MANTRA NVivo9 Exercise

Contributors: Libby Bishop (LB), Kakia Chatsiou (KC), Louise Corti (LC), Robin Rice
(RR)
Version: 00.06
Last updated: 07/03/2011 15:02
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Contents

1 Introduction.............................................................................................................................3
2 About this exercise ................................................................................................................3
2.1.1 Exercise prerequisites .............................................................................................3
2.1.2 Learning objectives ................................................................................................3
2.1.3 The exercise is aimed at: .......................................................................................4
2.1.4 About the Edwardians Data collection (ESDS SN 2000) ..................................4
2.1.5 Exercise structure ...................................................................................................5

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Document control

Version Notes Last amended

00.06 Final Structure version as circulated to RR, LB, LC, KC and 2011-02-21
stakeholders; for inclusion in the project update report
00.05 Version without the text of the exercise as circulated to RR, 2011-02-21
including her feedback of 02/02/2011 and 21/02/2011 & KC’s
corrections
00.04 Internal version including comments and first draft text of the 2011-02-17
exercise.
00.03 Version incorporating LC and LB’s comments from the 2011-01-31
meeting of 18.01.2011, as communicated to EDINA partners
00.02 Version as evolved from discussion with LB – incorporating her 2011-01-17
notes and comments
00.01 KC’s version based on LC’s 23.12.2010 version of draft for 2011-01-10
discussion at the teleconference of 11.01.2011

1 Introduction

This document outlines the structure for the MANTRA NVivo9 exercise. This is a self-
study exercise that gives an overview of using NVivo9 for managing qualitative data
primarily with a focus on the pre- and post-analysis stage.

The exercise is designed to complement the University of Edinburgh’s School of Social

and Political Science postgraduate ‘Core Qualitative Data Analysis for Social
Research’ course, or any other similar course in research design, qualitative data
analysis and data collection. This course is not a self-contained introduction to NVivo9
– users not familiar with the software might wish to refer to the NVivo9 support pages
(http://www.qsrinternational.com/support_getting-started.aspx) for more information.

2 About this exercise

2.1.1 Exercise prerequisites

 to have attended a course in research design, qualitative data analysis and

data collection
 to have some familiarity with the NVivo9 software (such as
importing/exporting data). This guide is not an introduction to NVivo9.

2.1.2 Learning objectives

This is a self-study exercise that gives an overview of using NVivo9 for managing
qualitative data primarily with a focus on the pre- and post-analysis stage. By the end
of this exercise you should :
 be familiar with good data management practices and how to apply them
while working in NVivo9
 be familiar with good practices in importing and exporting your data from
and to NVivo9
 be familiar with how best to organise the structure of your sources, nodes and
classifications in NVivo9

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 be familiar with keeping a project journal and documenting your research

using NVivo9
 be familiar with the limitations of NVivo9 and the ways round it.

2.1.3 The exercise is aimed at:

 postgraduate students with some familiarity with NVivo9 and sound
knowledge of research design, qualitative data analysis and data collection
who would like to know more about using NVIVO9 for data management
 research professionals with similar interests

2.1.4 About the Edwardians Data collection (ESDS SN 2000)

Thompson, P. and Lummis, T., Family Life and Work Experience Before
1918, 1870-1973 [computer file]. 7th Edition. Colchester, Essex: UK
Data Archive [distributor], May 2009. SN: 2000.

This is a qualitative study, comprising of 453 qualitative interview transcripts, available

as fully readable, searchable rtf files. A quantitative data file was also developed
during a follow-up project to code some of the data.

The major part of the collection comprises life-story interviews originally collected as
part of the study The Edwardians: Family Life and Work Experience Before 1918. The
interviews were undertaken in the late 1960s and early 1970s and formed the basis of
the first national oral history project in the United Kingdom. A total of 453 interviews
were recorded on reel-to-reel audio tape and later transcribed as typed, paper
documents. The interviews were open-ended (guided by a schedule) and were
between one and six hours long. In the latest version of the collection all interviews
are accessible as rtf documents and a set of pdf cover sheets containing a two page
summary of each interview is available.

The interview schedule covered topics such as: domestic routine, including the roles
of husbands and children; meals; the upbringing of children; emotional relationships
and values in the family; leisure; religion; politics; school; courtship and marriage; the
wider family; relationships with neighbours and perception of the community
structure; experience of work and occupational history of the whole family.

A related project, Systematic Analysis of Life Histories, is also included in the full
dataset. The aim of this was to prepare interviews collected for the Family Life and
Work Experience Before 1918 study for numerical coding shortly after completion.
Additionally, this quantitative component of the collection has been enhanced. A
selection of the original variables was cross-referenced for verification. The data set
was then expanded to include a set of additional variables on occupation and
location as well as textual summaries of the interview transcripts.

The original study materials were initially archived, catalogued and disseminated by
ESDS Qualidata. Full paper/microfiche transcripts are held at the National Social
Policy and Social Change Archive at the University of Essex and the original sound
recordings are deposited at the British Library National Sound Archive. PDF copies of
the interview transcripts are available from ESDS Qualidata on request.

Further information on the project is available from the ESDS Qualidata Online: The
Edwardians web page (http://www.esds.ac.uk/qualidata/online/data/edwardians/
introduction.asp) . More information, including how to access the full data collection

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are available from ESDS (http://www.esds.ac.uk/findingData/snDescription.asp?

sn=2000).

2.1.5 Exercise structure

INTRODUCTION: Sharing and Managing data with NVivo9

PART 1: Preparing your Qualitative Data for use in NVivo9

 Overview - In this part you will learn about
 About the Edwardians Data Collection
 [1.1] Before importing your data in NVivo9
o ensure appropriate consent is given to use data
o IPR/copyright
o suggested practices in formatting transcripts, including information
about: formats, headers, speakers IDs, file naming/version naming,
setting up your transcripts for easy generation of data
listing/classification (after importing data in NVivo9), suggested formats
from the UK Data Archive Managing And Sharing Data Guide. A
template for the students’ reference will be included with the material
o suggested practices in anonymising data
o recommended structure of folders in the internals folder, including
information on how to modify the default saving settings of NVivo
 [1.2] After importing your data in NVivo9
o suggested practices in importing documents and NVivo project files
into NVivo9, including importing a data list
o anonymising transcripts, including information about: search and
replace functionality in NVivo9, what happens to the file properties
after you save a transcript you have imported to NVivo9, whether
NVivo9 can produce/ store a list of anonymisation changes, how to
correct anonymisation errors in transcripts, e.g. how to edit your
transcripts in NVivo9
o suggested practices in event logging and note keeping using NVivo9,
including information about the NVivo9 auto-activity logging, and the
automating time stamping on memos
 Summary Checklist: in this part we learnt about

PART 2: Post analysis

 Overview - In this part you will learn about
 [2.1] Exporting
o best practices in outputting/exporting data (file formats, sample
size/frequency, metadata, output for archiving)
o classification attributes (export data list)
 [2.2] Citing Data
o suggested practices in using excerpts of your data in publications
(how to cite your data)
o how to cite reused/secondary data in your publications
 [2.3] Other Issues (including issues such as Team-working with NVIVO9)
 Summary Checklist: in this part we learnt about

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