STATISTICAL SOFTWARE
Dedoose Qualitative Analysis
Mixed Methods Strands, Connected
Our Dedoose qualitative analysis service carries out collaborative coding and mixed methods analysis in Dedoose, working from your project, and returns coded excerpts, descriptor comparisons and project documentation rather than screenshots, as agreed in the scope.
No Commitment Required
Strictly Confidential
In-House PhD-Level Statisticians
Fixed Project Fee
Same-Day Response
What Is Dedoose Used For in Research?
Dedoose is a web-based application for qualitative and mixed methods research, in which team members code text and media files in a shared project and link the coded excerpts to descriptors, the attributes of participants or documents that can be compared across groups. Researchers choose it for shared access and for the way descriptors sit beside excerpts, which allows a mixed methods study to live in a single project. A web-based project is not a record of the analysis in itself, because coding decisions still have to be documented and exported. OnlineSPSS, a specialist statistical consultancy for academic, clinical and professional research, provides a Dedoose qualitative analysis service in which an in-house PhD-level statistician carries out the agreed analysis in Dedoose, working from your project and its exports.
WHEN TO ENGAGE
Typical Reasons to Share a Dedoose Project
Requests come from teams coding together without a settled codebook, mixed designs with two separate strands, projects that exist only in the workspace, and studies ready for interpretation.
Team Coding Without a Settled Codebook Coders in different places apply codes differently, so Dedoose coding pauses until a stable Dedoose codebook and a documented way of reconciling differences are in place.
Codes and Descriptors Running in Parallel Excerpts are coded and descriptors recorded, but the two were never connected, so Dedoose mixed methods analysis has to be built around a stated integration question.
Work Held Only in the Workspace The project exists only inside the web workspace, and coded excerpts, descriptor tables and documentation need exporting so that the analysis can be shown elsewhere.
Coded Strand Ready to Interpret Coding is complete, and this stage of Dedoose qualitative research needs themes written from the excerpts, with attention to how the descriptors qualify what participants said.
ANALYSES IN DEDOOSE
Approaches Carried Out in Dedoose for Team and Mixed Projects
The approach is chosen for the research question and the design of the study, and each card links to the method page that explains what the approach requires.
Mixed Methods Research
Descriptors from a survey or case sheet are compared across excerpts and themes, and the integration design, convergent, explanatory or exploratory, decides what is merged and how.
Thematic Analysis
Themes are built from coded excerpts, and where the thematic approach uses more than one coder, the codebook and a reconciliation record show how differences were settled.
Content Analysis
Categories are applied to a document set, and code counts by descriptor group are read beside the excerpts, with agreement between coders examined where the design requires it.
Framework Analysis
Excerpts are indexed against a framework and summarized by case and theme, with descriptors used to select and compare the cases.
Grounded Theory
Memos and codes develop together as data are added, and exports at stages of the project preserve the sequence in which the categories changed.
Narrative Analysis
Accounts are coded for sequence and meaning, and descriptors on the narrator place each story in context without reducing it to its codes.
COMMON DEDOOSE ISSUES
Where Dedoose Projects Lose Their Integration
Most difficulties arise where strands and coders have to meet, so each check below is made before excerpts and descriptors are compared.
Strands Kept Parallel Codes and descriptor variables share a project but answer separate questions. The integration question is stated first, and the comparison is built to answer it.
A Codebook That Keeps Changing A shared code list shifts as coders add to it. A version is fixed with definitions, and later changes are dated and recorded.
Reconciliation Not Recorded How coders settled a difference affects the findings, so each reconciliation is kept with its reason and not only its outcome.
Descriptor Entry Errors Spelling variants for one group split a comparison into false categories, so descriptor fields are cleaned before any group is compared.
Screenshots as Documentation A screenshot of a chart cannot be audited. Coded excerpts, descriptor tables and the settings behind each chart are exported.
Charts Read as Findings A chart of code use by descriptor group describes the coding, not the participants, so it is read beside the excerpts and with attention to who contributed most.
DELIVERABLES
What You Receive From a Dedoose Analysis
The deliverables are agreed in the scope and provided where applicable, built around exports so that the analysis does not depend on a single workspace.
Project Documentation A record of the project structure, descriptor fields, codes and the steps taken, so the work can be understood without opening the workspace.
Codebook Export The codebook with definitions and rules, exported as a dated version at each agreed stage, where the method uses a codebook.
Coded Excerpts Excerpts exported by code or theme with their sources and descriptors, supporting each statement in the findings.
Descriptor Comparisons Tables comparing codes or themes across descriptor groups, each tied to the integration question it answers, for mixed designs.
Reconciliation Record A log of how differences between coders were resolved, where the project is coded by a team.
Interpretation and Reporting Integrated findings stated as the design requires, with a methods description of how descriptors and excerpts were joined and where the two strands disagree.
OTHER PLATFORMS
When Another Platform May Be More Appropriate
A shared browser project is not the right home for every study: data rules, the size of the material and the kind of strands can point elsewhere.
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE
How a Dedoose Analysis May Look in Practice
An illustration of how a team-coded interview project and its survey descriptors become one documented mixed methods analysis.
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE · FOOD BANK USER EXPERIENCE RESEARCH · UNITED STATES
A community research partnership combined a survey of food bank users with interviews at several sites, and coded the interviews in Dedoose with the survey responses entered as descriptors.
The design was explanatory sequential, with the interviews intended to explain patterns found in the survey, and this was fixed before the analysis. The complication lay in the project: site had been entered with spelling variants, so one site appeared as two, and the codebook had changed during coding without dates. The descriptor fields were cleaned, the current codebook was exported, its definitions were settled and fixed as a dated version, and coder differences were reconciled by discussion with a record of each decision. Excerpts were then compared across sites and respondent groups, with the survey pattern as the starting point for each comparison and the interview material read as explanation, not as confirmation.
Outcome: The partnership received the exported codebook, coded excerpts by theme and site, the descriptor comparisons, the reconciliation record and project documentation describing how the two strands were joined.
This example does not describe a real client or project. We never share details of actual client work, in line with the confidentiality we promise every researcher. This illustrative example is included to show the type, scope, and standard of work involved in this kind of analysis.
RESEARCH DISCIPLINES
Research Fields Where Dedoose Is Common
Dedoose is used by mixed methods teams in health, education and applied social research, and the field decides which integration design and which reporting standard applies.
HOW WE ASSESS YOUR PROJECT
We Review Your Actual Research
Your assessment is based on a review of your actual research materials and analytical requirements, not a generic project category.
You Submit Your Project Details
Share whatever is available at the current stage, such as the research aim, protocol or proposal, dataset, variable list, manuscript or statistical requirements.
We Review Your Research and Define the Scope
Your statistically trained Research Coordinator reviews the materials to understand the study design, research questions, data structure, analytical requirements and expected deliverables. If clarification is needed, additional documents or information can be requested before the assessment is finalized.
Your Analysis Is Completed and Delivered
Once the scope and fixed project fee are agreed, the in-house statistician completes the work and the Research Coordinator remains the communication point through delivery, with the analysis, deliverables and timeline as agreed.
RESEARCHER VOICE
What Researchers Say
Feedback from a mixed methods researcher on connecting qualitative codes with descriptor variables without rebuilding the project elsewhere.
“We already had most of the project in Dedoose, but our main issue was connecting qualitative codes with the descriptor variables instead of leaving the two strands separate. The team worked from the files we already had, cleaned up the workflow, and returned the analysis in a form we could reproduce. I especially appreciated not having to rebuild everything in another program.”
Statistical Support Within Your Research OnlineSPSS provides the agreed methodological, analytical and statistical reporting support, including the Dedoose exports and project documentation described in the scope. The researcher or research team retains the scientific question, substantive interpretation, conclusions and overall responsibility for the research.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Questions About Dedoose Analysis for Research
Short answers to what researchers ask before sharing a Dedoose project, from the approaches we carry out and cloud data rules to shared codebooks, exports and confidentiality.
Which analyses do you carry out in Dedoose?
Dedoose analysis at OnlineSPSS covers thematic, content, framework and narrative analysis, grounded theory and the qualitative strand of mixed methods research, including its link to descriptors. The approach follows your research question and the design of your study, and it is confirmed during the assessment.
Can identifiable interview data be coded in a web-based tool such as Dedoose?
Your ethics approval and data management plan decide that, not the tool. Some approvals allow identifiable transcripts to be held by a cloud provider, while others require de-identification first or storage on institutional systems, so the condition is confirmed before any material is uploaded. Where cloud storage is not permitted, transcripts are de-identified before coding or the project is kept in a desktop package.
How do you settle a shared codebook when coders work in different places?
The codebook is fixed as a version with definitions and inclusion and exclusion rules, and later changes are dated and recorded. Differences between coders are discussed and the way each was settled is written down. The reconciliation record lists each disputed excerpt, the codes proposed and the decision reached, so a reviewer can follow how the final coding was agreed.
What should be exported from Dedoose, and why not just screenshots?
Coded excerpts with their sources, descriptor comparison tables, the codebook and project documentation. A screenshot shows a chart but not what lies behind it, so it cannot be checked, rerun or placed in a methods section. Exports let a coauthor or reviewer see which excerpts and which descriptor values produced each display.
How do you protect my research data and confidentiality?
Your Dedoose project, exports and codebook are handled confidentially, and project information is not published. An NDA is available where required and can be arranged before sensitive materials are shared. Read more about confidentiality and data security.
What happens when I request an assessment, and how long does it take?
You share your research question, design and relevant materials, such as the Dedoose exports and your descriptor fields, and a statistically trained Research Coordinator reviews the request and responds the same day. The analysis, deliverables, timeline and one fixed project fee are then confirmed before any work begins, so the timeline follows from the agreed scope.
Still have a question? Find more answers in our full FAQ.
NEXT STEP
Discuss Your
Dedoose Project With Us
Share your research question, the design of the study and the Dedoose project, exports or descriptor files you hold. We check how codes and descriptors are connected and confirm the integration plan before any work begins.
No Commitment Required
Strictly Confidential
Fixed Project Fee
In-House PhD-Level Statisticians
Same-Day Response
Serving Researchers Since 2014