WP-QDA Marked Text

WP-QDA Marked Text is a plugin for WordPress designed for rudimentary Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA). While there are a number of highly developed programs available for Qualitative Data Analysis (e.g., see here), much of that software is problematic for end users for one of several reasons:

*QDA software is often very expensive (ranging from $100s to $1000s) *QDA software can be difficult to use and may have many features the average user does not need *QDA software is often platform dependent, meaning it either runs on Windows or Mac, but rarely on Linux

WP-QDA aims to address all three of these problems. First, it’s free (though it does require a web server). Second, it is very rudimentary – you can code text into nodes/categories and retrieve the text coded into those categories. That’s it. Third, it runs on a web server, which means it is compatible with any platform that has a web browser. If you’re looking for free software that is platform independent and simple to use for your QDA needs, WP-QDA Marked Text may be what you’re looking for.

This section describes how to install the plugin and get it working.

1. Upload the “marked-text” folder to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory
2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress

How do I code with the plugin?

Please see the direction on the website: http://www.ryantcragun.com/wp-qda-marked-text/

What about confidentiality and privacy issues?

Depending on the nature of the text you are coding, you may also consider downloading the plugin “Private! WordPress Access Control Manager”. While that plugin is a little complex for the purpose here, it does make it so posts are private by default, meaning only those individuals with an account on your installation can view the posts and retrieve text.

1.0

• Initial version released.