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ERIC Number: EJ887905
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-May
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1052-0147
EISSN: N/A
Using Wordle as a Supplementary Research Tool
McNaught, Carmel; Lam, Paul
Qualitative Report, v15 n3 p630-643 May 2010
A word cloud is a special visualization of text in which the more frequently used words are effectively highlighted by occupying more prominence in the representation. We have used Wordle to produce word-cloud analyses of the spoken and written responses of informants in two research projects. The product demonstrates a fast and visually rich way to enable researchers to have some basic understanding of the data at hand. Word clouds can be a useful tool for preliminary analysis and for validation of previous findings. However, Wordle is an adjunct tool and we do not recommend that this method be used as a stand-alone research tool comparable to traditional content analysis methods. (Contains 12 figures.)
Nova Southeastern University. 3301 College Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33317. Tel: 954-262-5389; Fax: 954-262-3970; Web site: http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A