves and images when overlapping. Curves are polygons which require extra instructions to display correctly. I have selected one font to display text as using Pdf fonts is not possible for now. Also, each character within a text box can have its own formatting (colour, size, emphasis), so most of this is ignored and formatting is estimated for the entire text chunk.

This is an example pdf page with a lot of graphics (images, lines ,rectangles, and curve objects). My experimentation with pdfminer is on the right, the original is on the left..

Below is an example of a primarily text filled pdf. The rendering is a lot more similar to the original. The image on the right is my experimentation and the image on the left is the original. At the bottom of the image you can see I added some check boxes to show or hide some of these additional objects (text, lines, rectangles, curves, images) that are rendered on the page.

Next I am trying to select text. The approach for now is to drag the mouse over an area to select the individual text boxes that make up the text portions of the pdf. Then try to match those with the plain text import of the pdf. This will be a first approach to then apply coding to the text of those selected text boxes.