Qeludra and QInsights come together as QualiDialog
The announcement uniting the software and consultancy under QualiDialog, with the new owl and the continuing newsletter.
Qualitative research · AI · methodology
Monday in Your Inbox
Reflections and experiments by Dr Susanne Friese, written when there was something worth exploring—not according to a fixed content calendar.
From early experiments with language models to debates about coding, interpretation, evidence and human–AI collaboration, these newsletters record ideas as they developed. The original pieces remain dated: some opinions, models and product references belong to an earlier stage of AI’s development.
This is a curated selection of essays, experiments and significant milestones from 81 newsletters sent between April 2024 and November 2026. Routine invitations, duplicate mailings and time-limited promotions are omitted. The original publication dates are retained.
2026
The making of Qualitative Data Analysis with AI
Introducing an edited volume and reflecting on the questions that motivated it.
From prompt engineering to dialogue
Why sustained analytic conversations differ from increasingly elaborate one-off prompts.
AI voice recorders and qualitative research
Assessing privacy, transcription and workflow implications of AI-enabled voice recorders.
Should we allow an AI assistant to interpret our data?
Distinguishing an interpretive proposition from an analytical conclusion.
Journals start to change their AI policies
A historical look at changing distinctions between assistive and generative AI in publishing.
What vibe coding taught me about qualitative analysis with AI
What experimenting with building software through dialogue revealed about analytical collaboration.
What changes, what stays when using AI for qualitative data analysis
A comparison of methodological writing from 2012 and 2026.
A 60-year-old Grounded Theory dispute resurfaces as an AI problem
Older arguments about coding and theorising return in debates about generative AI.
What we learned from letting AI lead: AI Agents4Qual conference report
The published conference report on an experiment in letting AI take the lead—and why it was not a recommended workflow.
Congruent use of AI for qualitative data analysis — a message that went viral
Why technological and methodological congruence matter, and how a LinkedIn post brought the argument to a wide audience.
I tested NotebookLM for qualitative analysis
Why source grounding is necessary but not sufficient for qualitative analysis.
Using ChatGPT for interview analysis? Read this first
Why a conversational interface does not by itself provide systematic, accountable dataset analysis.
The death of the writer, the birth of the orchestrator?
Lessons about authorship, evidence and interpretation from AI Agents4Qual.
Beyond the transcript: Research you can see
Exploring visual ways to communicate qualitative findings with AI tools.
2025
Looking back at AI and qualitative research in 2025
A year-end reflection on growing adoption and methodological resistance.
Why I was breaking up with GPT-5
A time-stamped reflection on changing preferences among AI writing partners.
An open letter about AI in reflexive qualitative research
Responding to arguments against the use of generative AI in reflexive research.
I tried hard to get ChatGPT to code open-ended responses
A candid experiment with coding 150 responses and the practical limits encountered.
Reading the MIT study on ChatGPT and brain activity
A closer reading of a widely circulated study and the conclusions people drew from it.
Why that AI result was not necessarily useless
The difference between a disappointing answer and an inadequate analytical approach.
From reflex to meaning: What LLMs do in qualitative analysis
Pattern prediction, interpretation and what researchers can reasonably ask of a language model.
Not all AI is equal: Model choice and purpose-built tools
What model capabilities and research-specific tools mean for qualitative analysis.
AI is great at summarising—but that is not all
Why summarising can be the starting point of inquiry rather than its conclusion.
Towards a four-step workflow for conversational analysis
An early articulation of the conversational approach to working with qualitative data.
How well can AI handle iterative qualitative coding?
Testing a new reasoning model against an iterative qualitative coding workflow.
Do AI models have personalities?
A historical reflection on differences between AI models and the implications of model choice.
Can generative AI analyse vast amounts of qualitative data?
Why context windows and retrieval strategies matter when working with larger datasets.
How reliable are AI-generated analysis results?
A repeated analysis of friendship interviews raises questions about consistency and interpretation.
AI’s role in qualitative research: Rethinking the tools
Early reflections on the possibilities and limits of AI-supported qualitative analysis.
2024
Introducing QInsights: It is like eating chocolate cake
The original QInsights launch, the Qeludra/QInsights separation and the beta tester’s chocolate-cake comparison.
Something fun for the weekend: Introducing the AI in Qualitative Research podcast
The introduction of the AI-hosted podcast with Lisa and Tom, and a first encounter with NotebookLM.
LUDRA is history, but not the vision
The first development effort comes to an end while the methodological vision continues.