Understand the NVivo tools specifically designed for team research as well as the implications regarding the use of other NVivo tools that tend to be used in solo research projects, but may take on new implications in team settings.

1. Team NVivo:
Building Successful Research Collaborations
www.queri.com
Kristi Jackson, MEd PhD
kjackson@queri.com
303-832-9502

2. Table of contents
• Perspectives: Qualitative computing and NVivo
• Starting out, with a view ahead
• Designing an NVivo database
• Coding basics
• Going on with coding
• Cases, classifications, and comparisons
• Working with multimedia sources
• Adding reference material to your NVivo project
• Datasets and mixed methods
• Tools and strategies for visualizing data
• Using coding and queries to further analysis
• Teamwork with NVivo
• Moving on - further resources

3. 1. Why do team research?
2. Database options (types of projects)
3. Tools specifically designed to
facilitate teamwork
4. Practical tips about other tools
5. Objectives for successful teams

4.  Multiple perspectives
◦ Articulating the often unstated assumptions of the
lone researcher
 Large scale qualitative studies
◦ Addressing qualitative questions that cannot be
answered with quantitative approaches
◦ Discovery of relevant questions in the research
context
◦ Promoting social justice through research
◦ Data triangulation

5. 1. A single, stand-alone project (relayed or
“handed off” to other researchers)
2. NVivo Server allows for synchronous use
3. Multiple stand-alone projects that are
merged.
Project AProject C Project B
Copy
Import

6.  Prompting for user on launch
◦ Items “created by KJ” and “modified by KJ”
◦ Project log
 Users and passwords
 Coding stripes by user
 Queries according to user
 Coding comparison query

7. File  Options

9. File  Info  Project Properties

10. File  Info  Open Project Event Log

11. File  Info  Project Properties  Passwords

12. Project AProject C Project B
Copy
Import

13. Activities
Meetings
Phone conferences
Teamwork
Communication
Trust
Activities
Meetings
Phone conferences
Projects
Teamwork
Communication
Diversity
Trust
Activities
Phone conferences
Projects
Teamwork
Communication
Diversity
Trust

14. 1. Same name
◦ Nodes: trusting, work, love
◦ Sources: Susan, Dorothy, William
◦ (Classifications, sets, etc.)
2. Same hierarchical position in the database
◦ My project:NodesThemesTrusting
◦ My project:SourcesInterviewsSusan
3. Exact same text in the sources
“I love the beauty of this place”
- does not match -
“I love the beauty in this place”
DO NOT EDIT THE TEXT!

15.  In general, properties of the “master” will
trump the auxiliary (e.g., Node descriptions,
colors, aggregate)
 If two sets have different members, the new
set will have all members (combined)
 Help files you should review:
◦ “How NVivo determines that two project items are
duplicates”
◦ “How duplicate project items are handled during
import”
◦ “How project properties are handled during import”

17.  Open a node (or source)
View
Coding stripes
Selected Items
Users

19. Query  (any one, except coding comparison)

20.  Caveats
◦ Hegemonic coding
 Reliability at the expense of validity
◦ An account of the process vs. a reliability measure
 How was the coding system developed?
 What was it that convinced the team of their
conclusions?
 What were the competing explanations?
 How were differences resolved?

21. Query  Coding Comparison
User(s) A
User(s) B
Node(s)
Source(s)
Kappa Coefficient
Percent agreement

22. I am not a Down Easter by generation by
any sense. I am a dingbatter. That is what
I am. But it is a beautiful area to live. I
chose to live here. We’ve lived down here
for about six or seven years now. A lot of
people look at you strangely when you say
you want to move to a remote area. But to
me, there’s a lot of beauty in that, of
being remote. To me it’s not that bad. I
can’t imagine why anyone would want to
leave to tell you the truth. I can
understand why Down Easters like living
here, it’s in their blood. And it might be in
mine too to some extent. The main thing,
besides the water and the beauty of the
areas, is the people. I like the
personalities and the character of these
people. They are independent, they are
self-starters, they are hard workers. They
will make it regardless of any recession.
They are that kind of people. They are
good people that live Down East. And
that’s probably the big attribute that this
area has got. The main thing, besides the
water and the beauty of the areas, is the
people. I like the personalities and the
character of these people.
I am not a Down Easter by generation by
any sense. I am a dingbatter. That is what
I am. But it is a beautiful area to live. I
chose to live here. We’ve lived down here
for about six or seven years now. A lot of
people look at you strangely when you say
you want to move to a remote area. But to
me, there’s a lot of beauty in that, of
being remote. To me it’s not that bad. I
can’t imagine why anyone would want to
leave to tell you the truth. I can
understand why Down Easters like living
here, it’s in their blood. And it might be in
mine too to some extent. The main thing,
besides the water and the beauty of the
areas, is the people. I like the
personalities and the character of these
people. They are independent, they are
self-starters, they are hard workers. They
will make it regardless of any recession.
They are that kind of people. They are
good people that live Down East. And
that’s probably the big attribute that this
area has got. The main thing, besides the
water and the beauty of the areas, is the
people. I like the personalities and the
character of these people.
double-click

24.  Memos
◦ One for each team member
 Tip:
Add heading levels instead
of a memo for each topic
and use the “auto code”
tool to sort these into
nodes after combining
projects
 “Node description recommendations”
 “Issues for the next meeting”
 “Database management”
 Author initials in the text of each Annotation
 Colors for team member work
Questions about coding
Initial interpretations
Suggestions for
interviewers
Ideas for conference
presentation

25.  A node (or folder) for each team member to
allow for new ideas without going too far
astray

26.  Ongoing clarification of purposes and
processes
 Piloting
 Reflective writing
 Leveraging team strengths

27.  What qualitative methodologies are guiding the team
work?
 How geographically dispersed is the team?
 What are the ethical and human subject issues for this
project?
 What work will be done independently, in pairs, or in
groups?
 What kind of access do team members have to the
software?
 What experience do the researchers have with qualitative
methods, with the research setting, or with NVivo?
 What decision-making models (e.g., consensus,
democratic vote, or team leader directives) are in play to
guide team progress?
 Who is the project “Czar” and how will they communicate?

28.  Prepare one document and import it, rather
than preparing all 40 files
 Ask different researchers code a page of a
transcript
◦ Practice a project import
◦ See the visual comparisons
 Detailed project management logs (in an
NVivo memo)
 Run queries and visualizations early to test
them

29.  Propose improvements and modifications
◦ Data collection
◦ Cleaning
◦ Storage, etc.
 Role clarifications or job descriptions
 Timelines for activities or benchmarks
 Minutes of meetings
 Coding structures, definitions, examples and
counter-examples
 Ideas proposed by team members and decisions
made regarding these proposals
 Emerging models or hypotheses

30.  Initial assessment of skills/needs:
◦ Qualitative research methods
◦ Content area
◦ NVivo as a database
 Shifting
◦ Needs
◦ Skills
◦ Assessments
 Short and long-term mapping of tasks and
individuals

31. Table of contents
• Perspectives: Qualitative computing and NVivo
• Starting out, with a view ahead
• Designing an NVivo database
• Coding basics
• Going on with coding
• Cases, classifications, and comparisons
• Working with multimedia sources
• Adding reference material to your NVivo project
• Datasets and mixed methods
• Tools and strategies for visualizing data
• Using coding and queries to further analysis
• Teamwork with NVivo
• Moving on - further resources
Kristi Jackson, MEd PhD
kjackson@queri.com
303-832-9502