By Nicole Cheah, MND Journalism Undergraduate | February 9, 2024
On February 2 and 9, CODE^SHIFT and The Lender Center for Social Justice held two workshops on mixed methods research and MAXQDA, a computer-assisted qualitative research software used for coding and analyzing source material.
The workshops were a joint collaboration between CODE^SHIFT director Dr. Srivi Ramasubramanian and qualitative researchers Shannon Burth and Raiana de Carvalho; as well as Assistant Professor Nausheen Husain, the 2023-25 Lender Center Faculty Fellow. A lunch sponsored by the Lender Center was held before each session.
In the first workshop, Dr. Ramasubramanian began by emphasizing how mixed methods research plays a critical role in the transformative paradigm. The facilitators shared the importance of the analytical or theoretical lens through which one interprets data, and how research often employs varied processes, whether inductive or deductive.
“I try to fit my theory in as soon as possible so I'm asking the right questions when it comes to collecting data,” said Shannon Burth.
The second workshop focused more on hands-on coding. Participants coded a set of six news articles in the context of analyzing how the media covers the war on terror. The workshop covered the integration of codebooks from Microsoft Excel, import and export method, and search functions.
The workshops were held in the CODE^SHIFT lab space (425 Newhouse 3), with Lender Student Fellows and members of CODE^SHIFT in attendance. Future collaborations with the Lender Center and Professor Nausheen are in the works.
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