I prefer coding by hand if working with smaller data sets. I find this increases my sense of intimacy with the data, and increases the flexibility of what i can do with the transcripts. Ii only use atlas or nvivo when working with a large number of interviews.
I found Atlas.ti as a good tool especially for ordering texts efficiently as well as accessing to the codes and notes easly. However I was disappointed in the output formats.
I agree with both Jane and Emilia. I have used atlas before and I really liked the coding features. After coding however, I was disappointed in the way atlas supported me in analyzing data. So in the end, I did the analyses by hand. If a data set is too large you can't do anything else but use a program like atlas. If you can do it by hand, I would do that. 12 interviews sounds reasonable for analyses by hand, unless each interview takes hours...
In this particular project I interviewed 25 people for about an hour. What I was particularly interested in was the different answers by some subgroups. Atlas did not offer the option to analyse these answers on a subgroup basis and then to compare them. For regular thematic analysis with one group it works fine I guess. Maybe I missed the option as it wasn't explained in my Atlas course. Sought for quite some time in the program though...
I have not used Atlas... but it is interesting to hear what others say... but can you please compare the features of Atlas to that of NVIVO or are they different things!... this might make it easy for me and others who might have used Nvivo to compare and contrast.
I would put it this way; it all depends on the data gathered in context to the experience shared by the stakeholder(s). One has to start analysis the data either manually/atlas.ti with a list of initial codes or categories those, which are interchangeable with each other thus, adding a few further to the list as the analysis proceeds. Actually, it all depends on what you're looking for in the data collected and what is to be understood & explained especially, been the ultimate aim of the descriptive phenomenological analysis. It's all of the comfort and patience in doing so to achieve perfection to achieve an unbiased outcome.
@Lex: you missed an feature. It is of course possible to analyse data across cases. For a quantitative overview you can create the Codes-PD Table (see analysis menu) and to extract the data, you use the query tool in combination with scope. In order to compare across groups, you need to create primary document families. This is the prerequisite.
ATLAS.ti - NVivo comparison: One of the main difference is the margin area. If you are used to working with ATLAS.ti you are going to miss the margin area in NVivo. This is the place on the right-hand side of the screen that displays codes, memos, and hyperlinks. NVivo has coding stripes, but this is not the same. Another difference is that ATLAS.ti starts with the quotation level. There is no need to code right away, you can first mark interesting sections in your data, name them (e.g. provide small titles) and write your first thoughts, initial interpretations into the comment field of the quotations. This level is missing in NVivo and I would say an important element if you want to do phenomenology. Depending on your approach to PA, the use of software may not be appropriate at all, e.g. if you follow Van Manen. For more "pragmatic" approaches like IPA, it may be an option. And if so, I would chose ATLAS.ti over NVivo because of the quotation level.
NVivo does have nice features that ATLAS.ti does not have but for different type of data and analyses.
I disagree with Jane that 10 or 12 interviews would be a small data set, too small to utilized a software package. It really depends on which level of analysis you want to use it and which features of the software you want to use. It is not all about coding. A lot of analysis happens while you write - and software allows you to link your writing directly to the data and to retrieve it in and with the context of your data. If you do it all manually (does this mean on paper?), then how do your sort your notes, how do you find an important idea? A quick text search quickly brings you to the node you have been looking for. Using a progam like ATLAS.ti or NVivo just for coding - well yes, this can lead to the impression that it is only good for larger data sets. This is a possibility, but not the only one.
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