Introduction to NVivo Application

Dr. Roshartini Omar

Faculty of Technology Management and Business
(FPTP)

J701-12 (Level 7)
Session Aim and Objectives
 Aim
To introduce students to the analysis of qualitative data
 Objectives
By the end students will have an appreciation of:

1) The principles of analysing qualitative data

2) Qualitative Data Management Tools
3) How to present qualitative results
Qualitative Data Analysis

 Used for any non-numerical data collected as part of

evaluation
- observations
- interviews
- analysis of written documents
(document sources)
- focus groups transcripts
- diaries
Data Analysis: Content Analysis

 Content analysis is a research tool used to

determine the presence of certain words or
concepts within the text or sets of texts
(Soetanto et al. 2002; McBurney, 1998 and
Neuman, 1997).
The Qualitative Process of Data Analysis
 Developing Descriptions & Themes
from the Data

 Coding data
 Developing a description from the data
 Defining themes from the data
 Connecting and interrelating themes
Coding Data

 Open Coding
 Assign a code word or phrase that accurately describes the
meaning of the text segment
 Line-by-line coding is done first in theoretical research
 More general coding involving larger segments of text is
adequate for practical research (action research)
EDUC 7741/Paris/Terry
Axial Coding

 The process of looking for categories that cut across all

data sets
 After this type of coding, you have identified your themes

Clustering
• After open coding an entire text, make a list of all code
words
• Cluster together similar codes and look for redundant
codes
• Objective: reduce the long list of codes to a smaller, more
manageable number (25 or 30)
EDUC 7741/Paris/Terry
Computer help for Qualitative Data Analysis

 Software Packages to help you organize data

 Search, organize, categorize, and annotate textual and
visual data
 Help you to visualize the relationships among data
 Example: NVivo
NVivo
 NVivo is a computer software programme designed for
managing qualitative data and carrying-out qualitative
analysis.

 NVivo does not analyze qualitative data for the

researcher but rather can enhance the researcher’s
analytical capacity by providing the means to efficiently
store, sort and look for patterns in diverse forms of data.
Procedure Followed in Applying Nvivo Software
(Adopted from Bazeley, 2007)
Key Terms in NVivo
• Sources
• Research materials (documents, PDFs, datasets, audio,
video, pictures, etc.)
• Nodes
• Containers for your coding. Nodes can be related to
themes (Concepts) or people (Cases).
• Coding
• The process of gathering material by topic, theme or case.
Data reduction, data organization and idea generation
NVivo Workspace
• Ribbon - locate all NVivo commands
• Navigation View –organize and access all items in NVivo.
• List View —When a folder is selected in Navigation View
the contents are displayed in list view.
• Detail View —When an item from list view is opened, it
is displayed in Detail View. This is where you actually see
the contents of the files.

NOTE—the workspace can be rearranged to suite your

needs.
 The NVivo Workspace

Ribbon

Detail View
Navigation View

List View
1. Starting a project
 The first step in this stage is to
create a project comprised of all
the documents, coding data and
associated information that can
assist during the analysis
process. Seeking to restrict
access to the data recorded the
researcher may create a
confidential password in the
project.

 NVivo Screenshot of a
Study’s Project
2. Organising your Sources
 Sources
- Internals (Focus Group,
Interviews, Pictures)

Note:
Internals are sources that can be
imported into NVivo; externals
are sources that cannot be
imported (e.g. a source only
available as an object, like a book)
or may be very large files that take
up too much disk space.
3. Importing Sources
 NVivo can import many different file types (Pdf, Words,
Audios, Videos, Pictures, etc)
Audio file

Document
file
4. Setting up Nodes
4. Setting up Nodes
NVivo 8 NVivo 11
 Should identifies the temporary nodes in the themes based on phrases or paragraphs in each
document, and organised them in a set of lists.
 In the set of list, the nodes were classified more appropriately, modifying the nodes and
adding new nodes into tree nodes. The proposed conceptual framework which was developed
earlier was used to group and arrange the nodes.
5. Visualising Nodes and Sources
 The final tree nodes were
then grouped and
arranged in order to
further analyse and
present the research data
through rebuilding and
displaying the relationships
between nodes.
 Models are used to
explore, visually, ideas
about how different
project items might relate
to each other.
Controlling for Bias
 We tend to see what we want to see and may miss things
that do not conform to our expectations
 Use well trained recorders
 Evaluators review documents and code them in themes
6. Queries
Use Nvivo queries to find patterns based on coding,
check for coding consistency among team members, and
review your progress.

Click on the Query tab on the ribbon.

• Text Search & Word Frequency
• Coding Query: gathers all the coding at any combination
of nodes.
• Matrix Coding Query creates a matrix of nodes based on
search criteria.
Providing Visual Data Displays

 Qualitative researchers often display their findings

visually
 Comparison table or matrix
 Hierarchical tree diagram that represents themes and
their connections
 Boxes that show connections between themes
 Physical layout of the setting
 Personal or demographic information for each person or
site
 Examples
Respondent
(n=5) Overview of TT Category
Professor  Transfer of technology from overseas into our country,  Cross-border
(researcher) Malaysia. Transfer from a company overseas to a company in transfer
our country
Professor  TT is when we need to source for something that is not readily  Acquisition,
(researcher) available in Malaysia. Cross-border
 Technology transfer is when we are able to implement a new transfer
technology locally through our investment or involvement in
projects. Usually, the technology is obtained from abroad.
Manager  Mega construction projects will definitely involve some new  Acquisition,
technologies from foreign countries. Technologies that we have  Cross-border
never experienced before. These are the new material and transfer
machinery technologies, which we can learn from.
President  TT should refer to new construction techniques or materials  Acquisition,
introduced by foreign suppliers.  Cross-border
transfer
General Manager  TT is the process of transferring knowledge, expertise and work  Acquisition,
implementation methods from one country to another. TT can  Cross-border
also be defined as the transfer of technology that is utilised in transfer
the construction until the completion of a project.
Examples
Company A Company B Company C Company D Company E Company F
LEVEL OF
ABSORPTIVE L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L
CAPACITY 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 L4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
EMPLOYEES'
ABILITY
Performance
Appraisal
√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
- Behavioral
Competencies
√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
- Technical
Competencies
Employees'
Training

- Overseas
Training
Opportunity x √ √ x x √ √ √ x √ x √ √ x x x √ √ x x √ √ √ x √ x √ √ x x
EMPLOYEES'
MOTIVATION

Performance
Based
Compensation √ √ √ x √ √ √ √ x √ x x x x x √ √ √ x √ √ √ √ x √ √ √ √ x √
Merit Based
Promotion √ √ √ x √ √ √ √ x √ √ √ √ x √ √ √ √ x √ √ √ √ x √ √ √ √ x √
Examples

Factors Influencing TT Models of Case Studies-Phase 1

Making comparisons with the Literature

• Interpret the data in view of past research

• Show how the findings both support and contradict
prior studies
– “These findings are consistent with other studies in regard to
duration. It has been found that the length or duration of
service learning projects has an impact on student outcomes,
with the longer duration projects having greater impacts.
However, significant differences are not found in
projects lasting over 18 weeks (Conrad & Hedin, 1981).
The project on which this study focused was examined over a
year and a half period of time; thus it is considered to be long in
duration which helps to explain its impact on student
outcomes.”
Examples
Validating the Accuracy of Findings
At the end, the qualitative researcher validates the finding by
determining the accuracy or credibility of the findings. Methods
include:

 Prolonged engagement & persistent observation in the field

 Triangulation (expert panels)
 Peer Review
 Clarifying researcher bias
 External Audit
TQ for listening
shartini@uthm.edu.my