Cracking the Code
Provost Anupma Prakash, Communication Chair Amy May, Term Instructor Nike Jacob (on screen), and Assistant Professor Tori McDermott in the Student Success Center after their grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony, Wednesday, Sep. 18, 2024.
The ҵ College of Liberal Arts proudly announces that Assistant Professor Victoria McDermott of the Department of Communication has been named a recipient of the 2025 People’s Endowment. This award will support her initiative to provide graduate students with access to qualitative coding software, a critical tool for social science research.
Dr. McDermott’s project focuses on teaching graduate students how to use Dedoose, a qualitative and mixed-methods research software designed to help researchers analyze and organize data efficiently. “I was talking with a graduate student one day who was really happy with our program offerings but asked if we could provide more access to software that might make them more competitive on the job market,” McDermott shared. Reflecting on her own experience, she recognized that ҵ did not offer institutional access to qualitative coding software, a resource commonly available at R1 institutions. When she learned about the People’s Endowment, she saw an opportunity to bridge this gap.
Dedoose provides powerful tools for analyzing large datasets, increasing transparency and rigor in research, and facilitating collaboration among research teams. “I reached out to a few different software compan