Framework Analysis: Can framework analysis (Ritchie, Spencer & O'Connor) be applied to open-ended survey question responses? Details:

I am building a web application for teachers and educators. The web application takes a new approach to looking at educational apps. I want to know if this approach is worthwhile, so I am going to survey some of the teachers who use it. In this survey there will be some open-ended questions regarding the benefits and drawbacks of the application. I would like to use these responses as data in my research project and I was wondering about the best way to use them. After doing a bit of looking around, it seems framework analysis might fit, though it is used primarily for interviews.

Questions:


Can framework analysis be used in this way?
Is there a better way of using survey responses as data?
Yes it can. If you need to provide justification on the method that you used it would be helpful I'm sure. However like you say this method is used for interview data.

I'd guess (but obviously don't know for sure) that your survey data might be quite minimal/basic if it features at the end of a more structured questionnaire and although there are similarities with many qualitative data analysis techniques, I'd imagine you'd be looking to organise your open-ended responses into something more manageable, perhaps grouping together responses reflecting a particular view.

The following article may be of help:

Hsieh, H.F., Shannon, S. E.; Three Approaches to Qualitative Content Analysis, Qual Health Res November 2005 vol. 15 no. 9 1277-1288. doi: 10.1177/1049732305276687