Transcript Introduction to ATLAS.ti 5.5

Beginning ATLAS.ti 5.5
CONSULTANT: BETTY ZOU
CSSCR WINTER 2010
Class Contents
 What is ATLAS.ti
 Important Terms
 Getting Started
 Coding
 Delete, Rename, Unlink Codes
 Coding Audio & Graphics Files
 Memos
 Look What You Have Done
 A peek at some more advanced tools
What is ATLAS.ti?
 Data analysis software program for QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
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Create a project called a “Hermeneutic Unit”, that contains all
your data (interview text/images/audio), your findings, codes,
and memos.
Read and select passages (or parts of image or audio) to assign
codes or memos.
You can build networks and relationships within your codes,
create a graphical view of how things are related to each other
Important Terminologies
 Hermeneutic Unit
 The project you are working on. Everything relevant to this project.
 Primary Documents (PD)
 Original documents such as field notes, transcriptions of interviews,
images and audio data
 Quotations
 Phrases, sentences, paragraphs…parts of the primary document that you
find interesting or important
 Codes
 Can be single word or a couple of words that signifies a quotation
 Families
 Special collections of primary documents, quotations and codes
 Memos
 A place for you to write down thoughts and emerging theories
Getting Started
 (Recommended) Primary Word Documents should
be saved as Rich Text File (.rtf)
 Keep all primary documents in the same project
folder (i.e. Project 1)
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If you are working on different computers, take all primary
documents with you.
 CSSCR Lab Computers
 Save files on C:/Temp/
 Do not work off of your thumb drive as it is easy to lose work
 Save entire project with updated date to transport with you
 Back up everything!
Getting Started
 See Demonstration
 Assign Documents: Documents > Assign > Select
document
Coding
 A New Code:
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Highlight relevant text
Codes > Coding > Open Coding (You can also right click)
Type the code
 Enter a list of pre-existing codes:
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Codes > Create Free Codes
Enter all codes, separate each code with |
 Select a code from list
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Highlight text
Codes > Code by list > select the correct code
 You can also link one quote to 2 or more different codes
 Auto Coding
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Codes > Coding > Auto Coding
Select Code / New Code
Type in an expression, “college”
Select “Confirm always”
Selected PD/ All current PDs
Select the text you want linked to the code
Delete, Rename, Unlink Codes
 DELETE: Will delete the code and ALL links to that code.
 Click the bar in the right hand margin that marks the quotation
 Indicates the quotation linked to this code
 RIGHT CLICK, “delete” (See options in pop up window)
 RENAME: Will rename ALL places where that code appears
 Click the code name in the margin
 Right click, “rename”
 UNLINK: Will delete the link between one code and one quote
 Click the code on the right hand margin
 RIGHT CLICK, “unlink”, select the code to unlink it from
*You can also do all of these things in Code Manager
 MERGE CODES: Can merge two very similar codes, get rid of
redundancies
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Codes List Icon > Select “Family Influence” as Target Code
Codes > Merge Codes > In dialogue box, select “Family”
Coding Audio & Graphic Files
 See Demonstration
Memos
 Memos > Create Free Memo OR Attach Memo
 Give a title, type your thoughts, interpretations, etc…
 Can select type: Is it a memo, commentary or theory?
 Save.
Look at What You Have Done!
 Hierarchical Display of All Objects
 PD, Code, Memo Manager (List Icon)
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Grounded: Code frequency; number of quotations the code is applied to
Density: Number of links to other codes
 Select PD, code or memo, write comments
 Print Codes Manager
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Enter codes manager
Click printer icon
Select preferences (Open a text window, include code comments…)
Do you want a list of the full quotations?
Do you want only a list of the codes?
 You can create an output of any PDs, Codes, Memos
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In PD/Code/Memo manager, click “Output”
Codes-Primary-Document-Table (can see # of codes in each PD)
 A simple quantitative content analysis tool
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Use selected PD
Use ALL PDs, and it will export into an Excel file
A Peek at the Query Tool
 Used for
 See all the quotes linked to a code or combination of codes
 Tools > Query Tool (Binoculars icon)
 Double click codes to enter into Query field
 Specify OR
 Place cursor on icons to see what it is
Families
 You can create a family of PDs, Codes or Memos
 PD Manager > Open Family Manager icon > Create a
New Family > Name it (E.g. Low-income HS
interviews) > Select PDs to put in the family
 Code Manager > Open Family Manager icon > Same
process as above (E.g. Affects College Choice: Cost,
Distance, Size….)
Strategies for Coding as a Group
 Scenario 1: Coding Sequentially
 Person A codes interviews 1-3, then hands entire project to
Person B to code interviews 4-6
 Scenario 2: Coding Simultaneously
 Person A codes interviews 1-3 in Hermeneutic Unit A
 Person B codes interviews 4-6 in Hermeneutic Unit B
 Merge A and B for analysis
Tools > Merge with HU
 Follow instructions in pop-up windows
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WARNING
 Not many undo options
 If you are using CSSCR labs, save files to C:/temp
 Keep ALL PDs with your working HU file
 Does not handle tables well
 Can embed tables/graphs, but will code object as a
whole rather than individual cells or parts of graph
 No easy way of importing excel files yet
 See if you can find the “click when frustrated” button
Some Intermediate Tools & Concepts
 Networks
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A graphical representation of the
complex relationships between
different objects in you HU.
 Relationships
You can specify the relationship
between different objects.
 Hyperlinks
Link codes to each other and
quotations to each other and specify
a relationship.
Provide instant cross-referencing in
the current document, and across
different documents and file types.
This increases quotation density!
Atlas.ti Website & Tutorials:
http://www.atlasti.com/tutorials.html
Resources
 Atlas.ti Manual PDF online:
http://www.atlasti.com/uploads/media/atlman.pdf
 Beginning Atlas.ti Quicktime Tutorial :
http://julius.csscr.washington.edu/courses.htm
 Atlas.ti Website & Tutorials:
http://www.atlasti.com/tutorials.html
 Creating an SPSS Output:
https://www.amherst.edu/offices/it/teaching_resea
rch/resources/tutorials/atlas.ti