Qualitative Analysis in Atlas.ti

Qualitative Analysis in CAQDAS SoftwareA TOOL TO ANALYZE YOUR INTERVIEWS AND OBSERVATIONS

CELIA EMMELHAINZ - QUALITATIVE RESEARCH LIBRARIAN - UC BERKELEY – OCTOBER 2016

Today’s plan * What is qualitative analysis? * What are my options for qualitative software? * Atlas.ti: Getting Started * Atlas.ti: Adding Codes and Memos * Atlas.ti: Running Queries and Outputs * Questions and discussion

Image: contextualresearch.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/the-ethnographic-research-cycle.png

Interviews Focus Groups Observation

Case Studies Images Video

Audio Surveys Life HistoriesPo

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Paper methods of qualitative analysis:

Whether to use qualitative analysis software:

Reasons to use

• Build complex codes • Test relationships• Handle large data• Good for teams

Reasons not to use

• Cost• Learning curve• Simple or few

interviews

Questions to ask before using software:

* How many interviews, observations, photos, news clippings, or fieldnotes have I collected?

* How in depth does my analysis need to be? * Does my advisor recommend a certain method of coding? * Have I studied a given method of coding or analysis? * Is software likely to help with this method for this project? * Do you need software skills for the job market?

Student pricing on CAQDAS software packages

Atlas.ti

• $99/2 yrs• Flat codes

MaxQDA

• $115/2 yrs• Hierarchy

NVIVO

• $120/1 yr• Hierarchy

Dedoose

• $11/month• Web based• Big project

slows site

Most programs can:

Takes many file types

Merge two versions (not

Dedoose)

View codes in margin

Import demographics

from Excel

Print reportsAdd

comments and memos

Run searches (X and Y, near) Auto-code

Using the free Atlas.ti trial version

URL: http://atlasti.com/free-trial-version/ Trial limits: size, no auto backup – but unlimited time10 primary documents of any size100 quotations 50 codes, 30 memos, 10 network views

Open qualitative data for practice analysisStart with your own documents, imagesOr code blog posts and web articles

International interview & diary archives are also available: UKDA Last Refuge Fieldnotes: http://bit.ly/UKLastRefuge Irish Qualitative Data online at http://bit.ly/IQDArchive African journals on HIV/AIDS at http://bit.ly/MalawiJournals

Walkthrough of Atlas.tiINTRODUCTION TO FEATURES AND USES OF ATLAS.TI

CELIA EMMELHAINZ - ANTHROPOLOGY LIBRARIAN – UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY

Organizing your project Name files descriptively:

2009-06-15_MNG_int1_Aqmaral_CE_v3.txtAqmaral-interview-1.rtf

Consider separate files for each interview / place / data type (“unit of analysis”) Organize in folders on computer / families in Atlas.ti

Formatting before import - convert Word files to the more open .rtf format - make all edits and fix typos before coding - remove direct identifiers / add pseudonyms - use special formatting to import Excel survey results

(read more on organizing your records here: bit.ly/DLabQualRDM)

Wayfinding in Atlas.ti software Top row: menus Third row: pop out managers for docs, quotes, codes, memos Left: click to code Center: your document Right: margin view of codes

Starting a new project 1) Project -> New Hermeneutic Unit -> Save As 2) Add Documents -> Browse

Add characteristics in families / groups

Lets you search documents by gender, age, location, theme Group codes into families or connect memos for analysis

Explore the data with quotations

Read and explore each document first Highlight text and select the quotation marks (left sidebar) to create a quotation

Right click to note why the quotation is interesting and add comments

Reflection with memosAt the general / project level: Reflect on your thought and analysis process Note issues and your decisions Capture ideas to follow up onDocuments, codes, quotations: Reflect on a passage or idea

Think before coding Read over the text first 1) Define scope of your research, and focus on that Code for pre-existing concepts that relate to your argument

2) Let themes emerge from the data Code for a few core topics first

One concept, one code (impact-of-family-size-in-Africa?)

Mechanics of coding Add new codes to code manager Highlight text and right-click to create a code Click and drag from code manager (left side pop-out)

View or save basic coding output Codes Code Manager Output “Quotations for Selected Codes” or “All Codes with Quotations”

Preliminary Analysis ToolsCo-occurrence table

• Relationships between two codes

• Strength of relationship + counts

Codes - primary document table

• Relationship between codes & documents

• Distribution of codes across documents

Preliminary Analysis: Results Co-occurrence table

Code / Document table

Exploring relationships with Queries Look at quotations in relation to multiple codes

◦ sleep OR eat (broadens)◦ sleep AND eat (narrows)◦ sleep NOT eat◦ friend WITHIN childhood◦ sleep FOLLOWS eat

Use Scope to search only some documents Save resulting quotations under new Super Code

View and save your outputsAtlas.ti is not open source; it’s important to archive to open formats!

•Export code list and code hierarchy for project archiving•Export quotations from query results to .rtf for analysis•Export coded primary documents to PDF for archiving

Further resources for Atlas.ti Trial version: http://atlasti.com/free-trial-version/

Student licenses: http://atlasti.com/students/

Video tutorials: http://atlasti.com/video-tutorials/

Quick tour and manuals: http://atlasti.com/manuals-docs/

Manuals: http://atlasti.com/manuals-docs/

Sample Projects: http://atlasti.com/manuals-docs/#Sample-Projects

Questions?