The Shape of Agency: Designing for Personal Agency in Qualitative Data Analysis

TL;DR

This paper explores how data visualizations can empower qualitative researchers to maintain control and autonomy in computational thematic analysis without requiring programming skills.

Contribution

It introduces a design science prototype that enhances researcher agency in qualitative data analysis through visualization tools.

Findings

Researchers value autonomy and control over their analysis process.

Visualizations can effectively support qualitative researchers' cognitive needs.

The prototype received positive feedback for fostering researcher agency.

Abstract

Computational thematic analysis is rapidly emerging as a method of using large text corpora to understand the lived experience of people across the continuum of health care: patients, practitioners, and everyone in between. However, many qualitative researchers do not have the necessary programming skills to write machine learning code on their own, but also seek to maintain ownership, intimacy, and control over their analysis. In this work we explore the use of data visualizations to foster researcher agency and make computational thematic analysis more accessible to domain experts. We used a design science research approach to develop a datavis prototype over four phases: (1) problem comprehension, (2) specifying needs and requirements, (3) prototype development, and (4) feedback on the prototype. We show that qualitative researchers have a wide range of cognitive needs when conducting data analysis and place high importance upon choices and freedom, wanting to feel autonomy over their own research and not be replaced or hindered by AI.