STATISTICAL SOFTWARE
MAXQDA Qualitative Analysis
Code Systems Built to Be Reviewed
Our MAXQDA qualitative analysis service carries out coding, thematic and content analysis and mixed methods integration in MAXQDA, working from your project, and returns it with the code system, retrieved segments, matrices and analytic memos as the method requires.
No Commitment Required
Strictly Confidential
In-House PhD-Level Statisticians
Fixed Project Fee
Same-Day Response
What Is MAXQDA Used For in Research?
MAXQDA is a commercial software package for qualitative and mixed methods analysis from VERBI Software. A project holds its sources in a document system, its codes in a hierarchical code system and its survey or sociodemographic data as document variables, so that coded segments can be retrieved and compared by group. Researchers choose it for that link between texts, codes and variables and for visual tools such as the Code Matrix Browser. The software retrieves and displays the material; what a pattern means is decided by reading the segments within the chosen method. OnlineSPSS, a specialist statistical consultancy for academic, clinical and professional research, provides a MAXQDA qualitative analysis service in which an in-house PhD-level statistician carries out the agreed analysis in MAXQDA, working from your project and documenting each coding decision.
WHEN TO ENGAGE
Situations That Bring a MAXQDA Project to Us
The starting point differs: a code system that has grown across coders, a mixed design whose strands are not yet connected, a project handed over midway, or a request to account for the analysis.
Code System Grown Across Coders Categories and subcodes added by several people no longer line up, so MAXQDA coding should pause until definitions and rules are agreed and applied across the hierarchy.
Variables and Segments Unconnected Document variables from a survey sit beside coded segments with no planned link, so MAXQDA mixed methods work needs an integration question before any display is built.
Project Handed Over Midway A colleague's project is partly coded, and its documents, codes and memos have to be read and understood before the analysis is continued in the same file.
Documentation Requested A supervisor or journal asks how the analysis was done, and MAXQDA research consulting here means organizing the project's own segments, matrices and memos into an account of the steps.
ANALYSES IN MAXQDA
Approaches Carried Out in MAXQDA for Your Material
The approach follows the research question and the type of data, and each card links to the method page that sets out what the approach requires.
Mixed Methods Research
Document variables are linked to coded segments so that the qualitative and quantitative strands can be compared within a stated integration design, for instance in a joint display.
Thematic Analysis
MAXQDA thematic analysis builds themes from the code system, with the segments retrieved for each theme and memos that record how codes were grouped and why.
Content Analysis
Categories with definitions are applied to the units of analysis, coverage is read in the code matrix where the design is quantitative, and agreement is checked if the method requires it.
Grounded Theory
Codes are developed in stages alongside memos, and the code system changes with constant comparison, with each revision recorded so that the development stays traceable.
Discourse Analysis
Transcribed talk or text is coded for the discursive features the analytic approach attends to, and longer passages are kept in context rather than cut into isolated segments.
Framework Analysis
Coded segments are summarized into a matrix of cases by themes, so that cases can be compared, and each summary remains tied to the passages it came from.
COMMON MAXQDA ISSUES
Where a MAXQDA Code System Starts to Drift
A code system can grow faster than its definitions, and mixed methods displays inherit every inconsistency in it, so these checks come before segments are retrieved for reporting.
Hierarchy Without Definitions A subcode means little if its parent is vague, so each code receives a definition and its place in the hierarchy is justified.
Parallel Codes From Different Coders Two coders create separate codes for one idea and the retrieved segments split. The codes are compared against the text, merged, and the merge is recorded.
Document Variables Out of Step A misspelled group value, or a transcript whose variables were never filled in, silently drops cases from a comparison, so variable values are checked before any group is compared.
Retrieval Read as Evidence A set of retrieved segments is a view, not a finding. The segments are read in context, and a few vivid quotations are not allowed to stand for the whole set.
Mixed Methods Tools Used Without a Plan The mixed methods features add value only when variables and coded segments are intentionally connected, so the integration question comes first and the display second.
Memos Not Attached Analytic memos that float free of the segments they discuss cannot be audited, so each memo is attached to the code or document it concerns.
DELIVERABLES
What You Receive From a MAXQDA Analysis
The files follow the agreed scope and are provided where applicable, so that your colleagues can open the project and see how the analysis was built.
MAXQDA Project The project file with documents, code system and memos arranged, ready to be opened and continued by you or your team.
Codebook The code system exported with definitions, inclusion and exclusion rules and the hierarchy, where the method uses a codebook.
Retrieved Segments Segments retrieved by code, theme or variable group, with the document identified, supporting each statement made in the findings.
Matrices and Displays Code matrices and, for mixed designs, the display joining variables and coded segments, exported for the manuscript or an appendix.
Analytic Memos Memos on coding decisions and theme development, attached to the codes and segments they concern.
Coding and Methods Description A description of the coding procedure within the chosen method, covering the code system and memos, with the limits of the coding stated plainly, for you to check and incorporate.
OTHER PLATFORMS
When Another Platform May Be More Appropriate
Whether MAXQDA remains the right environment depends on how the strands are joined, how the coding is organized and what the team shares.
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE
How a MAXQDA Analysis May Look in Practice
An illustration of how a mixed methods project with unconnected strands becomes an integrated, documented analysis.
ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLE · RURAL BROADBAND ADOPTION RESEARCH · UNITED STATES
A rural development research center combined household interviews with a short survey to understand why some households had not adopted home internet, and held both strands in one MAXQDA project.
The design was a convergent mixed methods study set before the analysis began, with survey responses imported as document variables. The complication was in the code system: different research assistants had built parallel codes for cost and affordability, so segments retrieved by income group were split across them. The codes were compared against the text, merged under written definitions, and earlier documents were recoded to match. Variable values were checked against the interview identifiers before any groups were compared, and a joint display then placed the theme summaries beside the survey pattern for each group, with the points of agreement and divergence described in words.
Outcome: The center received the MAXQDA project, a codebook, retrieved segments for each theme, the joint display and analytic memos that record how the two strands were connected.
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 MAXQDA Is Common
MAXQDA projects come from education, health and social science teams among others, and the link between variables and coded segments matters in any field that joins interview and survey data.
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 qualitative researcher on a code system that became inconsistent across coders, and a project kept in the team's own platform.
“I needed the work kept in MAXQDA because that is what our team uses internally. The main problem was a large code system becoming inconsistent across categories and coders. OnlineSPSS corrected the setup and returned the project files with clear reporting, which made later changes much easier.”
Statistical Support Within Your Research OnlineSPSS provides the agreed methodological, analytical and statistical reporting support, including the MAXQDA project files 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 MAXQDA Analysis for Research
Short answers to what researchers ask before sharing a MAXQDA project, from the approaches we carry out and mixed methods integration to large code systems, diverging strands and confidentiality.
Which analyses do you carry out in MAXQDA?
MAXQDA analysis at OnlineSPSS covers thematic, content, framework and discourse analysis, grounded theory and the qualitative strand of mixed methods research. The choice follows your research question and the kind of material you hold, and it is confirmed during the assessment.
Can my mixed methods study stay in MAXQDA, with variables linked to coded segments?
Yes, within the agreed scope. Document variables and coded segments are connected around a stated integration question, such as comparing themes between groups, before any display is built. The project stays in MAXQDA, and the matrices and joint displays that result are exported for your manuscript.
Can you bring a large code system back into order without losing the coding already done?
Usually, yes. Codes are reviewed against the segments, then merged, moved or retired with the earlier structure kept on record, so the change can be explained and reversed if needed. Definitions and inclusion rules are written for the codes that remain, and documents coded under the old structure are checked against them.
What if the interviews and the survey in my mixed methods study point in different directions?
Report the difference as a finding rather than resolving it by favoring one strand. In a joint display the two results sit side by side, and the divergence is explained where the data allow, for example by who was sampled, when each strand was collected or how a concept was measured. Where no explanation can be supported, the divergence is stated as an open question.
How do you protect my research data and confidentiality?
Your MAXQDA project, interview material and code system 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 MAXQDA project and any survey data, 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
MAXQDA Project With Us
Share your research question, the approach you intend to use and the MAXQDA project, or the sources and variables you hold. We check the code system and the document variables before any work begins.
No Commitment Required
Strictly Confidential
Fixed Project Fee
In-House PhD-Level Statisticians
Same-Day Response
Serving Researchers Since 2014