Course code: NV0009 An Introduction to QSR NVivo 9 · NVivo is a computer application that includes a range of features designed to help you manage, analyse and access qualitative

Centre for Learning and Academic Development (CLAD)

Technology Skills Development Team

Course code: NV0009 An Introduction to QSR NVivo 9

www.intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/itskills

http://www.intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/itskills

An Introduction to QSR NVivo 9 (NV0009)

Author: Sonia Lee Cooke

Acknowledgment: Thanks to Beverley Hancock for her valuable

contributions throughout the development of this

course

Version: 1, January 2012

© 2012 The University of Birmingham

All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be photocopied, recorded or otherwise reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any electrical or mechanical means without permission of the copyright holder.

Trademarks: Microsoft Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. All brand names and product names used in this handbook are trademarks, registered trademarks, or trade names of their respective holders.

An Introduction to QSR NVivo 9 (NV0009) Page i

Contents Page No.

INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 2

STARTING NVIVO ........................................................................................................................................ 2

WHAT IS AN NVIVO PROJECT ..................................................................................................................... 4

PROJECT BACKGROUND................................................................................................................................. 4 PROJECT AIMS ............................................................................................................................................ 4

CREATING A PROJECT ................................................................................................................................. 4

THE NVIVO WORKSPACE ............................................................................................................................ 5

RIBBONS AND TABS ..................................................................................................................................... 6 THE STATUS BAR ......................................................................................................................................... 6 THE NAVIGATION VIEW ................................................................................................................................ 7 CREATING FOLDERS ..................................................................................................................................... 7 DELETING FOLDERS ...................................................................................................................................... 8 RENAMING FOLDERS .................................................................................................................................... 9

WORKING WITH DOCUMENTS ................................................................................................................... 9

CREATING A DOCUMENT IN NVIVO ................................................................................................................. 9 COPY AND PASTE FROM MS WORD TO NVIVO ............................................................................................... 12 PREPARING MS WORD DOCUMENTS TO FOR IMPORTING INTO AN NVIVO PROJECT ................................................ 12 IMPORTING FILES FROM MS WORD .............................................................................................................. 13 OPEN A DOCUMENT .................................................................................................................................. 14 USE LIST AND DETAILED VIEWS TO BROWSE AND EDIT DOCUMENTS ................................................................... 14 FLOATING WINDOWS ................................................................................................................................. 15 DOCUMENT PROPERTIES ............................................................................................................................. 15 CLOSING A DOCUMENT ............................................................................................................................... 15

SAVING A PROJECT ................................................................................................................................... 16

CREATING AND MANIPULATING NODES .................................................................................................. 17

WHAT IS A NODE ...................................................................................................................................... 17 NODES TYPE ............................................................................................................................................. 17 CREATE NEW NODES USING THE RIBBON ........................................................................................................ 18 CREATE NODES USING THE QUICK CODING BAR ............................................................................................... 19 SHOW OR HIDE THE QUICK CODING BAR ........................................................................................................ 19 CREATE NODES USING THE RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON ........................................................................................... 20 REMOVE CODING AT THE CURRENT NODE ....................................................................................................... 21 VIEW HIGHLIGHTED CODING FOR SELECTED NODES ........................................................................................... 22 CODING WITH THE CODE IN VIVO BUTTON ..................................................................................................... 22 CODING STRIPES ....................................................................................................................................... 23 CREATING A NODE STRUCTURE .................................................................................................................... 24 CUSTOMIZE THE NVIVO WORKSPACE ............................................................................................................ 26 EXPLORING NODES .................................................................................................................................... 27 VIEWING THE CONTENT OF A NODE ............................................................................................................... 27 DELETING A NODE ..................................................................................................................................... 28

PRINTING PROJECT ITEMS ........................................................................................................................ 29

PRINTING A NODE STRUCTURE ..................................................................................................................... 30

An Introduction to QSR NVivo 9 (NV0009) Page ii

WORKING WITH CLASSIFICATION SHEETS AND ATTRIBUTES ................................................................... 30

CREATING A CLASSIFICATION SHEET ............................................................................................................... 31 ASSIGN ATTRIBUTES TO A NODE ................................................................................................................... 34

THE FIND TOOL ......................................................................................................................................... 35

USING BASIC FIND ..................................................................................................................................... 35 USING INTERMEDIATE FIND ......................................................................................................................... 36 USING ADVANCED FIND .............................................................................................................................. 37

CONVERTING PROJECTS FROM EARLIER VERSIONS OF NVIVO ................................................................ 38

An Introduction to QSR NVivo 9 (NV0009) Page 1

About the workbook

The workbook is designed as a reference for you to use after the course

has finished. The workbook is yours to take away with you so feel free

to make any notes you need in the workbook itself

The workbook is divided into sections with each section explaining

about a particular feature of the program or how to do a particular task.

Sections that take you through a particular procedure step-by-step look

like this:

How to do something

Do this first.

Then do this.

Then do this to finish.

There are also a number of text boxes to watch out for throughout the

workbook. These will help you to get the most out of the course.

Tip

The thumbs up symbol in the margin indicates a tip. These tips and will help

you work more effectively.

Danger!

The thumbs down symbol in the margin indicates common mistakes or

pitfalls to be avoided.


Introduction

Qualitative research can involve processing data in many forms.

Recordings of interviews and their transcripts are two examples but data

might also take the form of pictures or video. As the research

progresses, the volume of data increases to include things such as notes

on current thinking, theories and ideas. Managing the wealth of

information requires some effort as it is important to be able to access

information quickly and easily.

NVivo is a computer application that includes a range of features

designed to help you manage, analyse and access qualitative data.

This document was written to accompany the course on NVivo: An

Introduction to QSR NVivo 9 (Module II and III). This course is

intended for those who are new to NVivo and may be considering

whether to use it in their own research. With the aid of an example, this

course provides an overview of the NVivo system.

By the end of the course, participants should have a basic knowledge of

how NVivo works and how it can help them with their research.

Starting NVivo

To start NVivo click on the Start button (at the bottom left of the screen) then do one of the following:

Click on All Programs, select QSR and click on NVivo 9. Or if

you have the NVivo icon on the Desktop double click on it.

To start NVivo from one of the computers in a cluster on campus:

Click on All Programs

Click on [ITS Applications]

Click on


The NVivo Welcome screen and dialogue box appears:

By default, in the Welcome to NVivo dialogue box, your login

username is displayed in the Name text box.

Type your initials in the text box, your initials will be attached to

the work you do in NVivo, it is especially useful for collaboration if

you are working on the same project with other team members,

they will be able to identify your work

NVivo is installed with a sample Project – entitled:

Environmental Change Down East.

The three buttons at the bottom of the screen allows you to

create new project, open an existing project or get help topics

and tutorials, help can be obtained from the QSR support team

who are based in Australia, their email address is:

[email protected] you will need proof of your NVivo

license key number.

mailto:[email protected]


What is an NVivo Project

In NVivo a collection of information, relating to a research is stored in a

project.

An NVivo Project can be created at any stage to store your data and

ideas. You can start with data you have already prepared in another

software package and import it into NVivo, alternatively, enter data

directly into NVivo.

We will use the project described below as an exercise for this course.

Project background

Delivering the Government’s research strategy for health depends on

having sufficient research capacity to carry out the research that needs

to be done to inform the development of health care services. An

important element of research capacity is research workforce. Health

care professionals who move from a career in clinical work to a career

in research form part of that research workforce. But why and how do

health care professionals become researchers?

Project Aims

The aims of this project were:

To explore why and how health care professionals moved into a

research career.

To identify the barriers faced by health care professionals who

want to develop a research career.

To describe factors that can help health care professionals to

gain the research skills, experience and ability to progress in a

research career

Creating a Project

To create a project:

Click on the New Project button, at the bottom left of the Welcome screen. The New Project dialogue box appears:


In the Title text box, enter a meaningful name for the project and

Description. By default, NVivo stores the project in the

Documents Folder and add an .nvp extension to the filename.

If you want to change the location, click on the Browse button to

save the project in a folder of your choice.

Click OK to display the NVivo workspace.

The NVivo Workspace

Minimize

Maximize

Close

Navigation

View

Status bar List View

Basic and Advanced

Find toolbar

The Ribbon on

the Home tab


Ribbons and Tabs

By default, there are eight Tabs and Ribbons displayed at the top of the

NVivo workspace. Each Ribbon is attached to a Tab; ribbons are

divided into groups that relates to a type of activity. You can use your

mouse to hover over each icon on the ribbon to display the description.

The Status bar

The Status bar is located at the bottom of the NVivo workspace; it

provides contextual information about the current state of the project

source you are viewing on the screen, such as:

1. User details

2. The number of items in a selected folder

3. The number of Nodes and coded data (References)

4. By default the project source is opened in 'Read-Only' mode you

can switch to edit mode (‘Editable')

5. The position of the line and cursor (column)

6. You can specify the zoom level of the document

1 22

3 4 5 6


The Navigation View

Drag handle down to make more

room or up to view more buttons.

The Navigation view provides access to all your

project items. You can show or hide the Navigation

View by pressing Alt F1.

Project items are organised under the following

group buttons:

The Sources folder is opened by default; NVivo

provides three pre-defined folders for storing and

organising your research materials. You can create

as many new sub-folders as you need.

Nodes – Container for storing and organising all

data that has been coded at the node.

Classifications – work with classification and

create attributes such as age, gender and occupation.

You can also import a classification sheets from

Excel.

Collections – Allows you to group different types

of project items.

Queries – A powerful search engine that you can

use to explore your project, ask questions about

your project, find patterns, save questions and

results.

Reports – You can run a pre-defined report or build

your own.

Models – A diagram to illustrate information contained

within the project. Alternatively, identify emerging

patterns and connections.

Folders – Displays all folders.

Creating Folders

In Navigation View, you can create new sub-folders in anyone of the

three pre-defined folders (Internals, Externals and Memos).

To create a new sub- folder in Navigation View do one of the following:

Select one of the pre-defined folders – e.g. Internals.

Click on the Create Tab, in the Collections group, click on the Folder icon, alternatively.


Right click on the Internals icon Select New Folder…. alternatively.

Press Ctrl Shift N. (the New Folder dialogue box appears):

In the Name text box, enter a meaningful name for the folder and

Description.

Click OK to create the folder.

When you have finished creating the folder, your Navigation

View should look like this:

When you click on a folder all the contents of the folder are

displayed in the List View on the right of the NVivo workspace.

You can drag and drop items from the List View into the required

folder(s).

Deleting Folders

To delete a folder:

Select the folder you want to delete, click on the Home tab, in the

Editing group, click on the Delete icon, alternatively.

Right click on the folder you want to delete

Select Delete from the shortcut menu, (the Delete Folder

dialogue box appears):


Click on the Yes button to delete the folder.

Renaming Folders

To rename a folder

Select the folder you want to rename, click on the Home tab, in

the Items group, click on the Properties icon and select Folder Properties…, alternatively

Right click on the folder you want to rename

Select Folder Properties…, (the Folder Properties dialogue

box appears): you can now change the name or description

Click OK.

Working with Documents

Creating a document in NVivo

The most straightforward way to add data to a project is to create a

document in NVivo and type directly into it.

To create documents in NVivo do one of the following:

Select the Folder where you want to store the document

Click on the Create tab in the Sources group, click on the

Document icon alternatively

Right-click in the blank area of the List View, a shortcut menu appears, use the mouse to point to New Internal…. and select New Document…


The New Document dialogue box appears:

In the Name text box, enter the document name and Description

Click on the OK button on the New Document dialogue box.

The blank document appears in the Detailed View, ready for you

to input information as shown below:


The NVivo workspace now has three main views (Navigation, List and

Detailed views)

Tips

You can right click in the blank area of the Detailed or List Views to display

a shortcut menu. In List View you can sort the documents by the heading

type, just click on one of the column headings – e.g. Name, to sort

alphabetically by name.

To enter date and time in a document, place the cursor in the document

where you want to display the date and time and press Ctrl Shift T.

Navigation View project items are

organised under

group buttons

Detailed View – you can undock

(detached) this window and work

in a separate window

List View – you can

customize this workspace,

via the View tab,


Copy and Paste from MS Word to NVivo

It is also possible to copy data from MS Word and paste it directly into

an NVivo document. However, data that is formatted with highlighted

colour background – e.g. (make data looks like it was highlighted with a

highlighter pen) the background colour will be lost, data that contains

bold, italic, font name, size, colour and Microsoft Word pre-defined

styles will retain its formatting when pasted into NVivo. (This also

applies to documents imported into NVivo).

To copy and paste data from an MS Word document into an NVivo document:

Create a blank document in NVivo (see page 8) alternatively,

place the cursor in an existing document where you want to insert

the data, switch to MS Word and copy the data

Tip

To select the entire document in MS Word, press Ctrl A. Alternatively, move

your mouse pointer into the in the selection area (left margin) until you get a

white arrow click three times and to select a paragraph double-click.

Switch back to NVivo, click on the Home tab, in the Clipboard

group, click on the Paste icon alternatively

Right-click in the document where you want to insert the data

and select Paste.

Preparing MS Word documents to for importing into an NVivo project

NVivo allows different type of documents to be imported into a project

at any stage. You can import documents from MS Word, MS Excel and

other applications, but before importing the document(s) into NVivo the

document(s) must be saved in certain ways:

MS Word saves documents as .doc, .docx,

MS Excel saves workbook as xls, xlsx,

(no need to save MS Word and MS Excel documents under a

different format)

Other applications such as Adobe PDF documents and

MS Outlook save files as (Rich Text Format .rtf or Plain Text

.txt format)

Save Audio files as (.mp3, .wma, .wav)

Save Video files as (.mpg, .mp4, .wmv, .avi, .mov, .qt)

Save Image files as (.Bmp, .gif, .jpg, .tiff).


Importing files from MS Word

In this section, we will focus on importing files from MS Word,

however, other files such as Memos, Audios, Videos, Pictures and

Dataset can also be imported into NVivo.

To import a document(s) do one of the following:

Select the destination folder, (the folder where you want to store the imported documents)

Click on the External Data tab, in the Import group, click on the

Documents icon alternatively,

Right Click in the List View area on the right of the NVivo workspace

Point to Import Internals…, select Import Documents, (the Import Internals dialogue box appears).

Click on the Browse button, the Import Sources dialogue box appears; navigate to the folder that contains the document(s) you want to import into NVivo.

Select the document(s).

Tip – Selecting documents

To select multiple documents, click on the document(s) to add or cancel from

the selection, press and hold down the Ctrl key while clicking on the

required document.

You can also select a group of documents, click on the first document then

hold down the Shift key and click on the last document to highlight a group

of documents.

Click on the Open button to return to the Import Internals dialogue box


Click on the More button to expand the Import Internals dialogue box

Under Options:

Use first paragraph to create description - NVivo use the first

paragraph in the MS Word document to create the description.

The description will be added automatically to the document’s

properties dialogue box when it is imported

Code sources at new nodes located under - enables you to

code the entire source data at a selected Node

Assign new Nodes to classification – if you have already set

up a classification you can select it

Click on the OK button to import the documents into NVivo.

Open a Document

Use List and Detailed Views to Browse and Edit Documents

Documents can be viewed, duplicated, deleted and it is possible to

change their properties.

To open and view a Document:

Click on the Folder that contains the document, (all the folder

contents are displayed in the List View).

Double-click on the document in List View, the contents of the

document is displayed in the Detailed View. (You can open

several documents in Detailed View and switch between them by

clicking on the document name tab).


Caution!

By default, documents are opened in read only mode, click on the Click to

edit banner at the top of the document to change it to edit mode.

Floating Windows

It may be more convenient to undock a document (display it in a

floating window).

By default documents are attached (docked) at the bottom of the List

View, you can change the position of the window to free-floating.

To Dock or Undock a document:

Click on the View tab, in the Window group, click on the

Docked icon to display the document in its own window.

By clicking on the Close button on the opened window, it will

return to the default when you next open it.

Document Properties

Document properties vary depending on the type of item you are

working with; most document properties contains name, description and

creation date, you can view or change the properties.

To view and change the document properties:

Select the document in the List View

Click on the Home tab, in the Item group, click on the Properties

icon (the Document Properties… dialogue box appears) you

can change the details, alternatively,

Right click on the document and select Document Properties…

Closing a document

To close a document:

Click on the close button at the top right of the Detailed View


Saving a Project

NVivo allows for whole projects to be saved. However, it is important

to understand that changes to individual documents are not saved to disk

when a document is closed although the changes will be remembered in

memory. The save option can be used to save changes at any time.

NVivo also has an auto save feature that you can set to remind you to

save the Project.

It is important to save your project regularly. To set the Auto Save option:

Click on the File tab and select Options, (the Application

Options dialogue box appears)

Click on the Notifications tab

Under Messages - click on the spinner arrow to the right of Enable project save reminders every 15 minutes to increase or decrease the time or type the time directly into the text box.

Once you have set up the Application Options, NVivo will remind you to save your Project at the appropriate intervals. The Save Reminder dialogue box will appear:

You can also click on the Save button on the Customize Quick

Access toolbar or press Ctrl S to save all changes to your

Project.


Creating and Manipulating Nodes

What is a Node

In NVivo, a node can be used to represent anything the researcher might

want to refer to in a project, such as concepts, places, abstract ideas and

people being studied. Coding involves associating a node (container)

with one or more portions of data. Coded data that are stored in a node

can be easily retrieved and used in further analysis.

Nodes Type

NVivo supports different types of Nodes such as:

In this section, we will only focus on creating theme Nodes in various

different ways.

An icon represents a Node

Parent Node

(general category at the top level)

Child Node

(specific sub-category)

Hierarchy structure

Collapse/Expand button


Create new Nodes using the Ribbon

To create a new Node as you code:

Open the document and highlight the data you want to code

Click on the Analyze tab, in the Coding group, under Code

Selection At, click on the New Node icon, (the New Node

dialogue box appears)

By default, Nvivo provides a predefined Nodes folder to store all

your Nodes.

Click on the Select button to change the location of your Node.

In the Name text box, enter a meaningful name for the Node and

enter a description

Click on the OK button to create the Node


Create Nodes using the Quick Coding bar

The Quick Coding bar provides the quickest method of creating new

nodes while browsing a document; the Quick Coding bar is located at

the bottom of the NVivo workspace, you can show or hide it.

To use the Quick Coding bar to create a Node:

Highlight the data you want to code

Notice the Quick Coding bar at the bottom of the NVivo

Workspace is active when data is highlighted

Enter the Nodes name in the Code At text box and click on the

Code icon

Show or Hide the Quick Coding bar

To display the Quick Coding bar:

Click on the View tab, in the Workspace group, click on the

Quick Coding bar icon to display a drop-down list

The Quick Coding bar is currently attached (docked) at the

bottom of the NVivo workspace; select the required option from

the drop-down list.

Code icon, click to

code highlighted data

Uncode icon, click to uncode highlighted data at

the current Node

Code In Vivo

Select a Nodes type

Click to display the Location dialogue box

Enter Node name

Click to display the Select

Project Items dialogue box

Show/hide Quick

Coding bar


Note

The Quick Coding bar is only active when a document or a node is open.

Create Nodes using the right mouse button

To create Nodes using the right mouse button:

Highlight the data and right click on it to display a drop-down

menu

Point the cursor to Code Selection and click on Code Selection

At New Node... (the New Nodes dialogue box appears)

Click on the Select button to change the location of your Node.

In the Name text box, enter a meaningful Node name and

description

Click on the OK button to create the Node.


Remove coding at the current Node

You can remove selected data from a node or document by 'uncoding' it.

To uncode the data from a node while you are in a document:

Click on the Analyze tab, in the Uncoding group, under Uncode

Selection At, click on Existing Nodes (the Select Project Items

dialogue box appears)

Click on the Nodes folder on the left of the Select Project Items

dialogue box

On the right, select the check box for the Node that contains the

coding you want to remove

Click on the OK button to remove the coding from the Node.

To uncode directly from a Node:

Open the Node by clicking on the Node button in the Navigation View

Highlight the data you want to uncode and right-click on the highlighted data

Select Uncode Selection, and then click on Uncode Selection

At This Node, (the coding is removed from the Node)


View highlighted coding for selected nodes

To view the highlighted coding for selected nodes:

Click on the View tab, in the Coding group, click on the

Highlight icon

Select Coding for All Nodes… In the document all the coded data will be highlighted

Coding for Selected Nodes... will let you select specific Nodes

and all the coded data for the selected nodes will be highlighted.

Coding with the Code In Vivo button

You can use the Code In Vivo button on the Quick Coding bar to

create Nodes based on respondents’ phrases. NVivo use the highlighted

data as the Node name. (You can have approximately 256 characters).

However, the Code In Vivo should be used specifically for a single

word or short phases, the longer the name, the harder it is to recognize

and it will be particularly difficult to handle.

To create a Node using the Code In Vivo button:

Highlight the data you want to code.

Click on the Code In Vivo button (the highlighted data will appear in the Code At text box,on the Quick Coding bar at the bottom of the NVivo workspace, as shown below) and also as a Node in the Nodes folder.


Caution

NVivo will not allow you to code the same data twice, when creating a node

using the Code In Vivo button, if you click on the same highlighted data

twice, the Code In Vivo dialogue box will appears with a message informing

you that the Node already exists. However, if you have manually created

codes, it is possible to code the same data to different Nodes

(see pages 17-19)

Coding Stripes

Coding Stripes show approximately, where you have coded the data in a

document. By default, NVivo allows up to seven coding stripes when

you choose to view the most, least or recently coded nodes; you can also change the number of stripes (the maximum is 200).

To display the coding stripes:

Click on the View tab, in the Coding group, click on the Coding

Stripes icon

Select the required option from the list – e.g., show Nodes Most

Coding (the coding stripes appears on the right-hand side of the

document).

Right click on the Coding Density Bar to show a

Coding Stripe. The different shades of greys

indicate the coding density from light grey

(minimal coding) to dark grey (maximum coding).

You can also show only the Coding Density bar.

Coding Stripes – click

once on a stripe to view

the highlight coding in

the document


To view all the highlight coding for a single node:

Right click on a Coding Stripe to display a shortcut menu

Select Highlight Coding; alternatively, hover your mouse over

one of the coding stripes to view the path of the Node and the

person who coded the data.

Tips

You can quickly code data to existing Nodes – simply highlight the data and

drag and drop it onto the required Node, (see page 24)

Creating a Node Structure

There are various ways to manually code a document - e.g., if you have

already worked out your Node structure, you can create Nodes before

you code and then code at the existing Node, alternatively, you can

create Nodes and code at the Nodes as you read through your document.

To create a Node structure:

Click on the Node button in the Navigation View and select the

Nodes folder

Click on the Create tab, in the Nodes group, click on the Nodes

icon

Click on the OK button to create the Node, alternatively

Right click in the blank area of the List View, (a shortcut menu appears), click on New Node… (the New Node dialogue box appears)


Select the appropriate option(s) on the New Node dialogue box

Click on the OK button to create the Node

You can create as many Nodes as you need, you can also

arrange existing Nodes into hierarchical structure

To highlight multiple Nodes:

You can also hold down the Ctrl key on the Keyboard and click

on individual Node.

To highlight a group of Nodes:

Click on the first Node then point to the last Node and hold down

the Shift key on the keyboard while clicking the left mouse

button

1. Assign Attributes values to a Node

2. Enter a meaning full name for the Node

3. Enter a description

4. Enter a Nickname for the Node

5. The Node path (where the Node is stored).

6. Aggregate the parent Node – data coded in the child Node will automatically roll up to the parent Node

7. Organise your project items by assigning a colour, e.g. you may want to identify Nodes and items coded by a specific user

2

3

4

5

6

7

1


To create a hierarchical structure:

Highlight the Nodes you want to be the child Nodes (sub-category)

In the above diagram Early Research Experience will be the

parent Node (top level) and Participation in Project and

Research Post will be the child Nodes (sub-category)

Drag the highlighted child Nodes and drop them into the parent

Node

Notice the cursor has changed to a white arrow and when

you release your mouse button, an expand/collapse button appears to the left of the parent Node

Click on the expand button to expand the Nodes

Click on the collapse button to collapse the Node

Customize the NVivo Workspace

It may be more convenient to re-arrange the NVivo workspace, when

you are coding sources using drag and drop (as shown on next page).

To re-arrange the window in order to view both document and Nodes:

Open the Document you want to code

Click on the Nodes button in Navigation View on the left of the

NVivo workspace


Click on the View tab, in the Workspace group, click on the Detailed View icon, a shortcut menu appears:

Click on Right to display the document in Detailed View on the

right of the workspace and the Nodes in List View on the left of

the workspace

You can resize both windows by placing the cursor on the splitter

bar (the vertical bar that divides the windows) until the mouse

pointer changes to a horizontal double-headed arrow click

and drag to increase or decrease the window

Exploring Nodes

There are various ways to manually code a document - e.g., if you have

already worked out your Nodes structure, you can create Nodes before

you code and then code at the existing Node, alternatively, you can

create Nodes and code at the Nodes as you read through your document.

Viewing the content of a Node

To see an overview of the coding:

Click on the Nodes button in the Navigation View.

Click on the Nodes folder, a list of all the Nodes are displayed in

the List View in the right of the screen

Double-click on the appropriate Node to open it, - e.g.

Research Post (all the coded data (references) that are gathered

at the node is displayed in the Detailed View), as shown below


Deleting a Node

To delete a Node:

Click on the Nodes button on the Navigation View

Click on the Node or highlight a group of Nodes

Click on the Home tab, in the Editing group, click on the Delete

icon (The Confirmation dialogue box appears):

Click on the Yes button to delete the Node and all the coding at

the node will be moved from all sources in your project.

Caution

If you delete a parent Node all the child Nodes below will be deleted.

Detailed View

Right button List View

Percentage of the document

that has been coded.

Click on the blue

hyperlink to return to

the document.

Click on the Close

button to close

Detailed View


Printing Project Items

To print a project item:

Display the project item you want to print - e.g., documents,

classification, memos and other items.

Click on the File menu and move the mouse pointer to Print to

display the Print Preview and Print list, you can select the

appropriate option

Print...– displays the Print Options dialogue box

Print List... – you can print a Nodes structure

Print Preview... – preview the project item before printing

The following Print Options dialogue box appears when you

select Print from the Preview and print List


Select the appropriate options (the options you selected will be

printed at the top of your document)

Click on the OK button

Printing a Node Structure

To print a Nodes structure:

Click on the Nodes button in Navigation View

Click on the Nodes folder to display all the Nodes in the List

View

Right-click any where in the List View, (a shortcut menu

appears)

Select Print, then, Print List to print the Nodes list

Working with Classification sheets and Attributes

The classification sheet stores a summary of the items in the form of a

table, e.g., if you have created case nodes for interview respondents and

classified them as Person, you can use the classification sheet to quickly

see the demographic spread of your respondents:


NVivo supports three types of classifications such as Source

Classification, Node Classification and Relationship Type:

You can import bibliographical information from reference

management tools such as EndNote, Zotero or RefWorks and store it in

Source Classifications. NVivo also provide predefined classifications

interview and focus group to help you keep track of your sources, you

can add these to your project or create your own general classifications

Source

Assign classification to any Nodes. Create a classification first, define

attribute values and assign them to Nodes, this can be done either

manually for each Node or by importing a classification sheet from

Excel. A list of predefined classification is also available for you to add

to your project, you can customize the list.

Creating a Classification sheet

To create a classification sheet:

Click on the Classifications button on the Navigation View and select the Nodes Classification folder on the left of the NVivo workspace

Click on the Create tab, in the Classifications group, click on the

Node Classification icon alternatively, right-click in the List View and select New Classification (the New Classification dialogue box appears):


Create a new classification - allows you to create your own

general classification sheet

Add one or more predefined classifications to the project –

NVivo provides two classifications: Organization and Person.

The predefined list can also be customized

Select Add one or more predefined classifications to the

project and select Person

Click on the OK button to generate the Person classification

together with a predefined list of attributes, each classification

has it own unique list of attributes. You can add or delete

attributes

Double-click on any one of the attributes change the properties,

- e.g. we could change Sex to Gender


You can add new attribute values to each attribute on the list

while working in a classification sheet.

To add new attribute values to an existing attribute:

Double-click on the appropriate attribute , (the Attribute Properties dialogue box appears):

In the Name text box enter a meaningful attribute Name,

Description and Type.

Click on the Values tab and enter the new values by clicking on

the Add button then, type the attribute name in the cell under

Value

Click on the Add button again to add another value until you have

added all your values.



Caution

Attribute values must match with the attribute's data type, - e.g. you cannot

select ‘text’ for the Type and enter ‘numbers’ in the attribute values table.

Do not click on the Add button after you have added the last attribute, a

blank row will be inserted at the end of the list and when you click on the OK

button you will get an message dialogue ‘An attribute value cannot be

empty’

While working in the values area you can remove an attribute value. Click on the grey square to the left of the value you want to remove, an arrowhead is displayed and the value is highlighted.

Click on the Remove button.

Assign Attributes to a Node

Generic properties can be associated with each document using

attributes. A document attribute can be given a specific value for each

document in a project. Attributes can be used to group documents

together. However, tests can be applied to attributes and this makes it

possible to specify the limits of an attribute. E.g. if you are

interviewing, you may have information about many attributes of a

respondent such as age, gender, occupation. If a document attribute for

age were used, it would be possible to limit a search to those documents

where the interviewees are in their 30s.

To assign attributes to a Node:

Click on the Nodes button in the Navigation View

Click on the Home tab, in the Items group, click on the

Properties icon and select Nodes Properties, alternatively,

Right-click on the Node and select Nodes Properties (the

Nodes Properties... dialogue box appears)


Click on the Attribute Values tab to define the values, click on

the arrowhead to the right of each Value, and select the value

from the drop-down list


The Find tool

The Find tool is specifically for finding project items such as

documents, nodes, audios, videos, pictures, datasets, externals and

memos, rather than project contents. The Find bar is located at the top

of the List View and consists of three search options: Basic,

Intermediate and Advanced.

Using Basic Find

To perform a basic search:

Click into the Basic find text box and type the project item you

want to find

The Basic find text box, enter the item

you want to fine

Click on the arrowhead to select a location to search

Perform the search

Remove previous

search

Displays the Intermediate and Advanced find

dialogue box

Hide the Find bar and to show it, click on the

Explore tab in the


Click on the arrowhead to the right of Search In and select a

location

Click on Find Now to find the item

Using Intermediate Find

You can find a list of project items based on specific criteria such as:

Look for Documents created within the last 7 days.

Find Documents coded by specific nodes such as Role Models

and Supervisors.

Find all cases where the age is equal to 49.

To perform an Intermediate search:

Click on Advanced Find at the right of the Find bar at the top of the List View, alternatively, click on the Explore tab in the Find

group and click on the Advanced Find icon (the Advanced Find dialogue box appears)


By default, the Intermediate tab is selected. Click on the

arrowhead to the right of the Look for: text box and select the

required option

Select the check box on the left of any one of the options you

want to use

Click on the Find Now button to run the search

The Intermediate tab section above is set up to search for Nodes that are Created and Modified Anytime, by Any User. That code – Selected Items (specific documents are selected).

Click on the Find Now button to display the results in Detailed

View.

Using Advanced Find

The advanced find is useful for complex searches. You can set up as

many criteria as you want.

To perform an advanced search:

Follow the instructions above to display the Advanced Find dialogue box. Click on the Advanced tab

At the bottom of the Advanced Find dialogue box. Under the Define more criteria:, click on the arrowhead under Interaction select an item from the list, under Option select Coded At, under Value select Selected items. (The Select Project Items dialogue box appears:)

Select the required Nodes and click OK to return to the

Advanced Find dialogue box.

Click on the Add to List button to add the selected criteria into

the Find items that match all these criteria: text box.

Click the Find Now button to display the find results.


Converting Projects from earlier versions of NVivo

Projects can be opened and converted to NVivo 9 from various earlier

versions of NVivo.

To convert a project from an earlier NVivo version to NVivo 9:

Open the project by doing one of the following:

Start NVivo to display the NVivo Welcome screen, click on the

Open Project button, (the Open Project dialogue box appears).

Locate the folder that contains the project you want to convert

Click on the Open button, the Convert Project dialogue box

appears:

Click on the Browse… button, the Convert Project dialogue box

appears, enter a filename for the converted project.

Click on the Convert button to convert the project.