ABSTRACT
The story of the Nazca lines demonstrates the value of combining detailed ground level work with an aerial overview, and serves as an analogy for qualitative data analysis, where appreciation of the data is enhanced by obtaining an overview as well as a detailed close-up. This chapter discusses that data exploration, using overview techniques, is an essential aspect of data analysis, and one which is undervalued in the writing on qualitative computing and in software design. Furthermore, creative play and experimentation can be endangered by analytic approaches which give priority to ground level labelling of every aspect of the territory. Receptivity is a state of mind which derives from many sources, not least a degree of scientific humility and a recognition of the diversity of human behaviour and perceptions. The Ethnograph was not designed to facilitate text searching. Atlas/ti offers extensive facilities for text searching.
