Utilising wordsmith and atlas to explore, analyse and report qualitative data

Computer-Aided Qualitative Research Europe
7 & 8 Oct 2010, Lisbon

For more information about our events, please visit:
http://www.merlien.org

Utilising Wordsmith and ATLAS.ti
to explore, analyse and
report qualitative data
"... the two approaches overlap, with quantitative analyses
ending up with qualitative considerations,
and qualitative analyses often requiring quantification."
(Mergenthaler 1996:4).

Brit Helle Aarskog
textUrgy AS & University of Bergen
October 2010

In this presentation:
Overview of course sessions in which participants learn how to
blend quantitative and qualitative approaches; Participants are
guided through an extensive set of practical exercises;
Integrated tool set in WordSmith 5.0 – wide range of frequency
and distribution data for various parameters;
Tools in ATLASti – flexible facilities for annotations of primary
files (audio, video, text, etc.) and tools for linking data (segments,
codes and notes);
I will not talk that much about theory, but rather show a kind of
work-flow from:
Concordances, collocations, Z-score, dispersion plot;
More advanced options as keyness values and textual patterns
revealed via concgrams;
Export results from WordSmith and import files to ATLASti;
In-depth analysis of texts focusing on Problem-Solution patterns;

Brit Helle Aarskog, textUrgy AS & University of Bergen, October 2010

Important to stress: meaning and context
An understanding of how language is used in the text is a
prerequisite for identifying, extracting and representing the meaning.
This understanding can only be achieved by a close study of the
textual context - the situations and activities where words and
phrases are used.
Blair refers to Wittgenstein and declares that:
"These situations and activities are our Forms of Life, which is why
we must understand them before we can understand how language
is used." (1990:154), and further:
" ... we don’t start from certain words, but from certain occasions or
activities... An expression has meaning only in the stream of life.”
(1990:145).
Conformity regarding the appearance of words in the text is not a
sufficient signal for determining conformity in the expressed opinions
(meaning). Lists of words, clusters or collocations can thus not signify
opinions.
"...the words are simply words that are used in a particular way in
certain kinds of situations." (1990:157).
A simple example just to give you a general idea


Z-score and discovery of semantic relations
1

2

Collocation generated over ‘Islam*’ over a set of
news texts collected from a RSS feed;
‘Muslim’ and ‘Terrorist’ among those with
value > 20;
New collocations over these two;
Terrorist in L position and
Terrorist in R position


Construct code structures in ATLASti
Code structures based on
collocation data

Text segments identified for
in-depth analysis


Texts seen as a system of layered structures
Critical Discussion
Opinions in context
Pragmadialectical argumentation theory
Confrontation Opening Argumentation Conclusion Genre theories, e.g. Superstructures, ...

refute
Standpoints Arguments
defend
Speech Act theory, Propositional content,
Cohesion and Coherence, Context,
Speech Acts
Macrostructures, Rhetorics

Sentence Grammatical rules, Syntax,
Microstructures, Metaphores, Styles,
Tense, Adverbial phrases, Pronoun use,
Phrase

Word

Morpheme

Brit Helle Aarskog, textUrgy AS & University of Bergen, Octoberapplied
Theory presented and techniques 2010 depend on textual unit and structural level

Generate concordance over selected word types

The selected word types in the
word list produce a concordance
with 594 entries (81 + 513), and
where the set contains these two
word types, here marked in navy
blue to the right.

Patterns reveal aspects of the texts’ thematic profile


Setting sort order for concordance
Menu for
setting sort
order for
concordances.

Concordance sorted by
R1, R2 and then R3 in
ascending order and
with case sensitivity
activated.

Access to full textual context

Extract from text file where sort settings given for entry 326 is marked in the text.


Plots and clusters complement concordances
Plots visualise the
position of word
occurrences
corresponding to the
word types in a
concordance request.
The plots cover for the
word type ‘parliament*’,
here sorted by ‘hits per
1000 words in the text’.

The clusters
provide further
data about the
occurrences of
‘parliament’ in the
set of texts.

Clusters based on whole texts

The tables show 2 word-clusters for two text sets consisting of part I-IV of two
versions of the Constitution for Europe.
The cluster settings are equal, and each entry in the extracted subsets start
with 'european'.

Frequency data in table for mutual information

Settings for sort order
with swap

The part of the table with data about
frequencies of word type 1 and word type 2
in a pair which is according to settings for
jointedness.


Z-Scores reveal closeness patterns
High z-scores in sample set A
reveal persons' names in sample
set A with about 300 000 words.

High z-scores in sample set
C also reveal persons'
names – a collection with
about 5 million words.


Keyword list, Test file 1

Participants learn text statistics
by observing results after
changing settings

With a p-value 0.05, the list for the
source file Reuter-Test-1-Sport-09-02-
09 includes 46 keywords here sorted
by keyness value

With a p-value 0.0000001, the list for
the source file Reuter-Test-1-Sport-09-
02-09 includes 16 keywords here
sorted by keyness value

Keyword plot, Test file 1

Plot diagram that reveals the dispersion of
keywords in order of how they occur in 8
text segments.
When opening the source file (entry under
‘filenames’), the 4 first keywords in this
sorting order show to be part of the news
report’s title.

Keyword links, Test file 3

Relations between keywords which indicate thematic relations within a text.


WordSmith data converted into ATLASti formats


Submit texts and receive lists of word types by grammar class


Make data sets manually in for instanceTextPad

Clusters from WordSmith are edited into a form that can be applied as codes in ATLASti.


Main sections in the screen-play

Situation
Aspect of Situation requiring a Response
Response to Aspect of Situation requiring a Response
Result of Response to Aspect of Situation requiring a
Response
Evaluation of Result of Response to Aspect of Situation
requiring a Response
Michael Hoey, 1994

Abbreviations: Situation, Problem, Solution, and Evaluation - the
components in the textual SPSE-pattern.


Interaction and Speech Act Analysis


Actors and other World Building Elements

The reader and writer are not characters in the text world
depicted - rather they are participants in the language situation in
which the text has been formed. (Werth 1999)
Thus, the producers of text and its consumers are outside the
text.
Characters are the (juridical) persons mentioned in the text.
Characters are referred to via noun phrases, e.g: Mother, minister,
husband, teacher,....
Characters are referred to via personal pronouns, e.g. You, he, her,
they, them…
Participants can announce their presence by pronouns, e.g. I, me,
mine, we, our
Noun phrases: focus on nouns and their modifiers (adjectives), in
particular noun phrases referring to problems and solutions, and
generate thematic profiles for words occurring left and right of
these (n-grams).


PMEST
Identify word types
for Actor which
signal problems


Function-advancing Propositions
Text involves motion
The motion is entirely notional
The focus of attention is moving
Superstructures may be considered as metaphorical paths - they
do not denote movement, but some kind of non-physical activity
expressed in motion terms.
Move from assertions about situation, the negative evaluation
of a situation to problem statements, evaluating problems and
selecting the most important problem, proposing solutions and
comparing solutions before selecting a solution, evaluating
solutions possibly giving rise to new problems....the new
situation is related to the new problem....
...while connectors are relational elements, and therefore
correspond to the ground, and are thus verb-like
entities...(Werth, 1999:338)


PMEST
Word types/
phrases which
confirm problems


THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION - THE SECRETARIAT
Brussels, 7 July 2003, CONV 844/03, CONTRIB 380, COVER NOTE
From: Secretariat, To: The Convention
Subject: Contribution of Mr David Heathcoat-Amory, member of the Convention:
"Systems of Mismanagement"

Text structure: Introducing problem, evaluating Problem: I am referring to the issue of fraud,
existing solutions, a negative evaluation is followed which is close to being institutionalised in key
by a solution proposal. sectors...
Instead of more political institutions, we need a
real reform of the system. To establish how this
must be achieved, we have first to analyse
something of the fraud and other failings which
have come to light, which has only happened
because of the determination and selflessness of
whistleblowers.
The personal experiences of several confirm a
general trend. Initial complaints are filed away in
the system. …Then, the administrative machine
kicks in. The employee is hauled in before his or
her senior grades, who try to determine precisely
how much he knows before instructing him to
keep silent… Health frequently suffers. The Sword
of Damocles finally falls...a promising career is
finished…And all for nothing. Because someone
Proposal: EU Whistleblower Rights: In the light of has spoken out, the institutions have an even
the present lack of options open to employees of greater need to cover over their failings …The
the Communities who seek redress against fraud goes on regardless....It doesn't end there.
institutional failings, the Convention may care to Beyond the competent authorities refusing to
consider including a Communities whistleblower investigate even claims which are easily
clause setting out the principle of the right of free checkable..., there have been several reports of
speech where normal avenues have been attempts to intimidate witnesses…
blocked. Such a climate engenders fraud higher up the
chain.

Thank you for your attention


Utilising wordsmith and atlas to explore, analyse and report qualitative data

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