Woodhill Park Research Retreat is an importer of Inspiration Software but we only import it (in batches) for education users.  We do this as a courtesy to researchers and teachers because there is very little mark-up for us even though the software is brilliant.  We take orders for the software (which retails at around $45.00 - $50.00 plus GST per license depending upon the exchange rate) and when we have a list of ten people wanting the programme, we import the software and distribute it to those who have requested it. 

Inspiration is a simple and very inexpensive mind-mapping tool that can be used for visual mapping, outlining, writing and making presentations.  The application is excellent for brainstorming ideas and for structuring thoughts which you want to transform into sound academic work.  For those who think and learn in a visual manner, this software allows you to quickly formulate, develop and communicate ideas.  You can either develop your own mind-maps or you can apply any one of the many useful templates that come with the product.  Information can be organized and structured so that writing becomes easier and notes can be added to ideas and to elements of those ideas.  A useful feature is that your visual thinking can, at the click of a button, be transformed into a list or Outline View and this can then be transferred into a word document.  An improved feature of the software is the Presentation Manager which enables you to easily transform diagrams, mind maps and outlines into presentations. 

We have also found that the software is an extremely cheap alternative for researchers wanting to undertake very simple qualitative research projects.  Literally, a mind-map is created of the elements (or categories and sub-categories) for which the researcher wishes to gather evidence.  Once formed, the accompanying evidence (interviews, notes, references, etc.) become stored within the notes containers of each appropriate element of the mind-map. 

Figure One. What Inspiration looks like

So in the simplest of terms, a researcher examining a relatively simple qualitative matter such as opinions and policies concerning, say, needle safety procedures in a school, may determine from their reading and thinking, a range of categories which are germane to the topic.  They then populate each of these categories and subcategories with evidence by creating notes.  These elements and the accompanying notes/evidence are then converted into an outline form and transferred to a word document for further development.

If you want to order this software, please call either Dr Jens Hansen or Jenny Hansen at the Woodhill Park Research Retreat +64 9 411 7703 or email jens@woodhillpark.com