Qualitative Data Analysis with Atlas. ti

by Susanne Friese

• ISBN13: 9780857021311
• ISBN10: 0857021311
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-01-24
• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd

Summary

Qualitative Data Analysis with Atlas.ti is the very first book designed to guide you step-by-step through your research project using Atlas.ti. In the book, you will find clear, practical advice on preparing your data, setting up a new project in Atlas.ti, developing a coding system, asking questions, finding answers and preparing your results. The book features: - methodological as well as technical advice - numerous practical exercises and examples - screenshots showing you each stage of analysis - a companion website (www.sagepub.co.uk/friese) with online tutorials and data sets Susanne Friese has over 15 years experience working with Atlas.ti and trains researchers all over Europe to use the software. Every student or researcher new to Atlas.ti needs this invaluable guide on their bookshelf!

Author Biography

Susanne Friese teaches qualitative methods at the University of Hanover and at various PhD schools, provides training and consultancy for ATLAS.ti and computer-assisted qualitative data analysis, authors didactic materials and works for ATLAS.ti at the intersection between developers and users.

Table of Contents

About the author	p. xii
Introduction	p. 1
Getting to know ATLAS.ti	p. 9
Some basic terms and concepts	p. 9
The ATLAS.ti user interface	p. 10
Starting the program	p. 11
Opening the sample project	p. 12
Context menus	p. 12
The drop-down menus and object managers	p. 13
Navigating the list of codes	p. 17
A preview of the network view function	p. 18
A preview of the query tool	p. 18
'Survival tips' to find your way around the main menu	p. 19
The toolbars	p. 20
Summary	p. 21
Solutions to the 'survival' exercise	p. 21
Review questions	p. 21
Glossary of terms	p. 21
Data preparation	p. 23
Supported file formats	p. 23
Compatibility	p. 23
Choosing between different text formats	p. 25
Language support	p. 26
Font settings	p. 27
System settings for Thai and Asian language support on Western European and US Windows systems	p. 27
Preparing documents	p. 27
Transcription	p. 27
Best practice rules and solutions in a nutshell	p. 31
Review questions	p. 32
Project management: project setup for single users and teams	p. 33
What you need to know before setting up a project	p. 34
Data handling in ATLAS.ti	p. 34
Description of the sample data set	p. 39
Setting up a project	p. 40
the one folder setup - for single users and teams	p. 40
working with internal documents (for projects containing only text files)	p. 55
project setup for transcripts and synchronized media files	p. 5
documents and HU file need to remain at different locations	p. 58
Summary	p. 60
Review questions	p. 61
Glossary of terms	p. 61
Technical aspects of coding	p. 63
Variants of coding	p. 63
Open coding	p. 63
Coding via drag and drop	p. 69
Writing comments for coded segments	p. 72
Coding with in-vivo codes	p. 73
Further coding-related options provided by the Code Manager	p. 74
Coding other media types	p. 79
Coding a PDF document	p. 79
Coding an image document	p. 80
Coding audio and video files	p. 80
Coding an audio or video quotation	p. 82
Coding a Google Earth document	p. 86
Summary	p. 88
Review questions	p. 88
Glossary of terms	p. 89
Embarking on a journey - coding the data material	p. 91
The NCT model of qualitative data analysis	p. 92
Noticing things	p. 92
Collecting things	p. 93
Thinking about things	p. 100
Projecting the NCT model onto computer-assisted qualitative data analysis	p. 100
The journey begins: noticing things and collecting them	p. 103
Feedback session: what did you find?	p. 104
How to add more structure to your exploration	p. 104
More on code word labels	p. 112
Skills training day	p. 113
developing subcategories	p. 113
searching for a common denominator û building categories from the bottom up	p. 117
rules for hierarchical coding schemes	p. 121
Advantages of well-sorted and structured code lists	p. 122
Moving on	p. 128
'Open book' assessment after completing skills training 1-3	p. 129
Test your understanding of computer-assisted NCT analysis	p. 129
Glossary of terms	p. 130
Further reading	p. 131
Further steps in the data analysis process	p. 133
Introducing the memo function	p. 133
Skills training 4: some technicalities of memo writing	p. 135
Examples of stand-alone memos	p. 136
Changing memo settings	p. 138
Linked memos	p. 140
Summary of skills training 4	p. 148
'Open book' assessment after completing skills training 4	p. 149
Positioning and further directions for the onward journey	p. 149
Skills training 5: introducing the query tool	p. 150
The retrieval language	p. 152
The three sets of operators	p. 152
Miscellaneous useful query tool functions	p. 159
Exploring the data terrain further - the journey continues	p. 161
Examining RQ1a (finding co-occurring segments)	p. 162
Examining RQ1b (getting to know the co-occurrence explorer tree view)	p. 162
Examining RQ2a (combining code queries with variables + creating superfamilies)	p. 165
Examining RQ2b (exporting code frequencies per document)	p. 169
Examining RQ3 (exporting code frequencies per document)	p. 171
Examining RQ4 (finding co-occurring segments in combination with variables)	p. 171
Examining RQ5 (getting to know the co-occurrence explorer table view + creating superfamilies)	p. 174
Saving a query for later reference (or working with supercodes)	p. 178
Climbing the hills and clicking more complex queries	p. 180
Intermezzo	p. 184
On the use of code families	p. 184
Summary	p. 187
'Open book' assessment of analysis tools	p. 187
Further reading	p. 188
Glossary of terms	p. 188
Solutions
A reminder of set theory for understanding Boolean operators	p. 190
Query for RQ1a: is direct speech used in headlines?	p. 190
Query for RQ3: which topics are reported in US vs. German newspapers, local as compared to national papers?
Are there differences?	p. 190
Working with network views	p. 191
Skills training 6	p. 192
Learning terminology	p. 192
Creating network views	p. 194
Importing nodes	p. 197
Removing nodes	p. 197
Moving nodes	p. 198
Layout options	p. 198
The refresh option [F5]	p. 199
Displaying code families in network views	p. 199
Exporting network views	p. 200
Saving network views	p. 200
Display menu	p. 201
Relations Editor	p. 203
Modifying an existing relation	p. 206
Creating a new relation	p. 206
Use of colors and images in network views	p. 207
Code colors in network views	p. 208
Utilizing code colors to show patterns in the data	p. 209
Dealing with case-based network views	p. 209
On the use of network views for structural purposes	p. 211
Using network views to present conceptual-level analysis	p. 216
Hyperlinks in ATLAS.ti	p. 221
Examples for using hyperlinks	p. 221
Skills training 7: working with hyperlinks	p. 222
Summary	p. 225
'Open book' assessment on the network view function	p. 226
Glossary of terms	p. 226
Further reading	p. 227
The method of computer-assisted NCT analysis	p. 228
The cyclical nature of analysis: Notice-Collect-Think	p. 228
Descriptive level analysis	p. 229
First-stage coding	p. 229
Adding structure to the code list	p. 231
Second-stage coding	p. 233
Conceptual-level analysis	p. 233
Writing research question memos	p. 234
Visualizing	p. 235
The role of memos in NCT analysis	p. 236
Software functions throughout the NCT process of analysis	p. 237
Teaching computer-assisted NCT analysis	p. 237
Addenda	p. 240
Editing primary documents	p. 240
Why you may want to edit a document	p. 240
What you should know about editing	p. 241
How to edit	p. 244
Editing primary documents in team situations	p. 245
Best practice rules for editing primary documents	p. 246
Merging projects	p. 247
Prerequisites for merging	p. 247
How to merge	p. 247
After the merging process	p. 251
Creating backups	p. 252
Backup options for the HU	p. 252
Backup or transfer of the completed project via copy bundle	p. 253
Troubleshooting: what to do if primary documents become unusable	p. 258
Pay attention to the status bar	p. 258
Creating accessibility reports	p. 259
Modifying the project setup	p. 263
Exchanging doc or docx files with rtf files (changing paths)	p. 263
Missing converters	p. 264
Review questions	p. 265
References	p. 266
Index	p. 270
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