Learning NVivo

This exposition of NVivo and its functions addresses just its most basic features. There may be features not covered here that you would find useful in your own work, so try to explore it! Enjoy!

(1) Import the documents

You need to import the documents you want to code. NVivo 9 can accept documents in both rich text and Word formats. To import the documents, →Internals→ External Data on Ribbon→ Document button on Find bar→ Browse→ Open.

(2) Coding

For NVivo, coding is accomplished through nodes. There are several ways of going about the coding process in NVivo:

·      I read through the interviews both in printed form and in the Document viewer. The viewer is treated as having a number of different components or sections.

·      I worked out some codes that seemed relevant to the documents.

·      I went back to into documents and coded them using NVivo.

An alternative strategy is to code while browsing the documents. Notice that there are 3 groups of hierarchically organized nodes and two non-hierarchically organized nodes.

(3) Applying nodes in the coding process

Coding is carried out by applying nodes to segments of text. Once you have set up some nodes, assuming that you are looking at  a document in the viewer, you can highlight the area of the document that you want to code and then right-click on the mouse while holding the cursor over the highlighted text, and then → Code Selection → Code Selection at New node... This opens the New Node dialog box.   

(4) Coding Stripes

It is very helpful to be able to see the areas of text that have been coded and the nodes applied to them. Selecting this facility allows you to see multi-coloured stripes that representing portions of coded text and the nodes that have been used. To activate this facility, → View in the Ribbon and then→ Coding stripes in the Find bar→ Show Nodes Recently Coding.

(5) Searching Text

Once you have coded your data, however, preliminary that may be, you will want to conduct searches of your data at some points. NVivo allows you to trawl through all your documents so that you will end up with text that was coded at a particular node in all your documents. Document Viewer → Nodes in the Navigation View. This will bring up your list of nodes in the List view.

(6) Memos

One feature of the grounded theory approach to qualitative data analysis is the use of memos in which ideas and illustrations might be stored. In the Navigation View → Sources→ Memos→ Create tab on the Find bar and then → Memo.

(7) Saving on NVivo project

When you have finished working on your data, you will need to save it for future use. To do this, on the menu bar at the top, → File → Save.