Presentation: Qualitative Data Analysis:

When to Utilize Manual Coding or Software-aided Coding such as Nvivo

Nvivo Software Demonstration

Basic Functions of Nvivo

1. Importing files

2. Analyzing data

3. Organizing cases and characteristics

4. Visualizing findings

5. Exporting findings

1. Importing files

i. Click on ‘External Data’ tab

ii. Click on ‘PDFs’ to input pdf file

2. Analyzing data

a. Running a Query (requesting information – thus conducting an initial analysis)

i. Click on ‘Query’ tab and go to ‘Word Frequency’

1. Start by clicking on ‘Word Frequency’

2. On the ‘Word Frequency’ dialog box, adjust the ‘Finding matches’ –

from ‘Exact’ to ‘Similar’

3. Click on ‘Run’

4. Click on the ‘Word Cloud’ on the right-side bar

ii. Click on ‘Query’ tab and go to ‘Text Search’

1. Start by clicking on ‘Text Search’

2. On the ‘Text Search’ dialog box, type the word you plan to search (eg.

‘Technology’)

3. On the dialog, adjust the ‘Finding matches’ – from ‘Exact’ to ‘Similar’

4. Click on ‘Run’

5. Click on the ‘Word Tree’ on the right-side bar

b. Using ‘Create’ tab to create nodes (or codes) etc.

i. Click on ‘Create’ tab

1. To create nodes, first, double-click the document you plan to work on

Data’ tab

2. Select the statement you want to code

3. Right-click on the selected portion

4. Go to ‘Code Selection’

5. Choose from these options:

a. ‘Code Selection At Existing Nodes’

b. ‘Code Selection At New Node’

c. ‘Code Selection At Current Nodes’

Tip: Think about your research questions

when generating nodes/codes.

• Remember, nodes generated

should represent the data and at

the same time address the

research questions.

c. Generate categories/themes based on the nodes/codes

i. Relationship among codes

ii. Frequency of the codes

iii. Underlying concepts based on combination of codes

Code = ‘Node’ in Nvivo Category /theme = ‘Parent

node’ in Nvivo Sub category/theme = ‘Child

node’ in Nvivo

3. Organizing cases and characteristics

a. Importing ‘Classification sheet’

i. Click on ‘External Data’

ii. Click on ‘Classification Sheets’ to import demographic information from Excel

b. Creating ‘Node Classification or Case Node’ and ‘Attribute’

i. Click on ‘Create’ tab

ii. Click on ‘New Classification’

iii. On the ‘New Classification’ dialog box, type the name of the case node and click

on ‘OK’

iv. To create demographic variables for the ‘Node Classification or Case Node’,

highlight/select the case node created and click on ‘Attribute’

v. On the ‘Attribute’ dialog box, type the name of the attribute/demographic

variable

vi. Click on the ‘value’ tab and create the categories/values for the attribute

created

4. Visualizing findings

a. Click on ‘Explore’ tab and using ‘Cluster Analysis’ command

b. Click on ‘Explore’ tab

c. Click on ‘Cluster Analysis’

d. On the ‘Cluster Analysis’ dialog, check ‘Nodes’

e. Click on ‘Next’

f. Click on ‘Select’ to choose the nodes you plan to run

g. Under ‘Clustered by’, choose ‘Coding similarity’

h. Click on ‘Finish’

Tip: This diagram could help in grouping

the nodes to develop categories and

themes

5. Exporting Findings

a. Exporting Nodes

i. Click on the ‘Nodes’ tab on the left-hand-side

ii. Select the nodes you want to export

iii. Right-click on the selected Nodes

iv. Go to ‘Export’

v. Click on ‘Export Nodes’

b. Exporting Cluster Analysis Diagram

i. Right-click the diagram

ii. Click on ‘Export Diagram’

c. Exporting Word Cloud Diagram

i. Right-click the diagram

ii. Click on ‘Export Word Cloud’

Philip Adu, Ph.D. Methodology Expert National Center for Academic & Dissertation Excellence (NCADE) Program Lead, Ed.D. Educational Psychology and Technology The Chicago School of Professional Psychology 6/3/15