C: Memos and text links

1. Memos and text links

Memos are a classical, central instrument of qualitative text analysis, their special significance being especially evident in Grounded Theory. The functionality of memos in MAXQDA2007 has been extended far beyond the known possibilities of “tacking on“ information to a text. MAXQDA gives the researcher highly effective and, at the same time, comfortable possibilities to create memos in differentiated ways, to always have access to them, to administer them, and also to conduct lexical searches on all of them.

Memos can be assigned to a project, a text group, a whole text, text segments, and a code. In analogy to the well-know post-it notes, memos are illustrated in yellow.

In order to point out a relation between two text segments you will have the possibility of linking them to each other. Click on one of the two linked text segments and you will reach the other one.

2. Memos in the Document System

The first option to create a memo concerns the Document System. Here you may write a memo about your project in which you can document the process of your research, the schedules, etc.

Belonging values like age, gender, etc. are better attached as attributes, since one can later use them as limiting values in the text retrieval. Furthermore, you may also assign a memo a text group or even a single text. A Text Memo allows you to, for example, explain the origin of your text further and write down important meta information.

Right-click the concerned text and select Memo from the context menu…

All memo-entry windows in MAXQDA look identical, no matter where you would like to attach a memo. There you can enter the author and a memo title (select a meaningful title; it will simplify finding it later!), select a fitting memo symbol (e.g.: ? for a question, ! for a definition, T, L, or M for a theoretical, literature, or methodological memo – of course you may assign other meanings, as well!!), and, of course, write the memo text (up to 32 DIN-A-4 pages).

When you are done with your entries, simply click on “Close Window“. After closing the memo window the memo will appear behind the concerned text in the Document System and may always be opened via double click. You will furthermore be presented with a content preview when holding the mouse over the memo symbol. For all the elements in the Document System you are only able to write one memo. The reason being that the presentation remains clear and organized and, when searching for a specific note, one does not have to look through a number of memos, therefore slowing your analysis process.

3. Code- and text memos

In the Text Browser you can attach as many text memos directly onto as many parts of an opened text as you like (e.g. to record concrete ideas or questions, literature, etc.).

In the Code System you may attach exactly one code memo to every code and subcode (e.g. for code definitions or anchor examples).

In the Code System you insert a memo by right clicking on a code and selecting the option code memo. An existing memo will be visualized with a yellow “Post-It” note there, as well.

In the TEXT window memos will be created, shown, and called on in the memo column immediately in front of the text. The memo section is positioned directly to the left of the paragraph column. If you want to attach a memo to any given text segment, double click on the memo column at this position or right click on the memo column next to the text and select “new memo” (see following image).

Each memo can be assigned a code from the Code System. To do this click on the corresponding symbol in the tool bar and select the desired code from the quicklist. If a code should not be in the quicklist, you have to insert it by clicking on it in the Code System.

4. Memo Manager

The memo manager contains all memos which you have created in form of a table. You may sort them there according to the properties contained in the columns (name, memo type, etc.), open them by double clicking on a memo row and edit them, if need be, or export the whole table.

If a text memo attached to a text line will be opened from the memo manager, the text, onto which the memo was attached, will automatically be loaded into the TEXT window and the concerned text segment becomes visible.

The Memo Manager can be opened via the corresponding symbol in the tool bar or through the menu command.

By clicking on the individual column headers the list is sorted after different criterions. For example, you could sort after the memo symbol and list all memos with a question mark to clarify all open questions swiftly. A double click onto a line will open the memo window and therefore the complete content of the selected memo.

For the description of the lexical search function for your memos see chapter D, step 2.

Tip:
All memos can be exported. Via the button Export MAXQDA2007 will create either an .RTF or an .HTML file, which contains all memos listed in the Memo Manager. Furthermore, the memos can be marked line wise and then copied to Excel or other programs via the clipboard. This does not transfer the entire memo content, however, but only a preview.

5. Text Links

Text Links enable you to connect two text segments with each other. They have the same meaning and serve the same function as hyperlinks in the internet, namely to connect two points: an anchor and a target. As soon as one clicks on the anchor of an existing link, the corresponding target will be loaded and vice versa.

The text links in MAXQDA can link text segments either from the same text or from different texts. In order to insert a text link the first text segment – the anchor – has to be marked in the Text Browser. The smallest unit you can mark is one single sign; however, usually one would mark at least one word.

So, first of all, you will mark a text segment (a word, a sentence, etc.) and then click on the Text Link-Button or select the “insert text link” option from the context menu, which will underline the marked text with blue. Now, mark the other text segment (which can also be in another text) and, again, click on the Text Link-Button or select the option from the context menu. After the second text segment appears underlined, you are able to jump from one text segment to the other by clicking on either one of the text segments.

In order to remove an existing text link, right click on one of the two underlined text passages and select delete text link. The other link partner will be deleted automatically.

Tip:
If you should want to link more than two text segments, place another link directly next to the first link, which leads to the desired third (fourth...) segment.

Similar to the tabular overviews of coding and memos, MAXQDA offers an overview for text links. This can be called on for the entire project, for a specific text group, or an individual text. The link overview lists all links with anchor and target. Clicking on a specific link will result in a jump to this text segment and it will appear in the Text Browser. The link overview can be exported or presented in form of an HTML table.

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