[Air-L] Web Pages and Qualitative Data Analysis

[Becker, mevr. C. (Carmen), MA]

Dear Stefano,

I was dealing with the same problem a few months ago. I tested altas.ti and nvivo. As far as I remember there was not other software with the functionality I want.

Right now, I am analyzing forum posts (threads) with atlas.ti (version 6). Within atlas.ti I can code pdf's (and mulit-media files etc.) without needing to convert them to rtf. It works quite well for me. Atlas.ti imports the entire document with graphic elements etc.

However, it took me some time to find the best html2pdf converter. Since I try to keep one pdf document for every thread it is important that the files do not get too big. Otherwise coding in atlas.ti becomes really slow and sometimes annoying.  Adobe is great but for most too expensive. I am using "foxit create" to convert webpages and the "foxit editor" (both around 100 US$) in order to create one pdf document (if threads are paginated) and to delete elements I do not need for my analysis. It takes some time to prepare the documents for coding but I think it is worth doing. 

Best,
Carmen




Carmen Becker
-----------------------------------------
research.carmenbecker.net

Radboud University Nijmegen
Postbus 9103
6500 HD NIJMEGEN
The Netherlands

----- Original Message -----
From: Sharon Haleva Amir <sharon at trebcon.com>
Date: Monday, August 17, 2009 10:17 am
Subject: Re: [Air-L] Web Pages and Qualitative Data Analysis

> Dear Stefano, the 5th version of ATLAS.Ti allowed only the analysis 
> of texts
> saved in RTF format - Rich Text Files. The new 6th version has a 
> specialfeature which will allow you to convert PDF's to simple text 
> files - see
> here http://www.atlasti.com/downloads/newfeatures6.pdf. Bottom line 
> everydocument has to be converted to a plain RTF format doc before 
> you can text
> analyze it. 
> 
> Its price is my main obstacle as well - there's a free trial 
> version on site
> http://www.atlasti.com/demo.html 
> 
> Good luck, Sharon 
> 
> 
> 
> Best Wishes,
> Sharon Haleva Amir, HCLT Fellow 
> (PhD Candidate) Faculty of Law, 
> University of Haifa, ISRAEL. 
> --------------------------------------------------
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org
> [air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Stefano De Paoli
> Sent: Monday, August 17, 2009 9:53 AM
> To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
> Subject: [Air-L] Web Pages and Qualitative Data Analysis
> 
> Dear all,
> 
> we are starting Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA)of messages taken from
> Internet forums that we have
> saved as Web Pages (in HTML format) using the Firefox extension 
> ScrapBook.
> We are now looking for QDA software that will allow us to analyse
> these Web Pages while keep the layout intact.
> Our department has some licenses for NVIVO.
> 
> http://www.qsrinternational.com/products_nvivo.aspx
> 
> While in the process of importing our data into NVIVo (HTML files that
> 
> we have previously exported in PDF)  we discovered that this program
> does not keep the original layout of the Web Page. From a PDF file 
> NVIVOjust imports the text. In other words it seems that we cannot use
> NVIVO for our analysis.
> 
> 
> Surfing around the Internet we discovered that ATLAS.ti (another
> QDA software) allows one to manage PDF files in a native mode (i.e. it
> keeps the page layout intact).
> http://www.atlasti.com/
> 
> However a single license for ATLAS costs 438 Euros (a bit
> expensive), and before we buy a license we would like to
> see if there are any other solutions available.
> 
> 
> Have you ever had similar problems?
> What type of software do you use for your QDA of Web Pages?
> Do you have other solutions to suggest?
> 
> We look forward to your replies.
> 
> S.
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> My institutional page
> http://www.nuim.ie/nirsa/people/postdocs/stefano_de_paoli.shtml
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