However, after weeks of continued searching, I found a YouTube video entitled \u201cCoding Text Using Microsoft Word<\/a>\u201d (Harold Peach, 2014). At first, I assumed this would show me how to use Word comments to highlight certain text in a transcript, which is a handy function, but what about collating those codes into a table or Excel file? What about tracking which member of the team codes certain text? I assumed this would be an explanation of manual coding using Word, which works fine for some projects, but not for our team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Fortunately, my assumption was wrong. Dr. Harold Peach, Associate Professor of Education at Georgetown College, had developed a Word Macro<\/a> to identify and pull all comments from the word document into a table (Peach, n.d.). A macro is \u201ca series of commands and instructions that you group together as a single command to accomplish a task automatically\u201d (Create or Run a Macro – Microsoft Support<\/em>, n.d.). Once downloaded, the \u201cExtract Comments to New Document\u201d macro opens a template and produces a table of the coded information as shown in the image below. The macro identifies the following properties:<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n You can move the data from the Word table into an Excel sheet where you can sort codes for patterns or frequencies, a function that our team was looking for in a program as shown below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n This Word Macro was a good fit for our team for many reasons. First, our members could create comments on a Word document, regardless of their operating system. Second, we could continue to house our data on our institution\u2019s servers, ensuring our projects meet strict IRB data security measures. Third, the Word macro allowed for basic coding features (coding multiple passages multiple times, highlighting coded text, etc.) and had a very low learning curve: teaching someone how to use Word Comments. Lastly, our institution provides access to the complete Microsoft Suite so all team members including students that would be working on projects already had access to the Word program. We contacted our IT department to have them verify that the macro was safe and for help downloading the macro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once installed, I tested out the macro with our undergraduate research assistant on a qualitative project and found it to be intuitive and helpful. We coded independently and met multiple times to discuss our work. Eventually we ran the macro, pulled all comments from our data, and moved the macro tables into Excel where we manually merged our work. Through this process, we found some potential drawbacks that could impact certain teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, researchers can view all previous comments made which might impact how teammates code or how second-cycle coding is performed; other programs let you hide previous codes so researcher can come at the text fresh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Second, coding across paragraphs can create issues with the resulting table; cells merge in ways that make it difficult to sort and filter if moved to Excel, but a quick cleaning of the data took care of this issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lastly, we manually merged our work, negotiating codes and content, as our codes were inductively generated; researchers working on deductive projects may bypass this negotiation and find the process of merging much faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite these potential drawbacks, we found this macro sufficient for our project as it was free to use, easy to learn, and a helpful way to organize our data. The following table summarizes the pro and cons of this macro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scientific work can be enhanced and advanced by the right tools; however, it can be difficult to distinguish which computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software program is right for a team or a project. Any of the programs mentioned in this paper would be good options for individuals who do not need to collaborate or for those who are working with publicly available data that require different data security protocols. However, the Word macro highlighted here is a great option for many research teams. In all, although there are many powerful computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software programs out there, our team found the simplest option was the best option for our projects and our needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Create or run a macro\u2014Microsoft Support<\/em>. (n.d.). Retrieved July 17, 2023, from https:\/\/support.microsoft.com\/en-us\/office\/create-or-run-a-macro-c6b99036-905c-49a6-818a-dfb98b7c3c9c<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Harold Peach (Director). (2014, June 30). Coding text using Microsoft Word<\/em>. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=TbjfpEe4j5Y<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Peach, H. (n.d.). Extract comments to new document \u2013 Word macros and tips \u2013 Work smarter and save time in Word<\/em>. Retrieved July 17, 2023, from https:\/\/www.thedoctools.com\/word-macros-tips\/word-macros\/extract-comments-to-new-document\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Greta Underhill In my last post, I outlined my search for a computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) program that would fit our Research Unit\u2019s needs. We needed a program that would enable our team to collaborate across operating systems, easily adding in new team members as needed, while providing a user-friendly experience without… Continue reading ![\"Picture](\"https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/1504\/files\/2023\/11\/Picture-of-transcript.png\")
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nTesting the Word Macro<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Pros and Cons of the \u201cExtract Comments to New Document\u201d Word Macro<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Pros<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Cons<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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References <\/h2>\n\n\n\n