I subscribed to Zotero and have began investigating the site. I am excited about the possibility of using the program as my references manager. The time saving potential seems amazing, but I will have to have patience with the getting-started process. I sometimes get frustrated with the learning curve involved with new technology and am often likely to return to my old ways.
Thanks for your help in introducing us to the new possibilities.
Jen
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I'm glad you are finding something useful for you!
ReplyDeleteThanks for my first comment, Laurie!
ReplyDeleteIt was extremely difficult for me to pick a CAQDAS to review further. At first, I was going to preview one of the free softwares, then after looking through the ergonomics and in particular, the coding capacities, I still couldn’t make a choice. I finally settled on Atlas, which seemed like a fairly user-friendly program, but then discovered Atlas’ web site to be in another language! I next moved to NVivo, likely because I had heard it referenced in class. The video preview of the software was a great sale, but I am not sure that the capacity to merge photos and texts in coding will be an asset to my work. I also don’t anticipate working with a team or needing to share my work readily, so this capacity of NVivo didn’t excite me much. I am really just anxious to find a user-friendly program, and I am still not certain that NVivo is my best bet. I did not want to order the free trial software, as I would like to wait to investigate programs more thoroughly for a point in time when I actually have mildly real data to import. The case studies from educators were somewhat informative, though they focused more on the merging of different genres and the sharing possibilities of the new program (NVivo 8), so I am still not certain that NVivo is the most user friendly program for my technologically-challenged self. Any suggestions?
ReplyDeleteQualitative Tools Final
ReplyDeleteOverall, I enjoyed the resources we learned about, though I feel like I have not had a chance to dive into them as much as I would have liked. I did manage to play around a lot with ExpressScribe and Survey Monkey, as these are the two programs I will likely be using this quarter. I have offered additional feedback on other resources below.
• Weft was helpful, though I felt like I was working on an Apple IIe. Unlikely that I will use again, as I would actually rather spend the money on a more user friendly program
• ExpressScribe is a fantastic program. Very user-friendly, even for the technology-illiterate such as myself. I am in Dr. Lather’s 967 in which we need to transcribe audio interviews, and I actually went out and bought a recorder to use with the software.
• Transana was also helpful, but I do not foresee myself using video as much in my research, but of course, who knows!
• Audacity- Somewhat helpful; likely will use again, but need more practice with the tool.
• MovieMaker- I am still scared of video resources! Not comfortable enough yet with this software
• Blogger- easy and user friendly, plus I liked the idea that I had my own blog!
• PB Wiki- I am not so excited about wikis, but could foresee myself using this program if I was to use any option.
• Google Docs- Had used previously, and enjoy its simplicity!
• Concepts maps seem to go against my method of mental organization.
• Survey Monkey- Will be using this to create my 967 survey; a great tool!
Overall the class was tremendously informative, and I look forward to having the time this summer to delve deeper into the resources before I begin more formal research.