The contrast between human interpretive work and computational code reflects the tension between qualitative meaning-making and generative AI’s promise of efficiency Generative AI is increasingly used in qualitative research, yet its promise of efficiency raises fundamental questions about interpretation, meaning-making, and the role of the researcher. This article is based on the academic presentation "Interpreting Qualitative Data with AI: Pitfalls and Potential" by Duc Ngu

Economics in the Age of AI Agents Over the past two years, the way economists conduct research has undergone a profound structural transformation. In his 2025 NBER Working Paper AI Agents for Economic Research , Anton Korinek argues that the research community is moving from simple conversational systems such as ChatGPT to a new paradigm centered on autonomous AI agents. These systems integrate text generation with planning, memory, and tool use, enabling them to execute mult

On October 15, New Scholars hosted a webinar featuring Stine Grodal and Henri Schildt on using AI for qualitative studies. Here is A Best Practice Guide to AI-Augmented Qualitative Research based on Stine and Henri's paper and their webinar. 1.0 Introduction: A New Frontier for Qualitative Inquiry New artificial intelligence (AI) tools are fundamentally reshaping the landscape of knowledge work, creating both significant opportunities and profound challenges for the qualitati