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Qualitative Sociology, Vol. 24, No. 3, 2001

Integrating Technology to Improve the Efficiency

of Qualitative Data Analysis—A Note on Methods
Calvin Smith and Patricia M. Short

Qualitative data analysis (QDA) is often a time-consuming and laborious process

usually involving the management of large quantities of textual data. Recently de-
veloped computer programs offer great advances in the efficiency of the processes
of QDA. In this paper we report on an innovative use of a combination of extant
computer software technologies to further enhance and simplify QDA. Used in
appropriate circumstances, we believe that this innovation greatly enhances the
speed with which theoretical and descriptive ideas can be abstracted from rich,
complex, and chaotic qualitative data.
KEY WORDS: qualitative data analysis; computers.

INTRODUCTION

Technological advances have led to enhancements in the efficiency of qual-

itative data analysis (QDA). Computer programs such as The Ethnograph and
NUD? IST have made it possible for qualitative data analysts to manage large
volumes of textual data. Such programs offer an immense improvement in the
efficiency and ease with which QDA can be done and they continue to be im-
proved in scope and function. Yet, until very recently, preparing documents for
analysis in these programs involved transcription to text files. Notwithstanding
recent advances in software design, qualitative data analysis can still be very time-
consuming and expensive; interviews or field notes still are usually transcribed
and then “coded” in order to reduce data to an organised and coherent collection
of ideas.

Correspondence should be directed to Calvin Smith, Teaching and Educational Development Insti-
tute, University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia, 4072, and Patricia M. Short, Department of
Sociology, Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Queensland, Queensland, Australia, 4072;
e-mail: t.short@mailbox.uq.edu.au.

401
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C 2001 Human Sciences Press, Inc.
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402 Smith and Short

We offer in this paper an advance in efficiency that does not involve verbatim
transcription of recorded data and draws on a combination of extant technologies
to facilitate faster, less expensive QDA.
We acknowledge that recent developments in QDA software enable re-
searchers to code directly from audio or sound files (e.g., C-I-SAID) or to create
“proxy” documents linked to (nontranscribed) sources in different formats—media
files, photographic images, etc. (e.g., the latest QSR product, NVivo. Still, while
C-I-SAID, for example, provides a sophisticated method for directly linking cod-
ing charts and video/audio sources, the lexical coding system provided for appears
somewhat limited as a tool for genuine inductive analysis. The method we describe
will be more useful for researchers who are interested in progressively building,
changing, and documenting a coding system. Also, our method will assist those
using earlier or similar versions of the QSR software (NUD? IST IV and earlier) and
who wish to maximize and balance efficiency, affordability, convenience, and rigor
in qualitative inquiry, especially in contexts where rapid assessment and analysis
is necessary.
The essence of the innovation we describe here is the production and coding
of a simplified text file that represents the sequence and length of segments of
recorded data (on audio- or videotape or digital recording device) passing through
a playback machine. We call this text file the “counter-run” file. It is the counter-run
file that is introduced into a QDA program such as NUD? IST or The Ethnograph
rather than a full transcription of recorded data. Theoretical ideas are catalogued
against the counter-run text that serves as an index representing the location of the
data giving rise to those ideas in the original data record.
This approach to QDA recommends itself highly for the routine work of QDA.
It facilitates efficient analysis of qualitative data while still enabling the analyst to
refer to the detail of the raw data at all stages of analysis. It is especially suitable
where the goals of analysis are analytic induction, grounded theory building, and
so on (Glaser and Strauss 1967; Lofland 1971; Strauss 1987; Strauss and Corbin
1990), especially where coarse-grained coding is all that is required or is a useful
preliminary (e.g., Short 1996). In contexts where rapid assessment of a field or issue
is necessary (e.g., for social impact assessment, action research, or social planning
contexts) or research is strictly time-limited (e.g., for undergraduate or some short-
term postgraduate study programs), this technique is most appropriate. It affords
speedy analysis, rigorous documentation of analytic procedures to demonstrate
validity and verify findings, and swift retrieval of data for transcription, reporting
and publication.
It should be noted, however, that the approach to QDA described here will
not always be appropriate. For instance, it does reduce the efficiency with which
an analyst can search for related “strings” of text in order to conduct detailed
analysis of the nuances of expression and meaning of particular ideas. And it
would not be appropriate for conversation analysts or linguists who must record
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Integrating Technology to Improve the Efficiency of Qualitative Data Analysis 403

and document every minute semantic and syntactic detail in order to do their
work.
This said, we describe the technique in some detail below and then make
further comment on some aspects of method.

THE SIMPLE VERSION—TAPE-RECORDED DATA

Most tape machines have a counter that ticks over as the tape plays through
the machine. The innovation proposed here simply involves setting up a counter-
run file that represents chunks of time (and therefore of the talk or images that
transpired within them) as ranges of digits that appear in the counter window of
the tape or video (e.g., 0–10, 11–20, etc.).
Since it is a text file, it is the counter-run file that is read into programs such
as The Ethnograph or NUD? IST and gets coded with theoretical ideas that come to
mind as one listens to the original data source. The codings are mapped against the
text units of the counter-run. The text units are the digits representing the number
in the window of the tape counter and therefore representing various points along
the tape. This allows researchers to code as they listen to the recorded data without
first transcribing it, effecting a vast saving of time, effort, and cost. The same
method can be applied, of course, to video data where the video machine has a
built-in tape counter.
Table I illustrates the method with the third column showing the text of the
counter-run file.
By conducting a preliminary test run, the analyst can determine the appropri-
ate scale for the counter-run to accommodate speed of speech or the through-flow
of useful, theoretically relevant bits of information. If the scale is over-coarse, too
many ideas may be coded onto one band on the counter-run scale, and retriev-
ing exemplary segments for later analysis and reporting will be less reliable and
convenient. If it is too fine, there will be unnecessary “gaps” in the coding of the
counter-run.
During coding, the analyst can edit the counter-run text to include notes on
the segment or snippets of text to signify, at a glance, the flow of the text or
particular expressions/images that might be returned to for further analysis. It is
possible to produce an abstract of the interview in this way, and this may provide
some additional advantages over full transcription or no transcription for both
researchers and participants.1

1 Forinstance, Duncan (1997) suggests that an abstract and audiotape copy of interviews may allow
more effective review of interviews by participants because the abstract is a smaller, more manageable
document providing a succinct guide or index to the content of a taped interview, thus allowing
participants to focus more carefully on the parts of the interview that are most important for them to
review.
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404 Smith and Short

Table I. Example of Coding Against Counter-Run

Transcribed Text (taken from an interview
with a househusband—see Smith 1998) Tape counter Counter-run Coding

Q: Do you have an arrangement with U, 189 189 Financial

your wife, where she pays you an 199 arrangements
amount each week or anything like that 200
which is just yours to do with 201 201 Planning the
whatever you want to? 202 transition
A: No. We talked about something like 203
that in the initial stages but we 204
never really followed it through. 205
Q: Why did you decide not to go that road 206 206
and what road did you go down? 207
A: Well I think it was a decision by 208
default rather than a conscious 209
decision—we tended to just have a 210
joint account and as I was saying to 211 211 Responsibility
you before I always tended to do the 212 for shopping;
shopping, I still do the shopping so 213 power over
you just draw it out. So there’s money 214 expenditure
there—I mean we sat down and budgeted: 215
there’s x-amount for you to spend each 216 216 Budgeting;
week—and you just don’t pay any 217 standard of
attention to that (laughter). I guess 218 living
we’ve never really had to worry about 219
counting every penny (mm hmm), things 220
like that so we’ve been fortunate that 221 221
way—so long as there’s enough there to 222
meet our bills and commitments we 223
don’t have much problem. 224
225

INCORPORATING OTHER TECHNOLOGIES IN THE INNOVATION

In order to make counter-run files, one can simply type and save a “template”
file that can be reproduced for each transcript being analyzed, incorporated into,
and coded in programs such as NUD? IST or The Ethnograph. Alternatively, one
can utilize a feature of spreadsheets that makes the construction of a counter-run
file very simple and efficient. Counter-run files to suit any scaling of a counter-run
can easily be made this way.
The way to do this is quite simple. In a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet (version
97 or later):
1. Put in two numbers, one under the other, in a column (say 0 and 10);
2. highlight both;
3. pointing at the bottom right-hand corner of the highlighted block, mouse-
click and drag down the column (while holding the mouse button
down).
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Integrating Technology to Improve the Efficiency of Qualitative Data Analysis 405

The package will fill in the cells, incrementing each by the difference between
the values in the first two that you typed in. That is, if these numbers are “0” and
“10,” the program will fill the next cells with “20,” “30,” “40,” etc., incrementing
each time by 10.
By doing this, the column can be copied and pasted directly into a word
processor file or text editor (including the text editor in NUD? IST ) or, more easily,
in the latest version of NUD? IST, N5, imported directly from the clipboard. The
document can then be prepared in the usual way for importing into a program such
as The Ethnograph and NUD? IST for analysis. You could copy it straight into such a
package, but you may like to prepare it for use first in a word processor or text editor.
This is useful if you wish to add information such as interviewee’s pseudonym,
details of the data source, a fieldwork date, and any technical information, such as
tape speed2 at the head of the document.

MORE SOPHISTICATED VERSIONS—DIGITAL DATA STORAGE

Storing the data digitally and accessing it via software such as Sound Edit
Pro (Macintosh) or Sound Forge (PC) for audio, or Avid Cinema for video, is now
possible and is navigationally more reliable than using analog tape counters. Digital
representations of the data also allow for the calibration of the “counter-run” to be
further fine-tuned.
To use digitized sound software, you may need to first convert the audio or
video data into digital format; this may require special connectors and software to
manage the connection between a video or tape machine and the computer. You
also need considerable storage capacity to store these forms of data digitally. The
chief benefit is the capacity to navigate easily around the data source by pointing
and dragging the computer’s cursor or mouse pointer over a graphic representation
of the data (e.g., an oscilloscopic trace of audio data).
In deciding the scale of counter-run intervals in these applications, the issue
of how much real time is represented by each point in the scale of the counter
can be considered. In the case of the audio or video software, the amount of
real time that is represented by each chunk of the counter usually can be varied.
Sometimes it may be appropriate to use five-second intervals for each point on the
counter scale, sometimes more, sometimes less. A very fast speaker, for instance,
will conceivably need to be mapped against a fine time-scaling with fewer scale-
points in each range of the counter-run than might otherwise be used. The different
combinations of the time-scale and counter-run intervals, and the characteristics of

2 You may need to vary the speed at which the tape replays the recorded data (e.g., for slow or fast
speakers or to increase audibility). If so, you would need to keep a record of the speed at which you
replayed and coded each recording, so that you could return reliably to the same location on the tape
from later transcription of a representative segment.
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406 Smith and Short

Diagram 1. Flow Chart of Use of Different Technologies.

the data to which each seems to be best suited, are matters of personal preference
and fitness for the task at hand.

SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION

Diagram 1 shows the steps involved in the process of integrating computer-

based technologies to improve the efficiency of QDA.

A Methodological Note

We acknowledge that there is a degree of debate in qualitative analysis litera-

ture about the advantages and disadvantages of transcription and nontranscription
methods of interpretation and analysis (DeVault 1990; Duncan 1997).
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Integrating Technology to Improve the Efficiency of Qualitative Data Analysis 407

Some analysts may prefer to work (to code) from a transcript of the data
because it imparts a certain intensity to the work and closeness to the data. We
take the view that the coding process is made more meaningful and accurate
because multiple “listenings” and “viewings” of the data bring the researcher even
closer to it than a transcript does. Listening to and viewing the data allows us
to retain paralinguistic cues (body language and the like) that supplement the
verbal “message.” Using the counter-run method described here maintains a direct
link with the interview as “an interaction grounded in talk” (DeVault 1990) and
facilitates the analyst’s interpreting the meaning-making aural dimensions of talk
such as silences (Duncan 1997; Opie 1995; Poland and Pederson 1998), timing and
pacing, pitch, tone, and volume. Thus, our method also avoids some of the pitfalls
of “editing” first-person narratives (especially nonstandard patterns of speech) at
early stages of analysis (Duncan 1997; Blauner 1987). A textual representation of
the verbal always elides these complex and rich cues and so transcripts of data are
a poorer second cousin to the original than are audio and video recordings.
Facilitating the reliable and accurate return to the segments of original data
that gave rise to theoretical notions eases the researcher’s task of demonstrating to
an audience of colleagues that what is proposed is a reasonable interpretation of the
data. Segments of data to be reported can be transcribed verbatim and published
in support of findings, in the usual manner. What has been avoided by adopting
this approach is the transcription of the entire body of data, thus saving much time
and labor and, therefore, cost.

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