Text Mining in Qualitative Research: Application of an Unsupervised Learning Method

Reference:

Nina Janasik, Timo Honkela, and Henrik Bruun. Text mining in qualitative research: Application of an unsupervised learning method. Organizational Research Methods, 12(3):436–460, 2009.

Abstract:

The article provides an introduction to and a demonstration of the self-organizing map (SOM) method for organizational researchers interested in the use of qualitative data. The SOM is a versatile quantitative method very commonly used across many disciplines to analyze large data sets. The outcome of the SOM analysis is a map in which entities are positioned according to similarity. The authorsâ argument is that text mining using the SOM is particularly effective in improving inference quality within qualitative research. SOM creates multiple well-grounded perspectives on the data and thus improves the quality of the concepts and categories used in the analysis.

Suggested BibTeX entry:

@article{JanasikHonkelaBruunORM09,
    author = {Nina Janasik and Timo Honkela and Henrik Bruun},
    journal = {Organizational Research Methods},
    number = {3},
    pages = {436-460},
    title = {Text Mining in Qualitative Research: Application of an Unsupervised Learning Method},
    volume = {12},
    year = {2009},
}