Analytic strategies and analytic tactics

Using ATLAS.ti powerfully is a specific skill that has little to do with learning to operate the software. In this keynote address I present the core of my propositions that will be fleshed out in more practical terms in my forthcoming book, “How to use ATLAS.ti powerfully”. The key issue is how we resolve the contradictions between the iterative and emergent nature of qualitative research that is expressed in our analytic strategies, and the pre-determined, linear nature of computer software that is expressed in the analytic tactics we use to execute the qualitative data analysis (QDA). Contradictions can be resolved in several ways: through denial, by choosing between the contradictory alternatives, or by trading off between them. These variously lead to approaches to QDA that I refer to as one-level, two-level, and three-level QDA. However, these approaches to reconciling the contradictions do not easily lead to using ATLAS.ti powerfully. By learning from the general principles described in Edward Luttwak’s five-level model of military strategy, I propose a five-level QDA that resolves the contradictions by transcending them. I propose that this is the best approach to using ATLAS.ti powerfully