Christina Silver, PhD, is Research Fellow in the Department of Sociology at the University of Surrey, Guildford, UK where she leads the training and capacity-building activities of the CAQDAS Networking Project.
The project provides information, advice and training in a range of software packages designed to facilitate the analysis of qualitative and mixed data. Christina also co-directs the department’s Day Courses in Social Research programme which provides qualitative and quantitative methods training, and is co-founder of Qualitative Data Analysis Services (QDAS) http://www.qdaservices.co.uk/ which provides customised consultancy services for individuals and groups engaged in data analysis. Christina’s particular interests relate to the relationship between technology and methodology and the teaching of computer-assisted analysis. She has experience in using many different CAQDAS packages (including ATLAS.ti, MAXQDA, NVivo, Transana and QDA Miner) for a range of project types, across academic disciplines, and in applied, government and commercial contexts. Over the past 20 years Christina has trained and supported thousands of researchers around the world, focussing on harnessing CAQDAS powerfully, whatever the methodology. Recent publications include the following:
- Silver C, & Woolf, N (2015) “From guided instruction to facilitation of learning: The development of Five-level QDA as a CAQDAS pedagogy that explicates the practices of expert users” International Journal of Social Research Methodology, Vol 18, Iss 5
- Silver C, Rivers, C . “The CAQDAS Postgraduate Learning Model: an interplay between methodological awareness, analytic adeptness and technological proficiency”, International Journal of Social Research Methods, published online, September 2015
- Silver C. & Lewins A (2014) Using Software in Qualitative Research: A Step-by-Step Guide, 2nd Edition. Sage Publications, London. Freely available step-by-step handouts for using MAXQDA are available on the companion website.