Research software can be expensive. If you are affiliated with an educational institution, the institution may have a license that allows you to use the software at no cost to you. This access may be available to community members, so it is worthwhile to talk to a librarian at a college or university in your area and ask whether community members can access the institution's computers and use the software. As well, some current research software programs can be downloaded for a trial period of about 30 days without cost. In some instances, free software may also be available on the web.
Sample: NVivo 7 http://www.qsrinternational.com
What does it all mean? This is a guiding question for interpreting your data analysis. Interpretation can draw on your own and others' knowledge and experiences. You draw conclusions and make suggestions about what the analysis means for practice. When you interpret, you might also consider and discuss alternative explanations.
Mills (2000, pp. 103-104) offers some suggestions for interpreting what you've learned through the analysis:
Extend the analysis. This involves asking questions that arise from what you learned and/or suggesting implications for practice (or further research). For example, in my research about using arts-based approaches in adult literacy education (Norton, 2008), I concluded:
Participants...suggested that we need a way for practitioners to get together to share ideas. This could include workshops with online follow-up. Another suggestion is for literacy educators to link with artists and others who are not necessarily involved in education, but who use arts-based approaches in their lives. An artist in residence is another idea to explore.
My hope is that this exploration provides a base to develop a proposal for a group of adult literacy educators to research ways to introduce arts-based approaches into our work and to document the approaches and outcomes.
Connect your learnings with personal experience. This involves relating the findings to your own context. How does what you learned apply to your work? How does your work or context influence your interpretation? For example, as one of the practitioners who researched how adults with little formal education learn, Kate Nonesuch found that in some ways [the research] has confirmed and validated what I already knew. After our analysis of the data we collected, I am more convinced than ever of the importance of helping students increase their agency and their sense of having control over their learning; I know that the importance I place on their feeling safe and comfortable in the classroom is not just my style, that it affects students ability and willingness to learn. (Niks et al., 2003, p. 94)