Researcher Tools

From Dar

In order to do the best quality research efficiently it's worth getting equipped with the best and most appropriate tools for the job. Everybody has their own individual preferences but here are some tips which might be useful:

1 email
- 1.1 recommended web-based email service providers
- 1.2 client email applications
2 Personal Notepad
- 2.1 online notebooks
- 2.2 Personal Notebooks
3 Qualitative data analysis tools
- 3.1 hyperresearch
- 3.2 tams

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email

Web based email is convenient if you travel and use different computers and locations, but there are also some serious limitations to what you can do with it. An installed client email system on the other hand should enable the online researcher to maintain better organised records, sort them by date, author or thread and generally slice and dice the data much more efficiently. The best solution of all is probably to synchronise an offline e-mail reader with a web based one, for example by enabling pop access from inside a gmail account and then getting mozilla Thunderbird to download all the messages onto your home office computer.

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recommended web-based email service providers

gmail - for the searchability and the >2Gb storage as well as some clever Ajax tricks giving some of the functionality of a client application in your browser. URL: [Gmail]

To make it usable for research puposes you probably need to set up filters and labels for each project.

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client email applications

Forté Agent veteran offline newsreader client with email included. Excellent tool but no Mac OS version.

Mozilla Thunderbird - from the makers of Firefox, a fully functioned open-source solution.

Apple Mail - I just can't get on with this, but others like it. Can possible be synchronised with a web based email interface in dot Mac?

Microsoft Outlook (not Express)

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Personal Notepad

For keeping research notes, brainstorming, rough journals, to do lists etc

Here again there is a trade-off between portability (web) and agility (client).

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online notebooks

You could use any kind of wiki or browser editable system as long as it's going to allow you the ease of use and privacy level you require. Here are a few:

pbwiki 'peanut butter wiki'

webnotes

a full blown wiki Your own installed wiki on your webspace with the addition of a .htaccess file to control visibility to the world.

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Personal Notebooks

Installed programs which don't intend to give web access to your wiki at all, it's just for you and resides on your computer's hard disk. You could still upload it via ftp or email it to your webmail account though if you want to work on it from another location, but you'll need to have the same personal wiki software installed there as well. I do this, it works for me. --Andy Roberts 16:27, 19 November 2005 (GMT)