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model consists of 13 content categories with items such as APPEARANCE, ART, COMMUNICATION,
FAMILY, etc.
The CATEGORIZATION MODEL option lists all WordStat categorization models available in the
Models subfolder. If keywords have been stored with the current project codebook, the list will also
include the <Internal keyword> item. The first step one needs to do in order to access the keyword
retrieval features is selecting a categorization model. Once a model has been selected, the other search
and formatting options become available.
The SEARCH IN option allows you to specify on which document variables the search will be
performed. If the current project contains more than one document variable, you will have a choice of
selecting either one or a combination of them. By default, all document variables are selected. To restrict
the analysis to only a few of them, click the down arrow key at the right of the list box. You will be
presented with a list of all available document variables. Select the variables on which you want the
search to be performed.
The SEARCH UNIT option determines the search unit on which the search will be performed as well as
what will be retrieved. You can select three different search units:
• If you select Documents as the search unit, QDA Miner will apply the search expression on each
document associated with a specific case. If a specific document meets the search condition, its
location will be returned.
• When selecting Paragraphs as the search unit, QDA Miner will return any paragraph meeting the
search condition.
• Select Sentences to instruct QDA Miner to return sentences meeting the search condition.
• Selecting Coded Segments as the search unit allows restricts the search to the text segments that
have already been coded. When a coded segment meets the search condition, its entire text is
returned, no matter whether it is a single word or several paragraphs. To restrict the search to specific
codes, select the Selected radio button to the right side of this option and select the codes from the
drop-down checklist by clicking the arrow button to the right end of this list. These codes can also be
selected from a tree representation of the codebook by clicking the
button. To perform the search
on all codes, choose the All radio button.
KEYWORD FILTERING - This group of options allows one to select the keyword category on which
the retrieval will be based. Setting the numerical value of the Include at least option allows one to
retrieve text units containing a minimum number of keywords from a selected list. To select the
keyword categories, click the arrow button to show all available categories and then click the desired
items. The minimum number of keyword categories a specific unit must contain in order to be
retrieved is specified using a small edit box with spin buttons on the right. Setting this numerical
value to the total number of keyword categories selected will force the program to retrieve only those
units containing all those categories. Setting this number to a lower value will retrieve all text units
containing at least this number of categories from the selected list. In the example shown above, any
unit containing keywords from at least one of the two categories ART and NIGHTLIFE will be
retrieved.
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To enter a second filtering condition, click the
button. You can choose to link the two
filtering conditions using either one of the three Boolean expressions: AND, OR or NOT. Choosing
AND will retrieve all text units fulfilling both criteria; selecting OR will result in a retrieval of text
units meeting either the first or the second condition, or both, while choosing the NOT Boolean
operator will retrieve text units meeting the first condition but not the second one.
To limit the filtering conditions to a single statement, click the
button.
ADD VARIABLES - This drop-down checklist box may optionally be used to add the values stored in
one or more variables to the table of retrieved segments for the specific case from which a text
segment originates. This feature is especially useful for identifying differences in how keywords are
used or how specific topics are expressed by different group of individuals. It may also be used to
examine the relationship between these values and the keywords.
To store the search expression and options, click the
button and specify the name under which
those query options will be saved.
To retrieve a previously saved query, click the
button and select from the displayed list the name
of the query you would like to retrieve (for more information, see Saving and Retrieving Queries
on page 90).
Once all the search options have been set properly, simply click the
button to retrieve the
selected text units.
Working with the Retrieved Text Units
The retrieved text units are displayed in a table found on the SEARCH HITS page. This table contains
both the case number and the variable from which the segment originates, as well as the value of all
additional variables selected by the user (see the ADD VARIABLES option above). When searching for
paragraphs, sentences or coded segments, the table also displays the text associated with the retrieved
unit and its location (its paragraph and sentence number). By using arrow keys or by clicking a row the
associated text is displayed in a separate window at the bottom of the screen with all keywords in bold.
To sort the table of retrieved units in ascending order in any column, simply click the column header.
Clicking the same column header a second time sorts the rows in descending order. Tables may also be
printed, stored as a text report, or exported to disk in various file formats such as Excel, ASCII, MS
Word, HTML or XML.
To remove a search hit from the hit list:
• Select its row and then click the
button.
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To assign a code to a specific search hit:
• In the table of search hits, select the row corresponding to the text segment you want to code.
• Use the CODE drop-down list located above this table to select the code to assign.
• Click the
button to assign the selected code to the highlighted text segment.
To assign a code to all search hits:
• Use the CODE drop-down list located above this table to select the code to assign.
• Click the
button to assign the selected code to all text segments matching the search
expression.
To create a report of retrieved segments:
• Click the
button. The sort order of the current table is used to determine the display order in
the report. This report is displayed in a text-editing dialog box and may be modified, stored on
disk (in RTF, HTML or plain text format), printed, or cut-and-pasted into another application.
Graphics and tables may also be inserted anywhere in this report.
To display the automatic text classification panel:
ɷ
Click the
button. A panel will appear at the bottom of this hit list, allowing you to apply an
automatic text classification model on the retrieved text segments. Clicking this button again, will
hide the panel.
For more information on this feature, see Automatic Text Classification on page 174.
To analyze the text of all retrieved segments using WordStat:
ɷ
Click the
button. QDA Miner will minimize itself and run WordStat, allowing you to perform
a quantitative content analysis or apply text-mining techniques on the retrieved text segments.
WordStat will also allow you to perform keyword comparisons across any other column in the
table. To include additional data for comparison analysis, use the Add Variables option.
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To display the coding table:
ɷ
Click the
button. A dialog box will appear allowing you to code retrieved text segments using
drag and drop operations, remove existing codings and attach comments to codes.
For more information on this feature, see Coding Text Segments Using the Coding Table on
page 185.
To export the table to disk:
• Click the
button. A Save File dialog box will appear.
• In the Save As Type list box, select the file format under which to save the table. The following
formats are supported: ASCII file (*.TXT), Tab delimited file (*.TAB), Comma delimited file
(*.CSV), HTML file (*.HTM; *.HTML), XML file (*.XML), MS Word document (*.DOC), and
Excel spreadsheet file (*.XLS).
• Type a valid file name with the proper file extension.
• Click the Save button.
To append a copy of the table in the Report Manager:
ɷ
Click the
button. A descriptive title will be provided automatically for the table. To edit this
title or to enter a new one, hold down the SHIFT keyboard key while clicking this button.
ɷ
To append only a single hit from the table, select the row containing the text segment you want to
append to the Report Manager and click the
button.
For more information on the Report Manager, see the Report Manager Feature topic on page
189.
To print the table:
• Click the
button.
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Coding Frequencies
You can use the CODING FREQUENCIES command from the ANALYSIS menu to obtain a list of all
codes in the current codebook along with their description and the category to which they belong. This
dialog box may also be used to obtain various statistics for each code such as their frequency, the number
of cases in which they are found, and the total number of words in the associated text segments.
Selecting this command displays a dialog box similar to the one below:
To spread long descriptions over more than one line, select the Multiple lines option.
The SEARCH IN option allows you to specify which document variables to search. If the current
project contains more than one document variable, you will have a choice of selecting either one or a
combination of them. By default, all document variables are selected. To restrict the analysis to only a
few of them, click the down arrow key at the right of the list box. You will be presented with a list of all
available document variables. Select the variables on which you want the search to be performed.
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Clicking the
button adds six columns to the right side of the table containing summary statistics on
code usage:
Count
Number of times this code has been used.
Cases
Number of cases in which this code appears.
Nb Words
Total number of words in all text segments associated with this code.
% Count
Percentage of coding associated with this code.
% Cases
Percentage of cases containing this code.
% Words
Percentage of words tagged with this code.
If graphics are also included in the search, the following columns will also become visible:
Nb Pixels
Total number of pixels (in K) in all graphic areas associated with this code
% Image
Percentage of image areas tagged with this code.
When statistics are shown in the table, the
button allows one to produce bar charts or pie charts to
visually display the distribution of specific codes. To produce such charts:
• Set the Sort By option to the order you want the values to be shown graphically.
• Select the rows you would like to plot (multiple but separate rows can be selected by clicking the
desired rows while holding down the CTRL key)
• Click the
button.
For further information see the Bar chart and Pie Chart section below.
To sort this list of hits in ascending order on any column values, simply click a given column header.
Clicking the same column header a second time sorts the rows in descending order.
Click the
button to append a copy of the table in the Report Manager. A descriptive title will be
provided automatically for the table. To edit this title or to enter a new one, hold down the SHIFT
keyboard key while clicking this button.
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The list of codes may be saved to disk in Excel, MS Word, plain ASCII, text delimited, HTML or XML
format by clicking the
button.
You may also print this list by clicking the
button.
Bar chart and Pie Chart
QDA Miner allows one to produce bar charts or pie charts to visually display the distribution of specific
codes. To produce such charts:
• Run the CODING FREQUENCIES command from the ANALYSIS menu.
• Click the Show Statistics button.
• Sort the table to the desired graphic order of the values.
• Select the rows you would like to plot (multiple but separate rows can be selected by clicking
while holding down the CTRL key)
• Click the
button.
Three types of charts may be used to depict the distribution of keywords or content categories:
The vertical bar chart is the default chart used to display absolute or relative frequencies
of keywords or content categories.
The horizontal bar chart displays the same information as the vertical one but is especially
useful when the number of keywords is high and their labels cannot be displayed entirely
on the bottom axis.
The pie chart is useful to display the relative frequency of each keyword and compare
individual values to other values and to the whole. Numerical values displayed in pie
charts are always expressed in percentages of either the total frequency or case
occurrences.
The Plot option allows one to select the values that will be used as the scale for the length of bars in bar
charts or as the percentage base for pie charts. For bar charts the options are:
FREQUENCY Number of occurrences of the code
NB CASES
Number of cases where this code appears
NB WORDS
Total number of words associated with this code
% CODES
Percentage of codes associated with this code
% CASES
Percentage of cases where this keyword appears
% WORDS
Percentage of words associated with this code
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If images have been coded, the following options may be available:
NB PIXELS
Number of pixels in kilobytes associated with this code.
% PIXELS
Percentage of pixels associated with this code.
For pie charts, three options are available to specify how percentages will be computed:
FREQUENCY Number of occurrences of the code
NB CASES
Number of cases where this code appears
NB WORDS
Total number of words associated with this code
and if images have been coded:
NB PIXELS
Number of pixels in kilobytes associated with this code
The View Others option displays an additional bar or slice representing all items in the frequency table
that have not been selected.
The following table provides a short description of available buttons and controls:
Controls Description
Press this button to retrieve a chart previously saved on disk.
Press this button to save a chart on disk. Charts are saved in a proprietary format and
may be edited and customized using the Chart Editor.
Pressing this button allows you to print a copy of the displayed chart.
Click this button to turn on/off the 3D perspective for the current chart.
This button allows you to edit various features of the chart such as the left and
bottom axis , the chart and axis titles, the location of the legend, etc.
This button is used to create a copy of the chart to the clipboard. When this button is
clicked, a pop-up menu appears allowing you to select whether the chart should be
copied as a bitmap or as a metafile.
Pressing this button closes the chart dialog box and returns to QDA Miner’s Code
Frequency dialog box.
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Customizing bar charts and pie charts
Clicking the
button on the chart dialog box gives access to a dialog box to customize the
appearance of bar charts and line charts. The options available in this dialog box represent only a
small portion of all settings available.
To further customize the chart, modify data points, value labels, or series order, click the
button
located on the right side of the dialog box.
LEFT OR BOTTOM AXIS
Minimum / Maximum -
QDA Miner automatically adjusts the vertical axis scale to fit the range of
values plotted against it. To manually set these values, type the desired minimum and
maximum.
Increment
Increasing or decreasing this value affects the distance between numbers
as well as tick marks. Horizontal grid lines are also affected by modification of this value.
Horizontal Grid
This option turns horizontal grid lines on and off. Grid lines extend from each tick
mark on an axis to the opposite side of the graph. To increase or decrease the number of grid
lines or the distance between those lines, change the Increment value of the axis. A list box
also allows a choice among five different line styles to draw those grid lines.
LEGEND
Location -
This option positions the legend. Legends may be placed at Top, Left, Right and
Bottom side of the chart.
From top - When the legend is displayed on the left or the right side of the chart, this option specifies the
legend's top position in percent of total chart height.
From left
- When the legend is displayed on the top or the bottom chart, this option specifies the
legend's top position in percent of total chart width.
TITLES
Proper titles and axis labels are of utmost importance when describing the information displayed
in a chart. By default, QDA Miner uses variable names and labels as well as other predefined
settings to provide such descriptions.
The title page allows one to modify the top title, as well as the labels on the left, bottom and right
axis. To edit the title, select the proper radio button. Enter several lines of text for each title by
pressing the ENTER key at the end of a line before entering the next line.
The Font button on the right side of the edit box allows to change the font size or style of the
related title.
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