Academic Consulting

One of the nice things about the recent versions of NVivo is that projects are extremely flexible. If you make a mistake in terms of your set-up, it’s often relatively easy to correct it. However, there are some aspects of an NVivo project which it pays to get right from the outset, and others that can save you time if they’re set-up well. What follows is a discussion of some of these. Note that we've restricted ourselves to some of the less obvious considerations here - the fact that you need to consider what type of data you'll collect/analyse and develop a suitable coding schedule (for example) goes without saying.

1. Preparation of Documents

Unlike it’s predecessor, NUD*IST, documents that you wish to import into NVivo require very little special preparation. Transcripts can simply be typed up in MS Word (either in *.doc or *.docx format) and no special formatting is required. Documents can contain colour, bold/italics and other formatting, tables, and even pictures. The only things that will not import over into NVivo is anything that is MS Word specific, such as information in the header or footer of the document, or tracked changes.

While no special formatting is required however, you can save yourself some time by using the MS Word ‘styles’ feature to identify speakers, questions, or topic sections of your document. NVivo will recognise these styles when the document is imported and can use them to automatically code. This means that you can gather up everything one person said, or what each person in your sample responded to a particular question. This can save an immense of amount of time later down the track. While styles can be applied in NVivo after import, it’s much easier if you prepare your documents in MS Word as you transcribe them.

2. Folder Organisation

It is possible to create folders within ‘Sources’ in NVivo. Folders are an excellent way of organising your documents if you have a large number of them, and they have the added advantage that they can later be used to narrow down the scope of queries. Folders can be created based on data type (e.g. interviews, focus groups), organisation (e.g. School A, School B), site (e.g. Auckland, Dunedin) or anything else that will be useful for your project. While folders can be created at any stage, it’s useful to have these in place from the outset so that you can import your documents directly into them.

Instructions on how to create folders can be found in our Knowledge Base.

3. Creation of a Research Log

The creation of a research log or journal file within your NVivo project is an extremely useful thing to do at the outset of a project. The ‘Memos’ area within ‘Sources’ is an ideal location for such a file. Instructions on how to create a memo can be found in our Knowledge Base.

Use your research log to record your progress and activities, as well as any thoughts and reflections you might have. Each time you make an entry ensure you also record the date and time. There is an automated way to do this in NVivo – ensure your cursor is at the point you require and press Ctrl + Shift + T.

4. Qualitative Methodology Issues

NVivo is not a methodology itself (although numerous people make the mistake of thinking it is!). NVivo is designed to suit a range of qualitative methodologies, and it is essential to decide on the approach you will be taking before beginning your project. If you are unfamiliar with qualitative methods then we’d suggest doing some background reading before you even create your project. Good places to start are Readme First for a User's Guide to Qualitative Methods by Janice Morse & Lyn Richards, Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook by Matthew Miles and Michael Huberman and Online QDA which is a joint project between the University of Surrey and University of Huddersfield.

5. Cases and Attributes

A case is a special kind of node which has 'attributes' e.g. gender, age, size, location. In your research project, a case represents a unit for analysis – this might be a person or entity involved in your research. Depending on your research question, you may gather information regarding a participant, a site, or an institution and locate these as case nodes within your project. You might even have more than one kind of case depending on the comparisons you want to make. Case nodes contain all the content relevant to that particular case.

Cases can be created at any stage of your project so there is no need to actually create them from the outset. It is useful to consider whether they may be useful for your project from the outset however. The main reason for having cases in NVivo is to be able to assign attributes. The reason for having attributes is to be able to use them in queries (e.g. to compare males versus females, or different organisations within your sample). If you don’t intend to ask these types of queries for your project, then you don’t need to create attributes, and therefore you don’t need to have cases.

6. Other Considerations

Other things to consider from the outset are; where to save your project, how to back it up (and how often), and whether you will password protect your project file.