NVivo Workshop

NVivo recommends following the catalogue system of coding which uses hierarchies. Please watch Principles of Coding before you embark on your own project

Creating hierarchies allows you to better organise your codes. This is particularly useful if you have a lot of codes that can be grouped into themes. In our example, we have a number of codes that represent positive and negative feedback. We will organise our codes into these two themes by creating parent codes. Codes assigned to a parent code are called child codes. Let’s create two parent codes: Positive Feedback, and Negative Feedback. 

1. In Navigation View, select Codes. 
2. Right-click on the empty space: 
   • Mac: Select New Top-level Code, type POSITIVE FEEDBACK. 
   • Windows: Select New Code, type POSITIVE FEEDBACK.
3. Repeat for NEGATIVE FEEDBACK.
4. Drag and drop the negative codes into NEGATIVE FEEDBACK.
5. Drag and drop the positive codes into POSITIVE FEEDBACK.   

Note: the number of files, and references are zero for the parent codes. To rectify this: 

1. Right-click on NEGATIVE FEEDBACK and select Aggregate Coding from Child Codes.
2. Right-click on POSITIVE FEEDBACK and select Aggregate Coding from Child Codes.

Note: your numbers may be different than seen here depending upon how you coded.  What is important is that the child numbers add up to the parent number: 

Good to know

• Rename a code by right clicking on the code and selecting Code Properties.  
• You can code a block of text to more than one code by using the right-click method and choosing Code Selection to see the list of codes. Use the CTRL or CMD key to select all relevant codes and then click Code Selection to multiple items.
• You cannot duplicate coding the same passage to the same code.

Additional resources