The first step is to select what type of excerpting mode you would like to use. This is a fundamental step which determines how Dedoose will refine the keyword search and interact with any existing excerpts in the project. Below is a definition of each mode along with a general sense of how each mode can be most effective for your needs.
Create New
Dedoose will create new excerpts and apply the chosen code.
This mode is best when you want to engage in open, exploratory, or topical ‘coding’ around specific keywords or phrases and may be particularly helpful for those with large datasets. This mode also offers you the most flexibility in terms of deleting the new excerpts if you want to delete the results afterwards.
If you select “Create New,” you will then be prompted to choose your approximate new excerpt length. In general, we recommend larger excerpts for qualitative analysis. Note that text formatting in your data will impact how Dedoose applies the excerpt length parameters. For example, when choosing “Paragraph,” Dedoose will create excerpts around paragraph breaks, double-spaced lines, etc.
Use Existing
Dedoose will limit the search to only existing excerpts where search term(s) are located and apply the chosen code to any others already assigned to the excerpt.
This mode is ideal if you want to focus your analysis on the existing excerpts you have created in your data, thus preventing Dedoose from creating experts around areas of your dataset that you deemed unrelated or less significant to your analysis.
If you select “Use Existing,” you will then be prompted to choose which excerpt Dedoose will code on in the event you have existing overlapping excerpts. In general, we recommend using the "Largest” to apply the code to the one with the most context.
Create New and Use Existing
Dedoose will apply the chosen code to existing excerpts and create new excerpts around areas that do not have existing excerpts.
This mode is ideal if you have done some excerpting and coding on your project but want to broaden the scope of your analysis to other areas of your project that have not been excerpted. For instance, perhaps you have coded a portion of your data and then realize there is a new concept that is important to your analysis. This mode facilitates you return to existing excerpts where you wish to consider adding a new code alongside the content captured in your un-excerpted data.
If you select “Create New and Use Existing,” you will be prompted to choose a setting for each aspect.
It is a best practice to Create a Copy of your project before engaging the Auto-Code Wizard in the event you do not like the output or make any mistakes during the selection process.
After choosing your excerpt mode, select “Next: Select Documents” along the bottom of the screen.