Tools & Technology

DScIT Research
Software

The right software is essential to conducting rigorous doctoral research. Below are the licensed tools recommended and used throughout the DScIT program for both quantitative and qualitative analysis.

Quantitative — SPSS Qualitative — Quirkos Free Research Resources

Quantitative Software

IBM SPSS Statistics

Grad Pack 29.0 Standard 6-Month License

IBM SPSS is the industry-standard statistical analysis platform used by researchers worldwide. The Grad Pack edition provides doctoral students with full access to SPSS's powerful suite of statistical procedures — from foundational descriptive analysis to advanced multivariate methods — at a student-friendly price point.

Descriptive Stats

Frequencies, means, cross-tabs

Regression

Linear, logistic, multiple

ANOVA

One-way, two-way, MANOVA

Factor Analysis

EFA, PCA, reliability

Non-parametric

Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis

Windows & Mac

Install on up to 2 computers

Best for ITEC 7120 (Statistical Analysis for Decision Making) and any research involving surveys, experiments, or structured datasets.

Get SPSS Grad Pack

Qualitative Software

Quirkos

Student License Qualitative Analysis

Quirkos is an intuitive, visually-driven qualitative data analysis (QDA) tool designed to make coding and analyzing text data accessible and efficient. Its unique bubble-based interface lets researchers build, merge, and explore themes directly on screen — ideal for interview transcripts, focus groups, open-ended survey responses, and field notes.

Thematic Coding

Tag & categorize text passages

Visual Interface

Bubble map theme exploration

Multi-source

Interviews, surveys, field notes

Team Coding

Collaborate on projects

Query & Filter

Search within coded segments

Export

Reports, Word, spreadsheets

Best for ITEC 7140 (Qualitative Analysis for Decision Making) and doctoral research involving interviews, case studies, or thematic analysis.

Get Quirkos License

Choosing the Right Tool

Use SPSS when your research…

  • Involves surveys with Likert-scale or closed-ended responses
  • Requires testing hypotheses with statistical significance
  • Measures relationships between numeric variables
  • Uses structured, numerical datasets

Use Quirkos when your research…

  • Involves interviews, focus groups, or open-ended responses
  • Explores themes, patterns, and narratives in text data
  • Uses case study, grounded theory, or phenomenological design
  • Requires inductive or abductive reasoning from unstructured data

Mixed methods? Use both. Many DScIT doctoral projects combine quantitative findings from SPSS with qualitative insight from Quirkos to build a richer, more complete picture of the research problem.

Free Research Resources

These freely available tools complement your licensed software throughout the doctoral program.

MGA Library & Research Resources

Graduate research support

Access databases, journals, and research guides curated specifically for MGA graduate students — including ProQuest, EBSCO, and more.

Visit the MGA Library

Google Scholar

Free academic search engine

Search peer-reviewed articles, theses, dissertations, and conference papers across all disciplines. Essential for building literature reviews throughout the research sequence.

Access at scholar.google.com

Zotero

Free citation manager

Organize, cite, and share research sources. Generates APA-formatted references automatically — a must-have for managing citations in your doctoral paper.

Download at zotero.org

R / RStudio

Free statistical computing

Open-source statistical computing and graphics environment. A powerful free alternative to SPSS, widely used in academic research for data analysis, visualization, and reproducible reporting.

Download at r-project.org & posit.co/rstudio

Research Courses & Sequence

See when software is used in the program

Library & Research Resources

Graduate research support at MGA