Atlas.ti
Encyclopedia
ATLAS.ti is a computer software
program used mostly, but not exclusively, in qualitative research
or qualitative data analysis.
. The program provides tools that let the user locate, code
, and annotate findings in primary data material, to weigh and evaluate their importance, and to visualize complex relations between them.
ATLAS.ti consolidates large volumes of documents and keeps track of all notes, annotations, codes and memos in all fields that require close study and analysis of primary material consisting of text
, image
s, audio
, video
, and geo
data.
In addition, it provides analytical and visualization tools designed to open new interpretative views on the material
Computer software
Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....
program used mostly, but not exclusively, in qualitative research
Qualitative research
Qualitative research is a method of inquiry employed in many different academic disciplines, traditionally in the social sciences, but also in market research and further contexts. Qualitative researchers aim to gather an in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern such...
or qualitative data analysis.
Development history
A prototype of ATLAS.ti was developed by Thomas Muhr at Technical University in Berlin in the context of project ATLAS (1989–1992). A first commercial version of ATLAS.ti was released in 1993 to the market by company "Scientific Software Development," later ATLAS.ti Scientific Software Development GmbH.Description
The purpose of ATLAS.ti is to help researchers uncover and systematically analyze complex phenomena hidden in text and multimedia dataData
The term data refers to qualitative or quantitative attributes of a variable or set of variables. Data are typically the results of measurements and can be the basis of graphs, images, or observations of a set of variables. Data are often viewed as the lowest level of abstraction from which...
. The program provides tools that let the user locate, code
Coding (social sciences)
Coding refers to an analytical process in which data, in both quantitative form or qualitative are categorised to facilitate analysis....
, and annotate findings in primary data material, to weigh and evaluate their importance, and to visualize complex relations between them.
ATLAS.ti consolidates large volumes of documents and keeps track of all notes, annotations, codes and memos in all fields that require close study and analysis of primary material consisting of text
Plain text
In computing, plain text is the contents of an ordinary sequential file readable as textual material without much processing, usually opposed to formatted text....
, image
Image
An image is an artifact, for example a two-dimensional picture, that has a similar appearance to some subject—usually a physical object or a person.-Characteristics:...
s, audio
Audio file format
An audio file format is a file format for storing digital audio data on a computer system. This data can be stored uncompressed, or compressed to reduce the file size. It can be a raw bitstream, but it is usually a container format or an audio data format with defined storage layer.-Types of...
, video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
, and geo
Geoinformation
Geoinformation is an abbreviation of geographic information. Geographic information is created by manipulating geographic data in a computerized system. Systems can include computers and networks, standards and protocols for data use and exchange between users within a range of different...
data.
In addition, it provides analytical and visualization tools designed to open new interpretative views on the material
Features overview
- Coding of text, image, audio and video materials (interactive and automated)
- Rich text and Rich Media support with embedded active objects (MS Excel, images, etc., incl. East Asian and Middle Eastern language)
- WordMicrosoft WordMicrosoft Word is a word processor designed by Microsoft. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS , the Apple Macintosh , the AT&T Unix PC , Atari ST , SCO UNIX,...
documents via “on-the-fly” RTFRich Text FormatThe Rich Text Format is a proprietary document file format with published specification developed by Microsoft Corporation since 1987 for Microsoft products and for cross-platform document interchange....
conversion. - Full native PDF Support (original layout) without conversion
- Google EarthGoogle EarthGoogle Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographical information program that was originally called EarthViewer 3D, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a Central Intelligence Agency funded company acquired by Google in 2004 . It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite...
Geodata Integration - Text-to-media SynchronizationSynchronizationSynchronization is timekeeping which requires the coordination of events to operate a system in unison. The familiar conductor of an orchestra serves to keep the orchestra in time....
- On-Board TranscriptionTranscription (linguistics)Transcription in the linguistic sense is the systematic representation of language in written form. The source can either be utterances or preexisting text in another writing system, although some linguists only consider the former as transcription.Transcription should not be confused with...
Engine - “Live” editable documents with dynamic multi-project update
- Interactive margin area with drag & drop linking, coding, merging
- On-screen coding (drag & drop)
- Search & retrieve functions (incl. Boolean, semantic, and proximity-based operators)
- Visual model building and "mind mapping" (Network Editor with auto-color node visualization)
- Creation and navigation of hyperlinkHyperlinkIn computing, a hyperlink is a reference to data that the reader can directly follow, or that is followed automatically. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to a specific element within a document. Hypertext is text with hyperlinks...
s between resources (HypertextHypertextHypertext is text displayed on a computer or other electronic device with references to other text that the reader can immediately access, usually by a mouse click or keypress sequence. Apart from running text, hypertext may contain tables, images and other presentational devices. Hypertext is the...
) - Searching for textual patterns (Object Crawler)
- Semi-automatic coding with multi-string text search and professional pattern matchingPattern matchingIn computer science, pattern matching is the act of checking some sequence of tokens for the presence of the constituents of some pattern. In contrast to pattern recognition, the match usually has to be exact. The patterns generally have the form of either sequences or tree structures...
("GREP") - Proximity analysisProximity analysisProximity Analysis is an analytical technique used to determine the relationship between a selected point and its neighbors. Proximity analysis is a crucial tool for business marketing and site selection. Marketers analyze demographics and infrastructure to determine trade areas...
of coded data (Cooccurrency Explorer) - Project data export to SPSSSPSSSPSS is a computer program used for survey authoring and deployment , data mining , text analytics, statistical analysis, and collaboration and deployment ....
, HTMLHTMLHyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
, XMLXMLExtensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
, CSVComma-separated valuesA comma-separated values file stores tabular data in plain-text form. As a result, such a file is easily human-readable .... - Creation of presentationPresentationPresentation is the practice of showing and explaining the content of a topic to an audience or learner. Presentations come in nearly as many forms as there are life situations...
s (XMLXMLExtensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
/XSLTXSLTXSLT is a declarative, XML-based language used for the transformation of XML documents. The original document is not changed; rather, a new document is created based on the content of an existing one. The new document may be serialized by the processor in standard XML syntax or in another format,...
converter including stylesheets) - SPSSSPSSSPSS is a computer program used for survey authoring and deployment , data mining , text analytics, statistical analysis, and collaboration and deployment ....
, word frequency, and coding table export to ExcelMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft Excel is a proprietary commercial spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications... - East Asian and Middle Eastern language support
- Single compressed file project backupBackupIn information technology, a backup or the process of backing up is making copies of data which may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. The verb form is back up in two words, whereas the noun is backup....
and migrationData migrationData migration is the process of transferring data between storage types, formats, or computer systems. Data migration is usually performed programmatically to achieve an automated migration, freeing up human resources from tedious tasks...
. - Table based bulk assignment of primary documents plus attributes (“families”)