On coding and decoding

25.04.2023

Ever wondered what "MAXQDA" stands for? Find out what a classic German sociologist has to do with modern computer-assisted data analysis...

The Retrex project team is currently embarking on the next phase of the project: data analysis. On the pictures, you can see Antonia Baumann and Daniela Schlager analysing observation protocols together.

As part of the Retrex research project, the project team works with MAXQDA software. If you know the software, you may have wondered what the acronym "MAXQDA" stands for. At least we did. It soon turned out that "QDA", not surprisingly, stands for "Qualitative Data Analysis". "MAX", on the other hand, is the developers' homage to the famous German sociologist and economist Max Weber.

Mystery solved. Let's hope that the rest of the brainwork, and especially the upcoming collaborative coding, will be just as straightforward.