Analyzing Open-Ended Survey Questions with MAXQDA

This guide describes a procedure for analyzing responses to open survey questions with MAXQDA. The procedure does not consider the open-ended questions in isolation from the other data collected, but rather interlinks this qualitative data with the standardized, quantitative data in the sense of a mixed methods approach. The procedure consists of three steps:

1. within-case and cross-case exploration
2. coding the answers
3. category-based analysis

The procedure combines qualitative and quantitative data as well as word-based and category-based procedures and is demonstrated by an example of a mixed methods evaluation of a university course with an online survey. Following this approach, the information on an individual case is always accessible and can be included in a cross-case analysis.