How to do qualitative analysis of interviews with Atlas .ti

You’ve just conducted interviews and transcribed your interview data now you are wondering how you are going to conduct qualitative data analysis on this data using Atlas ti.

In this article I’ll simply be teaching you how to conduct qualitative analysis of interviews using Atlas ti.

The first thing that we need to do is to define what we’re going to be doing.

Ideally what we are going to be doing is coding.

We are going to be coding our data and then combining codes together to form themes.

Let me begin by showing you an example of codes.

Then I define what a code is then from there we can go to Atlas. ti.

Now here are some examples of codes you can see.

HF means heart failure so heart failure symptoms affect workplace,

1. swelling in the legs
2. Blisters
3. Pain in the legs
4. Swelling in the legs,
5. Previously taking medication
6. Hf symptoms affect workplace
7. Palpitations when walking.

So I wanna read the statements and then see why did I make these codes.

It’s been three years since I came back from Gulf.

The main reason for coming back is because in between I had swelling in my legs.

I’m a driver if I start today then two to three days only I can come back.

So there was swelling in the legs and blisters and I was not able to keep my leg down.

You can see that section I have coded it as heart failure symptoms affect work not work place but work.

So they’re not able to perform well at work because of heart failure symptoms.

Then I had swelling in my legs I am a driver if I start today then two to three days I can come back.

So there was swelling in the legs and blisters while there I was not able to keep my leg down.

So swelling in the legs that’s another code.

So there was swelling in the legs, blisters then I was not able to keep my leg down that kind of pain I was having.

So pain in the legs.

There is another code where they say, then I took medicines and since I was taking medicines it was okay.

So they have previously taken medication.

Then I went to Gulf but then after one and a half years I came back, I had some difficulties.

The code that we had was heart failure symptoms affect work.

Then when I walk I was having palpitations I was not able to climb stairs.

So palpitations when walking.

These are codes.

From these examples we can see that codes can be defined as labels or interpretive statement to any information that is important to our research objectives or questions.

So a code is simply a label or an interpretive statement to any information that is important to our research questions or objectives.

Having seen some examples of random codes, we want now to go to Atlas ti.

The first thing we see when we open Atlas. ti is the blue menu and other menus on the left.

We go and create new project.

Let’s call this analysis project 1.

Then we click on create.

For this project I am going to analyze two transcripts.

This transcripts relate to the topic of engagement of parents in schools.

I’m going to import these two transcripts into atlas.ti.

How do I do that?

I can either drag and drop them or import them using the import function.

But before I do that I would like to look at the main menus in Atlas.ti.

We have the top menu that is made up of file, home search, code, analyze, import, export tools and help.

We have a secondary menu that is made up of documents, new entities, project comment, navigator, documents, quotations, codes, memos, networks, and links.

And we have this menu on the left which is made up of documents, codes, memos, networks, document groups, code groups, memo groups and network groups.

Atlas.ti is a very simple software in appearance but it’s a software that works.

Now I want to import my transcripts inside the document section in Atlas.ti by dragging and dropping them.

Also in the documents you can create grouping of documents but that will come in my later tutorials.

Today I just want to import and show the basic coding using this software, how we combine codes based on shared meaning and how we mark codes or we manage codes coming from different participants and from different questions.

Let me drag and drop the transcripts.

And now we have two transcripts imported inside Atlas ti.

Now let’s go and do some analysis.

For you to be able to do analysis, you need to have a framework.

Before we start analyzing the transcripts or performing qualitative analysis on the interviews, we have to decide which approach we are going to use.

For example for this article I’m going to conduct thematic analysis on the interviews using the Braun and Clarke six-step framework of conducting thematic analysis which includes familiarizing with the data, generating initial codes, developing themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes and writing the report.

Although I wouldn’t be following these steps one by one this is the main framework that I’ll be using to conduct my thematic analysis.

For the purpose of this article we are going to get codes and then we are going to try and combine the codes and see how we get themes.

Now let’s go to interview one.

Let’s read because we need to familiarize with the data and then generate some codes.

But before we begin coding I always emphasize that it’s important to have a color code to mark each and every question that you are going to code.

For example you can see that the first question is marked as red.

So this second question I can mark it as green.

This is just a way to manage the codes that will be coming from these questions.

We can mark this question as Brown.

These are different color codes for different questions.

Now let us start coding.

People use the term parental engagement in lots of different ways, in your experience what does it mean in school when people talk about parental engagement?

This respondent then says, for me it means partnership between school and parents not just with the academic side of things but with all the personal, social and health creating a community if you like.

So the school is the heart of the community.

I like to read the whole paragraph and then begin coding.

This statement for me means partnership between schools and parents not just with the academic side of things but with all the personal, social and health.

I would like to code that statement.

I’m going to highlight, right click apply codes.

Then say Holistic partnership between school and parents then click on the plus sign.

When we add a code we can see that it goes to the code section.

Also in the code section if I double click on the code we can see the statement that we just coded.

Then creating a community if you like so the school is at the heart of the community, I highlight that.

And I want to code this as establishing a community with school at the center.

That’s another code I just created.

Basically coding involves interpreting quotes from the participants in ways that make sense to our research objectives.

Let’s go to the next question and keep coding, and in your view what types of parental engagement are most effective?

I think the most effective are the ones where they have a strong purpose so the parents know why they’re coming in.

Obviously for some of our parents school is a barrier so I think some of the more social community-based events that get the parents through the door for just a coffee or a chat are really important as well as even things like phone calls and grabbing parents on the playground for informal chats about their children and not just the bad stuff but the good stuff too it’s all about building those relationships I think.

let me do some codes here.

So what types of parental engagement are most effective?

This person says, the ones that have a strong purpose so the parents know why they’re coming in.

I code that as those with a strong purpose.

So those with a strong purpose and by the way because we’ve gone to another question let me just remind you the color codes that we have.

The first question I wanna mark those codes as red based on the color code that I assigned.

I right click here and go to change color.

Then mark the codes as red.

And then the second one is those with a strong purpose, I want to assign a color that I had decided before.

I go to change color then I choose light green.

That’s how we will mark codes from this section.

And you can also see in atlas.ti that the codes are getting these kind of color codes automatically.

So let’s keep coding.

Obviously some of our parents school is a barrier so I think of the more social community based events that get parents through the door just for coffee or a chat are really important.

So this person is saying social and community based events are an effective form of parental engagement.

Go to apply code.

Then social and community based events.

Then we click on the plus sign.

Remember should have light green for that code.

Let’s keep reading and coding, as well as even things like phone calls and grabbing parents on the playground for informal chats about their children and not just the bad stuff but the good stuff too I think it’s all about building those relationships.

Another effective form of parental engagement is phone calls with parents.

I right click apply code then say phone call with parents.

Of course I click the plus sign.

Let us continue and grabbing parents on the playground for informal chats about their children.

This one also, I right click, I go to apply codes and then I state, having informal chats with parents.

Remember all this belong to the second question so the color code is light green.

Now I want to go and do another batch of codes for the second interview and then we are going to see how we combine these codes to form themes.

If we are doing this for a complete project it would generally involve going there and revising the codes first.

But for this article I just wanted to introduce you to Atlas.ti, show you how we can easily get codes and combine them to get themes and then often we always go and report the findings.

Let me open the second interview and close the first one.

In your experience, what do people mean when they talk about parental engagement in school?

Let’s read the whole paragraph first, then we come back code.

For me personally it’s not an additional thing, it’s something you do as a class teacher on lots of different levels it’s about having a good relationship with parents in your class.

Then there is different layers you can add to that like the events we have in school that parents can come in and be part of, you might also have some parents that volunteer within the school as well there could be parents coming to the classroom to see things happening.

So I think it’s layered on lots of levels but it starts with the class teacher building those relationships.

After that you can do lots of different things to get parents involved.

In your experience what do people mean when they talk about parental engagement in school?

For me personally it’s not an additional thing, it is something you do as a class teacher on lots of different levels it is about having a good relationship with parents in your class.

I want to code this as having a great relationships with parents.

So having a great relationship with parents I add that code by clicking the plus sign.

If you remember the first question it was marked as red so I mark that question as red

It is important to manage our codes in-order to know where they came from because later we are actually going to be looking for patterns of shared meaning across these codes.

Then there is different layers you can add to that like the events we have in school that parents can come in and be part. You might also have some parents that volunteer within the school as well, there could be parents coming into the classroom to see things happening so it’s layered on lots of level but it starts with the class teachers building those relationships.

This person said, active engagement of parents in the classroom.

All those quotes I want to say active engagement of parents in the classroom.

So active engagement of parents in the classroom.

That’s another code.

So in your view which of those different layers or which types of parental engagement are most effective? You might ask a question later on in your interview and some people provide answers even before you ask them.

For example if you read in your view which of those different layers which types of parental engagement are most effective? you can see this participant had already said parents volunteering in school.

I want to code that as a type of parental engagement.

So parents volunteering in school.

I’m giving it a green color because this relates to the second question, although it was asked in the first question, we still coded it in another section. One section can be attached to very numerous codes.

There could be parents coming into the classroom to see thing.

So parents visiting the classroom.

We still have not even gotten to the second question but this person have already given us codes that they thought are effective ways of parental engagement.

But still let us read their responses.

I think the most effective way goes to that relationship that you have with parents as a teacher because parents will have different experiences with school.

You want them to come through the door and be involved in that way but also you want them to be involved outside the school as well with homework and reports.

So that’s another level of engagement outside school which has completely changed in the last 18 months but in terms of engagement I think you have to engage with them before you can expect them to engage with you, you don’t want them through the doors.

Then you’ve got to make them feel welcome and at ease you got to let them know who you are and what you are about you build that relationship and have conversations about their children and keep them up to date and informed with everything. The more you do that the more they become involved.

So it starts with the teacher-parent relationship, and then everything else grows from that.

From this we can see that this person is emphasizing that the most effective form of parental engagement begins with teacher-parent relationship.

I wanna highlight the last part.

We apply a code and say engagement based on effective parent reach relationships.

So engagement based on effective parent-teacher relationships.

These are the kind of parent-teacher relationships that we have here.

We have done the first phase of analyzing our interviews or conducting thematic analysis on our interview which is generating codes.

Once we have generated codes I want to close the transcript and move to the second step which is coming up with themes.

It’s very easy to come up with themes because I ensured that I marked the codes and the questions that this person was asking can give us a hint.

For example they were asking, in your experience what does it mean in school when people talk about parental engagement?

This is subjective meaning of parental engagement.

So I can have a theme called Subjective understanding of parental engagement.

Subjective understanding of parental engagement will be one of our theme.

The first question we are asking this people is what does it mean in school when people talk about parental engagement?

Let’s write that down.

So I want to right click and go to new memo.

This theme represents the subjective understanding of parental engagement according to the interviewees.

And then remember every code that came from question number one was marked as red.

So I am going to go and grab all the codes that are marked red by pressing control.

Then I drag and drop them under that theme.

In Atlas.ti these codes will get duplicated.

Under this theme we have four codes.

Let’s form another theme.

Let’s go to code groups, then new group.

And then let’s see what would be the second theme.

Consider the question that was being asked, what types of parental engagement are most effective?

So this theme can be, theme two effective forms of parental engagement.

Then we press create.

So effective forms of parental engagement, what are they?

Let us select all the codes which include, Engagement based on effective parent-teacher relationships, having informal chats with parents, parents visiting the classroom, parents volunteering in the classroom, phone call with parents,, social and community-based events.

All this codes drag and drop them in theme 2.

And that’s how you get all codes under that code group.

Basically that’s how we do coding or we go from interview transcripts all the way to getting themes in Atlas.ti.

With that in mind, we can go and get a code book.

To export a form of a Code-book we have to open code list in Excel.

Let’s see the code book

So we have codes we have code group one and two.

So each code Atlas.ti is showing us where it belongs.

Some codes are red because I gave them a color code.

You remember I marked the codes that came from the first question as red meaning the codes that are marked as red are under theme one.

So an active engagement of parents in the classroom, establishing a community with the school at the center, having a great relationship with parents holistic partnership between school and parents.

Then we have the second code group or the second theme engagement based on effective parent teacher relationship.

So what are the effective forms of parental engagement? It’s engagement based on effective parent-teacher relationships, parents visiting the classroom, parents volunteering the classroom, Phone call with parents, social and community-based events and those with a strong purpose.

That is the kind of a code book that we get from Atlas.ti.

Basically that’s how we code and move from codes to themes in Atlas.ti.

I am going to have other articles where we go deep into how to report the findings and how to have more visuals or visualizations.

But basically this is how we get codes or we perform qualitative analysis of interviews with Atlas.ti.