QDA Miner
Advanced
Intermediate
Basic

WordStat
Advanced
Intermediate
Basic

Helen currently focuses on providing training in the Provalis software packages to academic, industry, NGO and government clients.

• Training content is tailored to the research objective or business goals of the client following a training needs assessment.

• The conditions under which QDA Miner or WordStat are most suited as tools to aid research and analysis are explained, and the features of both software packages are demonstrated from the perspective of different research methods and scenarios, including qualitative text analysis, content analysis, text mining, topic modelling and automated text classification.

• The approach aims to stimulate the creative ideas of participants about how to use the software features to answer research questions emerging from their areas of expertise.

• Emphasis is placed on interpreting and reporting the graphical and tabular output of the analytical tools, identifying how interesting patterns, unforeseen relationships, anomalies and outliers are revealed and new knowledge created.

• Training content can optionally include the statistical routines that drive the output of both software packages. Understanding the statistical routines can be useful for reporting the analytical results. The statistical explanation can be adapted to the level of social science students (applied statistics) or to individuals with little statistical background.

• An introduction to text analysis methods and research design can be included in the training programme.

• Half-day demonstration events (Schnupperkurse) covering most features of each software package, useful for swiftly understanding the potential of QDA Miner and WordStat and for identifying which tools merit more extensive exploration, are offered.

After-training support can be offered on a consultancy basis to participants as they design their research and analysis projects using QDA Miner and WordStat.

Helen has taught QDA Miner since 2012 and WordStat since 2014 in the Methodology Department at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), delivering over 30 workshops. Participants in her workshops are both graduate students and professors and lecturers. She has worked with both software packages since 2010. She used the software to validate a dataset she constructed using text analysis methods as part of her PhD dissertation at the LSE.

Helen was recognised in 2012 for dedicated and inspirational teaching with LSE’s prestigious Teaching Excellence Award. Her academic teaching began in 2010 at LSE in the field of political economy and game theory.

Outside academic research and teaching, Helen has extensive experience of in-service training and education of government employees and of trainer training dating back to 1998. She designed and managed training programmes for civil servants across Central and Eastern Europe for 5 years as part of the international development cooperation activities of several national governments, including Austria, and the United Nations. To her teaching, Helen brings insights from over 20 years of practical experience in the fields of public policy reform and international development. She has worked in the United States, Great Britain, Austria, Eastern and Central Europe, Southeast Europe and Mongolia.