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QSR NUD*IST (Version 4). Thousand Oaks, CA: Scolari-age Publications Software, 1997, $615.00.
Reviewed by John W Fleenor, Director of Research, Mediappraise Corporation, Raleigh, NC.
QSR NUD*IST (Non-Numerical Unstructured Data Indexing, Searching and Theory-Building) is a graphics-based software program for managing qualitative data analysis projects. Developed in the early 1980s by two sociologists at La Trobe University in Australia (Richards & Richards, 1994), NUD*IST has become one of the dominant products in the worldwide qualitative analysis software market. It also has become widely used in the U.S., mainly in academic circles.
The latest revision of NUD*IST (Version 4) was released in February, 1997. It represents a significant improvement over previous versions of the software. Version 4 provides additional tools for obtaining quantitative results as well as the standard qualitative analyses, For example, a report can be created and exported to other programs for further statistical analysis. This extension is particularly valuable for researchers who wish to use both qualitative and quantitative approaches. With NUD*IST 4, researchers can import quantitative data files and create categories based on the imported information. In addition, NUD*IST 4 includes a program called QSR Merge that allows users to transport data sets across different platforms (e.g., Windows and Mac).
To run NUD*IST 4 on a PC, the minimum system requirements include Windows 3.1, a 486 CPU, 8Mb of RAM, a hard drive, a 20Mb swap file, a VGA color monitor, a mouse, and a 1.44Mb disk drive. For a Mac, the minimum requirements include System 7 in virtual memory mode, a 680x0 CPU, 8Mb of RAM, a hard drive, a color monitor, a mouse, and a 1.44Mb disk drive.
In a typical NUD*IST project, a researcher explores data from sources such as interviews or surveys by browsing and marking-up ("coding") the text, and then searching it for relevant content. Codes and categories are stored...