Open Qualitative Research (QualCoder)

This lesson has been piloted by external instructors and is working well. We're seeking additional pilots to test it in diverse contexts and refine it further.

About this Lesson

Familiarizes learners with the application of open science principles to qualitative research. Focuses on documents or transcribed text in a variety of data formats. Learners practice working with secondary qualitative data from the Qualitative Data Repository (QDR) in the free software QualCoder.

Learning Objectives

Work with secondary qualitative data from the Qualitative Data Repository (QDR).
Use the free software QualCoder for qualitative analysis.
Discuss options and limitations for open research with proprietary qualitative analysis packages.
Understand options for sharing source data and coded analysis projects.

Keywords

qualitative researchopen sciencequalcoderQDRcoding

Workshop History

Date	Location	Format	Instructor
5/20/2025	Virginia Tech Libraries	Workshop	Nathaniel Porter
3/10/2025	Virginia Tech Libraries	Workshop	Nathaniel Porter
6/3/2025	IASSIST 2025 Conference (Bristol, UK)	Workshop	Sebastian Karcher

Recognition & Impact

JeSLIB Article Published

A peer-reviewed article describing this curriculum is published in the Journal of eScience Librarianship (JeSLIB).

CAC Presentation

Presented to the Library Carpentry Curriculum Advisory Committee on April 3, 2025.

Help Improve this Curriculum

This lesson is currently in the beta phase. We are actively seeking instructors to pilot this lesson in their own institutions. Feedback from external teaching is critical for reaching "Stable" status.

Express Interest in Piloting Report an Issue Teach This Lesson

For more on how to run a pilot, visit The Carpentries Handbook.

Why Teach This?

QualCoder is a free, open-source alternative to expensive proprietary tools like NVivo. Teaching this empowers researchers with accessible tools for reproducible qualitative analysis.

Instructor Specs

Duration: 4h 00m
Level: Introductory
License: CC-BY 4.0

Cite this Lesson

APA Format:

Porter, N., Karcher, S. (2026). Open Qualitative Research (QualCoder). UCLA IMLS Open Science. https://ucla-imls-open-sci.info/lessons/open-qualitative-research-qualcoder

BibTeX:

Show BibTeX

@misc{open_qualitative_research_qualcoder_2026,
  author = {Nathaniel Porter and Sebastian Karcher},
  title = {Open Qualitative Research (QualCoder)},
  year = {2026},
  publisher = {UCLA IMLS Open Science},
  url = {https://ucla-imls-open-sci.info/lessons/open-qualitative-research-qualcoder}
}

Resources

Lesson Website GitHub Repository