On October 3rd, IDS offered a workshop given by Junior Visiting Scholar Ananya Ganesh about using large language models to assist with coding text-based data in research. The workshop was attended by UW-Madison graduate students and faculty and provided a hands-on introduction to automated or semi-automated coding.
Workshop description: This workshop provided a practical guide to using AI tools for automated or semi-automated qualitative coding. The focus of this workshop was on textual data such as verbal responses to surveys or focus groups, although other forms of data will be briefly discussed. It provided a hands-on demonstration starting from data preprocessing and cover inductive coding, deductive coding, evaluation strategies, and discuss the tradeoff of resources vs performance when using AI. This workshop did not require any prior experience with AI or with programming and welcomed participants of all levels.