The Data Jungle Compass

Online, November 26, 2009 (Newswire.com) - Qualitative market research is increasingly gaining in popularity. More and more researchers are relying on large-scale qualitative studies in their quest for a deeper understanding of the varying aspirations and values in our society. New specialised target groups appear daily and are constantly changing. In the process of regularly observing and understanding such developments, there is a rapid build-up of huge mountains of data that need to be managed and analysed.
Time-saving computer software, however, is rarely used to process such large amounts of data. Collecting, sequencing and categorising data is still done mostly by hand. Computers are often only used for smaller databases.

Today, qualitative data analysis can be effectively and inexpensively carried out with the aid of computer programmes. Suchprogrammes have been developed rapidly over the last decade. They have become standard in the UK and USA.
The ATLAS.ti software (www.atlasti.com) is the world's leading programme for computer-assisted analysis of qualitative data and has been successfully implemented by several renowned universities, organisations and research institutes including Yale, Harvard, the WHO, SOS Kinderdörfer, the Max Planck Institute and the World Bank.

The software is characterised by its high level of user-friendliness and its versatile functionality. The programme allows not only text content to be analysed, but also pictures, audio documents and even video clips. The software enables film interviews to be analysed on the screen - film sequences can be highlighted, commentated on and coded. Links between individual codes can be created later, making correlations visible in so-called semantic networks.

For further information and to download a free demo version: www.atlasti.com