[Air-L] Coding Analysis Toolkit: Beta Testers Needed

[Stuart Shulman]

[Please forward this to any relevant list or individual]

I am recruiting volunteers to beta test my invention: the Coding Analysis
Toolkit (CAT).
http://www.qdap.pitt.edu/cat.htm

Originally a tool for adjudicating text coding decisions made by multiple
coders using ATLAS.ti, thereby making it easy to measure inter-rater
reliability *and* coder validity, CAT has grown quickly into a promising new
set of web-based tools for anyone who wants to code a lot of digitized text
in a quick, efficient, effective, reliable and valid manner. By design, CAT
is a mixed method toolkit, facilitating close qualitative analysis of text,
accurate measurement of coder errors, and large scale, quantitative content
analysis. The adjudication tool is the centerpiece; it helps users refine
categories and resolve difficult manual coding problems.

The toolkit is designed to do a small (but growing) number of key coding,
analyzing, and reporting tasks. For anyone who has ever struggled with the
commercial off-the-shelf products, CAT is specially designed, from the
ground up, to eliminate all the annoying things that have bugged text
analysts for years. Whereas people spend 2-3 days learning the basics of
existing qualitative data analysis products, I can train people in the use
of CAT in about 5 minutes.

I invite you, your team, or your graduate students to sign up for a free
beta tester account.
http://cat.ucsur.pitt.edu/

While CAT is scheduled to be commercialized later this year, for now, anyone
can use it for free. When it does commercialize, it will be very cheap or
free for graduate students. Beta testers will be asked to complete a
web-based usability survey, however, we anticipate this feedback will result
in an even better system. I predict there will be some spiffy dissertations
that include megabytes of coded data.

You can learn more about the origin of CAT at:
http://www.qdap.pitt.edu

I have some interesting datasets I can share to get you started thinking a
whole new way about text.

~Stu

-- 
Dr. Stuart W. Shulman
Director, Sara Fine Institute
School of Information Sciences
Director, Qualitative Data Analysis Program
University Center for Social and Urban Research
http://qdap.ucsur.pitt.edu
University of Pittsburgh
121 University Place, Suite 600
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
412.624.3776 (v) 412.624.4810 (f)
http://shulman.ucsur.pitt.edu
Editor, Journal of Information Technology and Politics
http://www.jitp.net