To Use or Not to Use: Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software Usage among Early-Career Sociologists in Croatia

In this article we critically analyse the usage of computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) among early-career sociology researchers in Croatia. In Croatia, the CAQDAS community is very small and is dominated by problems of great expectations coming from early-career researchers. This is elaborated through a case study that addresses issues of spread and availability of CAQDAS, opportunity for its usage, reasons why early-career researchers decide to use it or not and grounds for their decisions for use of a particular software package. The perceived advantages and limitations of CAQDAS are analysed and some misconceptions about CAQDAS are contextualised and related to the dominant quantitative research framework in Croatian sociology. The broadening of the number of qualitative researchers in the sociological community in Croatia, together with more educational programmes on CAQDAS, which would highlight reflexive usage of software, open perspectives for strengthening of qualitative research in Croatia. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1501127