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| Developer(s) | Lumivero |
|---|---|
| Stable release | NVivo 14.23.0 / 14 March 2023 |
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows, macOS |
| Type | Qualitative data analysis |
| Website | lumivero |
NVivo is a qualitative data analysis (QDA) computer software package produced by Lumivero (formerly called QSR International). NVivo is used across a diverse range of fields, including social sciences such as anthropology, psychology, communication, sociology, as well as fields such as forensics, tourism, criminology and marketing.
NVivo is intended to help users organize and analyze non-numerical or unstructured data. Its developers state that it helps qualitative researchers 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. [1]
The software allows users to classify, sort and arrange information; examine relationships in the data; and combine analysis with linking, shaping, searching and modeling. The software can identify trends and cross-examine information in various ways using its search engine and query functions. [2] NVivo accommodates a wide range of research methods, including network and organizational analysis, action or evidence-based research, discourse analysis, grounded theory, conversation analysis, ethnography, literature reviews, phenomenology, mixed methods research and the Framework methodology. [3]
Tom Richards and Lyn Richards developed NUD*IST (Non-numerical Unstructured Data Indexing, Searching and Theorizing), a software program designed for detailed analysis of unstructured textual data, with the initial version for DEC-10 in 1981. [4] [5] [6] In 1997, an updated version of NUD*IST was named N4.
In 1994, Qualitative Solutions and Research Pty Ltd was set up at and then spun out of La Trobe University to support the development and marketing of NUD*IST, and shortly after the release of N4 (NUD*IST Rev 4) it began working on a ground-up redesigned sibling product, with many more features, initially named NUD*IST Alive then branded as NVivo. [7]
Development of the original product continue alongside the new one, with the final version, N6, being consolidated into NVivo 7 in 2006. NVivo for Teams, which allows multiple users on a server to work on a project at the same time, was first released in 2010. NVivo was released for Mac in 2014. Mac versions of the software tend to have fewer features. [8]
Business intelligence (BI) consists of strategies and technologies used by enterprises for the data analysis and management of business information. Common functions of BI technologies include reporting, online analytical processing, analytics, dashboard development, data mining, process mining, complex event processing, business performance management, benchmarking, text mining, predictive analytics, and prescriptive analytics.
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 type of research typically involves in-depth interviews, focus groups, or observations in order to collect data that is rich in detail and context. Qualitative research is often used to explore complex phenomena or to gain insight into people's experiences and perspectives on a particular topic. It is particularly useful when researchers want to understand the meaning that people attach to their experiences or when they want to uncover the underlying reasons for people's behavior. Qualitative methods include ethnography, grounded theory, discourse analysis, and interpretative phenomenological analysis. Qualitative research methods have been used in sociology, anthropology, political science, psychology, communication studies, social work, folklore, educational research, information science and software engineering research.
In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for bringing about a certain goal, like acquiring knowledge or verifying knowledge claims. This normally involves various steps, like choosing a sample, collecting data from this sample, and interpreting the data. The study of methods concerns a detailed description and analysis of these processes. It includes evaluative aspects by comparing different methods. This way, it is assessed what advantages and disadvantages they have and for what research goals they may be used. These descriptions and evaluations depend on philosophical background assumptions. Examples are how to conceptualize the studied phenomena and what constitutes evidence for or against them. When understood in the widest sense, methodology also includes the discussion of these more abstract issues.
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. Grounded theory involves the application of inductive reasoning. The methodology contrasts with the hypothetico-deductive model used in traditional scientific research.
A systematic review is a scholarly synthesis of the evidence on a clearly presented topic using critical methods to identify, define and assess research on the topic. A systematic review extracts and interprets data from published studies on the topic, then analyzes, describes, critically appraises and summarizes interpretations into a refined evidence-based conclusion. For example, a systematic review of randomized controlled trials is a way of summarizing and implementing evidence-based medicine.
ATLAS.ti is a computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software that facilitates analysis of qualitative data for qualitative research, quantitative research, and mixed methods research.
In the social sciences, coding is an analytical process in which data, in both quantitative form or qualitative form are categorized to facilitate analysis.
An unstructured interview or non-directive interview is an interview in which questions are not prearranged. These non-directive interviews are considered to be the opposite of a structured interview which offers a set amount of standardized questions. The form of the unstructured interview varies widely, with some questions being prepared in advance in relation to a topic that the researcher or interviewer wishes to cover. They tend to be more informal and free flowing than a structured interview, much like an everyday conversation. Probing is seen to be the part of the research process that differentiates the in-depth, unstructured interview from an everyday conversation. This nature of conversation allows for spontaneity and for questions to develop during the course of the interview, which are based on the interviewees' responses. The chief feature of the unstructured interview is the idea of probe questions that are designed to be as open as possible. It is a qualitative research method and accordingly prioritizes validity and the depth of the interviewees' answers. One of the potential drawbacks is the loss of reliability, thereby making it more difficult to draw patterns among interviewees' responses in comparison to structured interviews. Unstructured interviews are used in a variety of fields and circumstances, ranging from research in social sciences, such as sociology, to college and job interviews. Fontana and Frey have identified three types of in depth, ethnographic, unstructured interviews - oral history, creative interviews, and post-modern interviews.
XSight was a software for qualitative data analysis. Its last version was released in 2006, which was supported until January 2014. Developed by QSR International for qualitative data analysis (QDA), it is a tool for researchers or individuals who are undertaking short term qualitative research analysis on projects involving non-numerical data. Qualitative research can encompass business intelligence, marketing research or data analysis. It was superseded by NVivo 10 for Windows, which offers equivalent functionality with greater flexibility and enables researchers to work with more data types likes PDFs, surveys, images, video, audio, web and social media content.
Computer-assistedqualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) offers tools that assist with qualitative research such as transcription analysis, coding and text interpretation, recursive abstraction, content analysis, discourse analysis, grounded theory methodology, etc.
Netnography is a specific type of qualitative social media research. It adapts the methods of ethnography to understand social interaction in contemporary digital communications contexts. Netnography is a specific set of research practices related to data collection, analysis, research ethics, and representation, rooted in participant observation. In netnography, a significant amount of the data originates in and manifests through the digital traces of naturally occurring public conversations recorded by contemporary communications networks. Netnography uses these conversations as data. It is an interpretive research method that adapts the traditional, in-person participant observation techniques of anthropology to the study of interactions and experiences manifesting through digital communications.
MAXQDA is a software program designed for computer-assisted qualitative and mixed methods data, text and multimedia analysis in academic, scientific, and business institutions. It is being developed and distributed by VERBI Software based in Berlin, Germany.
QSR International is a qualitative research software developer based in Burlington, Massachusetts, with offices in Australia, Germany, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. QSR International is the developer of qualitative data analysis (QDA) software products, NVivo, NVivo Server, Interpris and XSight. These are designed to help qualitative researchers organize and analyze non-numerical or unstructured data.
NetMiner is an application software for exploratory analysis and visualization of large network data based on SNA. It can be used for general research and teaching in social networks. This tool allows researchers to explore their network data visually and interactively, helps them to detect underlying patterns and structures of the network. It features data transformation, network analysis, statistics, visualization of network data, chart, and a programming language based on the Python script language. Also, it enables users to import unstructured text data(e.g. news, articles, tweets, etc.) and extract words and network from text data. In addition, NetMiner SNS Data Collector, an extension of NetMiner, can collect some social networking service(SNS) data with a few clicks.
LIMDEP is an econometric and statistical software package with a variety of estimation tools. In addition to the core econometric tools for analysis of cross sections and time series, LIMDEP supports methods for panel data analysis, frontier and efficiency estimation and discrete choice modeling. The package also provides a programming language to allow the user to specify, estimate and analyze models that are not contained in the built in menus of model forms.
Cassandre is a free open source software for computer assisted qualitative data analysis and interpretation in humanities and social sciences. Although it refers, like other CAQDAS-software, to Grounded Theory Method, it also allows to conduct discourse analysis or quantitative content analysis. The software is designed as a server to support collaborative work. Formerly focused on semi-automatic coding, it now provides diaries assisting qualitative analysis.
KH Coder is an open source software for computer assisted qualitative data analysis, particularly quantitative content analysis and text mining. It can be also used for computational linguistics. It supports processing and etymological information of text in several languages, such as Japanese, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. Specifically, it can contribute factual examination co-event system hub structure, computerized arranging guide, multidimensional scaling and comparative calculations. Word frequency statistics, part-of-speech analysis, grouping, correlation analysis, and visualization are among the features offered by KH Coder.
Quirkos is a CAQDAS software package for the qualitative analysis of text data, commonly used in social science. It provides a graphical interface in which the nodes or themes of analysis are represented by bubbles. It is designed primarily for new and non-academic users of qualitative data, to allow them to quickly learn the basics of qualitative data analysis. Although simpler to use, it lacks some of the features present in other commercial CAQDAS packages such as multimedia support. However, it has been proposed as a useful tool for lay and participant led analysis and is comparatively affordable. It is developed by Edinburgh, UK based Quirkos Software, and was first released in October 2014.
Imputation and Variance Estimation Software (IVEware) is a collection of routines written under various platforms and packaged to perform multiple imputations, variance estimation and, in general, draw inferences from incomplete data. It can also be used to perform analysis without any missing data. IVEware defaults to assuming a simple random sample, but uses the Jackknife Repeated Replication or Taylor Series Linearization techniques for analyzing data from complex surveys.
Marilyn Gray Richards is an Australian social scientist and writer who, with computer scientist Tom Richards, developed the software analysis packages NUD*IST and NVivo.
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