Data and Project Management

Abstract

The first part of this chapter provides an overview of the data file formats supported by ATLAS.ti and a few things you need to pay attention to. The recommendations and suggestions are derived from everyday user problems and questions that I have come across in the past. In addition, I include some transcription guidelines relating to the technicalities of the software. Following these guidelines will facilitate your work with ATLAS.ti at later stages of your analysis. In the second part of this chapter you will learn how to set up projects for single users and teams, how to set up a project with synchronized audio or video files and how to treat survey data. Further, you will find some information on how to work with large-sized projects. Skills trainings Skills training 3.1: auto coding Skills training 3.2: setting up a single user project Skills training 3.3: working with transcripts and synchronized media files Skills training 3.4: working with survey data Skills training 3.5: creating user accounts Skills training 3.6: merging projects Skills training 3.7: creating backups and transferring a project Skills training 3.8: creating partial bundle files Data preparation Supported file formats In principle, most textual, graphical and multimedia formats are supported by ATLAS.ti (see Table 3.1) 04_Friese_BAB1401B0019_Ch-03.indd 39 27-Feb-14 3:23:30 PM QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS WITH ATLAS.TI 40 Preparing documents Text documents For some formats, their suitability depends on your version of Windows, par-ticularly in regard to what other software is already installed. Doc and docx files, for example, are converted to rich text. For this process a doc(x) to rich text converter needs to be installed on your system. These are usually installed on your computer if you use an Office package; if, however, you get a project that contains Word 2007 or 2010 files and you still use Word 2003, then you may need to go online and download the latest compatibility pack from the Microsoft website, or else store the file in rich text format Table 3.1 Supported file formats