Four Practical Uses of Perplexity AI for Research (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Today I'm going to show you some of the things that I use Perplexity for. This is not a sponsored video. I just want to share things that will help you to do your research. And Perplexity has been very helpful for me. As you can see, I'm on the web page of Perplexity AI. So think about Perplexity AI as simply a search engine powered by AI. Right. So let's say if you want any information about a specific article, you can search for it and get that information. Sometimes if you want a clarification about an issue, you can search for that information and it will also provide you a source so that you can click on the source and read more. So that's what I like about Perplexity AI. So I'm going to show you four things that I use Perplexity for, and I'm hoping that this one will be very helpful for you. So the first one is I'm having technical issues, right? So I go to Perplexity. For example, let's say I'm using InVivo or Atlas AI or MassQDA and I have a technical issue. Maybe I don't know where to go to run a specific analysis. I can just come here and ask Perplexity AI and then to provide me some information. Right. So I'm going to demonstrate one for you to see. Right. So let's say I'm using MassQDA and I'm not sure about how to use the AI function or where to go to get access to AI function. I can ask Perplexity AI and I'll get my information. So let's click here and let me show you. You can type in your question or you can just detect. So let's try detection. I'm using MassQDA and I'm not sure how to use the AI function to help me to make sense of my data. So can you help me? So as you can see, it did not spell MassQDA but it was able to provide me the correct one. Sometimes it does it too. So you can see here it says that you have to activate AI assist so that you can use that and it will provide me something that I can use AI assist for, the functions and where to go. Right. So you see how it's screen is very helpful. And then not only that, it can also provide you a link to a source. If you are not sure, let's see. I think it has given us 13 sources. You can click here and see all the sources on your right hand side and you can click on some of them. So that this one is like MassQDA website. Let me go there. And now I can learn more about assist. Right. So that's what I use it for. Whenever I'm having an issue with any tool that I'm using, I ask Perplexity AI and I get it. So as you can see, I'm using a free plan and I'm not planning to upgrade it because the free plan helps me to do what I have to do to get all the information that I need. Right. The second thing I use Perplexity AI for is when I'm searching for articles. Right. So if you want to do that, you can go to the new here and type. You can type or detect. Let me detect here. Can you search research articles for me that will help me to understand thematic analysis, especially reflexive thematic analysis? And then I enter. Okay. So you see that a system has provided me some articles. So you can see one article from Brown and Clark. I can easily click on one of the links and I'll be able to get access to. So this one article about reflexive thematic analysis that I can also read about. So you see that a lot of articles here that I can use and also I can get access to. You can just easily click on them and then you'll be able to, some of them takes you to Google, Google Scholar. Right. And then you can get access to some of the Brown's articles. Right. So one of them is reflexive one here. You can click here to get access to it. Yes. So you see how I can easily get access to articles just accessing the system. So the next one that I use it for is when I'm not sure about a specific term or concept, I use perplexity AI. One thing that it does is it can explain it to you and also provide you sources for you to read about it. Right. So one of the questions that I always receive from students is the concept of horizontalization. I hope I pronounce it right. Horizontalization. I will type what is horizontalization in the phenomenological approach qualitative research. And you see here it provides me a definition of horizontalization. It's also horizontalization is related to, it's one of the steps under descriptive or transcendental phenomenology. So let me see what I can explain it. So horizontalization is making sure that every word that is provided to you have been vetted to see whether it can help you to address your research questions. So every words participants say, every sentence participants provide to you, every statement participant provide to you, you as a researcher has to review all of them, making sure that they have been vetted and so that it helps you to select the information to address your research question. Think about horizontalization. It's like being fair, right? Every statement is giving equal attention, right? And you assess all of them and take the ones that are helping you to address your research question that you have. So you see that the system has provided me definition of that. And also when you go here, you can easily click on it and it can also take you to an article that provide more information about that, that you can read. So that's what I do. If you are not sure about any concept, you type it here. It provides you that information and also provides you a link to the source. And that's what I like about this. Lastly, sometimes you have an idea or you are writing about an issue or you are writing an article and you want evidence in supporting some of the ideas that you have, you can always ask Perplexity and it will provide you a source that you can cite, right? So let's think of an example. I'm doing qualitative analysis and I want to use the concept of theoretical coding. Do you have any source that I can cite to support using theoretical coding under Granite Theory? So sometimes you have to also edit. Then I'll enter and let me see what I'm going to get. So you see the system is going to look for articles that will support the actions and decision that you have made in your study, right? So you see that it has given me an article that I can read and cite. So a couple of articles. So you can see a lot of them, right? So when you even scroll down, you see here 15. So there are 15 sources. You can even click on it and all the sources will be on the right side, right? And then you'll be able to click and then read more about it. And let's say you want to share this conversation to somebody, your colleague. You can go to share and then you can copy the link and then you can give it to the person. And when they click on the link, they will see what you have here. So these are the things that I use it for. So when you are looking for articles, you want to understand a specific term, or you have technical issues about a software that you are using. You have an idea, but you don't have evidence in supporting those ideas. Perplexity will be very good for you. And as I said, you can use it for free. That's an option for you to upgrade if you want to. But for me, I use it for free and I get everything that I needed. So I hope this one was helpful for you. Let me know if you have any questions. I also provide one-on-one consultation. So if you are doing a qualitative study and you want support about how to go about your qualitative study, or you are analyzing your data, you can meet me. We can meet one-on-one and have a discussion and address any questions that you have. I've put my information in the description area there so that you can contact me or book an appointment. I hope this one was helpful for you and don't forget to subscribe to my channel. Thank you for your time.