QSR NVivo 7

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QSR NVivo 7

• Lyn and Tom Richards, founders,
• QSR International

This is a very brief overview of the main parts
of a project in NVivo 7, and the processes
supported. It is designed to accompany
demonstration of the software.
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Why NVivo Seven?

• Totally new redesigned software
• So not just NVivo three
• Updates NVivo 2 and 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

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So whats it look like?

• Familiar?
• Orderly?
• Normal?
• Its meant to!
• And
• Manageable!
• Customize it, to suit your style.

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New Screen Layout
Projects
Simple navigation, Microsoft Outlook style,
between the main parts of a project
Navigation Bar with Group Buttons
Each project part has its own folder (you can
create your own to order items)
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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.

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Save and Undo
Projects
Saves are not automatic, but reminders are. Why?
UNDO! At last, the qualitative researchers pace
and process is protected. Dropdown list shows
last five actions.
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So a project will look like this

• Examples that follow use the Sample Project that
  ships with the software
• C\Documents and Settings\All Users\
  Documents\NVivo 7 Samples

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What are your data sources?
Sources
Sources comprise Documents, Externals and Memos
Make a new document and edit in NVivo
Plus folders you create
or import straight from Word
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Use Externals to bring other data in

• Create and link to external files
• Format for coding
• Edit to include any illustrations or links to
  tape segments etc.

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And your concepts and ideas?
Nodes and Coding

• Nodes five sorts of containers for categories
  and coding
• Free Nodes (unordered)
• Tree Nodes (for category/subcategory cataloguing)
• Cases (for interviewees, people, places etc.)
• Represent people, places, topics, concepts -
  entities
• NVivo 7 introduces a thoroughly new sort of node
  Relationships Not representing entities, but
  making statements.
• And the final sort of node? Matrices (tables of
  qualitative crosstabs, in which the data for each
  cell is coded at a node.)

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First - free and tree nodes
Nodes and Coding

• Create them down from design or up from the
  data.

Cut, copy, merge, paste to design the node
system, using trees to catalog ideas
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Coding at nodes
Nodes and Coding

• Code by drag and drop or many rapid methods

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Viewing coding at nodes
Nodes and Coding

• View coding in 7 live stripes on source or node
  content and new Coding Density stripe showing all
  nodes.

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Cases to hold what you know
Nodes and Coding

• In your study, what is a case?
• Make a case node and code all material it.
• Auto-coding does this
• Cases can have values of attributes
• Attributes store information about those people,
  places, organizations

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Attributes - of Cases
Classifications

• Attributes (like Gender) are properties you
  create for Cases
• View as tables (Casebooks) of Case Nodes versus
  Attributes
• Assign a value for the Attribute to each Case
  Node
• Casebooks can be imported and exported, e.g. to
  Excel or SPSS

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Relationships making statements
Nodes and Coding

• A relationship joins two Project Items
• A relationship makes a statement
• volunteering requires time
• family values encourage motivation to volunteer
• Code the relationship with the evidence for the
  statement it makes

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Whats so new about Relationships?
Nodes and Coding

• Relationships can be (and can code evidence for)
• Descriptions, analytical claims, hypotheses,
  properties of things, etc.
• Display them in networks or groups in the Modeler
• Complex theories, event process nets,
  structures and organizations

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Sets are 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
• Collect them as outputs of Queries (for further
  study and Querying) e.g. Women who report
  excellent marriages

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And links come in three sorts
Links

• Three types of links
• Annotations are similar to comments in MS Word
• Can list inspect them globally
• Can optionally be text-searched
• See-Also Links
• to any Sources or Nodes or other project item
• or to any passage in any Source
• Memo Links
• any Source or Node can have its own Linked Memo.

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Find - locates Project Items
The Find Tool

• Look for them by name
• The Advanced Find option can handle complex
  criteria for finding project items

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Query in plain language
Query

• Queries are ways of locating specific content
• Queries can be saved for future use
• Re-run them later when data have changed
  command files effect
• Edit them to make a similar but different search
• Four sorts of query text, coding, matrix and
  compound.

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Text Search - like Web search engines
Query
Check here to save the query
Looking for either of 2 text items
Can choose if text-search Annotations too
Set the scope of the search
Stemmed search?
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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.
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 Simple 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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Matrix Queries see it in tables
Query

• Choose the rows for the table
• Then the columns
• Then how rows and columns are related in cells
• Then Run to make the table

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The result is a Matrix thats live
Query

• Show counts of Sources, words
• Inspect a cells content its a Node
• Export numerical table as Excel or tab-separated
  file
• Good one? Store as Matrix Node for future use.

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Models
Models

• New format, new functions can include
  connectors, images.
• Live to data. Add associated items. (Use Find to
  select if there are many!)

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Making layered models
Models

• Use groups to layer models
• Add associated items to show patterns of analysis

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Print Reports or export
Reporting projects
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Coding Comparison Reports
Reporting projects

• Compare coding by two coders in two identical
  documents

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What of your legacy QSR Projects?
Merging 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)
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Multiple Projects
Merging Projects

• Run multiple projects together
• Copy/paste content between projects
• Project merging is done by import of one project
  into another and you can import just the
  structure (e.g. all nodes but no content) or the
  entire project.

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Where to go next? Of course, theres Help

• Help! Online includes interactive movies of
  Getting Started tutorials. Using NVivo advice is
  integrated online in the Help files, Working with
  your Data
• Please use Help!
• The QSR website has contact details of trainers
  and consultants around the world, a wonderful
  network of help and expertise.

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And full teach-yourself tutorials

• 10 tutorials for NVIVO 7 are free on the web at
• www.sagepub.co.uk/richards
• or for a pdf, www.lynrichards.org.
• They go with the 10 chapters of Handling
  Qualitative Data by Lyn Richards (London, Sage,
  2005).
• Use them alone or with the book.
• Work from the web or print out the .pdf file.

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And theres the Forum please use it!

• The QSR Forum offers web-based discussion
  answering questions and providing ideas and
  research strategies. http//forums.qsrinternationa
  l.com.
• Please use it! Post your comments, suggestions
  and experiences with NVivo 7, and learn from
  others comments and experiences.

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Come to the conferences

• International conferences on use of QSR software.
  
• Strategies in Qualitative Research
• using QSR software,
• University of Durham, 13-15 Sept, 2006.
• http//www.qual-strategies.org.
• Call for papers out now deadline June 1st.

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And finally, our thanks - to

• You for coming
• CAQDAS organisers for their work in creating this
  event
• Everyone who uses and feeds back on the software
• Qualitative researchers, for the challenges of
  making software that will work with their
  methods.
• Contacts?
• For licenses, sales, information, etc about the
  software, info_at_qsrinternational.com
• To report problems in the software, go to Support
  on the website.
• For us personally lyn_at_lynrichards.org