Explore QualCoder, a free tool for qualitative research, and meet the developers 

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A screenshot of QualCoder’s Coding workspace showing a qualitative interview transcript about Darth Vader: the main text pane displays interview questions and highlighted coded passages, including themes of authoritarianism, redemption, family values, and character complexity. A document list and color-coded code hierarchy appear in the left sidebar.

Guest post by Van Bich Tran, Public Health and Social Sciences Librarian

Looking for a powerful, free alternative to NVivo or ATLAS.ti? Curious about open-source tools for qualitative analysis?  

Join Temple Libraries for an interactive online workshop featuring QualCoder, a free, open-source qualitative data analysis (QDA) program for Windows, macOS, and Linux. The workshop is cohosted with two QualCoder developers: Dr. Colin Curtain and Psic. Lorenzo Salomón Cárdenas. 

Whether you are working with interviews, focus groups, field notes, documents, images, audio, video, or a mixed-methods project, QualCoder can help you organize, code, analyze, and visualize your research data. 

What you’ll learn at the QualCoder for Qualitative Data Analysis workshop: 

You’ll see the newly released QualCoder 4.0 features and learn how to: 

  • Import and organize qualitative data 
  • Create and manage cases, attributes and coding 
  • Apply codes to text, PDFs, images, audio, and video 
  • Generate coding analyses, reports and visualizations 
  • Work with code hierarchies, memos, journals, and annotations 
  • Explore AI-assisted coding and data exploration features 
  • Collaborate, save, export, and share results and projects 

Psic. Lorenzo Salomón Cárdenas has a bachelor’s in psychology and a master’s in social sciences, and is studying law to further his main work as a human rights activist. He is a member of the network for SMR (Scalabrinian Mission with Migrants and Refugees), and is supporting migrants and people facing forced displacement in Sinaloa, Mexico.  He is a certified ATLAS.ti trainer, teaches courses on qualitative data analysis software, and builds custom tools for the faculty at the Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa. He joined the QualCoder development team in 2026. Deeply committed to the democratization of knowledge, he is a strong advocate for open access and free, open-source tools. He will cohost and answer questions live on October 7. 

Dr. Colin Curtain, the original developer of QualCoder, is a lecturer at the University of Tasmania, Australia. His interests include clinical pharmacy, computer programming, research, statistics, and clinical decision support. He is currently teaching post-graduate clinical pharmacy and supervising Masters and PhD research.  Dr. Curtain will cohost and answer questions live on October 14. 

Temple Libraries presenters include Van Bich Tran, Public Health and Social Sciences Librarian, and Felipe Valdez, GIS Specialist. 

QualCoder Logo, featuring a Black “Q” on the left, intertwines with a Purple “C” on the right.

Register for October 7 or 14 or both! 

The workshop is offered on two dates and will be held online via Zoom and recorded. Register to participate live, ask questions, or receive the recording afterward.  

QualCoder for Qualitative Data Analysis  

Wednesday, October 7  | Noon to 1:00 PM EST 

Wednesday, October 14 |   7:00 to 8:00 PM EST 

You are also invited to other qualitative research-related workshops this semester. Find out how the Qualitative Data Analysis Team supports qualitative research and qualitative and software resources on our library guide for Qualitative Data Analysis & Tools.   

Contact Van Bich Tran at van.bich.tran@temple.edu with any questions.