EthnoAnalysis Qualitative Research

The Atlas.ti training was excellent. Dr. Contreras is not only expert at the software, but he is an effective trainer - knowing how to both scope and pace intensive training. All participants in the training were very pleased. Given my immediate needs to analyze extensive data, I felt particularly pleased that I was able to come away from the two days of training with a basic ability and confidence to run the impressive software.

Brian K.  Barber, PhD, Director  Center for the Study of Youth & Political Violence,   
The University of Tennessee Knoxville

Thank you so much for all the expert comments you have provided and for all the questions you answered. I have watched video tutorials before I attended the workshop and I tried to use atlas.ti.  But my knowledge was rather basic and I had a whole list of questions about some of the things that I didn't see in the tutorials or did not find in the the FAQ section or on the forum. Dr.Contreras has managed to provide both technical expert knowledge as well as some conceptual understanding on the operational functions of atlas.ti.

Olena Zhadko, PhD, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, University of Missouri-St.Louis

I really enjoyed the seminar.  I learned a lot of good information on how I can set up my study utilizing ATLAS.ti.  It was great to be actually on the computer and working with data.  That is a strength for nurses because we are so kinesetic.  Thank you for coming to St. Louis.

Leah C. Stanley MSN, RN, Doctoral Student University of Missouri-St. Louis

This workshop was very interesting and helpful for the sense of overall organization and how you can continue to build on your work through the advanced functions.

Spring Schmidt, doctoral candidate
University of Missouri-St. Louis

I really enjoyed the workshop.  Contreras was very methodical about his approach and took the necessary time with each of the participants to help them build their ATLAS-TI skills.

Angela Schubert, MA
Counseling Education Doctoral Program
University of Missouri-St. Louis

Thank you for an excellent training!  Not only it enriched my understanding on the capacity of the software, but it also it expanded vastly my skills on data organization and analysis to approaching the analysis of my research study.  I appreciate your feedback and guidance specific to each of our project, and your willingness to work well beyond the agenda of the training.  The training surpassed all my expectation on the quality of the information, content, and skills, and I know it will make a significant contribution towards my PhD.

Francisco Sastre,  Department of Anthropology, Florida International University

Ricardo...the true benefit of this workshop was beyond how to operate within the software.  You provided organizational and methodological guidance that will result in more valuable and usable outputs of using Atlas.ti.  Thank you for your dedication to our learning!

Ann E. Schulte, Doctoral Candidate, The Wharton School,  University of Pennsylvania

You went "way above and beyond" in your session with us this weekend.  We learned so much...and you really were outstanding at tracking with each person in the class.  I sincerely appreciate the interest you took in each of our analysis....

Mary McNevin, Doctoral Candidate, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

This workshop was very worthwhile. It is practical and hands-on.   The key is bringing your own data to the workshop so that it is completely relevant to each participant.   Professor Contreras is very thoughtful about exposing the functionality of the software in a way that helps the novice maximize its capaibilities without overwhelming the user.   Professor Contreras offered very useful commentary on methodological approaches for qualitative analysis. Overall, this was well worth the time! Thank you!!

Mary Francone,  Doctoral Candidate, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Me pareció muy bueno el curso ya que vimos todos los puntos básicos del programa y los pasos a aseguir para lograr distintas tareas. El profesor tuvo bastante paciencia y preocupación por nuestras dudas y preguntas. Sería ideal poder hacer un curso más avanzado para conocer con mayor profundidad el programa. Muchas gracias!

Rosario Fernandez, Sociologa U. Alberto Hurtado, Santiago, Chile

Buen nivel del curso. Metodología clara y didáctica. Las horas de trabajo desarrolladas me permiten contar con herramientas básicas para iniciar un proyecto de analisis interesante, siendo necesario continuar explorando en el uso de la herramienta a través de autoaprendizaje para perfeccionar el trabajo de análisis. Quedo a la espera de otro curso similar.

Olivia Tapia, Trabajadora Social, Gendarmeria de Chile

This introductory workshop provided me with the necessary skills to dive into my data and begin the analysis process.  The material was presented in a clear manner and Ricardo provided us with a nice manual for reference while working independently back home.  I would recommend this workshop to peers who are seeking to learn how to work with qualitative data.   I would enjoy attending an intermediate workshop to further expand my recent learning experience.

Neal Rosenburg, Doctoral Candidate and RN
College of Nursing
University of Missouri-St. Louis

Dr. Contreras's Atlas.ti workshop cleared up a great deal of confusion that I had about the program from just reading the manual and experimenting with my own data sets.  He has enabled me to use it in a way that I can now better organize and make connections among my in-depth interviews, particularly in terms of representing thematic content and semantic links graphically through the family coding, network tools, and memo functions.  It makes the task of synthesizing large amounts of qualitative information far more systematic and manageable, with the added  benefit of writing passages as memos linked directly to quotes that you can eventually incorporate into articles, books, and reports.

David Griffith, PhD
Professor
Department of Anthropology-
Institute for Coastal and Marine Resources
East Carolina University

Very helpful and professional...excellent... 

Federico E. Vaca, MD, MPH, FACEP
Professor of Emergency Medicine
Department of Emergency Medicine
                        Yale University School of Medicine

I really enjoyed the course this weekend. Having the hands-on experience with Atlas as well as hearing different perspectives on methodology definitely helped me think about my approach in a different way. Based on my experience yesterday, I think it's probably helpful to know what perspective a researcher is coming from to be able to better understand their CAQDAS training needs. I think you did a great job with that.

I also appreciated the fact that you incorporated all of our questions and interests, including questions about the code families, networks, hyperlinking and IRR. You really showed your flexibility, knowledge and willingness to help where we needed more training. The manual you gave us is also helpful. I will definitely pass it around to colleagues to look over as they begin to use Atlas.ti. It provides a good, step-by-step introduction to the basics and an excellent reference to keep handy.  Thanks again for all of your work in preparing the workshop! It was really very helpful.

Susan Collins, PhD
Addictive Behaviors Research Center
University of Washington

Thank you very much Ricardo, both for a very helpful workshop and for following up on these questions.  As someone who hadn’t worked at all with Atlas before I feel like I came away able to use the basic functions of the software and with enough confidence to explore other capabilities.  I  really appreciate the manual—I haven’t looked at it much yet, but feel like it is incredibly helpful to have it backing up what we went over in the workshop.  There was enough information that having it to refresh some of the specifics is great. 

I fully agree with Susan that your flexibility in tailoring the workshop to our specific analysis projects and issues along with our level of understanding of qualitative analysis was really helpful.  I was very glad that there were two of us, since it gave the opportunity to hear about the similar and different analysis issues between our projects and gave a jumping off point for larger discussions about qualitative research.  I do appreciate your quick and clear follow up on the questions that didn’t get answered during the workshop and your generous offer to answer questions in the future.                                                                 

Mariana Garrettson, MPH
Research Associate
Family Medicine & Community Health
The Commonwealth Medical College

I want to thank you for giving such a clear and interesting workshop to the doctoral students in my qualitative research class.  The program's purpose and potential was presented in such an interesting manner; it reinforced all of the principles I teach in this class.  More importantly, your use of practical, hands on exercises enabled them to leave the workshop prepared to use this powerful program.  I was very impressed with your teaching skills and attentiveness to learners' needs.

Carol Bryant, PhD
Distinguished USF Professor
College of Public Health
University of South Florida

First of all, thank you! I feel that I learned enough to really be able to use Atlas.ti to my advantage as I move forward in my research.  I felt that the chart you initially had up helped to explain the way that Atlas.ti is structured, and what the possible actions are for each tool (codes, families, etc). 

I also think it was beneficial to have a specific training for younger researchers who are fairly technologically proficient.  I feel that it allowed us to move at a good pace, really getting into the meat of using Atlas.ti to code our own work as opposed to lingering on technical details.   All in all, I am extremely happy with the training.

Georgia Bianchi
Doctoral Candidate
Department of Sociology
University of Florida

It was lovely meeting with you this past Thursday and I must say that personally, I had a very fruitful Atlas.ti training workshop. Given that I learn better (especially a software) if someone is walking me through it, I think you did an excellent job laying out the concepts and then getting us to apply them.  In addition to learning the software, for me it was a refresher course in qualitative analysis which is really helpful given that I am going to begin the process in a couple of months.

I especially appreciated the time you gave us to figure out the software, make mistakes and then walk us through the corrections. I feel more confident is using Atlas-ti now, although Georgia and I will probably work together when we are doing our analysis.

I hope to be able to stay in touch with you in the future, and I would definitely recommend the training to any of my colleagues (should you plan on continuing it up in NC). I wish you the best up in North Carolina.

Namita Manohar, MSW, MA, Doctoral Candidate
Department of Sociology
University of Florida

Hola Ricardo

El taller fue sumamente util para mi, y tu forma pedagógica me resultó muy apropiada para mi preferencia de aprendizaje.  No puedo pensar una forma más eficaz. 

¡Muchas gracias!

¡Te recomendaré donde pueda!!

Isabel Rimanoczy, MA, MBA, PhD Candidate
Leadership in  International Management (ILM)
Ft. Laurderdale, FL