[QDATRAINING Admin]

Hello Margaret,

To export the nodes from your first interview, simply open the node folder that contains the nodes, right click on any node and select, 'export>list' from the menu. Chose a location and type of file to export to (PDF, Excel or Word for example). I would recommend initially exporting to Excel to allow formatting the table to your liking in terms of presentation and then copying the table into your Word document. 

If you need clarity on any of this, just reply to this post and we respond by return. 

The QDATRAINING Team

[QDATRAINING Admin]

Hi Liz,

There a couple of things you can do. First, use the link below to send the file to the NVivo developers QSR International. They may be able to recover your data: http://assets.qsrinternational.com/support-form/ 

I'm assuming you are using version 10? If so, you also need to avail of the free update to 'Service Pack 6' which has built in tools for recovering corrupted files. You can set NVivo to create an automatic recovery file up to every hour which can then be used to restore your data in the event of a crash. This is particularly important if you are working in a networked environment. 

I hope this was helpful. I understand how diistressed you must be. Let me know if you recover the data 🙁

[QDATRAINING Admin]

Hi Rob,

As you have seen, not all Windows features are available yet in NVivo for MAC.

The simplest solution is to move the project file to a Windows PC, run the auto coder to create the cases and export the file from there as MAC file. You can then move back into the MAC environment with all your cases working.

The only other alternative is to manually code your cases from the transcripts but would only be used if you had no access to a Windows machine. 

Hope this was helpful but let me know if it's not making sense and I'll post more detail.

[QDATRAINING Admin]

Hi Chaminda,

I agree the criticism is a bit vague but he seems to be making a case for rigour. There are two ways qualitative researchers demonstrate rigour:

1.     An audit trail of the coding and analytical processes deployed in the study

2.     Demonstrating a robust analysis which goes beyond the clichéd  "identification of themes"

Let's start with the audit trail. An audit trail would demonstrate through the use of appendices (sometimes referred to as a code book) exactly how your framework was developed rather than simply presenting the finished product. For example, you might use five cycles or phases of analysis, some of which involved coding, some involving managing codes and some which involved documenting coding content:

Phase 1– Open Coding – involved broad deconstruction of the data from its original chronology into an initial set of non-hierarchical codes (Supporting Appendix XXX)

Phase 2– Categorisation of Codes – involved renaming, merging, distilling and clustering related codes into broader category of codes so as to reconstruct the data into a framework that made sense to further this particular analysis and address the research question(s) (Supporting Appendix XXX)

Phase 3– Coding on – involved drilling down on the now reorganised codes and re-coding them to sub-codes so as to better understand the meanings embedded therein (Supporting Appendix XXX)

Phase 4– Data Reduction – involved abstraction to broader researcher and literature based themes to arrive at a final framework on which to report findings (Supporting Appendix XXX)

Phase 5– Writing analytical memos to synthesize content down to manageable proportions and create a first draft of findings from which conclusions may be drawn leading to a discussion or intellectualisation of the findings. (Supporting Appendix XXX)

Better again if these processes are linked to the literature. There are a myriad of qualitative data analysis methodologies from which you could draw upon the guidelines to give credibility to you as a researcher and plausibility and trustworthiness to the findings. You could create a table citing various methods, offer a description of each one and include a critique of each one and finally, why the method was ruled out as unsuitable for this project or indeed why one method was chosen. See example below from a three thousand word assignment designed to prepare masters level students for doctorate level analysis:

 Click here to download from QDATRAINING website

The second means of demonstrating rigour is through the scope of analysis. Essentially, a good analysis addresses five key areas:

1.     The content of the framework – what was said and how it was said. How it was said can be tracked through annotations in NVivo which can be linked from field notes and observations.

2.     Who said it – can be tracked through case nodes linked to profiling or demographic information in NVivo (units of analysis and observation)

3.     Coding patterns – can be reported through visualisations in and exports from NVivo

4.     A formal documenting process which challenges the researcher and participants alike. An example of this might be raising proposition statements using linked memos in NVivo. Ultimately, such analytical memos need to be synthesised into a narrative that tells the participants’’ stories.

5.     The extant literature – can be demonstrated in NVivo by coding the literature to the same framework that we have seen developed from the primary data. Much of this coding can be automated through queries in NVivo as, unlike your primary data which is rich and unstructured, literature publications are structured documents with meta data attached and so can be easily searched and coded according to conditions such as key words, authors, year etc… By adding the key literature to your coding framework, you can easily compare (and be seen to do so) what real people in your study are saying about a given phenomenon you have coded for contrasted against what the lit is saying. This process adds values your analytical memos because you’re are now testing for congruence with the literature and identifying gaps; all of which helps to build a cohesive and coherent argument in your findings and discussion section of your paper.

You asked for some reading on the application of NVivo tools in qualitative primary research:

Read:

Pat Bazeley's article: analysing Qualitative Data – more than identifying themes" discusses scope of analysis and gives examples of NVivo tools to enhance the process: http://www.researchsupport.com.au/bazeley_mjqr_2009.pdf 

This article discusses an NVivo tool known as a matrix to test for consistency in data analysis (number three on our previous best practice analytical checklist)

Click here to download from QDATRAINING website

This article looks at using literature and reviewing it in NVivo:

Click here to download from QDATRAINING website

If your study has addressed the processes set out above, it is highly unlikely you will ever be accused of lacking transparency regarding how you arrived at the findings you did. If it has not, it might be worth investing in a couple of hours, one-to-one online training using your live data to explore the extent to which your data is set up correctly in NVivo and to learn how to use the aforementioned tools to satisfy your reader as to the trustworthiness and plausibility of your framework.

You can get more information on one-to-one online training and consultancy here:

http://www.nvivotraining.eu/online

I hope this was helpful,

Kind regards,

Ben

[QDATRAINING Admin]

Hi Dylan,

it sounds like you have created "SOURCE Classifications" when what you need is "NODE Classifications". Then you will see the classification in the drop down menu when you assign the cases. Let me know if this works for you 🙂

Kind regards,

[QDATRAINING Admin]

We did not receive any NVivo project file from this posting so could not check the veracity of a compound matrix in this case. For anyone reading this post, a compound matrix is where you run an NVivo matrix against two sets of nodes and convert the results into a new set of nodes. You then add your new nodes to a new matrix to further intersect them with other nodes or demographics/profiling or questionnaire data. 

For example, if I had attitudinal, behavioral or similar qualitative meanings coded to a nodes or indeed several nodes such as types of risk for example. And if I wanted to understand the degree to which risks were gender and age related in my study population. My fist matrix would sub-divide my risk types into sub-nodes demarcated along gender lines. Now I can see if women in my group share or take different types of risks to men. I convert my matrix to nodes and put the gender split nodes into an age range matrix. Now I can see if younger or older men, or indeed women,  take similar or different risks or if age mitigates risk based on how much data comes from younger or older men and/or women. 

Hope this is helpful to anyone considering this type of analysis

[QDATRAINING Admin]

Hi Kate,

I think what you need is what I refer to in workshops as a 'compound matrix'. But before I send you instructions, I need to be sure I'm on the right track.  I'm gong to send you a link, password and instructions to upload your project file to our secure server so I can see these nodes and ensure my solution works on your particular dataset. I'll send these privately by e-mail as I do not want to publish these instructions. However, if the solution works, I'll publish the instructions as a reply on the forum so others who may be having a similar problem can benefit from the response .

Kind regards,

 

[QDATRAINING Admin]

Hi Rita,

 

Thanks for posting your question on the forum but I thought I'd reply privately as I may get you to send a copy of your project file and I don't want to post details of uploading to our secure server on the website.

[QDATRAINING Admin]

Hi Louise,

All you need do is change the values on the matrix to % instead of references. To do this:

1. Open the matrix
2. In the 'view' Tab in the ribbon/toolbar click on the 'Node Matrix' option. In the menu that slides down, change the cell content from the default 'Coded References' to 'Column Percent' or 'Row Percent' as may be required.

If you wish to create a table showing how many words are in a source file, put the sources into both the row and column of a matrix and switch the cell content to display 'Words' as set out in the steps above. Each cell will ow display the word vount for each document. You can also export matrices to Excel if you need to do further calculations. 

I hope this is helpful but do let me know if you need clarity on any of this 🙂

Kind regards,

Ben

 

 

 

[QDATRAINING Admin]

Hi Alan,

first thing to check, is that your project file is stored on the local computer and not somewhere on the network if you are working in a networked environment. . That is the optimum way to run NVivo and cuts down on several potential problems. The reason your file worked when you moved it back is because you copied an open project. Always close your project before copying it. NVivo creates a temporary 'log' file in the same folder when it is running. It closes this file when you close your project. When you 'crashed' this log file remained open so when you moved your project back into the correct folder, it was reunited with its log file so it could shut down correctly. 

 

Have a look at this brief video on backing up:

http://www.qdatraining.eu/content/tutorial-11-backing-your-nvivo-data-file

Hope this helps but let me know if any of this is unclear.

kind regards,

[QDATRAINING Admin]

I'm afraid you did not set up the test correctly. You need to read our recent blog on the QSR website with do's' and don't's' for conducting inter-rater reliability testing using a coding comparison query in NVivo:

http://blog.qsrinternational.com/avoiding-the-pitfalls-of-inter-rater-reliability-testing/

Hope this helps!

Kind regards,

 

[QDATRAINING Admin]

No, there is no geographical restrictions but it sounds like NVivo did not install correctly. You need to uninstall, disarm your security and re-install. This usually solves that particular problem but if it does not, you can register for support from the developers of NVivo, QSR International by filling in the on-line form at the bottom of this page:

http://www.qsrinternational.com/support_contact-support.aspx

Click on the 'Submit a support request form' link to access the form.

Hope this helps!

Kind regards,

[QDATRAINING Admin]

Hi Andrea,

This could be related to moving the original through different versions of MS Word. Here is what to do:

1. Open one the focus group documents
2. Click on the edit button at the top of the document
3. Select one of the speakers 
4. Manually format it to heading style 2 (in the 'home' tab, change the style from whatever it is currently displaying to Heading 2)
5. Re-run the replace option and it will work

The purpose of this exercise is to advise NVivo what Heading 2 should like in this version of Word. Once you have manually formatted one heading, everything else will work fine. 

Let me know if this worked okay for you?

Kind regards,

[QDATRAINING Admin]

Hi Andrea,

Your focus group is typical of most. You simply apply the heading style to your people. So your transcript should look like this:

Person 1: (Heading Style 2)

Ok, I think is not an easy question, but I have a strong opinion about that

Person 2: (Heading Style 2)

women who practice prostitution are extremely poor and they need the money

Person 3: (Heading Style 2)

but the problem is about men…

You can format manually or use find and replace in NVivo to automate the formatting. To do this:

1. Open your focus group document in NVivo:
2. Click on the 'edit' link at the top of the document
3. In the hoe tab, click on 'replace'
4. In the 'find what' text box type the participant ID: Person 1 for example
5. In the 'replace with type 'Person 1^p' and in the style box chose 'Heading 2' from the drop down menu
6. Tick the boxes 'match case' & 'find whole words' 
7. Click on 'replace all 

'NVivo will now convert your person 1 entries from:

Person 1: Ok, I think is not an easy question, but I have a strong opinion about that

TO

Person 1: (Heading Style 2)

Ok, I think is not an easy question, but I have a strong opinion about that

Repeat these steps for each participant and then you can create case nodes linked to profiling information in NVivo for all focus group participants. In other words, you can give everyone a unique identity in your study even though they are coming from the same transcript. 

Let me know if this worked for you or of you need more help.

Kind regards,

 

 

[QDATRAINING Admin]

Hi Andrea,

Sorry, there was an error in the link. It's working now:

http://www.qdatraining.eu/content/auto-code-focus-groups-cases-link-demographics 

[QDATRAINING Admin]

Hi Andrea,

Yes you can link to people/cases as you say but you need to understand the concept of the 'case node' and create cases in your NVivo project properly linked to demographics/profiling information if you have recorded such information against your participants. 

To understand case nodes (units of observation and analysis):

Fist take  a look at his video which explains the concept:

http://www.qdatraining.eu/content/tutorial-2-where-are-my-case-nodes-and-casebook-gone-nvivo-9-or-10

However, focus groups differ from one-to-one interviews as you have multiple cases in a source document. We must use the auto-coding option to create the cases from focus groups. See this video to understand formatting focus groups for auto-coding. Although this video uses Word for formatting, you can do this in NVivo if you have already begun coding and don't want to re-import your interviews after formatting:

http://www.qdatraining.eu/content/auto-code-focus-groups-cases-link-demographics

Let me know if this makes sense or if you need more help

 

Kind regards,

The QDATRAINING Team

[QDATRAINING Admin]

It's relatively straightforward. I'm assuming you are at least an intermediate user so if any of these steps do not make sense let me know. I'm also assuming your four judges have logged in to NVivo correctly when they coded:

Create a matrix (might be better to do this with one node  initially until you get used to it but you can use as many nodes as you like) and add it to project to save the results

In the row, insert your thematic nodes as coded by the judges

In the column, insert your users (4 judges)

Run the matrix and you will see your nodes in the first column and each judge will be separated into rows. You will see at a glance which nodes were coded by more than one judge.

Now, convert the matrix to nodes by going to the results folder and copying the matrix, Create a folder under nodes and let's call it "Thematic nodes split by Judges) Paste the matrix into this folder and do not select the option 'Include empty node matrix cells'

You now have your nodes with more than one judge coded. If you aggregate the parent it will contain the full text coded by any judge while the child nodes will contain each judges individual codes. You can keep these or throw them away. If you are getting rid of the separate codes by judge, make sure to merge them into the parent first as aggregated codes will be removed from the parent if deleted. Merging them will not duplicate any content coded by both judges because you can't duplicate content in a node. 

Let me know if this is not making sense 🙂

Kind regards,

 

[QDATRAINING Admin]

The second solution is to let the 'techies' at the file. In some cases, corrupt files can be salvaged. In others, sadly, this is not the case and the data is lost forever (unless you have backups in place). 

Kind regards,

[QDATRAINING Admin]

This problem was resolved via direct communication. This user had attended one of our treaining workshops in the University of Warwick and so had direct support from us. We were able to recover her data. Please, never use USB sticks to run or store files. They should only be used a s means of ranscporting files or creating backup copies. NEVER open or run an NVivo file direct from a USB stick. Deborah was lucky on this occassion but could easily have lost her data. 

[QDATRAINING Admin]

These files just need to be run through a utility to convert them to MP3. There are lots both free and paid for software that will batch convert these files for you and then you can import them into NVivo.

Kind regards,

[QDATRAINING Admin]

I think you may be misunderstanding how the coding comparison query works. Why not run all 16 transcripts against the fifteen nodes? Personally, I would run it by comparing each coder against the other four in a group. Alternatively, you could run it for each coder against each of the four others separately as well. You could then average your results in an Excel table. 

Hope this helps!

Kind regards,

[QDATRAINING Admin]

ISSUE RESOLVED

This error comes if you disconnect from a network and there is no default printer installed. Even if you have a default printer when connected to the network, you may find that there is none when you disconnect. The solution then is to disconnect from  your network, go to the printer control panel and set a default printer. On most Windows 7 & 8 computers, you should be able to select 'Microsoft XPS Document Writer' as a default printer even if you don't have any physical printers available. NVivo will now open nodes correctly.

Hope this helps as we got caught on this one ourselves. 

Kind regards,

[QDATRAINING Admin]

Are you using Windows 8.1? We have discovered a problem with upgrades from Windows 8.0 to 8.1. NVivo opens without error and allows you to navigate around the programme but any attempt to open a node results in the node displaying as empty and then the software freezes. The good news is your data is safe as we have already checked this by opening the same project on other computers not running W8.1. The bad news is that the developers of NVivo, QSR, are looking into this problem but have not come back to us with  a solution as of today. I'll keep you posted on developments as this bug will be sorted out quite quickly because it is so serious for users who effectively, can't use the software until this issue is addressed. 

[QDATRAINING Admin]

Hi Mairead,

First of all apologies for the delayed response as we were not notified of your post due to an error on our server. Are you using double inverted commas? Single inverted commas will not work as it will not limit the search to the exact phrase. Let me know if this response  addresses your enquiry? 

Kind regards,

[QDATRAINING Admin]

Hi Veronique,

It will be where ever you have prompted your browser to download to by default. This is normally your downloads folder but you may have changed the location/folder into which your browser places downloaded file(s). When you capture, NCapture prompts you to name the file and the file extension is "File Name.nvcx". A window then opens showing your current downloads location. This is where you will find the NCature content. You then import the nvcx file into NVivo using the 'external data->NCapture icon in the ribbon. 

Let me know if I have not explained this properly or if I have misunderstood the question 

Warm regards,

[QDATRAINING Admin]

This really goes to your analytical strategy. Technically, there is no problem coding to the same nodes and having common and unique codes for both data sets. Or, initially separating them using folders and bringing them together later in the analysis. Nor is there any problem with having separate demographics. However, what you definitely don’t want to do is start another project file. We only need one database for the project regardless of how many sub-sets of data it contains. This is fundamental to optimising your data.

Kind regards,

[QDATRAINING Admin]

Hi, I'm afraid accessing it from the cloud is exactly what they have done. I have seen this in another university where NVivo can now be only accessed via a browser by logging on to a Citrix server in the university. They may well be breaking licensing agreement depending on how they are licensed and how many people they grant access to this server.  The data file still sits on the local computer but the software is accessed on line. 

I'm afraid there is no solution other than acquiring a license for NVivo your self or kicking up an almighty fuss on campus. It strikes me like an IT professional who is administrating the network may be taking a lazy approach to granting access to students for software licensed by the college. NVivo is set up to be a local installation and this can be time consuming for administrators. 

You could inquire from the software developers QSR International, if this arrangement is breaking the terms of the university licensing agreement. If it is, you will find  QSR will act quickly to address this with the institution (https://www.qsrinternational.com/support.aspx)

I'm sorry I could not be of more help. 

[QDATRAINING Admin]

Hi Angela,

Yes you can import your entire EndNote liberary including PDF. As these documents are structured they are perfect for autocoding or coding by query as well as manual coding. More info on the practical steps here: 

http://help-nv10.qsrinternational.com/desktop/dialogs/import_bibliographical_data.htm

Also, as you have attended our workshops, you can get direct one-to-one support with this task as may be needed. This support is free and unlimited. Sorry for the delayed response as your post slipped through the cracks at this end 🙁

Kind regards,

[QDATRAINING Admin]

What NVivo does is create a new file for version 10 and automatically import the data from the version 9 file. It uses the same name as the v9 file but inserts (NVivo 10) in brackets into the name. So you end up with two files. Would it be possible that you are still looking at the old file? You should only receive the upgrade message once and you need to make sure that when you browse your computer to tell NVivo which v9 file to upgrade, that you are picking up the most recent file. Let me know if this was the problem as we may be able to offer more help if you can't resolve this on your own. 

Kind regards,

Ben

[QDATRAINING Admin]

 

Hi Deborah,

 No problem whatsoever making contact Deborah. The file is indeed corrupt. First of all, it’s always a very bad idea to work directly from a file on a memory stick regardless of the software application. This is particularly true of a more complex application such as NVivo. Working from a memory stick slows down communication with the application considerably. More critically, there is no recycle bin so files lost are lost forever. It advisable to copy the file onto the local machine, work on it and copy it back. Memory sticks should only be used for transporting or backing up files but never for working on them. There may be something we can do. Can you check the memory stick and see if there is a second file there called ‘PhD Diversity 07-5-13’_LOG’. This file will be beside the NVivo file called ‘PhD Diversity 07-5-13.NVP’ The NVivo project file has a blue round icon while the log file has a yellow icon that looks a bit like a barrel. If this LOG file is present, can you copy BOTH files to a new location on your computer and then open NVivo and attempt to open the file using File->Open command. Let me know if this works. 

Please, please, please, backup your files. You can do this by doing File->Manage->Copy Project. Do this regularly during and after sessions to prevent the kind of loss you experienced today. If this recovery method as outlined does not work, I have another option which may be worth a try.   

Let me know!

Kind regards,

[Author]

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