CAQDAS - A primer

 Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (CAQDAS) — also sometimes simply called Qualitative Data Analysis Software (QDAS or QDA software) — becomes ever more popular in social research, but there are still many people within academia, who remain unconvinced about the exact value of CAQDAS for their research. This essay argues that CAQDAS are a useful tool for certain methodologies, might aide some other methodologies, and are inferior to non-CAQDAS or even no software with respect to still other methodologies. After a brief description of the basic CAQDAS functions and dysfunctions, I will elaborate an, admittedly incomplete and preliminary, overview of the methodological affinities of contemporary CAQDAS. These affinities, in turn, have implications for the choice of a particular CAQDAS and the precautions, when should keep in mind when using CAQDAS.