using atlas.ti for analyzing the financial crisis data

This article is part of a larger experiment where developers of CAQDAS (Computer Assisted Qualitative Data AnalysiS) packages, or those cooperating very close with them, analyzed data based on a common data set. The aim was to find out whether the use of software influences the ways we analyze data and if so how. My argument is that software has a greater influence when users lack methodological know-how. The greater the methodological expertise and confidence in using a certain methodology in the context of software, the lesser is the influence of software. Therefore the focus of my paper is on the methodological approach that I am using when analyzing qualitative data (see FRIESE, 2011). After outlining this approach, I illustrate how I have applied it in analyzing the financial crisis data with ATLAS.ti. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1101397