B05: Qualitative Data Analysis: Methods Workshop

Qualitative data becomes truly valuable when it is analyzed with care, clarity, and purpose. This intensive workshop equips researchers with the knowledge and skills needed to analyze a wide range of qualitative materials, including interviews, documents, fieldnotes, media, and digital content. Over five days, you will immerse yourself in the principles and hands-on practice of qualitative data analysis, with a strong focus on developing transferable coding skills and analytic strategies.

Through a carefully structured sequence, you will gain deep experience with Thematic Analysis in both reflexive and codebook styles. Building on that foundation, you will then explore three additional approaches: Qualitative Content Analysis, Grounded Theory, and Abductive Coding. You will learn how to apply each method in a way that fits your research questions, theoretical orientation, and data sources.

The course addresses four key challenges in qualitative research. First, we focus on aligning your method with your research design. Then we explore how to develop effective and flexible coding strategies. Next, we turn to techniques for ensuring analytical quality. Finally, we cover how to present your findings with transparency and impact.
With individual consultations, software training using NVivo, ATLAS.ti, or MAXQDA, and work on your own data, this course supports you in developing not just competence, but confidence in your analysis. Whether you are refining an ongoing project or starting a new one, this course will help you elevate your qualitative research to the next level, ensuring your data analysis is methodologically sound and impactful.

This course provides immersive, hands-on training in qualitative data analysis (QDA), specifically tailored to meet the diverse challenges researchers face when working with qualitative data. Over five days, participants systematically tackle four key dimensions of qualitative analysis: aligning data work with research context, developing effective coding strategies, ensuring analytical quality, and documenting findings transparently. Through a blend of lectures, group work, individual consultations, and applied exercises, participants gain both conceptual clarity and practical skills to confidently use advanced QDA methods in their own projects. Workshop takes place in person over 25 hours, with daily sessions scheduled from 09:00 to 12:00 (including a 30-minute break) and from 13:30 to 16:00 (including a 30-minute break).

Day 1: Aligning Data Work with Research Context

On the first day, we focus on a foundational challenge: selecting the most appropriate analytical approach for your research question and design. Questions we will address include: What study design and type of data best align with your inquiry? How much theoretical framing is needed before fieldwork? Should your analysis approach be inductive, deductive, abductive, or reflexive?

Although qualitative approaches are widely used across the social sciences, many researchers struggle to align their research design, data collection, and analysis in a coherent way. This session provides conceptual tools and practical guidance to help overcome this challenge. We begin by comparing different qualitative designs such as comparative case studies, process tracing, ethnography, and interpretive methods, and how each implies specific assumptions about theory, data, and analysis.

Participants will explore how methodological choices shape their analytic strategies. Particular attention will be paid to the different logics of inquiry including deductive, inductive, abductive, and reflexive approaches, and how they influence coding, interpretation, and theory building. By the end of the day, participants will be able to clearly position their research projects within a qualitative framework that supports methodological coherence, interpretive depth, and analytical rigor.

Days 2–4: Mastering Coding Strategies

Over the next three days, we will focus on the heart of qualitative data analysis: learning to work with different coding strategies to identify meaning, uncover patterns, and build thoughtful interpretations. These sessions are designed to be practical, supportive, and deeply connected to the work you are doing in your own research. You will gain hands-on experience with four well-established approaches, each offering a distinct way of thinking with and through your data.

We begin with Thematic Analysis, which will be our primary focus for Days 2 and 3. This method is both flexible and widely applicable across research topics, making it an ideal entry point for building core skills. Thematic Analysis supports both descriptive and explanatory questions and can be applied using inductive, deductive, or reflexive logics. You will learn how to navigate the entire process of analysis, from reading and coding your data to developing themes, refining your insights, and presenting your findings with clarity. We will explore both reflexive and codebook styles of Thematic Analysis, allowing you to see how different levels of structure and interpretation can be tailored to your research context. The experience you gain here will provide a strong foundation for exploring other approaches to coding.

On Day 4, we turn our attention to three additional methods that build on the skills developed through Thematic Analysis. First, we explore Qualitative Content Analysis, which offers a systematic way of organizing and classifying meaning in texts to describe the features of qualitative data. You will learn how to create, refine, and use a coding framework that helps bring order and clarity to your data, especially when working with large sets of documents or media sources.

Next, we look at Grounded Theory coding, which supports the development of new concepts and theories through close, inductive engagement with data. You will learn to apply open, axial, and selective coding techniques to generate insights that are grounded in empirical evidence.

Finally, we introduce Abductive Coding, a creative and iterative approach that helps researchers revisit and reframe theoretical assumptions based on unexpected findings. Beginning with a theory-informed perspective, you will learn how to identify surprising patterns in your data that lead to deeper insights and more meaningful explanations.

Throughout these three days, you will work with both sample data sets and your own research material. Hands-on sessions using NVivo, ATLAS.ti, or MAXQDA will support your ability to organize and visualize your coding. These practical activities will be complemented by daily reflection, feedback from the instructor, and one-on-one consultations to help you connect each method to your project and build your confidence as a qualitative researcher.

Day 5: Making the Choice and Presenting Your Analysis

On the final day, we turn our full attention to your own research project. Building on the individual consultations and reflections from Days 2 to 4, this session offers time and space for structured presentation, peer feedback, and guided reflection on how to choose and apply the most suitable qualitative analysis methods. Together, we will revisit the core approaches covered in the course and consider their strengths and limitations in relation to different types of research questions, data, and goals.

Rather than promoting one method over another, we will emphasize how these approaches can complement each other and how choosing the right one depends on your specific project context. You will be encouraged to reflect critically and creatively on the following principles: let your research question and data guide your choice of method, not trends or preferences. Recognize that these approaches are complementary, not hierarchical. Developing familiarity with multiple strategies enhances your flexibility and depth as a qualitative researcher.

We will also cover practical advice for presenting your qualitative findings transparently and effectively. This includes strategies for documenting your analysis process, articulating your coding decisions, and reporting your results in ways that align with academic and applied standards. By the end of the day, you will be better equipped to communicate your research process and findings with clarity, coherence, and confidence.

Hands-On Practice with QDA Software

The course includes exercises using sample data provided by the instructor and involves hands-on practice with NVivo software. The exercises will introduce NVivo’s basic functionalities. Prior familiarity with the software is not required but is welcomed. Before the course, there is no need to purchase the software, as we will use the 14-day free trial version. It is important to bring your own laptop to class and install the newest version of NVivo just before the course begins. Participants currently using other QDA tools such as ATLAS.ti or MAXQDA are also welcome to follow and engage in exercises using their preferred software.

This description is subject to change at the discretion of the Instructor.

1 Credit For completion of all pre-course work as decided by the Instructor. 2 Credits For completion of daily assignments, 90% participation and attendance of the course as decided by the Instructor. 2  Additional Credits 1 or 2 credits for a course specific final assignment, depending on the length of the assignment, to be completed after the course as decided by the Instructor.