When AI Codes the Data, Who Understands the Meaning? Reclaiming Human Interpretation in Qualitative Research

Abstract

Research today is changing very quickly. Artificial intelligence has entered almost every stage of academic work. It can help researchers find literature, summarize articles, organize ideas, generate interview questions, classify responses, and even suggest possible codes from qualitative data. For many researchers, this is exciting. Tasks that used to take days can now be completed in minutes. A long interview transcript can be summarized quickly. Repeated words can be identified easily. Initial categories can be suggested almost instantly.