THE Four Stages of Research With MAXQDA

Tutorials, Webinars, and Consulting

Welcome to D. Michael Gizzi's consulting and training site, for doing qualitative data analysis with MAXQDA. I am a certified trainer and consultant on MAXQDA, and a social scientist who uses MAXQDA is almost all of my research. The Four Stages of Research is a pedagogical model for approaching qualitative data analysis, which has evolved over the past three years. It is intended for both individuals new to qualitative research and seasoned researchers.

New BooK

My new book The Practice of Qualitative Data Analysis - Research Examples Using MAXQDA co-edited with Dr. Stefan Rädiker is now available from MAXQDA Press as a free PDF, or in print from Amazon.com for $20USD.

This book provides ten real world case studies on how to use MAXQDA in qualitative research, including a chapter on my own work.


Michael Gizzi is a certified MAXQDA trainer, and regularly offers webinars, workshops, and consultations on MAXQDA.

My own background with qualitative research comes as a political scientist and criminal justice professor who uses MAXQDA for a variety of projects including:

  • a policy analysis of the state of the Fourth Amendment "third party doctrine" in light of a recent Supreme Court decision

  • ongoing research on messaging by the Center for Disease Control during the COVID-19 pandemic

  • judicial impact studies of Supreme Court decisions, drawing on lower court decisions to explain how policies and judicial precedents get implemented.

  • An analysis of the role of official misconduct in wrongful convictions

  • The use of corporate share-holder conference calls and quarterly reports to explore how business strategy is developed over time, through a ten year analysis of the strategy of Netflix

  • An exploration of the jurisprudence and legal philosophy of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia