Horses for courses: Facilitating postgraduate research students’ choice of Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis System (CAQDAS)

Supervisors of postgraduate students are increasingly likely to find themselves discussing whether or not the student should use a CAQDAS (computer assisted qualitative data analysis system) in their research. This paper discusses Weitzman and Miles (1995) framework for decision-making about CAQDAS and then reports the experiences of five postgraduate students, each of whom made a different decision. (These were variously: not to use a CAQDAS, using Atlas-Ti, Ethnograph, N. VIVO and N5). It explores the fit between Weitzman's and Miles' principles and the students' experiences then suggests some modifications of the principles and strategies for advising students.