When it comes to choosing qualitative data analysis software (QDAS) and other digital research tools, I like to think of the classic story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Stay with me here…

I have wrestled with the concept of the bell curve, a visualization of “normal distribution.” It wasn’t the math that troubled me—it was the underlying message that “normal” equated to the majority. Outliers—those who exist at the fringes of the distribution—are often controlled for or dismissed to make data cleaner and conclusions more generalizable. But what happens when those outliers represent real people whose experiences diverge from the mainstream? When we remove the outliers, we don’t make them cease to exist—we erase them from the conversation.

Since childhood, I have always been an observer and enjoyed asking complicated questions (sometimes, much to my parents' irritation). Fortunately, I was allowed to "not know" the answer and encouraged to search where that answer might exist in the world.