Social Research Methods

Alan Bryman Social Research Methods Chapter 25: Computer-assisted qualitative data analysis: using NVivo Slides authored by Tom Owens

An example of CAQDAS (computer assisted qualitative data analysis software); The successor to NUD*IST (non-numerical unstructured data*indexing, structuring and theorizing); A computer programme for organizing data from in-depth interviews etc, into appropriate categories; A semi-automated version of cutting, pasting, and photocopying lots of loosely related pieces of text. What is NVivo? See page 593

Why you should use NVivo • Because.......................... • Many professional researchers use it; • You learn a valuable transferable skill; • Otherwise, you would rely on traditional methods of cutting and pasting; • It helps you to “see the wood for the trees”.

You should use NVivo...... When............ • Your data set is sufficiently large; • You have data from focus groups and in-depth interviews; • You need to code your data, because of its extent and complexity. See page 593

A notepad, a scissors and a photocopier, if you have a small number of cases; Microsoft Word™, or a similar word-processing programme, using the bookmark feature and multiple documents. What could you use instead of NVivo?

Keep a perfect record of all interviews and focus group meetings (on audio or video tape); Make transcripts of all of these and of all other external sources of data; Type up all notes, memos, references and catalogue details; Read all your data; Code your data. What you will still need to do, even when using NVivo

The essential elements of NVivo: Entering Data: Direct, or Import; Dealing with Nodes; Coding Data; Searching for Text Strings and Relationships.

Getting started: 1.When you open NVivo, the Welcome screen appears. From here you can choose to a new project, an existing one or click. 2.You create projects to hold data, observations, ideas and links between them. To create a new NVivo project to work with. 3.When you create a new project or open an existing one, the Welcome screen closes and the Navigation window appears. From here you can move to any section of your project. See page 594

This is the Welcome screen Plate 25.1 See page 594

Types of sources: Your sources are the records you made of your data in your NVivo project. These could be interviews, transcripts of focus group meetings, observations, journals, references, quotations from the literature etc. There are three main types of sources: Documents, Externals and Memos. You can enter your data directly into NVivo or „import” documents you have already made.

The sequence for importing documents: Plate 25.2 See page 595

The List and Detail viewers Clicking on a Project opens the Navigation window. A list of the items stored there appears on the right hand screen, (the List View). When one of these items is opened, the contents are displayed on the bottom section of the right hand screen (the Detail View).

Portion of Interview 4, question 14, of Bryman’s Disney Project: The List view Notice the types of sources! The Detail view Plate 25.3 See page 596

Coding your data: Getting familiar with Nodes • Nodes are focal points for your data; • You code your data by selecting text from a document and copying it to a node; • You can copy a particular piece of text to a number of nodes; • As your work develops, you can group nodes into logical structures; • NVivo searches text in nodes when you want to analyse your data; • Analysis, therefore, starts with your coding and your coding starts with nodes in Nvivo.

Here we see the nodes Bryman used in his Disney Project: Figure 25.1 See page 597

Here we see the sequence for creating a non-hierarchically organized node (and, optionally, giving it a description) Plate 25.4 See page 598

Types of nodes • Nvivo identifies five node types: • ‘Tree’ nodes, (hierarchically organized) for groups of related nodes, usually emerging from examination of free nodes; • ‘Free’nodes, (non-hierarchically organized) for obvious categories like demographics or business sector etc; • Cases, for individual interviews e.g., to which you want to add characteristics later; • Relationships, to show explicit connections between nodes or to code relationships between data as you uncover them; • Matrices, to group and show all these relationships. • Note that only types 1 and 2 are dealt with in Chapter 25.

...and now the sequence for creating a `tree´ node: Plate 25.5 See page 599

Text selections can be copied into as many nodes as seems interesting. Just ‘drag and drop’. Plate 25.6, page 600

You can also place text at a node by right-clicking the selected text; then code selection; code selection at existing nodes; which opens this dialog box: Plate 25.7 See page 601

You can label your nodes according to: • the types of data you have gathered; • the people and institutions who provided the data; • the literature sources you consulted and the concepts discussed in them; • general categories into which you think your data could be grouped; • almost any label you think might be helpful in later analysis!

When your data has been entered and coded, you can start searching for connections and relationships. This example shows the sequence for searching for all text coded at a single node: Plate 25.9 See page 603

The second type of source: Externals Externals are files that you either cannot, or do not wish to, import directly into your project. These could be video files, audio files or web pages, which can have links and/or text in an “external”, so that the text can be worked like normal documents. The advantage is that you keep these special files separate but do not lose sight of them.

The third type of source: Memos Memos are, literally, notes to yourself as you record or code your data. They are kept separate so that they cannot be confused with primary data sources, but they can be edited and coded just like documents.

Plate 25.12 See page 606

NVivo will also allow you to search for single words or phrases. Click Edit on the toolbar, select Find, to open this dialog box: Click here for each instance of the phrase Plate 25.11, page 605 Plate 25.11 See page 605

Why you might use NVivo: A summary • NVivo can make many, if not most, of the clerical tasks associated with the manual coding and retrieving of data easier and faster. • If you have a larger data set, or are intending to use the software skills that you acquire on other research projects in the future, NVivo can be an invaluable tool. Key points See page 608

..and why you might not! • NVivo does not and cannot help with decisions about how to code qualitative data or how to interpret findings. • If you have a very small data set, it is probably not worth the time and trouble navigating your way around a new software program. Key points See page 608

A Final Word If you are unsure about which software is likely to meet your needs, demonstration copies of the main packages (NVivo, and ATLAS/ti) can be downloaded from these Internet sites: www.qsrinternational.com www.atlasti.com

Social Research Methods