About PrismQDA
What is PrismQDA?
PrismQDA is free Windows software for qualitative and mixed-methods research. Use it to analyze interviews, open-ended survey responses, documents, images, and recordings with transcripts or captions.
Read and code your material, maintain a codebook, write memos, explore patterns, and run statistical analyses. Your work stays in a project file on your own computer, and you can use the program offline.
Who is it for?
Students, researchers, and teachers who want to bring qualitative and quantitative analysis together without a subscription. PrismQDA is designed for people who want to keep research data on their own computer and work with a keyboard or screen reader.
Hands-on screen-reader testing is still pending. See Accessibility and languages below for what has been checked so far.
Is it really free?
Yes. There is no purchase price, subscription, trial period, advertising, or account requirement.
What does “early software” mean?
PrismQDA is an alpha pre-release. It has passed thousands of automated checks, including comparisons of its statistical results with R, but it has been used on relatively few real studies.
Expect rough edges and keep copies of your projects. PrismQDA saves changes as you work, supports Undo for most editing actions, and keeps dated project backups.
Getting started
What do I need to run it?
A Windows computer. PrismQDA has been built and tried on Windows 11. Windows 10 compatibility has not yet been tested. The installer is designed to install for your user account without administrator rights.
PrismQDA also needs Microsoft’s WebView2 Runtime, which is normally included with Windows 11. If it is missing, the installer downloads it from Microsoft, so that setup step needs an internet connection. Once set up, PrismQDA works offline.
Does it run on a Mac or Linux?
Not yet. The current release is for Windows only.
How do I install it?
Public Windows downloads are coming soon. Once available, download the installer from the PrismQDA website, run it, and follow the setup steps. Then open PrismQDA and choose Sample Projects if you want to explore it before importing your own data.
The current installer is unsigned, so Windows may display a warning. See the next answer for details.
Why does Windows warn me about it?
Microsoft Defender SmartScreen checks the reputation of downloaded applications. PrismQDA’s current installer is unsigned, and Windows may identify it as an unrecognized application. A warning is not, by itself, a diagnosis of the file’s safety.
Use the official download page and compare the file with its published SHA-256 checksum. If Windows shows More info → Run anyway, proceeding is your choice. Some computers managed by a school or employer may block installation.
Is there a version that does not need installing?
Yes. Download the portable ZIP, extract it to a folder or USB drive, and run PrismQDA from there. Its settings and recent-project list are stored beside the program.
The portable version is new and has had less testing than the installer.
Can I try it without using my own data?
Yes. Choose Sample Projects on the start screen, then Make an editable copy. PrismQDA creates an editable copy of the fictional Urban Mobility Study, with documents, a codebook, and coding already in place.
Is there a manual?
Yes. The user guide explains the program’s screens and workflows. Press F1 inside PrismQDA for keyboard shortcuts.
How do I update it?
Download the newer installer and run it over the existing installation. PrismQDA does not check for or install its own updates.
Newer versions can open projects created by older versions. If a project needs a file-format update, PrismQDA saves a copy of the older file first. Keep your own backups too.
Your data and privacy
Does PrismQDA send my data anywhere?
PrismQDA does not upload your research data or make network requests of its own. There is no account or sign-in.
You choose what to export, share, or paste into another service. In particular, anything you copy from the AI Assistant and paste into a chatbot is sent to that chatbot’s service.
PrismQDA’s offline operation is separate from installing WebView2 and from any network activity of Windows or Microsoft’s runtime. The Privacy page explains the distinction.
Where are my files?
Each project is a file ending in .pqda. It contains your imported documents and images, codes, coding assignments, memos, and activity log. Recordings can be linked to transcripts; keep those linked files available when moving a project.
Copy the project file to back it up or move it. Dated backups are kept in a .backups folder beside the project, or in another folder you choose.
Is the project file encrypted?
Not yet. If you work with sensitive material, protect the file using your computer’s security tools, such as account access controls and drive encryption. Project-file encryption is planned.
Can I use it with confidential interview data?
PrismQDA keeps research data on your computer, but that alone does not determine whether it meets your study’s requirements. Check your ethics approval, data agreement, and institution’s policies.
Project files are not encrypted in the current release. Decide where to store projects and backups, who can access them, and whether you may share any material with another service.
What happens if the program stops suddenly?
PrismQDA saves changes as you work. Reopen the project after an unexpected closure. Dated backups provide another recovery option if needed.
Can I undo a mistake?
Press Ctrl+Z to undo most editing actions, including changes in the Data editor, adding or deleting variables, and creating variables from formulas.
Some actions cannot be undone. PrismQDA identifies those actions before proceeding and saves a backup first. Replacing a document’s text with a revised version is one example.
What is the “log” in a project?
The activity log records what was done, by whom, and when. It stays with the project. The report builder uses those records to help draft the methods appendix and timeline.
Bringing material in
What kinds of files can I import?
- Text, Markdown, HTML, Word, OpenDocument text, RTF, and PDF: Imports the text as a document.
- Spreadsheets, CSV, and SPSS files: Creates a case for each row; selected text columns become documents and other columns become case variables.
- Transcripts and caption files (.vtt, .srt): Imports text with turns and speakers preserved.
- Recordings with captions: Links the transcript to the recording for reading, playback, and coding.
- PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP, and BMP images: Imports an image for region coding, with a description you can write.
- RIS, BibTeX, and CSL JSON reference libraries; .eml and .mbox email; saved web pages; news feeds: Creates a document for each item.
- Supported exports from YouTube, Reddit, and other social media: Imports documents and retains associated details as variables.
- A folder: Imports readable files and reports any it cannot read.
Can PrismQDA transcribe my recordings?
No. Bring a transcript or caption file. PrismQDA can link it to the recording so you can read, listen, and code together. Coding a recording without captions is not available yet.
Can I code a PDF the way I code a Word file?
PrismQDA extracts a PDF’s text so you can code its words. It does not yet support coding a region of a PDF page.
Can I import survey results?
Yes. Import a spreadsheet or SPSS file and identify the respondent ID, open-ended text columns, and case variables such as age group, site, or ratings. You can review how the columns will be used before importing.
My interview transcript was revised after I started coding. Do I lose my coding?
You can import a revised transcript as a replacement for the document’s text. PrismQDA preserves coding links to words that survive the revision and saves a backup first. Review the coding after replacement, especially where text has been removed or substantially rewritten.
Does it download things from YouTube or Reddit for me?
No. PrismQDA reads supported export files you already have. It does not visit those services or download content from them.
Coding and exploring
How do I code?
Select text with the mouse or keyboard, then apply a code. Number-key shortcuts are available for your most-used codes. Depending on your project settings, you can code selected words or whole units, such as paragraphs or transcript turns.
For an image, select a region with the pointer or keyboard, then apply a code.
What can a codebook hold?
A hierarchy of codes with definitions, inclusion criteria, examples, and counterexamples. You can also define mutually exclusive groups and codes with rating scales.
Save and compare codebook versions, merge or split codes, and see definitions alongside the passages where codes were used.
Can I write memos?
Yes. Attach a memo to a coding assignment, code, document, or the whole project. Memos can be marked as analytic or reflexive.
How do I find things?
Search with words, phrases, wildcards, regular expressions, and AND, OR, NOT, and NEAR. Press Ctrl+K to find a command or passage from anywhere in the program.
Use the Retrieved Segments table to review passages assigned to selected codes.
What is Explore?
Explore helps you examine patterns in your coding. It includes a query builder, code matrix, code relations, code summaries, crosstabs, charts, and a concept map. Queries can be saved, and results can be frozen for later reference.
What does Text Analytics do?
It shows word frequencies and lets you read words in context. It does not yet provide topic modeling, sentiment analysis, or word stemming.
What is Auto Code?
Auto Code finds passages by word, speaker, or heading and proposes coding assignments. Suggestions go to a review queue; they become coding assignments only when you accept them. Accepted coding decisions can be undone.
Statistics
What statistics can PrismQDA do?
- Descriptive statistics: means, medians, spread, quartiles, outliers, category counts, and proportions.
- One-sample, independent-samples, and paired t tests. Independent-samples tests use Welch’s method by default, with Student’s method available.
- One-way analysis of variance, with adjusted pairwise comparisons.
- Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests.
- Pearson, Spearman, and Kendall correlations.
- Mann–Whitney, Wilcoxon, and Kruskal–Wallis tests.
- Multiple linear regression, including categorical predictors, with predictors entered together or in steps.
- Bootstrap intervals for most procedures.
- Relevant charts, including histograms, box plots, bar charts, scatter plots, residual plots, and normal probability plots.
Results appear in an output notebook with APA-style tables, a results sentence, an effect-size explanation, and notes on the assumptions or data conditions relevant to the analysis. These notes use Fine, Note, Problem, or Design labels.
How do I know the numbers are right?
PrismQDA’s statistical procedures are compared with R using synthetic datasets. The validation report records the comparisons, numerical tolerances, and known differences. It also covers the values used in charts and Data editor calculations.
Those comparisons check the calculations; choosing an appropriate analysis still depends on your study design and data.
Why does Statistics say “every row is a case”?
A case is the unit you are analyzing: for example, a person, site, or family. One case may have many coded passages. Treating each passage as a separate person could count the same person repeatedly and misrepresent the evidence.
PrismQDA’s statistics use case-level values so multiple passages from one case do not become extra cases. You still need to consider relationships among cases when choosing an analysis.
Can I make new variables?
Yes. Use the Data editor to enter values, add value labels, define missing values, and create variables using formulas, recoding, z-scores, ranks, or ranges. Formulas use R-style syntax.
You can preview a new variable before creating it and undo the change afterward.
Can I run a test on only some of my cases?
Yes. Enter a filter in the test chooser, such as age >= 30 & site == "North". PrismQDA shows how many cases match, and the output notebook records the filter used.
What is not there yet?
The statistics module does not yet include logistic regression, curve fitting, factor analysis, clustering, scale analysis, Tukey’s or Games–Howell’s post-hoc tests, or a formal normality test. Spearman’s correlation uses an approximate p-value rather than an exact test.
The output notebook cannot yet be exported to Word or Excel. Notebook results are kept only while the project is open; they are not saved in the project file. Copy any results you want to keep before closing the project.
Working with other coders
Can several people code the same project?
Yes, using separate project copies. Each coder works in their own copy. The Team page lets you compare coders and merge another coder’s work into yours.
PrismQDA does not support simultaneous editing of the same project file.
What measures of agreement are there?
Percent agreement, Cohen’s kappa, Scott’s pi, Fleiss’ kappa, Brennan–Prediger, Gwet’s AC1, and Krippendorff’s alpha. Their calculations are compared with R.
You can examine agreement by code, review confusion tables, and resolve listed disagreements with a recorded reason. Choose a measure appropriate to your coding design.
AI
Does PrismQDA use AI?
PrismQDA does not call an AI model or send your data to one. Its AI Assistant prepares a plain-text prompt packet from documents and codes you select. You can read the packet, choose whether to paste it into a chatbot, and paste a response back into PrismQDA.
PrismQDA checks suggested passages word for word against your documents and rejects passages it cannot match. Suggested coding still goes through your review. Matching a quotation does not establish that the chatbot’s interpretation is correct.
AI use is logged, and the report builder can draft an AI-use disclosure from those records.
Is it safe to give my interview data to a chatbot?
Check your consent agreements, ethics approval, institution’s policies, and the chatbot service’s terms before sharing research data. Anything you paste into a chatbot goes to that service.
PrismQDA excludes documents and codes marked do not share from prompt packets. You can inspect each packet before deciding whether to use it.
Can I turn the AI Assistant off?
Yes. In Settings, you can disable prompt-packet creation for the open project.
Accessibility and languages
How accessible is it?
PrismQDA is designed for keyboard-only use and screen-reader access. Its interface includes:
- Keyboard access to functions, with single-key shortcuts active only when the relevant text area has focus.
- Table headers and captions, image descriptions, and announcements of actions such as applying a code.
- Chart descriptions and tables of the underlying values.
- Labels and patterns so color is not the only way information is conveyed.
- Light, dark, and high-contrast themes, plus adjustable text size.
Automated accessibility checks pass across the program’s screens and dialogs. Hands-on testing with NVDA, JAWS, or Narrator in the running Windows application is still pending. Automated checks do not establish how well the whole workflow works with a screen reader.
What languages does it speak?
The current interface is in English. PrismQDA can load a translation file in CSV or JSON format, validate it, and show what it contains before you keep it. Translation labels identify the contributor and whether a person or machine produced the translation.
PrismQDA does not translate the interface automatically, and no additional interface translations are available yet.
Exporting and moving your work
What can I export?
- Codebook: Excel, Word, CSV, or the REFI-QDA codebook format (.qdc).
- Coded passages: Excel, Word, or CSV, including the passage, code, coder, and source. Coded image regions are cropped to the selected area.
- Project report: A Word document containing the sections you choose, including a draft methods appendix.
The statistics output notebook is separate from these exports and cannot yet be exported to Word or Excel.
Can I move my project to another qualitative analysis program?
You can exchange the codebook through a .qdc file. Whole-project exchange using the REFI-QDA .qdpx format is not available yet.
Can I get my data out without PrismQDA?
The project file is a SQLite database that can be read with SQLite tools. You can also export supported content to ordinary Word, Excel, and CSV files while using PrismQDA.
The report has a “draft methods appendix.” Is it finished writing?
No. It uses project records to summarize counts, dates, and settings. It cannot explain why you made your research decisions or determine whether its draft fully describes your methods.
Review the text, check it against your study, and add your rationale before using it in a report or publication.
Problems and help
I found a bug. What should I do?
Tell us what you did, what you expected, what happened, and which version you are using. Find the version in Settings → About.
Please do not send project files or screenshots containing real participants’ words or identifying details. If possible, reproduce the problem in the sample project.