Nodes Coding

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NOTES ABOUT NODES AND CODING

About nodes: Nodes are central to understanding and working with NVivothey let you gather

related material in one place so that you can look for emerging patterns and ideas. You can create

and organize nodes for themes or 'cases' such as people or organizations. You can also create

nodes to gather evidence about the relationships between items in your project.

What is a node: A node is a collection of references about a specific theme, place, person or

other area of interest. You gather the references by 'coding' sources such as interviews, focus

groups, articles or survey results.

For example, while exploring your sources (documents, datasets, pictures, video or audio) you

could code any content related to 'illegal fishing practices' at the node illegal fishing. Then when

you open the node (by double-clicking it in List View) you can see all the references in one

place.

Creating node hierarchies: Nodes are containers for your themes, people, places, organizations

or other areas of interest. You can organize these nodes in hierarchiesmoving from general

topics at the top (the parent node) to more specific topics (child nodes)

When do I make nodes: You can add nodes at any stage of your project but you may want to

consider the following

Do you already know which themes or topics you will be exploring? You can create a

node structure before you begin coding, and easily add any nodes that emerge as you

work through your sources.

You might want to work 'up' from your sources, creating nodes as you go. At first, you

might create nodes at the top level and then organize them into hierarchies when

connections become apparent.

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If you have descriptive information about the people, organizations or other 'cases' you

are working with, you can create and classify nodes to represent them.

If you are working with survey results, you can take advantage of the automatic and

classifying features to create an initial node structure based on the survey questions,

respondents or attributesyou can then add nodes for other themes or topics as you need

them. a

If you are working with structured documents, such as a collection of interviews, you can

create an initial node structure based on paragraph styles. For example, automatically

create a node for every question in an interview, then open the nodes and explore the

answerscreate other nodes as themes or topics emerge.

Create a node in List View (without coding)

1. In Navigation View, click Nodes and then click Nodes.

2. (Optional) In List View, select the parent node if you are adding the new node to a

hierarchy.

3. On the Create tab, in the Nodes group, click Node.

The New Node dialog box opens.

4. In the Name box, enter a name for the new node.

5. (Optional) In the Description box, enter a description of the node.

6. (Optional) In the Nickname box, enter a shortened name (useful for frequently used

nodes to facilitate 'quick coding').

7. (Optional) Select the Aggregate child node check box if this is a parent node and you

want it to include all the references contained in any child nodes.

8. (Optional) Click the Attribute Values tab to classify the node.

9. Click OK.

Create a node while coding in Detail View

1. In Detail View, select the source content you want to code.

2. On the Analyze tab, in the Coding group, under Code Selection At, click New Node.

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The New Node dialog box opens.

3. (Optional) In the Location box, click the Select button to change the folder location for

the new node.

4. In the Name box enter a name for the node.

5. (Optional) In the Description box, enter a description for the node.

6. Click OK.

Create a node by 'quick coding': You can create a new node by selecting the content you want

to code and entering a new node name in the Quick Coding bar at the bottom of Detail View.

Make a node from selected text (In Vivo code): You can create a new node based on selected

contentthis is called In Vivo coding. The selected text is used as the node name (up to 256

characters). To create a node In Vivo:

1. Select the text content you want to code.

2. On the Analyze tab, in the Coding group, click Code In Vivo.

Shortcut Click Code In Vivo on the Quick Coding bar.

A node is created based on the selected text.

Create nodes by auto coding: Depending on the type of sources you are working with, you can

use auto coding techniques to automatically create nodes. For example,

If you are working with a survey dataset, you can use the Auto Code Dataset wizard to

make a node for each respondent or survey question.

If you have a collection of question/answer interview documentsand the questions and

answers are consistently formatted using paragraph stylesyou can auto code to create a

node for each question.

If you are analyzing audio/video transcriptsand you have added a custom field for

speakeryou can auto code to automatically create nodes for each speaker.

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Create 'case' nodes from sources: You can create nodes from selected sources. This can be

useful when entire sources contain material that relates to particular people, places or other cases.

For example, if you have sources containing interview transcripts (Student 01, Student 02,

Student 03 etc), then you can create a node with a particular classification to represent each

student and you can assign attribute values for Age, Gender and Grade.

TIP Before you start, make sure a suitable node classification has been created in your project

(for example, Student or Person), so you can assign the nodes to a classification as you create

them.

1. In List View, select the sources you want to use to create nodes.

2. On the Create tab, in the Items group, click Create As, and then click Create As Nodes.

The Select Location dialog box opens.

3. Select the location where you want to create the nodes.

4. In the Assign to Classification box, select a classificationfor example, Person.

5. Click OK.

Nodes are created based on the selected source names and the content of each source is coded at

its node. The classification is set and attributes are set to their default values. You can update the

attribute values

Understand how you can use color with nodes: You can keep track of significant nodes or

relationships by giving them a color.

You can assign a color to a node to visually distinguish it in coding stripes and in visualizations

such as charts. For example, the node rising sea level could have a blue coding stripe and a blue

pie chart segment.

You can sort your nodes in List View based on colorrefer to Customize the workspace for

more information.

Assign color to a node

1. In List View, select the node.

2. On the Home tab, in the Item group, click the arrow below Properties, and then click

Color.

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3. Select the color you want to assign to the node.

NOTE

The node color is shown by default in List View. You can show or hide this column

refer to Customize the workspace for more information.

You can set the color of one or more selected nodes via List Viewselect the nodes, then

right-click to see the shortcut menu, then click Color, and then select the color you want

to assign to the nodes.

Open a node to see the references

You can open a node to see all the coded references:

1. In Navigation View, locate and click the folder that contains the node you want inspect.

2. In List View, double-click the node. The node opens in Detail View.

3. On the right of the node, click the Text tab.

What is coding: 'Coding' your sources is a way of gathering all the references to a specific topic,

theme, person or other entity. You can code all types of sources and bring the references

together in a single 'node'

The process of coding can generate ideas and help you to identify patterns and theories in your

research material.

For example, you could gather all the negative opinions about a policy and examine them

together in a nodefrom there, you could tease out common threads and ask questions like What

do young people think and do their opinions differ from those of older people?

You can also code to gather source content at nodes that represent the subjects of your research,

such as people or places. For example, if you have survey responses from a class of students, you

can create a case node to represent each student, and then code their opinions at their 'case' node.

You can code manually within a source or do some fast coding using the auto code and query-

based coding features.

Deciding on an approach

The way you approach the analysis of sources can depend on the

Methodology you are using (if any)

Amount and type of data you have

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Time available

NVivo does not prescribe an approach but provides the tools to let you work the way that suits

you best. For example, if you have many sources or you have large dataset sourcesmake the

most of NVivo's auto coding and query-based coding features. If you have a smaller number of

sources that require close analysistake advantage of the easy-to-use manual coding tools.

You can create a node structure and then code your material at the 'ready-made' nodes or you can

create nodes as you work through your source materials.

Manual coding in sources

While working in a source you can select content and then code it at new or existing nodes.

NVivo provides the following ways to manually code your sources:

Select and code content using the options on the Analyze tab of the NVivo ribbon.

Drag and drop selected content on a node in List View. You can customize your

workspace to make the most of drag and drop codinglist the nodes on the left and

display your source on the right:

In vivo code to make a new node from selected words or phrases.

Quick code using nicknames for common nodesfor example desalination could have

the nickname desal. You select the content you want to code and enter or select the

nickname.

The content available for coding depends on the type of source you are working with, refer to the

following topics for more information:

Basic coding in text-based sources

In text-based sources you can select and code:

Textsingle letter, a few words, a whole passage or the entire source.

Images

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Text and images in tables

Code at a node

1. Select the text or image you want to code.


The New Node dialog box is displayed.

3. (Optional) To choose where you want to store the nodein the Location box, click the

Select button and select the location.

4. Enter a name for the node.

5. (Optional) Enter a description of the node.

6. Click OK.

NOTE If you want to code at a node that already exists, click Existing Nodes, under Code

Selection At, and select the relevant node. You can also drag and drop content on existing nodes.

See what you have coded

To see what has been coded in a source, you can

Turn on coding highlighton the View tab in the Coding group, click the arrow next to

Highlight, and then select a highlight option. Coded content is highlighted in yellow:

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Turn on coding stripeson the View tab in the Coding group, click the arrow next to

Coding Stripes, and then select an option. Coding stripes are displayed on the right of the

source:

Basic coding in dataset sources

In dataset sources you can select and code:

The entire sourceall content in codable fields is coded.

Text in codable fields (columns)a single word, a phrase, or a whole cell.

A source shortcut

An entire rowall content in codable fields within the row is coded.

You can identify codable fields by colorcodable fields have a white background.

Code at a node

1. Select the content you want to code.



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6. Click OK.


Selection At, and select the relevant node.

Basic coding in audio and video sources

In audio and video sources you can code:

A section of the media via the timeline

Text in the Content field (column) of a transcript (if you have one)

Code at a node

1. On the timeline, click and drag to select the timespan that you want to code. You can also

code text in the Content column of the transcript.

NOTE You can hide the waveform to make selection on the timeline easier on the Media tab

in the View group, clear the Waveform check box.


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6. Click OK.


Selection At, and select the relevant node.

Understand shadow coding

When you code a portion of the timeline, the associated transcript text is also indirectly coded,

this is called 'shadow coding'. Similarly if you code the transcript, the associated section of the

media is shadow coded. This is a quick way of determining which part of the timeline the coded

transcript refers to and vice-versa.

Shadow coding saves you from having to code both the media and associated transcript content.

For example, if you coded the transcript entry, you do not have to code the associated

audio/video timelinewhen you open the node, you can see the timeline that has been shadow

coded.

Highlight coding or display coding stripes

Highlighting is an easy way to check what you have and have not coded. If you want to see the

coding for specific nodes, you can display coding stripes

To turn on highlight coding:

1. Open the source or node in Detail View.

2. On the View tab, in the Coding group, click Highlight.

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3. Select what you want to highlight:

Coding for Selected Items this opens the Select Project Items dialog box select the

nodes to highlight, and then click OK to close the dialog box. The nodes in bold indicate

they have been used to code the content.

Coding for All Nodes this highlights coding for all nodes

Understand coding stripes

Coding stripes are colored bars that show you the nodes that code a source:

The stripes show you

Nodes that code specific content

Users who coded the content

Attributes of coded content (sex, age and so on)

You can select the nodes that most, least or recently coded the content and indicate the number

of stripes to display. In audio and video sources, coding stripes are displayed both in the

timeline and the transcript. This is called 'shadow coding'. The color of the stripes is either

automatic or user assigned based on item colors. If the color is based on item colors, any nodes

that have no color will display as white..

When a source is in edit mode, coding stripes are disabled (and do not update) while you type or

make other changes to the content of the source. The stripes refresh automatically when you:

Code or uncode the source content

Switch to read-only mode

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Save the project

Use the 'undo' function

You can refresh the stripes manuallyclick the yellow information bar at the top of the coding

stripes pane, or click Refresh, in the Workspace group, on the Home tab.

NOTE If you code text in a cell in a dataset, a table (in a text-based source), an audio/video

transcript, or a picture log, the coding stripe is displayed against the whole row.

Display coding stripes

1. Open the required source or node.

2. On the View tab, in the Coding group, click Coding Stripes.

3. Select which coding stripes you want to display:

Selected Items displays the Select Project Items dialog boxselect the nodes then click

OK to close the dialog box. The nodes in bold indicate they have been used to code the

source content.

Nodes Most Coding displays the most frequently used nodes of all the nodes that code

the content

Nodes Least Coding displays the least frequently used nodes of all the nodes that code

the content

Nodes Recently Coding displays the most recently used nodes of all the nodes that code

the content

Coding Density Only shows only the coding density bar

Show Items Last Selected shows the nodes that were last selected for viewing. This

option can be useful when you want to check coding at the same nodes across multiple

sources.

See the coding stripes for different team members

To see the coding done by different members of your team:

1. Open the required source or node.

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2. On the View tab, in the Coding group, click Coding Stripes, and then click Select Items.

The Select Project Items dialog box opens.

3. On the left, select Users.

4. On the right, check the box for each team member whose coding you want to see.

5. Click OK.

Automatic coding

Automatic coding in text-based sources: You can auto code text-based sources (documents,

externals and memos) based on paragraphs or paragraph styles.

Use consistent paragraph styles to auto code: If you have applied heading styles in your text

based sources you can use them to automatically code the content.

For exampleif you have a collection of question/answer interview documents, you could auto

code to create a node for each question (based on heading 1 [H1] and heading 2 [H2] styles) and

code all respondent answers at the nodes:

NOTE You can apply heading styles in Word before you import the source, or you can apply

them in NVivo.

To auto code using paragraph styles:

1. In List View, select the text based sources you want to auto code.

2. On the Analyze tab, in the Coding group, click Auto Code.

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The Auto Code dialog box opens.

3. From the Code by list, select Paragraph Style.

4. From the Available paragraph styles list, select the styles you want to use for coding.

5. Click the right arrow button >> to add the styles to the Selected paragraph styles list.

NOTE A node is automatically created for each paragraph that is formatted in the selected style,

and the text under the style is auto coded at the node. The order of the styles in the list

determines how they are nested in the node hierarchythe first style is the parent of the second

and so on.

6. Under Code at Nodes, select where you want to store the newly created nodes. Choose:

Existing Node to store the created nodes under an existing nodeclick Select to display

the Select Project Items dialog box, then select the node, and then click OK to close the

dialog box.

New Node to store the created nodes under a new nodeclick Select to display the

Select Location dialog box, then select the location (for example, a folder or a node), and

then click OK to close the dialog box. Enter a name for the new node.

7. (Optional) Select the Aggregate coding to parent node check box, if you want the content

coded at child nodes to be shown in the parent node.

8. Click OK.

Auto code to make a numbered node for each paragraph

You can auto code 'by paragraph' if one or more text based sources are tightly structuredfor

example, paragraph 1 in each document is about fossil fuel and paragraph 2 is about government

policy. NVivo makes a node for each paragraph and uses the paragraph number as the node

name. You can rename the nodes as required.

To auto code by paragraph:

1. In List View, select the text based sources you want to auto code.


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3. From the Code by list, select Paragraph.


Existing Node - to store the created nodes under an existing nodeclick Select to display


dialog box.

New Node - to store the created nodes under a new nodeclick Select to display the

Select Location dialog box, then select the location (for example, a folder or a node), and




6. Click OK.

Automatic coding in audio and video sources: If you have added custom fields (columns) in

your audio or video transcripts, you can use them to quickly code an audio/video source.

For example, if you added the custom field Speaker, NVivo can create a node for each speaker

and code the content at that nodethis way you can gather everything said by a specific person.

Auto code a transcript using custom fields

1. In List View, select the audio or video source you want to auto code.

NOTE When auto coding multiple sources, you can only select the same source typeall audio

or all video sources.


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3. From the Available Transcript Fields list, select the custom fields you want to use for

coding.

4. Click the right arrow button >> to add the custom field to the Selected Transcript Fields

list.

NOTE A node is created for each unique text string in the custom field and the text in the

Content field is coded at the node. The order of the custom fields in the list determines how they

are nested in the node hierarchythe first custom field is the parent of the second and so on.


Existing Node to store the created nodes under an existing nodeclick Select to display


dialog box.

New Node to store the created nodes under a new nodeclick Select to display the

Select Location dialog box, then select the location (for example, a folder or node), and




7. Click OK.

Understand automatic coding in datasets: Datasets can contain classifying columns (fields)

and codable columns. In the example dataset below, the first three columns have been imported

as classifying fields, and the last two columns have been imported as codable fields.

Respondent Age Sex Question 1 Question 2

Anna 29 Female I think there should be

more car-free zones

Electric buses and

taxis would help

reduce pollution in

the inner city

Jack 31 Male Pedestrians need to feel

safe. There should be

better lighting and more

police

We should create

more green spaces

Maria 52 Female Safety barriers at busy

intersections

I don't think they

should tax car parks

Peter 47 Male Better education in More street trees

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schools about road safety

The Auto Code Dataset Wizard allows you to code the content of codable columns at nodes that

match either

The names of the codable columns

Row values in classifying columns

Using the dataset above as an example, if you code by column, you can group all the responses

to a particular survey questionby coding at nodes for Question 1 and Question 2.Alternatively,

if you create 'case' nodes for Anna, Jack, Maria and Peter, and code their responses to Question 1

and Question 2 at code the case nodes. You can then add demographic information about your

respondents to their 'case' nodes.

When you are analyzing a dataset you may use the Wizard more than onceyou might first

gather responses by questions, and then gather them by respondent.

Use the Wizard to auto code a dataset

1. In List View or Detail View, click on the dataset you want to auto code.


The Auto Code Dataset Wizard dialog box opens.

3. Follow the steps in the wizard.

4. When you are done with the Wizard, click Finish.

Choose to create nodes for each column or each row

On the first step of the wizard, you must choose whether you want to create nodes based on

column names or row values. The options you get later in this wizard depend on your choice in

this first step.

For example, if your dataset contains survey responses in the following structure:

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Respondent Sex Sex Question 1

Natural Environment

Question 2

Water Quality

DE001 Male 52 Becoming poorer with pollution due

to chemical runoff from local farms

Important for marine

nurseries

DE002 Female 35 Priceless and vulnerable to

pollution from over development

Good for now but

needs to be monitored

Then you can choose:

Code at nodes for each column to create a node for all Question 1 responses, and another

node for all Question 2 responses.

Code at nodes for each row to group everything that a particular respondent has said, by

creating a node for DE001, and another node for DE002. Everything the respondents

said in response to Question 1 and Question 2 will be grouped at their respective nodes.

Create nodes for each column

If you choose Create nodes for each column (on step 1 of the wizard), then as you move from

step-to-step of the wizard, you will be asked to:

Wizard step Description

Choose whether

to code all rows

or filtered rows.

This step is only displayed if a filter is applied to the datasetchoose

whether you want to use all rows when auto coding, or only filtered

rows.

Select the

columns you

want to create

as nodes.

Select the columns that you want to create nodes for.

The preview area at the bottom of the wizard shows the nodes that will

be created based on the options you have selected (you can choose a

location for the nodes in the next step).

Select a

location for the

nodes.

Select the parent node and folder location. If you want to code at nodes

that already exist in your project, you must select the parent node and

location so that the hierarchy you are creating matches the hierarchy that

already exists in your project. If you select a different parent node or

folder location, new nodes will be created and coded at.

Decide whether you want to turn on aggregation for parent nodesif you

select this option, then all the content coded at the children is included in

the parent node.

The preview area at the bottom of the wizard shows the node structures

that will be created, and the content that will be coded to the leaf nodes in

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the hierarchy.

Create nodes for each row

If you choose Create nodes for each row (on step 1 of the wizard), then as you move from step-

to-step of the wizard, you will be asked to:

Wizard step Description

Choose whether to

code all rows or

filtered rows

This step is only displayed if a filter is applied to the datasetchoose

whether you want to use all rows when auto coding, or only filtered

rows.

Select the columns

that contain values

you want to use as

node names

Select the column that contains the names of your nodesthese are

the nodes that will contain the coded content.

For example, if you want to create a node to represent each

person you surveyed, you could select the column which

contains their name or some other identifier.

You should ensure that each cell in this column contains a

different value. If two people share the same name, only a

single node will be created.

(Optional) Choose whether the nodes should be nested into a

hierarchy. For example, if you surveyed high school students in three

schools, you might create a node structure that has a parent node for

each school and child nodes for each student. You can select

classifying columns which contain the values you want to use to build

the hierarchy.

Click the Filter and Group button if you want to further refine the

node hierarchy that will be created by:

Filtering the row values used to create nodesfor example, if

you want to create nodes based on the values in the column

School, and some cells contain the value Unknown, you can

choose to exclude this value when you create your node

structure.

Grouping the row values that will be used to create nodesfor

example, if a column contains the ages of your survey

respondents, you can group the ages into ranges, so that you

create a node for each age range, rather than a node for each

age.

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The preview area at the bottom of the wizard, shows the nodes that

will be created based on the options you have selected on this step of

the wizard. Click the Expand buttons to expand the hierarchy. Only

the leaf nodes in the hierarchy are coded to. If you are not satisfied

with the structure, try changing the options on this step.

Select the columns

that contain the

content you want

to code at these

nodes

Select the (codable) columns that contain the content you want to code

at the nodes you selected in the previous step. For example, if you

want to code what people said in response to the survey questions,

then you would choose the columns containing their survey responses.

The preview area at the bottom of the dialog shows the node structures

that will be created, and the content that will be coded to the leaf

nodes in the hierarchy. Click the Expand buttons to expand the

hierarchy.

Choose a location

for the nodes

Select the parent node and folder location for node hierarchy. If you

want to code at nodes that already exist in your project, you must

select the correct parent node and folder location so that the hierarchy

you are creating matches the hierarchy that already exists in your

project. If you select a different location, new nodes will be created

and coded at.

Decide whether you want to turn on aggregation for parent nodesif

you select this option, then all the content coded at the children is

shown in the parent node.

The preview area at the bottom of the dialog shows the node structures

that will be created, and the content that will be coded to the leaf

nodes in the hierarchy. Click the Expand buttons to expand the

hierarchy.

Review the references in a node: Understand what is in a node

When you open a node in Detail View the Reference tab is in focus. On this tab you can see all

the references that have coded at the node.

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1 Displays the name of the source that was coded at the nodeincluding a 'coding summary' (the

number of references that were coded and the percentage of the source that the coding

represents). To open the original source, click the source hyperlinkunderlined in blue.

2 Displays the first reference that was coded in the sourceincluding the percentage of the

source that the reference represents. For example, a coded section might represent 80% of the

overall documentthis would indicate that most of the source has been coded at the node.

3 The Summary tab list of all the sources that have been coded at the node. You can choose to

display the Summary tab by default when you open a node.

4 Select the other tabs to display the content that has been coded in text-based, audio, video,

picture or dataset sources.

Understand how references are counted

On the Reference tab of a node, you can see the total number of references for each source:

The total number of references is calculated based on coding done by all usersfor example, if

two team members have coded the same content at the node, the coded content is combined and

counted as two references:

Documents

Nodes Coding