QSR NVIVO 7

1
QSR NVIVO 7

• A Preview in September 2005
• Tom Richards, Chief Scientist, QSR International

DISCLAIMER The build of NVIVO 7 previewed and
discussed here is pre-beta-test and seven months
in advance of the public release version in late
February 2006. Functionality and performance will
change by the public release version, especially
as a result of beta-testing. Hence this version
should be understood only as a guide to what is
coming.
2
Why NVIVO Seven?

• Totally new redesigned software
• So not just NVIVO three
• Also supersedes the NUDIST line (N6)
• So its seven
• Designed for the future, not a re-vamp of past
  versions, styles and approaches
• Early adopter of new technologies
• Ready for new 3-D Longhorn OS
• Annual major upgrades from now on
• Free for site licences and maintenance agreements

3
NVIVO 7 Converts Legacy QSR Projects
Projects

• Opens N4, N5 and N6 projects, and NVIVO 1 and 2
  projects.
• Converts them to NVIVO 7 projects

• Option to make Cases of all Documents (since
  Cases are more central in NVIVO 7)

4
Project Security and Integrity
Projects

• All data in a project, including all Sources, are
  kept in a single securely encrypted database
  file.
• So porting and backing up is trivial.
• No chance of others tampering with documents, no
  need for insecure doc file update log files
• In fact, absolute project database integrity,
  even through computer crashes.

5
Multiple Projects
Projects

• Run multiple projects together
• Copy/paste content between projects
• Project merging will now be part of the NVIVO
  program
• to be released in Version 7.1 before midyear).

6
Features for handling large projects
Projects

• NVIVO 7 is designed to handle extremely large
  projects as well as very small ones
• Also, users can optimize performance for large
  projects
• Web-browser style inverted index text search is
  insensitive to amount or length of documents.

7
Save and Undo
Projects
8
New Screen Layout gives simple navigation
Projects
Select a folder (you can create your own too)
Folders items appear in List Pane
Contents of selected item appear in tabbed Detail
Pane
Navigation Bar with Group Buttons
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Change the Layout
Projects
List pane side by side with
Detail pane is great for
10
Or undock any (or all) of the Detail Views!
Projects
You can then minimize them down to the taskbar to
avoid clutter
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Sources the data material
Sources
Sources comprise Documents, Externals and Memos
Click a folder to list its items here
Click an item to open its contents below
Plus folders you create
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Import Word .DOC files directly
Sources

• Conversion to .RTF not needed
• Code pictures and table cells
• Comprehensive word-processor
• You can keep documents in user-created folders
• In fact you can make your own sub-folders just
  about anywhere.

13
External Sources support multimedia control
Sources

• Externals are Sources for referencing documents
  you cant include in (or dont want to copy into)
  the project database
• Web pages, video files, papers and books, etc.

Use the External itself to transcribe, summarize,
comment on the referenced material.
Use the automatically created tape count stamps
on the External to locate audio-video passages
for replay
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Sources and Nodes can have Memos
Sources

• Every Source and Node can have its own unique
  Memo
• Use Memos for discussions about their own Source
  or Node
• Free or unattached Memos can also be created
• Useful for more research topic discussions
• Memos, like any Source, can be coded, and given
  links and annotations.

15
Five types of Nodes
Nodes and Coding

• Nodes are NVIVOs concept categories
• First four represent people, places, topics,
  concepts, attitudes etc., and their combinations.
  That is, they represent entities.
• Free Nodes (unordered)
• Tree Nodes (for category/subcategory cataloguing)
• Cases (for interviewees, people, places etc.)
• Tables (i.e. Matrices)
• Relationships (patent pending)
• Not representing entities, but making statements.

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Give nodes nicknames
Nodes and Coding
Nicknames for nodes speed up referencing them
when coding
17
Cases are much more central
Nodes and Coding

• Why? Because only Cases have attributes
• Not Sources such as interview docs, not other
  Nodes
• Attributes are intended for demographic
  information about people, places, organizations,
  etc.
• Cases are where people, places, organizations
  etc. belong.
• Use Relationships instead, to express information
  about other things
• E.g. interview document information
• Make a point of collecting all interview material
  for an interviewee at a case node for them.
• Auto-coding group interviews makes this easy.

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Relationships an entirely new sort of Node
Nodes and Coding

• A relationship joins two Project Items
• They are part of the relationship
• A relationship makes a statement
• Adrian (works with) Allen
• Outsider (causes) attitudes\negative
• Code the relationship with the evidence for the
  statement it makes
• Hint use transitive verbs for relationship names
• causes, cannot get on with
• Then the statement made is clear
• Annette cannot get on with Adrian

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Coding at Relationships is new and exciting
Nodes and Coding

• You can code for what you read is being said, not
  just for topics.
• Outsider (causes) attitudes\positive
• Then open the relationship Node to see everything
  said about outsiders bringing about positive
  attitudes.
• Then open the related Nodes to see what you have
  on those topics
• Outsiders
• Attitudes\positive

• Whats in the related nodes will usually be a lot
  more, and a lot less specific theyre just
  topics
• And even intersecting them doesnt home in on
  this relationship, this claim that outsiders
  cause positiveness. In general it will have more,
  and less.

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Importance of Relationships
Nodes and Coding

• Ordinary nodes refer to entities
• People, concepts, places, topics, emotions, etc.
• Since Relationships make statements, they can be
  (and can code evidence for)
• Descriptions, analytical claims, hypotheses,
  properties of things, etc.
• Display them in networks in the Modeler
• Complex theories, event process nets,
  structures and organizations

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Lets do some Coding
Nodes and Coding

• Drag-and-drop Coding is easy (but create new
  nodes first!)
• Can name Nodes ( Sources) in any language.
• Can also find text in any language.

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Coding context
Nodes and Coding

• Can show context in Node Detail View
• Can also spread coding to its context

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Viewing Coding
Nodes and Coding

• Can highlight coding at any node, in Detail View
  of a Node or Source
• Can show up to seven coding stripes and a coding
  density stripe
• Stripes for a node stay in the one track and with
  a unique color
• Stripes are live both to highlighting their text
  and to accessing their node.

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Auto-coding is streamlined
Nodes and Coding

• For questionnaire-type documents, code by
  paragraph number
• Code by heading text and levels for group
  interview documents

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Linking is extended and streamlined
Links

• Three types of links
• Annotations are similar to Ms. Word
• Can list inspect them globally
• Can be text-searched like Sources

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Sources and Nodes can have a Memo Link
Links

• A Memo belongs uniquely to a single Source or
  Node
• Use it for commentary on its original
• Or make a free-standing Memo for research notes
• Memos can be coded and linked like other sources
• But not with Memo links!

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See Also Links extended hyperlinking
Links

• All in-text links are handled by See-Also Links
• Indicated by red wavy underlines
• A passage can have multiple See Also links
• You can link to just about any Project Item, not
  just Sources and Nodes
• You can also link to any passage in any Source

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See Also links can give file web page access
Links

• We have an External interview Tiffany linked to
  an audio file
• We have an interview Document Paula referring
  to a passage in that audio.
• Put a See Also Link on Paulas comment, linked to
  the passage in the External
• Now we can go straight from Paulas comment to
  the audio (and also to the External).

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Sets are now more flexible
Sets

• Sets can now contain a mixture of Sources and
  Nodes (including Case Nodes).
• Use them for temporary and changing collections
  e.g. To review
• Use them as scopes for Query searches e.g.
  Divorced women
• Collect them as outputs of Queries (for further
  study and Querying) e.g. Women who report
  excellent marriages

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Attributes are properties of Cases
Classifications

• Attributes were described earlier in connexion
  with Case Nodes
• Attributes can be organized as tables of Case
  Nodes versus Attributes
• Cells hold the value of the Attribute at the Case
• Case Tables can be imported and exported, e.g. to
  Excel or SPSS
• Attribute tables are not yet implemented

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Relationship Types
Classifications

• When creating a Relationship, it has to be of a
  chosen Type, which involves
• Its name (works with, causes etc.)
• Its direction
• None, like associated
• One-way, like causes or loves
• Two-way like is married to

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The Find Tool locates Project Items
The Find Tool

• Look for them by name

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Advanced Find
The Find Tool

• The Advanced Find option can handle complex
  criteria for finding project items

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Grouped Find
The Find Tool

• Grouped Find is for locating items (the Range)
  that relate to any of a number of selected items
  (the Scope) not yet implemented
• Example find all Free Nodes (the Range) coding
  Interview Documents (the Scope)
• Result will list each Document and the Free Nodes
  that code it.

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The Query System the powerhouse of NVIVO 7
Query

• Queries are ways of locating specific content
• Queries can be saved for future use
• Re-run them later when data have changed
• Edit them to make a similar but different search

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Text Search is similar to Web search engines
Query
Check here to save the query
Looking for three text items
Can text-search Annotations too
Use these to set the scope of the search
E.g. stemmed search for give will find
giving, (English only)
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Many options for Query results
Query
What to do with the results? If you just preview,
you can go on to save as a node, etc.
Last 3 items save the scope items that had finds,
as a set or as sibling nodes.
Including some context with finds (spreading) can
be a good idea, especially for text search
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The hidden power of Text Search

• Read Help on Text Search Queries to learn about
  the hidden power of Text Search
• Items with finds are listed with a relevance
  weighting
• Boolean search e.g. for items containing social
  interaction but not community.
• Use wildcards and ? (like in Word)
• Proximity (how close do you want fear and
  threat to be in a search item?)
• What weighting do you want to give different
  words?

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Coding Query can be Simple or Advanced
Query

• Simple looks for coding of one node in the
  search scope.
• Advanced allows the statement of many criteria
  in a natural English way.

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Table Queries tabulate many queries at once
Query

• Choose the rows for the table
• Then the columns
• Then the operator to make the cells
• Then Run to make the table

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The result is a Table
Query

• Show counts of Sources, words, etc.
• Inspect each cells content like a Node
• Export numerical table as Excel or tab-separated
  text file
• Store as Table Node for future use.
• Give it a Memo, link it to other items.

42
Compound Queries
Query

• These will enable mixing of other types of query
• Not yet implemented

43
Reports provide project profiles
Report Tool

• Use them to get information on any area of a
  project

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Print Reports, save as .DOC, .PDF etc.
Report Tool
45
Coding Comparison Reports
Report Tool

• Compare coding by two coders in two identical
  documents

46
Models are hardly implemented yet
Models

• Heres a model of some relationships their
  coded evidence

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And heres the final wrap-up!

• No Using NVIVO book this time from Lyn Richards ?
• Instead its a whole book in the Help files, Your
  Research in NVIVO 7 ? ? ? ? ?
• Its a conceptual help to read by itself as a
  book
• But also its carefully linked into the top-notch
  procedural help
• why as well as how for each topic, e.g. coding at
  relationships
• Handling Qualitative Data by Lyn Richards
  (London, Sage, 2005) will have new tutorials for
  NVIVO 7 on their website www.sagepub.co.uk/richard
  s