Computer-Based Analysis of Qualitative Data: ATLAS.ti

Conceptual Overview and Discussion

A case study project is created in ATLAS.ti as a hermeneutic unit (HU) that bundles together all relevant data sources, codes, conceptual linkages, memos, and comments. The data included in case study research (e.g., text, audio, video, photographs, diagrams, and maps) are imported into the software and organized, managed, coded, and analyzed in the HU. Data files are referred to as primary documents (PDs). Each PD is numbered in the order in which it is imported into ATLAS.ti—for example, P1, P2. In case study research, where a number of PDs may constitute a case, the numerical ordering of PDs has an important data management function. The PDs for a specific case can be grouped together by importing them concurrently. If all PDs for a specific case are not imported concurrently but are scattered among other PDs, the numerical position of the PDs can be easily changed to group them as cases.

PDs may also be organized by cases using a function called “families.” A family is a cluster of documents or codes or memos. Within-case and across-case clusters of PDs can also be created. For example, in a case study focused on one or more schools, each school may constitute a case. All data related to a specific school can be clustered into a family tagged with the name of the school. The PDs of within-case variables such as teachers and students can be clustered in PD families labeled “Teachers” and “Students,” respectively, separating the PDs according to cases and variables within cases. Across-case groupings can be similarly clustered. Grouping PDs in families facilitates a focus on a specific case and/or a specific variable set, unencumbered by the presence of PDs that do not belong to that case or variable.

In ATLAS.ti, data must be coded to access further functions of the software. Coding refers to the assigning of a PD to one or more codes. A code is a tag or label that best describes the data to which it is assigned. A margin display alongside a text- or image-based PD provides a visual cue of coding as it occurs. There is no margin display for video or audio PDs.

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There are at least two types of codes that organize the data: data management codes are mutually exclusive, and describe the characteristics of a PD; for example, “adolescent” or “female.” Characteristics of a PD are often sociodemographic variables. The whole PD is assigned to the relevant data management codes. Conceptual codes assign meaning drawn from the data (inductive) or from theory (deductive), and are generally not mutually exclusive. Segments of a PD (e.g., lines of text, portions of a photograph, seconds of an audio file, or frames of a video) are assigned to multiple conceptual codes.

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