IRAMUTEQ as a tool in data processing in qualitative research

Abstract

This experience report is a descriptive study on the use of a software to contribute to data processing in a qualitative research in health, investigating its contributions to support data analysis in qualitative research. To this end, the methodology of Medeiros (2016) is reported, where the Iramuteq software was used and, according to the forms of analysis made possible by the software, it was chosen, after data processing, to perform textual analysis and interpretations from the Descending Hierarchical Classification - DHC, the analysis of similarity and the word cloud. By textual analysis of word frequency, 28,420 occurrences were found, 833 text segments and 71 number of texts. One can use the lexical analyses without losing the context in which the words appear, making it possible to integrate quantitative and qualitative levels in the analysis, bringing greater objectivity and advances to the interpretations of text data. As for the benefits of using Iramuteq, it retrieves the text segments associated with each class; it presents statistical and methodological rigor; optimizes the organization of data; it is free and performs multivariate analysis. However, the process presents difficulties such as the time needed by the researcher to study the software; in the production of a corpus with little textual volume and DHC with less text retention. The use of Iramuteq to support the analysis of qualitative data facilitates the organization and analysis of the data, as well as the elaboration of the research results that, however, depend on the analytical capacity of the researcher and on how he uses this software.