This
was the first of what I think of as my “leech papers” – talking out the
extraordinary lag between the literature and technology. (It's the literature
that's behind!)
I mimicked the Monty Python skit with,
“What has qualitative software done for
us…?” Pretty scary when you set out all the answers! "But
apart from removing barriers to our traditional methods, what has qualitative
software done for us..? … but apart from offering
entirely new ways of supporting qualitative methods, what has qualitative
software done for us..?"… Is there a problem here?
Well, yes, there is. I tried for an explanation in what I
see as a triangular relationship between thinking about actually handling
data, about validity and reliability and about software. I argued lack of
writing and teaching on qualitative software must be understood in the context
of problems with facing up to data handling and validity. And that one reason
for all the hostility to software is it forces facing of those issues of
handling data and seeking qualitative validity.
Opening
Plenary Address, RC33 (Methodology & Logic) Conference