Computer-Based Analysis of Qualitative Data: NVIVO

Conceptual Overview and Discussion

The NVIVO workspace is organized into three views. The navigation view allows access to all components of the project. The list view provides a list of folders obtained by clicking on a specific button in navigation view. Clicking on a folder provides a list of items within that folder. Clicking on an item within a folder presents the item content in detail view, where it can be explored and analyzed.

NVIVO facilitates the use of a variety of data sources including text documents, portable document format (.pdf), and audio, video, and image files. Upon import, a wave file is assigned to each audio and video file. Audio and video can be transcribed after import or an existing transcript can be imported and assigned to the audio or video source. Time codes corresponding to the wave file may be applied to the transcript.

Data sources are coded to nodes. A node represents and bears the label of a code, category, or concept, and includes the relevant references to the document source(s). A number of different node options exist in NVIVO. Free nodes stand alone; tree nodes are hierarchically linked codes, concepts, and categories; case nodes group data by specific entities or cases such as individuals or organizations; and relationships connect items in the case study. Free and tree nodes may include in vivo nodes where the label applied to the node(s) is derived from the words of case study participants. Relevant characteristics or attributes such as age, gender, and income can be assigned to case nodes for comparison and contrast within and/or across cases.

Data are assigned to nodes by coding conceptually similar selections of text together. Coding can be done manually, by highlighting text, or by framing an image or a time segment of an audio/video wave file and assigning it to a node. Coding can be automated using paragraph numbers in text documents, time codes of audio files, the log rows of a photograph, and/or Microsoft Word heading styles in text documents. A further coding method, text search, automatically retrieves and codes specific strings of characters in text documents.

“Scribblings in the margin” and comments on emerging concepts are captured in annotations and memos. Specific text selections in a document can be annotated. Blue highlight in the document [Page 193]denotes the annotated text selection. Intended as brief notes, annotations may be read, edited, deleted, and/or reviewed. Memos can be created in the software, or in a word processor and imported into NVIVO. Larger than annotations, memos may capture emerging thoughts about concepts and theories, comment on specific documents or cases, and explain or comment on the use of the software or research methods. Memos stand alone or can be linked to the data and nodes to which they apply.

...