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Table of Contents
Getting started with ATLAS.ti .................................................................................................................2 Working with Hermeneutic Units (HUs) ................................................................................................3
Creating HUs ..............................................................................................................................................3 Saving HUs ................................................................................................................................................3 Opening HUs ..............................................................................................................................................3
Families......................................................................................................................................................6 Text Search Tool ......................................................................................................................................6 Auto Coding ...............................................................................................................................................7 Query Tool.................................................................................................................................................7
To formulate a Boolean query ......................................................................................................................8 Saving a query using Super Codes ..............................................................................................................9
SPSS Export ...........................................................................................................................................10 Working with Graphical and Audio Quotations ..................................................................................10 For More Information and Assistance .................................................................................................10
ATLAS.ti Help........................................................................................................................................... 10 ATLAS.ti Computer-based Tutorials ........................................................................................................... 11 Documentation ......................................................................................................................................... 11 Consulting ..................................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
The summary below describes the basic features of the ATLAS.ti workbench: The Hermeneutic Unit (HU) is your project and the documents, codes, memos, and other files associated with it. The Hermeneutic Unit (HU) Editor is the main workspace area. It is the main editing tool, and it provides access to all the other tools. The main components are: The Main Menu gives you access to the different components of the Hermeneutic Unit: documents, quotations, codes, etc. The Primary Document Pane is the large window in which you view your document. You will mark or code documents from this area. The Main Tool Bar is immediately underneath the Main Menu. If you move your mouse pointer over a button, you will get a short description of the buttons function.
2 - Using ATLAS.ti for Qualitative Data Analysis
The Object Drop-Down Lists positioned below the Main Tool Bar are four drop-down lists for the main objects of the HU. These are, from left to right, primary documents, quotations, codes, and memos. The drop down lists provides easy access to these objects.
Saving HUs
Remember to save your ATLAS.ti project frequently. Under the File menu in the project pad, you can choose Save to save your project in the same location or Save as to save a copy in a new location.
Opening HUs
When you want to open an existing ATLAS.ti project, you should select Open from the File menu or from the Welcome Wizard, choose the Open Hermeneutic Unit from Picklist optio n. A list of HUs will appear and you should select the HU you would like to open.
to use a scanner with optical character recognition (OCR) software to transform the documents to electronic format. The current version of ATLAS.ti only accepts plain text documents. Therefore, once your data is in electronic, text-based format, you should save as a plain text document. In a word processing program such as Microsoft Word, you can do this by choosing Save As under the File menu and selecting the appropriate file type. ATLAS.ti will accept files saved as .txt (plain text files) or if you are using windows .asc (MS-DOS text with layout). ATLAS.ti does not automatically do line wrapping. Therefore, when you save a text document in a Word document, you should put in line breaks. In addition to textual documents, ATLAS.ti also supports graphical and audio data. The program supports about 20 different graphic file formats, including the more common .BMP, .TIFF, and .JPEG formats. ATLAS.ti provides limited support for audio files of type WAV.
HU Editor
The HU Editor shows the contents of the document you imported. This is the main workspace for coding documents. You will see the margin area with your coded quotations to the right of the HU editor if you have that option activated. To show or hide the margin area, choose Views/Margin Area from the Main menu.
Coding Documents
Before starting to code your documents, it is useful to switch on the Margin Area, so that you can see the effect of your actions. You can activate the Margin Area by choosing Views/Margin Area from the main menu. One way to code a section of a primary document is to select the segment of the text you want to code, and then select one of four types of coding techniques offered by ATLAS.ti: 1. Open Coding use Open Coding when you want to create a new node and associate it with an existing quotation or text segment. 2. Code-by-List use this option if you want to assign existing codes to a quotation or selection 3. In-Vivo Coding use this option when the selected text itself is a good name for the code 4. Quick Coding use this option if you want to apply the currently selected code to the marked segment. It is a quick way to assign the same code to consecutive text segments. To code a document using Open Coding technique 1. Select the text segment or quotation you want to code 2. Choose Codes/Coding/Open Coding from the main menu 3. Enter a name for your code and click OK. A new code will be added to the code list, and if needed, a new quotation to the quotation list. If you want to assign multiple codes to the selected text, you can do so by separating the codes by the | character in the Open Coding window. 1. Select the text segment 2. Choose Codes/Coding/Open Coding from the main menu or from the Context Menu, which is activated by right-clicking on the selection 3. Enter the names of the codes separated by the | character. For example, Emotion | Anxiety | Stress creates three new codes simultaneously and assign all to the selected text.
Using ATLAS.ti for Qualitative Data Analysis -
Families
Families are containers or holders for different kinds of objects (documents, codes, memos, etc) that help with organization of your HU objects. As we will see later, families are also useful in querying and other like functions. All procedures for displaying, editing, and creating families are found in the menus of their object types. For example, you may want to classify all primary documents that are interviews with females into one family. To do this, you first create a new document family by choosing Documents/Open Families/Edit Family Browser. The Family Browser window will open up, and from there you can create a new family, by clicking the New Family Button. Enter the name of your family when prompted, and click OK. To add to the new family select one or more items from the Non-Members list and click the Add Items button. You can add a comment or description by entering it in the comment window at the bottom of the dialog box.
As an example, to start a simple search, open the text search tool by choosing Documents/Search from the Main menu. Enter the text you want to search for and make sure the Use GREP option is unchecked. Set Case Sensitive option as needed and click Next.
Auto Coding
The auto coding tool in ATLAS.ti allows you to automatically code segments of your text in one or more documents. For example, you can search for all occurrence of the word anxiety and assign them to a code named stress. To start auto coding, choose Codes/Coding/Auto Coding from the Main Menu. The Auto Coding Dialog seen below will appear.
Choose the code you want to assign from the Selected Code drop down menu in the Auto Coding Dialog window. Enter or select a search expression. ATLAS.ti can auto code just within the current primary text or groups of primary texts. To auto code the current document you are working on, choose Current PT as the scope of the search. When a match is found, you can decide the actual segment that you would like coded. You can code just the matched string, the word, the sentence or the whole enclosing paragraph. A quotation will be created for the corresponding segment. You can control the auto coding process by selecting Confirm always . When this option is checked, you decide whether to code or skip the matched text by using the Code it and Skip it buttons.
Query Tool
The Query Tool allows you to search your data and retrieve coded texts, graphics, or audio segments that match your specified criteria. You have already learned about the text searching capabilities in the Auto coding section of this document. The Query Tool is different because you search for texts using the codes that were defined during the coding process. To activate the Query tool, choose the Codes/Output/Quotation Retrieval from the HU editors Main menu or just click on the Query tool button main menu tool bar.
Query Tool
The Query Tool is a multi-pane window that has the following main parts: Operation Tool bar buttons located near the left margin of the window. Code Family Pane (Families) located in upper left of the window lists code families to be used in queries. Code Pane (Codes) located below the code family pane lists all codes currently in the HU. Query Pane (Query) located in the upper right displays all expressions entered in the current query. This pane is split in two by a red line with the second pane showing the current query in a different format. Result Pane (Result) located in the lower right of the window.
operands and the Result Pane will now display only those segments that have been coded with both teaching and supervision.
Network Editor
Networks are used to build theoretical models within ATLAS.ti. The network is defined by a set of nodes and links. Nodes in ATLAS.ti can be any number of objects - codes, quotations, memos or primary texts. You can also define na med links, which allow you to specify the relationship between nodes. For example, with a named link you can define a causal relationship between two nodes, N1 causes N2, by connecting the two nodes with the named link causes or is cause of. The network editor, shown below, allows you to create and manipulate your network structures. You can use it to organize your codes, catalog ideas, and build a conceptual or logical relationship between nodes.
Figure 1: Network Editor
SPSS Export
ATLAS.ti provides an export function to allow you to analyze your data using statistical procedures in SPSS. The SPSS export function treats codes as variables and quotations as the cases. Each case or quotation is defined by the primary document, the codes that are assigned to it, and its position. To export to SPSS, select Extras/Export to/SPSS Job from the Main Menu. You can decide where you want to send your output select File. Select where you want to save the SPSS syntax file that was created. Open the SPSS syntax file by double-clicking on it from the directory that you saved it. From SPSS Main Menu, choose Run/All.
ATLAS.ti Help
To access the ATLAS.ti Help system, go to the Help menu and select Contents . You can also download an ATLAS.ti manual (short or full version) from ATLAS.ti website (www.atlasti.com).
Documentation
Social Sciences Data and Software (SSDS) has a reference library of textbooks and software manuals about qualitative and statistical analysis, located in the Velma Denning Room on the first floor of the Green Library Bing Wing. Stop by to browse our collection or consult the SSDS website at http://ssds.stanford.edu, where you can browse by title, subject and call number. The SSDS collection does not circulate, but check the online catalog Socrates for copies in other locations.