The Ethnograph
The Ethnograph is a qualitative data analysis software used primarily in academic research. It allows researchers to import, code, annotate, and analyze textual data such as interview transcripts, field notes, historical documents, and open-ended survey results.
academic-research
coding
qualitative-analysis
The Ethnograph: Qualitative Data Analysis Software
Qualitative data analysis software used in academic research, for importing, coding, annotating, and analyzing textual data.
What is The Ethnograph?
The Ethnograph is a long-standing qualitative data analysis software that has been used extensively in anthropology and sociology research since the 1980s. It provides a comprehensive suite of tools for managing, coding, linking, analyzing, and reporting on qualitative data such as interview transcripts, focus group recordings, field observations, historical archives, and open-ended survey answers.
Key features include highly customizable and hierarchical coding schemes, conceptual mapping and analysis tools, search and retrieval functions, multidimensional crosstab reports, and publication-quality reporting. The Ethnograph works with textual data, but has limited multimedia support.
The software is geared towards rigorous academic analysis, promoting iterative engagement with qualitative data to uncover themes, test theories, and develop analytic explanations. The interface may seem outdated but is carefully tuned for intensive coding work. The Ethnograph exports to R and Python for additional analysis.
The Ethnograph excels at longitudinal studies with large volumes of textual data. It has an established user base across universities and research centers. While proprietary, it has competitive licensing and academic pricing. Training and support are available through the active user community mailing list.
The Ethnograph Features
Features
- Import and analyze text documents
- Code and retrieve data
- Annotate text
- Analyze relationships between codes
- Produce reports
Pricing
- One-time Purchase
- Subscription-Based
Pros
Powerful coding and retrieval tools
Flexible annotation system
Integrates well with word processors
Good for collaborative projects
Cons
Steep learning curve
No auto coding features
Limited quantitative analysis options
Only available for Windows
Official Links
The Best The Ethnograph Alternatives
Top Education & Reference and Qualitative Data Analysis and other similar apps like The Ethnograph
NVivo
NVivo is a qualitative data analysis software platform designed for researchers working with rich text-based and multimedia information, where deep levels of analysis on small or large volumes of data are required. NVivo is used across a wide range of fields from academia, to government and commercial organizations.Some of the...
MAXQDA
MAXQDA is a powerful qualitative data analysis software designed for researchers working with textual data, including interview transcripts, focus groups, surveys, literature, webpages, images, PDF files, audio and video files, tweets and more. It provides advanced tools to organize, analyze, visualize and publish both structured and unstructured data.Some of the...
ATLAS.ti
ATLAS.ti is a highly flexible qualitative data analysis software designed to help researchers organize, analyze and discover themes, concepts and models across texts, images, audio and video data. It is widely used in academic and commercial research across disciplines such as social sciences, market research, evaluation of focus groups, literature...
AQUAD
AQUAD is a powerful software application designed specifically for computer-assisted qualitative data analysis. It facilitates the analysis of textual data such as interview transcripts, field notes, open-ended survey responses, focus group data, and more.With AQUAD, researchers can import documents, manually or automatically code passages of text to categorize and tag...
Transana
Transana is an open source application for assisting in qualitative research. It provides tools to help researchers organize, transcribe, code, analyze, and search video and audio data to find relevant content and identify themes and patterns.Some key features of Transana include:Tools for creating and organizing analytic media clips from larger...
Dedoose
Dedoose is a powerful web-based software platform designed specifically for qualitative and mixed methods research analysis. It allows researchers to organize, analyze, visualize and report on quantitative and qualitative data all in one place.Key features of Dedoose include:Intuitive and easy-to-use web-based interfaceAbility to upload and work with text, audio, images,...
Taguette
Taguette is a free, open-source music tag editor available for Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. It provides an intuitive interface for viewing and editing the metadata tags of various audio file formats, including MP3, FLAC, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, WMA, and more.With Taguette, users can easily fix incorrect or missing...
RQDA
RQDA is a qualitative data analysis software that provides users with a systematic process for coding, organizing, categorizing, annotating, and analyzing non-numerical data such as textual documents, interview transcripts, field notes, open-ended survey responses, images, audio, and video files. This tool facilitates qualitative researchers to import data from various formats...
QualCoder
QualCoder is an open-source, cross-platform qualitative data analysis application written in Python. It allows researchers to import textual data such as interview transcripts, social media posts, news articles, etc. and systematically code, annotate and analyze the data.Key features of QualCoder include:Importing and managing textual documents and other file types like...
CATMA
CATMA (Computer-Assisted Text Markup and Analysis) is a free, open-source web application designed for collaborative text annotation, analysis, and visualization. Developed at the Hamburg University's Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, CATMA allows researchers to upload texts, define annotation tagsets and schemas, manually annotate texts or automatically pre-annotate them,...
Wired-Marker
Wired-Marker is a freehand sketching and wireframing application designed specifically for UI/UX designers, web developers, product managers, and anyone who creates mockups or prototypes. It has an easy-to-use interface with essential tools for drawing, sketching, and diagramming ideas.With Wired-Marker, you can quickly put together wireframes, website mockups, mobile app prototypes,...
Quirkos
Quirkos is user-friendly software designed specifically for qualitative data analysis. Researchers can import Word documents, PDFs, spreadsheets, audio files, images, videos, and more into Quirkos and then code and annotate the data through an intuitive drag-and-drop interface.One of the key features of Quirkos is its flexibility in managing and organizing...
HyperResearch
HyperResearch is a versatile qualitative data analysis software designed to assist researchers in managing and analyzing large amounts of textual data. It is an all-in-one solution for researchers across disciplines, from market research to academic study, journalism to ethnography, and everything in between.With HyperResearch, users can:Import and organize textual data...
Keeword bee
Keeword bee is a user-friendly keyword research tool designed to help content creators, SEO specialists, and marketers find the best keywords to target. It provides detailed keyword data and analysis to determine high-potential, low-competition keywords and keyphrases.Some key features of Keeword bee include:Keyword difficulty metrics and scores to identify easy-to-rank...
DiscoverText
DiscoverText is an open-source web-based text analysis software developed by researchers at Columbia University. It provides a user-friendly interface for uploading texts, analyzing them using various natural language processing techniques, and generating visualizations to gain insights.Some of the key features of DiscoverText include:Uploading texts in multiple file formats like PDF,...
