Each variable has its own row in this window and the columns are used to define various parameters for them.įigure 12.1.2 – List of Document Variables window
Any variables created by the user (and that includes those imported as part of the survey data) have a blue box. Note in Figure 12.1.2 that some variables have been created by the program, these have a red box in the first column of the table. Here some user-defined variables have been added already (if you have imported the survey data element of this case study into your project you should also have something similar to these variables). This opens a window that is illustrated in Figure 12.1.2 below. Use the menu option “Variables > List of document variables” to open the routine. This exercise will work through the manual procedure so that you can become familiar with how these variables work before practising a more ambitious import routine in the next exercise.įigure 12.1.1 – Variables menu Using the document variables windows You can create new variables and add values for each case manually within MAXQDA11, or you can import several variables and the values for multiple cases in a special routine if you have this data arranged in a spreadsheet file. You can then use these variables in subsequent interrogations of your data to separate and compare the data for subgroups of your sample that share values for selected characteristics.Ĭode variables will be discussed in a separate exercise (Ch12 Ex3), they are useful when you have multiple cases in a document (such as a focus group transcript) and you have used structural codes to identify the contributions made by different speakers for whom you also want to record factual characteristics.
You should use document variables where a case is represented in your project data by a whole document, such as an interview transcript, so that you can record facts about each respondent such as their gender or age through an appropriate variable. There are two types of variable available, document variables and code variables. These are accessed from the top bar of menu options or through 4 icons on the standard toolbar (the toolbar icons are displayed in the menu, as can be seen in Figure 12.1.1 below). In MAXQDA11 the term used for the factual characteristics of cases or respondents is “Variables”.
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