Hi again everyone,

Was just after some advice really.. Has anyone used NVivo to analyse interview data? I have been told by some academics that NVivo is the way to go and others insist that manual analysis is best?! Tried reading a few articles but no more decided. Any thoughts on this? Has anyone used the program before?

Thanks

Yes, I have used it... I think it's a great tool, I can't imagine doing that type of analysis in a totally manual way!!!

I would say basically what it does is make coding of data very easy (just a click-drag) - you can then browse through data that you have coded to a certain 'category'. Also you can annotate data, put in links and search/query data. That is the extent of what I have done, there is a whole other section to do with modelling that I haven't even gone near yet!

The only thing I would say is that some people think it is an 'automated analysis' - including one of my sups - and it's NOT... you still do all the analysis yourself it is just the coding etc. that is made easier with NVivo. I suppose you might see trends more easily because of the way data is organised but you do still have to do that analysis by yourself...

If there are any NVivo workshops near where you are maybe you could go to one - there was a workshop here and it was a great introduction to the software.

Hope that helps

Thanks Rosy,

Yes, have been on an induction to NVivo but found myself wondering how I could relate all these codes and 'themes' back to my research theories? I have read Carl Auerbach's book on manual coding and there seems to be a more obvious link to the themes and constructs using his apporach. I have a feeling I may end up using the NVivo model function for my research though.

As a matter of interest, are you analysing interview data? and if so, do you have many transcriptions? I think I'll have about 15 in total so not a huge amount hence the thought behind manual analysis, and the Auerbach book!

Hi hannah, no I'm not analysing interviews actually - initially I used it to analyse some open-ended answers from a questionnaire - so actually I didn't have that much data and I probably could have done it manually! But my next phase will be analysing text in learning journals so it'll be way too much information to tackle manually. Boy am I looking forward to that Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

Oh thanks Rosy. Well good luck to you too...analysis is such fun!