WebQDA 2.0 versus webQDA 3.0: A comparative study about usability of qualitative data analysis software

Abstract

Communication and Information Technology (ICT) applied to qualitative research has proved to be an asset for quality, improvement and innovation of this research area. Having emerged in 2010 webQDA is an online software that has supported the data analysis of several areas of research such as education, health, sociology, psychology, social sciences and others fields that need qualitative analysis. This study presents an assessment of the usability of the qualitative data analysis software webQDA® (version 2.0) in comparison with its new version webQDA 3.0. To assess its usability, the System Usability Scale (SUS) was used. The results indicate that there is still room and potential for improvement of webQDA 3.0, as expected, once it is still being improved. It is encouraging to know that more and more researchers find it not only useful but easy to use, even if demanding (which is positive from our point of view), in the way it “forces” researchers to adopt a more inquisitive approach to the data they deal with in their qualitative studies. Suggestions for future studies and improvement of the software are put forward.