Report on the HEA funded NTFS project, REQUALLO: Reusable Qualitative Learning Objects: Resources to support the learning of methods of qualitative data analysis in the social sciences

This project aimed to produce a number of case study/exemplars based on the detailed examination of how researchers undertook the qualitative analysis of their data in their research projects. The intention was to produce a range of teaching materials openly available for academic teachers and students to find and use in their teaching and learning. Five case studies were developed and a range of textual materials, audio and video capturing the details of the analytic process the researchers undertook was created. Qualitative research is a popular method and in some disciplines, such as psychology, is growing in popularity. We felt that such resources might help teaching staff deal with the larger classes and the different ways of teaching that mass education in this field requires.

The researchers used in the case studies were all doctoral students near the end of their studies. As of writing 4 of the 5 have now gained their PhDs. They came from a range of disciplines, psychology, business studies, sociology and education and were undertaking work in a wide range of topics. Two of them used NVivo software at some stages of their analysis and one used Atlas.ti. All the materials produced were incorporated into the OnlineQDA website that has been in existence since 2005. The video materials appear on this site but have also been made available on the YouTube website.

We obtained feedback in the design process from student user groups (in undergraduate and postgraduate classes) from workshop sessions using the materials, from conference presentations and from an online survey of 96 teachers of qualitative methods.

Materials are freely available for use and re-use and consequently we have gradually adopted the creative commons (CC) licence on the materials to encourage re-use (http://onlineqda.hud.ac.uk/Tutorials/index.php).