What are the basic Functions of Computer Programs for Qualitative Analysis?
We are all familiar with indexes (or ‘registers’, or ‘concordances’) of various kinds; the widest applied form of an index is certainly an author and subject index in a book. An electronic index is usually constructed by storing index words together with the ‘addresses’ of text passages. Such an address may contain the beginning and the end, in terms of line numbers, of a certain text passage to which the index word refers. Software programs which are based on these principles have been called ‘code-and-retrieve’ programs (Kelle, 1995: p.4ff.; Richards and Richards, 1995).
