A New Era for Data Analysis in Qualitative Research: ChatGPT!

Abstract

Today, the use of software in qualitative research analysis is rapidly becoming widespread among researchers. Researchers manage large data sets using features such as editing data, transcribating, creating codes, and searching within data. However, while the data analysis uses software in a format, the analysis of the essence of the data is done by researchers. An AI language model, ChatGPT, released by the OpenAI company, has features such as text editing, creation, and abbreviation. In this research, considering the characteristics of ChatGPT, an answer was sought to the question of whether it can be used in data analysis for qualitative research. In this research, the case study of the qualitative research method was preferred. The data of the research consists of interview texts of two participants from an unpublished study. The texts were subjected to qualitative research analysis process through ChatGPT-4. Data analysis was done in two separate ways, specifying code, category and theme and not specifying. In conclusion, it has been found that ChatGPT can create code, category and theme, cite directly from within the text, interpret data sets, and analyze the meaning at the core of the data sets. In this context, the availability of ChatGPT in data analysis in qualitative research has been discussed.