STATISTICAL SOFTWARE
Quirkos Qualitative Analysis
Visual Coding With a Codebook Behind It
Our Quirkos qualitative analysis service carries out coding and theme development in Quirkos, working from your project, and returns, as agreed, the coded data, memos and negative cases with a codebook where the approach uses one, so the analysis does not depend on the visual workspace alone.
No Commitment Required
Strictly Confidential
In-House PhD-Level Statisticians
Fixed Project Fee
Same-Day Response
What Is Quirkos Used For in Research?
Quirkos is a qualitative analysis package from a company based in Edinburgh, in which each theme appears as a colored bubble that grows as text is coded to it, giving a visual overview of the coding. It is offered as a cloud application and as an offline desktop version. Researchers choose it for that visual qualitative coding and for small-team studies with a manageable body of interviews or open-text responses. Visual coding makes it easy to add themes, so definitions and decisions about merging or splitting them still have to be written down. OnlineSPSS, a specialist statistical consultancy for academic, clinical and professional research, provides a Quirkos qualitative analysis service in which an in-house PhD-level statistician carries out the agreed analysis in Quirkos, working from your project and its exported data.
WHEN TO ENGAGE
What Brings a Quirkos Project to a Statistician
A small team often starts coding at once and asks for statistical input later: when themes have multiplied, when vivid quotes are all that remain, when a handover is due, or when the work must leave the workspace.
Themes That Keep Multiplying The workspace fills with overlapping bubbles, and Quirkos coding needs decisions to merge or split them made against written definitions so that the set reads as an analysis.
Only the Vivid Quotes Survive Memorable quotations dominate the draft while contrary cases fade, so deviant and negative cases are brought back in before the themes are finalized.
Handover Between Team Members A project built by one colleague passes to another, and the themes, memos and coding rules have to be written down so that the work continues without loss.
Analysis Tied to the Workspace A Quirkos qualitative research project must be submitted or archived, so its coded data and codebook are exported and organized for use outside the visual project.
ANALYSES IN QUIRKOS
Qualitative Approaches Carried Out in Quirkos
Compact studies suit several approaches, and each card links to the method page on what that approach asks of a theme set.
Thematic Analysis
Quirkos thematic analysis treats the bubbles as working themes, which are refined into a defined set, with memos recording why themes were merged, split or set aside.
Framework Analysis
Coded data are exported and charted by case against a framework of themes in a matrix, with each cell tied to the excerpts it summarizes.
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA)
The small, homogeneous samples this approach uses fit a compact project, and each interview's themes are worked out in full before any are set against other participants.
Narrative Analysis
Accounts are read as wholes and coded for how the story is built, with the full narrative kept next to the coded fragments.
Content Analysis
Open-text survey answers or short documents are sorted into a defined category scheme, and a second coder is added only where the design treats the categories as measurements.
Grounded Theory
In smaller projects the bubbles serve as provisional categories built through constant comparison, with memos recording each theoretical decision as it is made.
COMMON QUIRKOS ISSUES
Where Visual Coding Needs More Than the Picture
Visual coding lowers the barrier to starting, and the risks lie in what the picture does not hold, so each check below is made before themes are reported.
A Rapidly Expanding Code Set Adding a bubble takes a moment, so the set grows readily. Themes are reviewed and each receives a definition before further coding.
Merging and Splitting Without Rules Merging or splitting bubbles changes what has been coded, so the rule behind each change and the earlier structure are written down.
Quotes Chosen for Impact A striking quotation gives a partial picture, so the quotation shown for a theme is checked against the range of excerpts coded to it.
Negative Cases Out of Sight Contrary cases are sought on purpose and reported with the themes they qualify, rather than left in text that was never coded.
Memos Missing Without memos the reasoning behind a theme exists only in the researcher's head, so memos record why a theme was made and attach to its excerpts.
A Project That Cannot Travel A project that lives only in the visual workspace cannot be reviewed elsewhere, so coded data and the codebook are exported regularly.
DELIVERABLES
What You Receive From a Quirkos Analysis
The package is agreed in the scope and provided where applicable, and is built to leave the workspace so that the analysis stays portable.
Quirkos Project The project with themes, coded text and memos arranged as agreed, in the state the review left it, so that new transcripts can be added.
Codebook Export Theme names, definitions and the merge and split decisions, supplied where the approach uses a codebook.
Coded Data Export Coded text exported by theme with its source, in a format you can read and archive outside the workspace.
Negative and Deviant Cases A list of the contrary cases with their excerpts, shown beside the themes they complicate.
Analytic Memos Memos documenting why themes were created, merged, split or set aside.
Interpretation and Reporting Themes reported with the range of excerpts behind them, including the cases that qualify them, and a methods paragraph on how the visual coding was documented.
OTHER PLATFORMS
When Another Platform May Be More Appropriate
As a study grows in size, coders or data types, the visual workspace may stop being the simplest home for it, and these platforms fit those cases.
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE
How a Quirkos Analysis May Look in Practice
An illustration of how a crowded visual workspace becomes a defined set of themes with its contrary cases in view.
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE · COMMUNITY GARDEN PARTICIPATION RESEARCH · UNITED STATES
A community research collective interviewed members of neighborhood garden groups about why participation rises and falls, and coded the interviews in Quirkos.
Thematic analysis had been chosen as the approach. The first round of coding left a crowded workspace in which belonging and togetherness, among others, covered much the same ground, and the draft leaned on the most striking quotations. The themes were reviewed against their excerpts, merged and split under written rules, and each remaining theme was given a definition. Members whose participation did not fit the main explanation were searched for in the transcripts and reported with the theme they qualified, and memos recorded the reasoning at each step. Coded data and the codebook were exported when the review was complete, so the analysis no longer depended on the workspace.
Outcome: The collective received the Quirkos project, the exported codebook and coded data, a list of negative cases with their excerpts, and the memos that record how the themes were defined.
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 Quirkos Is Common
Small-team qualitative studies appear in community, education and health research, and the field shapes how contrary cases and participants' voices are reported.
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 community researcher on a visual code set that expanded without merge and split rules, and a cleaner workflow built from the files already in hand.
“Our issue with Quirkos was not the interface itself; it was the visual code set expanding quickly without clear merge and split rules. They worked directly with the files we already had and left us with a much cleaner, reproducible workflow rather than just screenshots of output.”
Statistical Support Within Your Research OnlineSPSS provides the agreed methodological, analytical and statistical reporting support, including the Quirkos project and exports 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 Quirkos Analysis for Research
Short answers to what researchers ask before sharing a Quirkos project, from the approaches we carry out and visual coding to merge decisions, contrary cases and confidentiality.
Which analyses do you carry out in Quirkos?
Quirkos analysis at OnlineSPSS covers thematic, framework, content and narrative analysis, interpretative phenomenological analysis and smaller grounded theory projects. The approach follows your research question and the amount of data, and it is confirmed during the assessment.
Can a visual Quirkos project become a written analysis that a reviewer can follow?
Yes. The picture of bubbles is complemented by a codebook with definitions, memos that explain each decision and exports of the coded data. A reviewer can then see what each theme includes, why it was formed and which excerpts support it, none of which the visual overview shows on its own.
How are merge and split decisions documented?
Each change is recorded with the earlier structure, the reason for the change and the excerpts that prompted it. This is kept in the memos and in the exported codebook, so a coauthor can see how the final set of themes came from the first one and can disagree with a decision if they wish.
Do negative cases have to be reported?
Where the approach uses them as a test of the themes, yes. Many qualitative approaches expect a deliberate search for evidence that does not fit, though the way it is reported differs by method, and in those cases contrary cases are listed with their excerpts beside the theme they qualify, so the themes do not rest only on the most vivid quotations.
How do you protect my research data and confidentiality?
Your Quirkos project, interview data and exports 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 Quirkos project and your transcripts, 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
Quirkos Project With Us
Share your research question, the approach you plan to follow and the Quirkos project or transcripts you have. We look at the theme set and its definitions and confirm the scope before any work begins.
No Commitment Required
Strictly Confidential
Fixed Project Fee
In-House PhD-Level Statisticians
Same-Day Response
Serving Researchers Since 2014