ThemeandCategoryBuildinginATLAS.ti
Dr.SusanneFriese
March12,2016
Inprincipletherearethreewaystobegincoding.Youeitherstartwithalistofcodesoryou
developyourcodelistfromscratch-oruseamixtureofthetwo.Initialideasforcodingmight
directlyemergefromthedatayouread,orcanbederivedfromresearchquestions,theoretical
models,literatureorfromaninterviewguideline.Whenyoustartcoding,thehowdescriptive
orabstractacodeisdoesnotplayarole;codesmaybedescriptiveoralreadyconceptual.The
importantpointistomarkthosethingsthatyoufindinterestingandtonamethem.
Readingfurther,youwillverylikelynoticeafewthingswhicharesimilartosomeissuesyou
havenoticedbefore.Thesemayeitherfitunderanalreadyexistinglabel,oryoumayneedto
renamealabeltosubsumethealreadycodedandthenewdatasegment.Evenifthetermis
notyettheperfectcodelabel,itdoesnotmatter.Youcancontinuetocollectmoresimilardata
segmentsandlater,whenyoureviewthem,itwillbeeasiertothinkofbetterandmorefitting
codelabels.Atfirstyouwillgeneratelotsofnewcodes;intimeyouwillreusemoreandmore
ofthosecodesthatyoualreadyhave.Ifthisisthecase,youhavereachedyourfirstsaturation
point.Intechnicalterms,youwilldraganddropexistingcodesfromtheCodeManageror
Navigatorontothedatasegments.Assoonasyoureachthispoint,itistimetoreviewyour
codingsystem.
Developingcategories
Basedonthecodesshowninfigure1,wewouldliketodemonstratehowaninitiallistofcodes
canbesortedandstructured.Thecodelistisbasedonthechildrenandhappinesssample
project(Downloadsampleprojectsfromhere).Theversionoftheprojectweareusinghere
contains46codesrelatedtopositiveandnegativeeffectsofbeingaparent.Thesecodelabels
arepartlydirectlytakenfromthewordstherespondentsusedandthusareveryclosetothe
data.Thefrequencyofeachcodewordisverylow.
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Figure1:Buildingcategoriesfromthebottomup
Whatoftenhappensatthisstageisthatanalystsusecodefamiliestocollectdescriptivecode
labelswithoutfurtherconceptualizing.Thisisnotagoodidea.Itleadstoendlesslylongcode
liststhatareofnouseinqueryingthedatainthenextphaseoftheanalysis.Belowwewill
makeuseofcodefamilies(codegroups)astitlehelpersonly.
IfwelookthroughthelistofcodesintheCodeManager,itcanquicklybenoticedthatthere
arepositiveandnegativeeffectsofparenting.Therefore,allpositiveeffectsaregroupedintoa
codefamilycalled‘positiveeffects’.Nowecanapplyaglobalfilterwitharightclickonthecode
family(Winversion)tofocusonthereducedlistof22codes.IntheMacversion,justclickon
thecodegrouptofilterthelistofcodes.
Figure2:Presortingthelistofcodes/codefamilysetasglobalfilter(Windowsversion)
Lookingatthereducedlistofcodes,itisnoweasytoseethatanumberofcodesreferto
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personalgrowth.Personalgrowthalreadyexistsasacode.Sowecanmergethosecodesthat
aresimilarintothiscode.Forthis,doasfollows:
•
Rightclickonthecode‘personalgrowth’andselectMergeCodes.Fromthelistthat
popsupselectallcodesthatrelatetopersonalgrowth.Thisreducesthelistto14
codes.Thepersonalgrowthcodenowcontains8quotations.IntheMacversion
dragthecodesto‘personalgrowth’andselectthemergeoption.Youdothisforone
codeatatime.
Figure3:MergingcodesintheMacversion
•
Lookattheremainingcodes.Othercodesyoucanmergearethoserelatedtofulfilment,
richerlife,positiveemotionsandimprovedrelationships(parentalandmarital).Ifthe
moreconceptualnamedoesnotyetexist,renameoneofthecodeswiththeconceptual
termandthenbeginthemergeprocess.Thisreducesthefilteredlistto5codes.
Asthesecodelabelswouldstillappearallovertheplaceinthealphabeticcodelist,weneedto
addaprefixtoalloftheselabels,sothattheyareunitedunderacommonheading.Isuggestto
usetheprefix‘effectspos’andforthesecondlist‘effectsneg’,sothattheeffectsofparenting
codesaresortedunderneatheachotherlaterinthecompletelistofcodes.Thelastthingthatis
missingisthemaincategorylabel.Aswebuiltthecategoryfromthebottomup,itdoesnotyet
exist.
•
CreateanewcodewiththenameEFFECTSPOS.Highlightallcodesandgivethema
color.
•
Takeouttheglobalfilter(Winversion):rightclickonthecodefamily,selectRemove
globalfilter.ClickonthebuttonShowallCodes.
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Voilà,thereisyournewcategorywithsubcodes:
Figure4:Buildingacategoryfromthebottomup(WindowsandMacversions)
Developingsub-codes
Thegoalindevelopingsubcategoriesistoachieveagooddescriptionofheterogeneityand
varianceinthedatamaterial.Wewillagainuseanexamplebasedonthechildrenand
happinessproject(LINK).Thistime,thedatasegmentshavebeen“lumped”underonlyafew
codes.Noattempthasyetbeenmadetoseparatethevariousaspects.
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Figure5:Whatdotoifyouarea"lumper"
Whenyoubegintocode,youmaynotknowwhichaspectsaresalientandprovidegood
reasonsforformingagroupoftheirown,soitiseasiertocollectthevariousaspectsundera
mainthemefirst.Butbeforethereistoomuchcoding,youneedtobegintosub-divideit.Iwill
explaintheprocedurebasedonthecode“childrenarehardworkbut…”.
•
Doubleclickonthecode“childrenarehardworkbut…”andreadthroughthe
quotations.IntheMacversion,selectthecodeintheCodeManagerandreadthe
quotationinthepanebelowthecodelist.Ifyoupreferreadingthequotationsinan
editor,selectthecodeandthentheoptionOutput\QuotationsforSelectedCode(s).
Yourtaskistodevelopsubcategoriesbasedonthemajortheme.
Afterreadingthroughafewquotations,youarelikelytonoticequotationsthatrefertothe
sameaspectandothersthatdescribeanotherfacetofthemaintheme.Whenyouareatthis
point,startcollectingtheseaspects.Oneoptionistowritethemdownonapieceofpaperand
runatally.Error!Referencesourcenotfound.showsmynotes.Givensufficientenoughscreen
space,anotheroptionistotypeyourideasintoamemoandusethismemolaterontocreate
thelistofsubcodes(Windowsversion,see:‘importingcodes’underHelp).
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Figure6:Noticingandcollectingintheprocessofdevelopingsubcategories
Lookingattheextractedtermshelpstoconceptualizethemfurther.‘Greatestjoyinlife’might
besubsumedunder‘richerlife’.Wouldnottradeitforanything,worthwhileandrewarding
couldbesummarizedunder‘worthwhiletrade-off’;lifeismeaningful,Ifeelfulfilledcanbe
integratedintofulfilment,andsoon.Theaimistolookatthebandwidthsofissuesmentioned
andtocomeupwithalabelthatbestdescribesthemostsimilarones.
Afteryouhavedecidedwhichsubcategoriesyouwanttouse,youneedtoentertheminto
ATLAS.tiandthenrecodethedata.Inorderforthesub-codestoshowupunderthemaincode,
weneedtoaddprefixesagainandrenamethemaincategoryname,asfollows:
HARDWORKBUT…
Hardworkbut:fulfilment
Hardworkbut:richerlife
Hardworkbut:worthwhiletrade-off
Hardworkbut:positiveemotions
ClickF5toresortthelist(Windows).Nowitisagoodtimetocolourthecodesofthisnewly
developedcategory.Allquotationsarestillcontainedinthemaincategorycode.Thenextstep
istodistributethemtothesubcodes(Figure7).
•
DoubleclickonthemaincategorycodeHARDWORKBUT…andselectthefirst
quotation.
•
Readitanddecideintowhichsubcategoryyouwanttomoveit.Selectthe
appropriatesubcodeintheCodeManageranddragitontothemaincodeinthe
marginarea,thusreplacingit.Anotheroptionistousethecodelistfromthe
navigatorpane.
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Figure7:Codingon:replacingthemainthemecodewiththesubcode(Windows)
Figure8:CodingonintheMacversion
Thereisnoneedtoleavethemaincategorycodeattachedtothesegment.Itjustcluttersup
themargin.Itiseasytocollectthequotationsinonemaincategoryviaacodefamily/code
grouplater.Fornow,theaimistoemptythemaincategorycodeandfillthesubcategorieswith
content(seeFigure8).Youmayneedtoadjustthelengthofsomequotationsorcreatenew
ones.Ifyoucomeacrossaquotationthatyoufinddifficulttosortintoanyoftheexisting
subcategories,leavetheminthemaincategory.
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Figure9:Subcodesfilledwithcontent
Conclusion
Inthisarticle,Ihaveshowntheprocessofbuildingcategoriesandsubcodeswhenapproachinganalysis
inductively.Theprocessisdifferentifyouchoseadeductiveapproach.Knowinghowanefficientcode
systemlookslike–efficientintermsofbeingabletoutilizethemoreadvancedanalytictoolsofthe
software,youcannameknowncategoriesandsubcodesalreadyinthesamewayasforinstanceshown
inFigure9.Ifyouneedtocomplementthecodelist,youcanapplytheproceduresasdescribedabove.
Thestructureofthefinalcodelistwillbethesame,nomatterwhetheryoustartinductivelyor
deductively.Asareferenceexample,pleasetakealookattheChildren&Happinesssampleprojectand
opentheCodeManager.
Additionalresources:
Videotutorialonbuildinganefficientcodingsystem(11minutes).Downloadfromhere.
Videotutorialonbuildingcategories(18minutes).Downloadfromhere.
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