ATLAS.ti helps you and your students systematically analyse qualitative data such as interviews, focus groups, observations, and other rich materials. You can organise, code, and interpret qualitative data in a structured way, whether you are supervising individual research projects or teaching qualitative methods in a course.
- Functions
- Data analysis | Group collaboration | Teacher feedback
- Via Canvas
- Standalone
- Difficulty of use
- Needs guidance
Examples of use in your education
Use ATLAS.ti to help students turn qualitative material into codes and themes that they can analyse and compare.
You can apply this tool in your teaching in several concrete ways:
In qualitative methods courses, you can start with a small shared dataset (for example, a short interview). Let students practise coding the same material to move step by step from raw text to initial analytical categories.
In thesis or capstone projects, students import their own interview, focus-group, or observation data into ATLAS.ti and develop a coding scheme that fits their research question.
During seminars, have student groups code the same passages independently and then compare results. This makes differences in interpretation visible and supports discussion about overlap between codes and the need for clearer definitions.
In longer projects, students can keep all coded material in one place and refine their themes over time, instead of spreading notes across multiple documents.
Tip 1
Start with a compact, shared dataset in class so students focus on the logic of coding rather than on file management.
Tip 2
Ask students to code a short text twice with an updated code list, so they experience how categories are refined during analysis.
Use ATLAS.ti memos to help students document how they show their analytical reasoning and justify their interpretations.
You can apply this tool in your teaching in several concrete ways:
In research skills training, ask students to write analytic memos linked to specific codes and quotations. This makes clear why they labelled data in a certain way and how their interpretations developed.
In smaller projects, have students maintain a simple memo trail to track changes in their codebook and note key shifts in their thinking. These notes can later support the methods or analysis section of their report.
As a supervisor, review students’ memos alongside their coded data to discuss whether interpretations are well grounded in the evidence or rely too much on assumptions.
In group projects, use shared memos to collect questions, reflections, and decisions the team needs to resolve together, helping you coordinate and structure the analytical process.
Tip 1
Treat analytic memos as part of the assessable work, not as optional notes, so students take the audit trail seriously.
Tip 2
Encourage concise memos that answer one clear question at a time (for example “What is happening here?”), to avoid vague reflections.
Use ATLAS.ti queries, tables, and visuals to help students report and present the results of their qualitative analysis.
You can apply this tool in your teaching in several concrete ways:
In advanced courses, let students explore relationships between themes using code co-occurrence tables or network views before they start writing their findings.
For presentations, have students export visual diagrams from ATLAS.ti to show how categories relate to each other and to the research question.
Use simple queries yourself, such as retrieving all quotations linked to a specific theme, to create classroom examples that demonstrate how analytical claims are supported by underlying data.
In assessment, ask students to submit selected coded fragments together with one or two visual outputs as part of a portfolio that makes their analysis process visible.
Tip 1
Introduce only one or two visualisation options per course and link them directly to reporting tasks, so students see why they are useful.
Tip 2
Ask students to bring one figure from ATLAS.ti to class and explain how it supports a specific conclusion, rather than relying only on written summaries.
How-to videos
ATLAS.ti Web Video Tutorials
Please consult the whole list of ATLAS.ti Web Video Turorials on the official site of ATLAS.ti.
How to simplify your qualitative data analysis process
How to do text search, sentiment analysis and visualization
Getting started
- You can find all the relevant information on the official site of ATLAS.ti.
Support
In case of educational questions, please contact your learning innovator or web team from your faculty.
In case of technical difficulty, please consult the ATLAS.ti Help Centre.
