http:// www.quirkos.com Getting started with Quirkos A visual guide to qualitative analysis with simple CAQDAS software
http://www.quirkos.com
Getting started with Quirkos
A visual guide to qualitativeanalysis with simple CAQDAS software
What is qualitative analysis?
The process of exploring qualitative datato look for trends, patterns and contradictions
Time consuming process to summarise or find relevant quotes in large amounts of qualitative data
Can be done on paper, highlighting interesting sections of text
What is qualitative analysis software?
CAQDAS (Computer Assisted Qualitative Data AnalysiS) can make the process easier
Based around ‘code and retrieve’: Code a section of text by highlighting and assigning to a topic/theme Later, ‘retrieve’ the text across different sources
Searches make it easy to find keywords
Visualisations can give an overview of data
(examples include NVivo, AtlasTi, MaxQDA, Dedoose…)
What is Quirkos?
A software package for coding and exploring qualitative text data
Designed for ease of use, and graphical visualisations
Works the same on Windows, Mac and Linux
Software to download and install, not a App or web-based
Obtaining Quirkos
Your university or institution may have a site licence
Otherwise go to www.quirkos.com/get.html to download the software (there is a one-month trial)
Project window
Alternatively, you can click to ‘Open Other’ files, or create a ‘New Project’
The project window shows recently used projects you can open
New project
Selecting Structured Questions creates a project where identical questions are posed to each source (for example written surveys).
Enter your name or initials as Author to record who has worked on the project
You can optionally Password Protect a new project
Main viewThis is the main view in Quirkos. The home button will always take you here
This is the canvas areawhere topics are shownas bubbles
Main actions buttons on the
right
Text from your sources is shown in this column
Keyword search < Source
properties
Click here to add a new text source ^
Choose a filename
Quirkos saves all the data in one small single file. You can move it across computers easily.
Quirkos saves your work after every action, but like all data, remember to backup your work!
Click ‘New Project’
Choose a local (not network) location to save your project and give it a filename
First run
If you ever want to see the Tutorial again, click on the ‘Help’ button at any time.
The first time you start a new project, you will be greeted with a short tutorial.
Either close for now, or click through the 9 slides.
Bringing in sourcesQuirkos can import text from many common file types:.txt (Plain text files).rtf (Rich text files).docx (Word files).pdf (Portable Document Format)
The (+) Add Source button (bottom right) lets you: Create a blank source Import text from a file Import text copied to the clipboard Import CSV spreadsheet / survey
data Import whole folders or
specific multiple text files.
Import source dialogueWhen importing a single source, you will see this dialogue:
Choose the file to import (Optional) change the name
of the source
A preview of the text to beimported
When ready, click to importthe source into the project
Working with text sourcesText is displayed in the right column:
Right click anywhere in the text to edit it for typos etc.
Dragging the button here > changes the width of thetext column
^ The last 3 sources are shown as tabs View and select any source in ^the project by clicking herefor the Source Browser
Define attributes for each source using the <Source Properties button
Source propertiesDescribe the characteristics/attributes of your sources with Properties
Each property (e.g. Age) can be assigned a specific value(s) for that source (e.g. 45)
The drop down box for the property lets you quickly add already existing values, or add a New Value
Use the properties and values editor to get more control over the project properties…
^ The [+] button here quickly adds one property and value
The Properties and Values editor
Remove a value or property by clicking on the blue X
Use the editor to change, add or remove values or properties
Click on a property to edit it
Multiple Choice allows each source to have more than one value for that property
Click ‘Close’ then on the Home button to return to the main view.
Adding ‘Quirks’ or nodesIn Quirkos, topics or nodes are represented by ‘Quirks’. These are used to collect sections of text on particular themes.
These can be added in three ways:
Click on the Add button to add a Quirk in a random location on the canvas
You can also drag and drop a section of text onto the Add button to create a new Quirk containing that text
Finally, by right clicking anywhere in the ‘Canvas’ area you can create a Quirk at that location.
Quirk propertiesWhen creating a new Quirk with the (+) add button thisdialogue will be displayed to customise the topic:
At any other time, right click on a Quirk and select ‘Quirk Properties’ to bring up this dialogue.
Change the name/title of the Quirk>
A longer description of the topic >
Click to change the colour>
Levels allow you to group Quirks >
together
The Levels Manager lets you create levels >
LevelsYou can group Quirks by ‘Levels’: unlike groups,one Quirk can belong to many levels
Right click on any Quirk and select ‘Quirk Properties’and then Manage Levels to create and modify levels
Each level must have a number>Describe the level category
>Enter text and click ‘Save’ to create >a new level
Existing levels in the project are shown below >
Quirk Properties for each Quirk can be used to assign a Quirk to one or more levels
Moving and grouping QuirksQuirks can be dragged around the canvasanywhere in the grey area that appears
Use the Canvas Zoom here to get a closer ^ look at one area of the canvas
Quirks can be grouped by dragging them onto other Quirks. This creates sub categories, with the parent (e.g. Feelings) having child-nodes (Happy, Optimistic and Scared)
You can also create sub-sub categories (for example Very Happy, Quite Happy)
To remove a category, pull it out into the open canvas.
Changing the canvas viewYou can automatically rearrange the Quirks using the View options:
The Tree View lets you see all your Quirks as an indented, scrollable list
Use the Arrange by options to sort Quirks in a regular grid, based on name, number of codes, or order of creation
Adding text to Quirks
Select a section of text, and hold down the mouse button inside the selection…
Drag that text onto the relevant Quirk and release…
The text is added, and the size of the Quirk grows. A colour coded highlight shows the colour of that Quirk next to the text.
Drag and drop text onto a Quirk to add it to that topic:
^ Right click on the coloured highlight at any time to remove that section of
coding.
Showing coded text
If there are sub categories, they will be displayed as a hierarchy.
By default, quotes will be shown from all Quirks in the hierarchy.
Clicking on one node in will show just quotes from that Quirk.
You can code from this view, an easy way to recode similar themes
To see all text coded in a Quirk, double click on that bubble (or right click and select ‘Quirk Hierarchy’)
Click the ‘Home’ button to return to the main screen
Keyword searching
Toggle searching through all sources or just the current one with the All/1 button
(…) buttons can be used to expand context around result
You can code from the search results – just drag and drop text
The text search function lets you quickly code based on keywords
^ Hide or show the search tab with the‘Dock’ button here
Search options
The drop down box shows search history and allows you to rerun a search (this session only)
Synonym search lets you selectively add associated words to your search
Use other criteria, including Source Properties, Quirk, or Author to filter search results
Use options to refine or expand your search criteria:
Overlap viewYou can see a visualisation of how often one piece of text is coded to multiple Quirks, showing connections in the codes
Right click on any Quirk and select Show Overlap View
The more times a theme has been coded with another theme, the closer it will be to the centre
Clicking on a Quirk will show just the overlapping quotes for that theme
You can also code in this view, and results are updated live
Click the ‘Home’ button to return to the main screen
Query viewUse different criteria to show coded results from certain sources,
level, particular authors, or work done during a date rangeClick the PR button to choose the criteria, in this case source properties
Choose a property and value (eg Gender = Female)
Clicking ‘Run Query’ shows just results from women
Results are displayed in descending orderClick on a topic to see quotes from just that
Quirk
Comparison viewThe Compare view lets you run two queries, and compare results
In addition to running separate ‘left’ and ‘right’ queries, you can add up to 10 additional criteria using the blue (+) button.
The And/Or operation makes your extra criteria narrow or widen the results
You can export a report with quotes just from your results
Click the ‘Home’ button to return to the main screen
ReportsThe Report button generates a summary of the project
Tick boxes to choose which items you want to include in the report
This can include statistical summaries, canvas views, and coded text, sorted in various ways
When happy with the layout, Save PDF saves the report
The left side of the screen shows a preview: the right, sections that you tick to include
You can also save a HTML ‘website’ to share with others, ^allowing them to explore the report. This also exports a folder of canvas views as image files to insert into other documents.
Export optionsClick on the Project button to save your work with in a new file (Save As…) or export as a Word file, or CSV files for Excel
Create a Word file for each source, or one for the whole project with coding shown as
colour-coded comments
CSV spreadsheets can be opened in Excel or SPSS to do graphs or statistical analysis of
coded data
For video guides, full manuals and tutorials:
www.quirkos.com/support.html
To download Quirkos:www.quirkos.com/get.html
For questions and support email:[email protected]