How to use the concepts tool in ATLAS.ti

Who this article is for

This article is for ATLAS.ti Web and ATLAS.ti Desktop users who want to use the Concepts tool to identify recurring concepts, explore themes, review quotations, and accelerate coding and thematic analysis workflows.

What is the Concepts tool?

The Concepts tool helps researchers automatically identify relevant concepts in textual data.

Concepts are generated from significant noun phrases and frequently occurring terms in the data.

For example, the Concepts tool may identify:

• recurring ideas
• frequently discussed topics
• repeated phrases
• emerging themes
• important concepts across documents

The Concepts tool can help researchers:

• explore themes before coding
• accelerate thematic analysis
• identify patterns across datasets
• review recurring concepts
• auto-code related quotations
• compare concepts across groups or datasets

ATLAS.ti actively filters the concepts and displays only the most relevant concepts in the results.

How Concepts analysis works

When data is processed through the Concepts tool:

1. ATLAS.ti identifies significant noun phrases in the text.
2. The software calculates concept frequency across the selected data.
3. Frequently occurring concepts are displayed in a visual word cloud.
4. Researchers can click concepts to review quotations and apply codes.

More frequent concepts:

• appear larger
• are positioned closer to the center

Less frequent concepts:

• appear smaller
• are positioned farther from the center

How to use the Concepts tool in ATLAS.ti Web

ATLAS.ti Web includes the Concepts view, which helps researchers visually explore concepts and code related quotations.

Step 1: Open the Concepts view

1. Open your ATLAS.ti Web project.
2. Click the bar chart icon in the left-hand toolbar to open Views.
3. Click + New View.
4. Select Concepts from the menu.

Step 2: Name the Concepts view

1. Click Untitled Concepts View in the top-left corner.
2. Enter a name for the view.

This can help organize different concept analyses within the same project.

Step 3: Define the analysis scope

You can analyze:

• documents
• document groups
• codes
• code groups

1. Select the entity type you want to analyze.
2. Toggle the entities you want to include in the analysis.

Step 4: Review the Concepts cloud

After processing the data, ATLAS.ti generates a Concepts cloud.

The resulting cloud displays:

• frequent concepts larger and closer to the center
• less frequent concepts smaller and farther away

Step 5: Review quotations linked to concepts

1. Click a concept in the cloud.

   Review the quotations connected to that concept.

   Review:

   • the document location
   • existing codes
   • comments
   • contextual information

You can review quotations without navigating directly to the source document.

Step 6: Apply codes to quotations

The Concepts view supports coding individual or multiple quotations.

• Code selected quotations

1. Select the quotations you want to code.
2. Click the three dots menu.
3. Select + Add code.
4. Choose or create a code.

• Code all quotation results

1. Click Quote...results in the top-right corner.
2. Open the code dialog.
3. Apply the selected code to all quotations in the results list.

Step 7: Save or export the Concepts view

• Save the view

1. Click Save in the top-right corner.

• Discard unsaved changes

1. Click the arrow next to Save.
2. Select Discard changes.

• Export quotation results

1. Click the Arrow to download
2. Save the Excel export file.

The exported file includes:

• data segments
• source documents
• applied codes
• comments

Use the Concepts tool in ATLAS.ti Desktop

ATLAS.ti Desktop includes Concepts analysis tools in both Windows and Mac.

The Concepts tool can analyze:

• documents
• document groups
• codes
• code groups

Step 1: Open the Concepts tool

• In ATLAS.ti Windows

There are several ways to open Concepts analysis:

• Option 1: Use the Search & Code tab

1. Open your project.
2. Open the Search & Code tab.
3. Select Concepts.

• Option 2: Use the Document or Code Manager

1. Open the Document Manager or Code Manager.
2. Select one or more entities.
3. Click Analysis
4. Select Concepts.

• Option 3: Use the analysis dropdown

1. Use the dropdown menu in the top-left corner.

   Select:

   • documents
   • document groups
   • codes
   • code groups
2. Select the desired entities.
3. Click Analysis.
4. Select Concepts.

• In ATLAS.ti Mac
• Option 1: Use the Analysis menu

1. Open your project.
2. Click Analysis.
3. Select Concepts.

• Option 2: Analyze selected entities

1. Use the dropdown menu in the top-left corner.

   Select:

   • documents
   • document groups
   • codes
   • code groups
2. Select the desired entities.
3. Click Analysis.
4. Select Show Concepts.

Step 2: Select the data to analyze

• In ATLAS.ti Windows and Mac

1. Select the documents, document groups, codes, or code groups.
2. Confirm the selection.

Step 3: Review the Concepts cloud

• In ATLAS.ti Windows and Mac

The Concepts analysis produces a word cloud where the most frequently occurring concepts appear larger and more prominently.

Step 4: Review quotations and sub-concepts

• In ATLAS.ti Windows and Mac

1. Click a concept in the cloud.
2. Review the quotations on the right-hand side.
3. Review any sub-concepts below the cloud.
4. Click sub-concepts to review their quotations.

Step 5: Apply codes to concept results

• In ATLAS.ti Windows and Mac

• Automatically apply the suggested code

1. Click the proposed code button at the top of the window.

• Manually apply codes

1. Click the coding icon for an individual quotation.
2. Or click the plus button to apply the suggested code to a quotation.

When to use the Concepts tool

Researchers commonly use the Concepts tool to:

• explore themes before coding
• accelerate thematic analysis
• identify recurring ideas
• compare concepts across groups
• analyze interview datasets
• review open-ended survey responses
• explore large text collections
• identify emerging topics inductively

The Concepts tool can be especially useful during:

• exploratory analysis
• inductive coding
• early-stage thematic analysis
• literature reviews
• survey analysis

Common issues and mistakes

• Expecting Concepts to replace qualitative interpretation
  • The Concepts tool helps identify patterns and recurring concepts, but researchers should still review context and interpret findings carefully.
• Using Concepts results without reviewing quotations
  • Always review the linked quotations before applying codes automatically.
• Analyzing overly broad datasets at once
  • Large datasets may produce overly general concepts. Consider narrowing the analysis scope using document groups or code groups.
• Applying too many automatic codes too quickly
  • Review the relevance and meaning of quotations before applying codes across many segments.
• Forgetting to save the Concepts view
  • Unsaved changes in the Concepts view may be lost.

When to contact support

Contact ATLAS.ti Support if:

• the Concepts tool does not open
• Concepts analysis fails to generate results
• quotations do not appear correctly
• coding options are missing
• Concepts exports fail
• the Concepts cloud does not display properly
• the software behaves differently from the documentation

When contacting support, include:

• your platform: Web, Windows, or Mac
• your ATLAS.ti version if using Desktop
• screenshots or error messages
• a short description of your workflow
• the type of data you are analyzing