NVivo is a qualitative data analysis (QDA)

computer software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists o ...

package produced by QSR International. NVivo helps

qualitative research Qualitative research is a type of research that aims to gather and analyse non-numerical (descriptive) data in order to gain an understanding of individuals' social reality, including understanding their attitudes, beliefs, and motivation. This ...

ers to organize, analyze and find insights in unstructured or qualitative data like interviews, open-ended survey responses, journal articles, social media and web content, where deep levels of analysis on small or large volumes of data are required. NVivo is used predominantly by

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government i ...

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity". World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Org ...

and

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and ...

researchers Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

across a diverse range of fields, including

social science Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soc ...

s such as

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

communication Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inqu ...

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of empirical investigation and ...

, as well as fields such as

forensics Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and criminal ...

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

criminology Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and ...

and

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to empha ...

. The first QSR International software product was developed by Tom and Lyn Richards. Originally called NUD*IST, it contained tools for fine and detailed analysis of unstructured textual data. In 1999, the Richards developed the first version of NVivo and eventually N6 was replaced by NVivo 7.

Description

NVivo is intended to help users organize and analyze non-numerical or

unstructured data Unstructured data (or unstructured information) is information that either does not have a pre-defined data model or is not organized in a pre-defined manner. Unstructured information is typically text-heavy, but may contain data such as dates, num ...

. The software allows users to classify, sort and arrange information; examine relationships in the data; and combine analysis with linking, shaping,

searching Searching or search may refer to: Computing technology * Search algorithm, including keyword search ** :Search algorithms * Search and optimization for problem solving in artificial intelligence * Search engine technology, software for findi ...

and modeling. The researcher or analyst can identify trends and cross-examine information in a multitude of ways using its search engine and query functions. They can make notes in the software using memos and build a body of evidence to support their case or project. NVivo accommodates a wide range of

research methods Research is " creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

, including network and organizational analysis, action or evidence-based research,

discourse analysis Discourse analysis (DA), or discourse studies, is an approach to the analysis of written, vocal, or sign language use, or any significant semiotic event. The objects of discourse Analysis (discourse, writing, conversation, communicative event) ...

grounded theory Grounded theory is a systematic methodology that has been largely applied to qualitative research conducted by social scientists. The methodology involves the construction of hypotheses and theories through the collecting and analysis of data. G ...

conversation analysis Conversation analysis (CA) is an approach to the study of social interaction, embracing both verbal and non-verbal conduct, in situations of everyday life. CA originated as a sociological method, but has since spread to other fields. CA began with ...

ethnography Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject ...

, literature reviews,

phenomenology Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (philosophy), a branch of philosophy which studies subjective experiences and a ...

, mixed methods research and the Framework methodology.Strategic partnership delivers greater flexibility to qualitative researchers in the UK and around the world
National Centre for Social Research, Retrieved 17-10-2011. NVivo supports data formats such as audio files, videos, digital photos, Word, PDF, spreadsheets, rich text, plain text and web and social media data.About NVivo 10
, Retrieved 16-07-2012. Users can interchange data with applications like

Microsoft Excel Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet developed by Microsoft for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. It features calculation or computation capabilities, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Ap ...

Microsoft Word Microsoft Word is a word processing software developed by Microsoft. It was first released on October 25, 1983, under the name ''Multi-Tool Word'' for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms includin ...

IBM SPSS Statistics SPSS Statistics is a statistical software suite developed by IBM for data management, advanced analytics, multivariate analysis, business intelligence, and criminal investigation. Long produced by SPSS Inc., it was acquired by IBM in 2009. C ...

EndNote A note is a string of text placed at the bottom of a page in a book or document or at the end of a chapter, volume, or the whole text. The note can provide an author's comments on the main text or citations of a reference work in support of the ...

Microsoft OneNote Microsoft OneNote is a note-taking software developed by Microsoft. It is available as part of the Microsoft Office suite and since 2014 has been free on all platforms outside the suite. OneNote is designed for free-form information gather ...

, SurveyMonkey and

Evernote Evernote is a note-taking and task management application. It is developed by the Evernote Corporation, headquartered in Redwood City, California. It is intended for archiving and creating notes in which photos, audio and saved web content ca ...

. Users can purchase add-on modules: NVivo Transcription for automated transcriptions, where users can transcribe directly in NVivo (Release 1.0); and NVivo Collaboration Cloud, that uses the cloud to enable small team project sharing and collaboration. NVivo - Windows is available in English, Chinese (Simplified), French, German and Japanese, Spanish and Portuguese. NVivo - Mac is available in English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish.

Version history

Note: software named NUD*IST from 1981 to 1997 . * N4 – 1997 * N5 – 2000 * N6 – 2002 * NVivo 2 – 2002 * NVivo 7 – 2006 (consolidation of NVivo and N6 (NUD*IST)) * NVivo 8 – 2008 * NVivo 9 and NVivo for Teams – 2010 * NVivo 10 – 2012 * NVivo for Mac Beta – 2014 * NVivo for Mac commercial release – 2014 * NVivo 11 for Windows in three editions; NVivo Starter, NVivo Pro, NVivo Plus. Updates to NVivo for Mac and NVivo for Teams – 2015 * NVivo 12 (Pro, Plus, Mac, and Teams) – 2018 * NVivo (Release 1.0) / Nvivo 1.0 – March 18, 2020 (Windows & Mac). As previously, the Mac version has fewer features. QSR also released Collaboration Cloud for sharing projects (within OS only). The Plus and Pro versions from NVivo 12 have been combined.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nvivo QDA software

Description

Version history

See also

References

External links