Understanding how to Manage Codes in NVivo and the Principles of Coding and applying Coding Hierarchies or Frameworks
Summary
This video explains the benefits of using a hierarchical catalogue system to organize your codes in NVivo, a qualitative data analysis software. It highlights the importance of keeping like codes together, avoiding code duplication, and structuring codes in a way that reflects the relationships between different concepts in your research. The video also emphasizes the flexibility of the catalogue system, which allows you to easily add, move, and merge codes as your analysis evolves.
Highlights
🗂️ Organizing codes in a hierarchical catalogue system enables quick identification of missing codes, clarification of ideas, and avoidance of code duplication. 🔗 Sub-codes should be a type of the top-level code, and it’s recommended to have a separate folder for new codes, especially when following a recognized data analysis method.
🔍 Organizing coding cycles (from descriptive to interpretive to abstract) into folders can help track the evolution of your coding process.
🧩 The correct way to structure codes is to break them into broader concepts, creating top-level codes for aspects like the economy, growth cycles, and attitudes, with sub-codes for more specific ideas.
🔀 The catalogue approach provides flexibility and efficiency in working with your data, and it’s normal to change the structure of your catalogue as you continue coding and create new codes.
Key Moments
- Introduction00:05
- Explains the logic behind using a hierarchical structure to organize codes in NVivo
- Recommends using a catalogue system instead of a long list of codes
- Catalogue system enables quick identification of codes, clarification of ideas, and avoidance of code duplication
- Organizing Codes in a Catalogue System00:52
- Keep like codes together, never duplicate a code
- Sub-codes should be a type of the top-level code
- Avoid creating codes for very specific combinations of ideas
- Capture specific ideas by coding to combinations of codes
- Maintain a separate folder for new codes, especially when following recognized data analysis methods
- Incorrect Coding Example01:45
- Coding a negative attitude about the decline of the fishing industry in a single place
- Breaks the rules of a catalogue system by not keeping like codes together
- Correct Coding Structure02:35
- Create top-level codes for broader concepts (e.g., economy, growth cycles, attitudes)
- Use sub-codes for more specific aspects within each top-level code
- This allows for more flexibility and efficiency in working with the data
- Exploring Coding Overlaps03:28
- NVivo can help explore where coding overlaps, such as using the matrix coding query
- The catalogue approach may be counterintuitive at first, but it becomes easier with practice
- It’s normal to want to change the structure of the catalogue as new codes are created, and it’s easy to move, rename, or merge codes in NVivo
Managing codes merge rename etc
Summary
The video demonstrates how to manage codes in a research project, including reorganizing, merging, and renaming codes. The presenter has been working in an emergent way, creating codes as they read the data. They want to review and reorganize the codes, create a new top-level code for the economy, merge similar codes, and rename a code.
Highlights
🔍 Reorganizing codes by creating a new top-level code for the economy and moving related codes (tourism, fishing industry, agriculture) into it.
🔍 Merging similar codes (wind power and renewable resources) by cutting one code and merging it into the other, with the option to merge related items like linked memos.
🔍 Renaming a code (renewable resources to renewable energy) using the code properties feature.
🔍 Using the aggregation feature to automatically display coding to sub-codes in the top-level code.
Key Moments
- Managing Codes, Merge, Rename, etc.00:05
- Reorganizing codes into a hierarchical structure
- Created a new top-level code called “Economy” and moved related codes (tourism, fishing industry, agriculture) under it
- Moved the “Economy” code into the main catalogue
- Merging similar codes
- Decided to merge the “Wind Power” and “Renewable Resources” codes
- Renamed the merged code to “Renewable Energy”
- Noted that the number of files and references may not add up to the sum of both codes prior to merging due to a feature called “aggregation”
- Aggregating coding from child codes
- Demonstrated how to right-click on a top-level code and select “Aggregate Coding from Children” to display coding from sub-codes in the top-level code
- Mentioned that aggregation can be toggled on or off for individual or batches of codes
- Reorganizing codes into a hierarchical structure
