UQ start-up launches online collaborative research portal

Academics and student researchers can now benefit from a new web-based application for performing qualitative analyses using Leximancer, a software platform developed by the Institute for Social Science’s Dr Andrew Smith and his team at The University of Queensland.

Leximancer and Lexical Edge (a Leximancer North American Partner) have launched TextInsight.net - a free portal to an online community and resources for qualitative data analysis using Leximancer software.

Leximancer was established in 2006 by UQ’s main commercialisation company, UniQuest, to make the groundbreaking text analytics software accessible on a global scale. UniQuest Managing Director David Henderson explained how the company has already succeeded on this front.

“The Leximancer text analytics software has thrived in the academic communities of more than 100 universities internationally, as well as being used extensively in the commercial world and by government agencies,” he said.

“Partnering with Lexical Edge has enabled the technology to be developed into new applications, and we are very excited to see Leximancer reach this point where it can be responsive to specific market needs.”

Qualitative research projects have large amounts of data, require decisions that impact the value of the analysis, and often involve mastering expensive and complex software analysis tools. TextInsight.net supports and connects experienced qualitative researchers and introduces beginners to Leximancer qualitative software.

“Revealing the meaning in data is the Holy Grail of qualitative research, and it used to be a lonely and expensive quest,” said Lexical Edge CEO Mike Neal.

“This is no longer the case as TextInsight.net provides a guide and companion for the journey.”

TextInsight.net is expected to be adopted by academic researchers, but commercial users can also benefit.

“Researchers, instructors, professors, students and commercial analysts can go to TextInsight.net and find resources and an active online community for training, discussing research ideas and approaches, and expanding their knowledge of qualitative analysis, text analytics, text mining, big data challenges and social media analysis,” Neal said.

TextInsight.net is sponsored by Lexical Edge and provided at no cost to users. Free accounts can be registered by visiting the site: http://www.textinsight.net. More information is also available by emailing info@textinsight.net.