Performing Qualitative Data Analysis as a Blind Researcher: Challenges, Workarounds and Design Recommendations

Abstract

Over the last 2 decades, the way in which disabled body minds are regarded in research has evolved considerably. From an understanding that disability research involves research or enquiry on or of disabled people, there is now a shift in thinking that regards disability research as research done by and with disabled people as well, thus challenging traditional researcher-participant relationships. This has lead to a larger number of people with disabilities aspiring to enter academia. However, several barriers to full inclusion of people with disabilities still remain. This paper talks about one such barrier, that is, the lack of accessibility in software packages used for qualitative data analysis. Through the author’s experiences in hunting for accessible ways to perform qualitative data analysis, the paper reviews existing software packages, discusses possible workarounds, and considers the feature requirements for an accessible qualitative data analysis tool.