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Quantitative narrative analysis software options compared: PC-ACE and CAQDAS (ATLAS.ti, MAXqda, and NVivo)

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Abstract

This paper shows how to carry out quantitative narrative analysis (QNA) with different text analysis software (PC-ACE, Program for Computer-Assisted Coding of Events, and various CAQDAS programs, Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software: ATLAS.ti, MAXQDA, and NVivo). QNA is a methodological approach to narrative texts that exploits invariant properties of narrative (namely, a “story grammar”, based on actors, actions, and their attributes) to make a statistical analysis of words possible. In comparing PC-ACE and CAQDAS, the paper leads the reader through the steps involved in setting up a grammar, in data entry, and in data query. A careful comparison of limits and possibilities of the two types of software will allow the reader interested in QNA to make an informed choice between a full implementation of QNA in a specialized but unknown software (PC-ACE) and a limited implementation in any of the widely used and popular CAQDAS programs.

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Correspondence to Stefania Vicari.

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Franzosi, R., Doyle, S., McClelland, L.E. et al. Quantitative narrative analysis software options compared: PC-ACE and CAQDAS (ATLAS.ti, MAXqda, and NVivo). Qual Quant 47, 3219–3247 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-012-9714-3

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