An intellectual history of NUD*IST and NVivo

Since the rise of qualitative computing in the mid-1980s, the field of qualitative data analysis has changed in a number of ways, which remarkably have been ignored in the methodological literature, to the detriment of the area's self-understanding. This paper provides for the record an account of the intellectual development of the two qualitative data analysis programs that I have designed, together with Lyn Richards. The theme behind the history is: (1) computing has enabled new, previously unavailable qualitative techniques; (2) some important pre-computer techniques and methods were not supported by computerization of the field, at least until recently; and hence (3) computerization encouraged some biases in qualitative techniques. I hope that this paper will act as a source for a revitalized and up-to-date debate on methods and techniques that recognizes computer use as an agent of change in the field.