ABSTRACT

This chapter describes the principles behind the Five-Level QDA method. The central issue is the contradiction between the nature of qualitative research and the nature of software used to conduct data analysis. The way these contradictions are reconciled determines the approach to harnessing the software. Experienced researchers have learned to reconcile these contradictions unconsciously, but our intention is to make this transparent in order to speed up learning. We compare three possible approaches to reconciling this contradiction: denial, compromise, and going beyond or transcending the contradiction by seeing it in a larger context so that the contradiction is no longer problematic. We describe why this book takes the third approach.