Structuring Audio Data With a "C-TOC". An Example for Analysing Raw Data

Abstract

For the first time in the history of qualitative social research, currently available technology is able to allow analysis of qualitative data without the aid of transcriptions. In most cases software for Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA) is employed in order to do this kind of research. This paper will show how to create a Clickable Table of Contents (C-TOC) by using Atlas.ti. On the one hand, a C-TOC offers an overview of the qualitative material with the option to access single passages with a single mouse-click. On the other, its elements serve as basic units for further analysis in Altas.ti. This step of transforming the raw material into a handy arrangement may substitute the process of transcribing in many fields of qualitative social research. Some of the benefits include: digitised audio data that is easily accessible and always at hand (as mp3-files on a PC or Laptop, or on CD ROM or even on a PDA); the researcher can work with the raw data and not with transcriptions; with a C-TOC this data (in comparison to transcriptions) is already structured as single segments which can be accessed very easily; in the case of secondary analysis, C-TOC can provide access to old data through a table of content; and finally it reduces costs since transcriptions are not used. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0501331