Module 2

Module 2

Overview

The purpose of the second module is to demonstrate how students can enhance their critical reading and annotate their readings using qualitative research tools. Although many students do a form of annotation using highlighters, either digital or analog, The major advantage of using tools like ATLAS.ti Links to an external site. and NVivo Links to an external site. is that they not only allow highlighting of main concepts, but they allow students to assign codes or keywords to those concepts and then review all of the text listed under this code or keyword later. This has the dual benefit of encouraging students to think through why the specific concepts they uncover in each chapter are useful and how they fit together with other articles, but also of helping students organize those quotations for later when they engage in detailed synthesis. 

At the end of Module 2, students will be able to :

  1. Create a project in either NVivo Links to an external site.or ATLAS.ti Links to an external site. and upload documents for analysis
  2. Run queries for preliminary analysis of documents
  3. Use coding and auto coding tools to highlight specific concepts, quotations and ideas they uncover in the literature

For librarians interested in using these directions for instruction at their own institutions, you will find additional directions here for downloading pages and teaching these modules.

Module 2 Activities

Learning Activities

  1. If you have access to NVivo Links to an external site.or ATLAS.ti Links to an external site. software, open the application to begin
  2. Explore the NVivo Links to an external site.or ATLAS.ti Links to an external site. software interface
  3. Create a new project in ATLAS.ti Links to an external site. or NVivo Links to an external site.and upload documents you collected for your literature review.
  4. For Nvivo - Queries and Auto-coding to use the auto-coding and/or basic queries to find keywords across the documents, determine focus for deeper reading and do auto-coding of the text
      • Run a Word Frequency Query (go to the Explore Menu and select Word Frequency from the menu ribbon - see this video on how to run the query (NVivo Video Tutorial) Links to an external site.
      • View the Word Cloud image that shows the words (the bigger the word the more it is used)
      • You can then right-click on words in your word frequency list and select to code this word - this will show you where that word is across your articles.
      • You can run a Text Search Query and search words or phrases by using quotation marks to define the phrase (directions for a text search query Links to an external site.)
      • You can then create a code (text across all of your articles) through an auto-coding process by right-clicking on a word in a word frequency word list or selecting a phrase in a text search query. This will help you seeword patterns across your articles.
  5. For ATLAS.ti -Queries and Auto-coding

 

Note: At the end of this module, you will be able to receive optional feedback and participate in discussion activities if you enrolled in this course. If you are just accessing the open Canvas pages you will not be able to participate in discussions or submit an assignment for feedback.

  • Discussion Participation: Do you have questions to ask or insights to share as you think about how qualitative research tools can be used to help do deeper reading? Click on the discussion participation link to share with your peers
  • Optional Assignment Feedback: Once you have set up a project in either NVivo or Atlas.ti, feel free to share a screen shot at this optional assignment feedback link of your software interface, or list of files or list of auto-codes you have created. 

Learning Materials

Below are the readings, tutorials and videos used in the module activities listed above.

Readings

Video Tutorials For ATLAS.TI AND NVIVO 

ATLAS.ti Tutorials

 NVivo Tutorials

Video Tutorial For EXCEL

Supplementary Videos

Extra Resources