209) supports this type of choice and mentions that qualitative research software is invaluable for content analysis because of the capacity it brings in helping to retrieve word strings in large data sets. Looking for a specific quote within your theme or would you like to create a wordtree with the data you have? Nvivo allows you to search large data sets and then organize the results in a variety of ways word trees, mind maps etc. The ability to collect multimedia data from multiple devices and then link it to your transcribed data is essential in accessing the source files when required through Nvivo Search large data sets Over the years as QSR has worked on the software it has become a home for all types of collected research data. People mainly think of Nvivo as a tool for transcribed data. So what are the advantages of Nvivo: Collect and archive almost any data type and connect to your transcribed data Having used Nvivo within my research I found it particularly useful with the data analysis approach of template analysis, however it is an extremely flexible tool and can be used across multiple approaches. 263) endorses Nvivo as a method of data management and argues that software such as NVivo is invaluable in helping the researcher index segments of text to particular themes, to link research notes to coding, to carry out complex search and retrieve operations, and to aid the researcher in examining possible relationships between the themes. However if you have lets say 10-15 interviews that are an hour long then you do need a tool like NVIVO, this will be a godsend in helping to organise and manage a large dataset with a clear coding structure which can help with the creation of themes and the searching of data. For example 10 interviews that are 5-8 mins long don’t really need coding in Nvivo, you can do that by hand using a printout of your transcribed data and a highlighter pen, this is a lot more efficient and effective with a lower learning curve.

NVIVO is not suitable for every research project, in my opinion NVIVO is only really useful if you have large data sets. This blog is not about how to use Nvivo, this is something that I may do in the future, it is about what are the benefits of using Nvivo for the research you are conducting. Nvivo is great for organising data and helping you to make sense of it during the process of analysis. Let me be clear, NVIVO is a data management tool NOT a method of analysis. One of the biggest mistakes some of my undergraduate students make is to confuse the role of Nvivo in the qualitative data analysis process.

Nvivo analysis example