Making Thinking Visible with Atlas.ti: Computer Assisted Qualitative Analysis as Textual Practices

How is a new quality of reading, which we call "sociological understanding", created during the process of qualitative analysis? A methodological (conventional) answer to this question usually speaks of mental processes and conceptual work. This paper suggests a different view—sociological...

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Main Author: Zdeněk Konopásek
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: FQS 2008-05-01
Series:Forum: Qualitative Social Research
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/420
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spelling doaj-befa69fa34f643338b2d2889ed8f72252020-11-24T23:04:23ZdeuFQS Forum: Qualitative Social Research1438-56272008-05-0192419Making Thinking Visible with Atlas.ti: Computer Assisted Qualitative Analysis as Textual PracticesZdeněk Konopásek0Center for Theoretical Study, PrahaHow is a new quality of reading, which we call "sociological understanding", created during the process of qualitative analysis? A methodological (conventional) answer to this question usually speaks of mental processes and conceptual work. This paper suggests a different view—sociological rather than methodological; or more precisely a view inspired by a contemporary sociology of science. It describes qualitative analysis as a set of material practices. Taking grounded theory methodology and the work with the computer programme Atlas.ti as an example, it is argued that thinking is inseparable from doing even in this domain. It is argued that by adopting the suggested perspective we might be better able to speak of otherwise hardly graspable processes of qualitative analysis in more accountable and instructable ways. Further, software packages would be better understood not only as "mere tools" for coding and retrieving, but also as complex virtual environments for embodied and practice-based knowledge making. Finally, grounded theory methodology might appear in a somewhat different light: when described not in terms of methodological or theoretical concepts but rather in terms of what we practically do with the analysed data, it becomes perfectly compatible with the radical constructivist, textualist, or even post-structuralist paradigms of interpretation (from which it has allegedly departed by a long way). URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0802124http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/420CAQDASanalytic practicesgrounded theory methodologythinkingvisualisationtextualityreading and writinghumans and machines
collection DOAJ
language deu
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Zdeněk Konopásek
spellingShingle Zdeněk Konopásek
Making Thinking Visible with Atlas.ti: Computer Assisted Qualitative Analysis as Textual Practices
Forum: Qualitative Social Research
CAQDAS
analytic practices
grounded theory methodology
thinking
visualisation
textuality
reading and writing
humans and machines
author_facet Zdeněk Konopásek
author_sort Zdeněk Konopásek
title Making Thinking Visible with Atlas.ti: Computer Assisted Qualitative Analysis as Textual Practices
title_short Making Thinking Visible with Atlas.ti: Computer Assisted Qualitative Analysis as Textual Practices
title_full Making Thinking Visible with Atlas.ti: Computer Assisted Qualitative Analysis as Textual Practices
title_fullStr Making Thinking Visible with Atlas.ti: Computer Assisted Qualitative Analysis as Textual Practices
title_full_unstemmed Making Thinking Visible with Atlas.ti: Computer Assisted Qualitative Analysis as Textual Practices
title_sort making thinking visible with atlas.ti: computer assisted qualitative analysis as textual practices
publisher FQS
series Forum: Qualitative Social Research
issn 1438-5627
publishDate 2008-05-01
description How is a new quality of reading, which we call "sociological understanding", created during the process of qualitative analysis? A methodological (conventional) answer to this question usually speaks of mental processes and conceptual work. This paper suggests a different view—sociological rather than methodological; or more precisely a view inspired by a contemporary sociology of science. It describes qualitative analysis as a set of material practices. Taking grounded theory methodology and the work with the computer programme Atlas.ti as an example, it is argued that thinking is inseparable from doing even in this domain. It is argued that by adopting the suggested perspective we might be better able to speak of otherwise hardly graspable processes of qualitative analysis in more accountable and instructable ways. Further, software packages would be better understood not only as "mere tools" for coding and retrieving, but also as complex virtual environments for embodied and practice-based knowledge making. Finally, grounded theory methodology might appear in a somewhat different light: when described not in terms of methodological or theoretical concepts but rather in terms of what we practically do with the analysed data, it becomes perfectly compatible with the radical constructivist, textualist, or even post-structuralist paradigms of interpretation (from which it has allegedly departed by a long way). URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0802124
topic CAQDAS
analytic practices
grounded theory methodology
thinking
visualisation
textuality
reading and writing
humans and machines
url http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/420
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